User:Kieronoldham/sandbox

N.A.D.

Robet Jerome Piest
Piest attending a class in Maine West High School
Born	Robert Jerome Piest 16 Mar 1963 Des Plaines, Illinois, U.S.
Disappeared	December 11, 1978 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	December 11, 1978 (1978-12-12) (aged 15) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Cause of death	Murder by strangulation or Suffocation
Body discovered	April 9, 1979 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Other names	Body 30
Known for	Last known victim of John Wayne Gacy; his murder led to the investigation of John Wayne Gacy

Robert Piest (16 Mar 1963 - 11 Dec 1978) was the final victim of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. He was lured into Gacy's home with a job offering at PDM Contractors, and then strangled to death. His abduction from Nisson Pharmacy set off a Des Plaines police department investigation that led to the discovery of Gacy's crimes.

Background

Robert Jerome Piest was born in Des Plaines, Illinois on March 16, 1963 to parents Harold Piest (1932-2006) and Elizabeth Piest (1932-2021), Piest was the youngest of three children Ken (1954-2007) and Kerry (1957-). He attended Maine West High School and was involved in the school's Swimming team and Aerobics club. Piest also was a member of a Des Plaines Boy Scouts Troop and reportedly on the verge of winning an Eagle Scout Merit Badge at the time of his death.

According to his parents, Piest had aspirations of becoming an astronaut. He also enjoyed Outdoor recreation and sought a jeep for his 16th birthday to better access difficult terrain.

Murder

On December 11th, 1978, Piest was working a daily shift as a clerk with his friend and occasional girlfriend, Kim Byers, at Nisson Pharmacy while Gacy was hired to renovate it. Gacy engaged in a conversation about employing teenage boys at his contracting business with Nisson Pharmacy's owner, Phil Torf, in front of Piest, and mentioned that he gave his workers higher wages then what was offered at the pharmacy. Piest had approached Gacy about a potential job offering which led to both agreeing to converse after the pharmacy's closing.

Piest mother was also celebrating her 46th birthday on that day, and arrived at the pharmacy to pick him up for a party with their family. Before he left with Gacy, Byers returned a coat that she borrowed from Piest, and Piest promised his mother that he would return to her after speaking with "That Contractor."

Piest was driven to Gacy's home after Gacy had claimed he needed to get ahold of documents for the job application. According to Gacy's contradicting accounts given to his lawyers and the detectives who interrogated him, he conversed with Piest at his dining table, and made predatory advances and offered him alcohol. Piest brushed them aside and continued questioning about the job.

When he noticed and inquired about the clown paintings that decorated his walls, Gacy mentioned that he worked as a clown and tricked Piest into putting on handcuffs as part of a “magic trick.” What exactly occurred afterwards is unclear due to Gacy conflicting himself with his retellings, but he garroted Piest with rope after luring or dragging him into his bedroom.

As Piest was convulsing on his floor, Gacy received a phone call from a business partner. He placed Piest’s own boxers down the body’s throat to prevent leaking and allegedly slept with it in his bed.

Investigation into disappearance

When Piest failed to return to her as he promised, Elizabeth repeatedly searched around the pharmacy for him. She asked a few co-workers, including Byers and Torf, about his whereabouts and they all reaffirmed that they last saw him speaking with Gacy.

She then returned home and organized a search with her husband Harold and remaining children, Kerry and Ken. Kerry took her car and one of the family's German Shepards, Ken took his van and the other German Shepard, and Harold took his own car. The three of them spent the entire night patrolling Des Plaines and Chicago, while Elizabeth stayed home and kept a vigil on the phone.

The next day, the family went and reported Piest missing to the Des Plaines Police Department, and heavily emphasized Gacy’s potential involvement. A taskforce was organized by Lieutenant Joseph Kozenczak, a father to one of Piest’s classmates, after they discovered Gacy’s past sodomy conviction against a 15 year old boy in Iowa and a pending charge for an Outstanding Battery complaint filed by a surviving victim, Jeffrey Rignall, in a background check.

Kozenczak then visited and questioned Gacy at his home, who adamantly denied having any contact with Piest, and stated that he had to arrange for an uncle’s funeral. Despite Gacy’s belligerent attitude towards the officers, he agreed to further questioning at the station. By his later admission, he was storing Piest’s corpse in his attic when Kozenczak arrived at his doorsteps.

On his way to the station, Gacy drove Piest’s body to the Des Plaines River and threw it off a bridge. He got his car struck while driving away from the scene and arrived at the station covered in mud. During questioning, Gacy repeated his denials to the interrogating officers.

While the investigators were probing Gacy, the Piest family conducted their own private investigation. According to Kozenczak, Ken and Kerry trailed his officers without them knowing to make sure that they were looking for their brother, and spied on the task force as they were questioning Gacy at his home. Harold and Kerry also tracked down Gacy’s address together through a Ukrainian Orthodox priest (who was an associate to the Piest family’s pastor). Gacy previously did some contracting on the Ukrainian priest’s church, and he gave Harold and Kerry the information they wanted. They drove up to Gacy’s residence, parked their car close to it, and then left after deciding that it would be best to leave it to the investigators. Harold also made several threats to storm Gacy's home for his son if a search warrant wasn't sought.

On December 13, the Des Plaines police department arranged for a search warrant with the concerns that Piest was being held captive in Gacy’s home. Although the officers initially couldn’t find any evidence for Piest’s presence, they discovered several suspicious items, such as handcuffs, pornographic novels pertaining to pedastry, police badges, sex toys, and clothing and high school rings belonging to other missing young men and teenage boys.

Further examinations of Gacy’s history linked him to the disappearances of several PDM employees, such as John Butkovich in 1974 and Gregory Godzik in 1976. With the amount of damning, but not yet incriminating, evidence against him, the Des Plaines police placed Gacy under a 24 hour surveillance. On December 21, Gacy was arrested for passing marijuana to a gas station attendant by the surveillance team, and he admitted to the murders in a drunken confession to his attorneys.

A photo receipt found in Gacy’s trash can was identified by Byers as the same receipt that she placed in Piest’s coat pockets as he disappeared. With the officers noting the smell of decomposition of bodies coming from the crawlspace in their visits to his home, a second search warrant of the home was organized.

In the second search, bodies of dozens of victims were uncovered from the crawlspace and other areas around the property, but Piest wasn’t among them.

Trial and Aftermath

Piest’s remains were found on April 9, 1979 floating in the Des Plaines River, and identified by dental records and x-ray examinations. He was one of 5 victims tossed into the river after Gacy’s crawl space became too full for further burials, and the last victim to be discovered. A service was held on April 18 at the Our Lady of Hope Church.

Gacy’s proceedings for the murders of Piest and the 32 other victims began on February 30, 1980. On March 30 of that same year, he received several death and life sentences for the killings, and was additionally convicted of taking indecent liberties with a child in reference to sexually abusing Piest.

In 1979, Piest's family founded the Robert Piest Foundation with the Maryvile Academy to help protect troubled youth from predators such as Gacy, and find them stable homes. Harold also filed wrongful suits against various directly or indirectly involved parties with his son's death. One of his suits was targeted towards Gacy, his attorneys, and an associated Houston publishing company, with the intentions of preventing them from profiting off the case.

Gacy was executed by lethal injection for the murders on May 10, 1994, some 14 years after his conviction.

Cited works

• Sullivan, Terry; Maiken, Peter T. (2000). Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders (Paperback ed.). Pinnacle. ISBN 0-7860-1422-9. OCLC 156783287.
• The Chicago Killer, by Joseph R. Kozenczak and Karen M. Kozenczak (ISBN 978-1401095314).
• [1]
• Feb 09, 1980, page 5 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com [Chicago Tribune Sat, Feb 09, 1980]
• Apr 16, 1981, page 11 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com [Chicago Tribune Thu, Apr 16, 1981]
• Jun 08, 1980, page 9 - The Park City Daily News at Newspapers.com [The Park City Daily News Sun, Jun 08, 1980]

References

Isabella Ruxton, c. 1932

The Ruxton children, seen with the maid of a family friend in 1935

A late 1970s model Chevrolet Malibu. A dark-colored model of vehicle was observed by Everett Mann close to the crime scene on September 10

A 1980 model Chevrolet Malibu. The Dowalibys owned a light blue model of this vehicle

A 1970s model Greyhound bus. McCoy was last seen by family members aboard a vehicle similar to this model on January 2, 1972.

Chicago's Greyhound bus terminal, seen here as the terminal appeared in the 1950s.

Wheaton, Maryland

Taylor's Mountain, Virginia

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Geographical locations of Wheaton, Maryland, and Taylor's Mountain, Thaxton, Virginia.

Crockett

Underkofler

Block

Roberts

Bruce

John Doe

Bridges

Gibson

Herrera

Calise

John Doe

Johnson

Lake Village (x4)

Lewis

Agan

Roach

McNeive

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Map of Illinois and western Indiana, depicting the approximate murder locations of twenty of the twenty-two victims whose deaths Eyler posthumously confessed.

Rawle Street, Tacony

Jackson Township

Manchester Township

Franklin Mills Mall

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Map of New Jersey, depicting recovery locations of Della Penna's body. The approximate abduction location within eastern Pennsylvania is depicted by a blue icon; the yellow icon depicts the location her head is believed to have been discarded.

Coldstream (Maxwell)

Uttoxeter (Maxwell)

Portobello (Hogg)

Twycross (Hogg)

Morley (Harper)

Nottingham (Harper)

Ballinderry (Cardy)

Hillsborough (Cardy)

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Abduction and recovery locations of Black's victims. Abduction locations are denoted by red icons; recovery recovery locations by blue icons.

Fingerpost Field (McFall)

Midland Road (C. West)

Letterbox Field (Costello)

Cromwell Street

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Map of Gloucestershire, depicting the burial locations of all known victims of Wests as recovered in February and March 1994.

Houston Heights

Boat shed

Lake Sam Rayburn

High Island Beach

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Map of Texas, depicting the location of the Heights, and the locations where Corll's known victims were recovered in 1973.

Rostov-on-Don

Novocherkassk

Novoshakhtinsk

Shakhty

Krasny Sulin

Bataisk

Gukovo

Semikarakorsk

Donskoi

Kamenolomni

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Geographical locations within the Rostov Oblast where several victims liked to the manhunt had been murdered by 1985. Almost all locations were accessible via the oblast's mass transportation network.

This user thinks that

Wikipedia should have stricter rules against unnecessary deletion and removal of content from articles.

Summary

Name	Age	Date of murder	Recovery number	Location recovered	Cause of death
Timothy Jack McCoy	16	January 3, 1972	Body 9	Crawl space	Stabbing
John Butkovich	18	July 31, 1975	Body 2	Garage	Suffocation
Darrell Julius Samson	18	April 6, 1976	Body 29	Dining room	Suffocation
Randall Wayne Reffett	15	May 14, 1976	Body 7	Crawl space	Suffocation
Samuel G. Dodd Stapleton	14	May 14, 1976	Body 6	Crawl space	Undetermined
Michael Lawrence Bonnin	17	June 3, 1976	Body 18	Crawl space	Strangulation
William Huey Carroll Jr.	16	June 13, 1976	Body 22	Crawl space	Suffocation
James Byron Haakenson	16	August 5, 1976	Body 24	Crawl space	Suffocation
Rick Louis Johnston	17	August 6, 1976	Body 23	Crawl space	Undetermined
Kenneth Ray Parker	16	October 24, 1976	Body 15	Crawl space	Undetermined
Michael M. Marino	14	October 24, 1976	Body 14	Crawl space	Undetermined
William George Bundy	19	October 26, 1976	Body 19	Crawl space	Suffocation
Francis Wayne Alexander	21	c. December 1, 1976	Body 5	Crawl space	Suffocation
Gregory John Godzik	17	December 12, 1976	Body 4	Crawl space	Undetermined
John Alan Szyc	19	January 20, 1977	Body 3	Crawl space	Undetermined
Jon Steven Prestidge	20	March 15, 1977	Body 1	Crawl space	Undetermined
Matthew Walter Bowman	19	July 5, 1977	Body 8	Crawl space	Strangulation
Robert Edward Gilroy Jr.	18	September 15, 1977	Body 25	Crawl space	Suffocation
John Antheney Mowery	19	September 25, 1977	Body 20	Crawl space	Strangulation
Russell Lloyd Nelson	21	October 17, 1977	Body 16	Crawl space	Suffocation
Robert David Winch	16	November 10, 1977	Body 11	Crawl space	Strangulation
Tommy Joe Boling	20	November 18, 1977	Body 12	Crawl space	Strangulation
David Paul Talsma	19	December 9, 1977	Body 17	Crawl space	Strangulation
William Wayne Kindred	19	February 16, 1978	Body 27	Crawl space	Suffocation
Timothy David O'Rourke	20	June 16–23, 1978	Body 31	Des Plaines River	Strangulation
Frank William Landingin	19	November 4, 1978	Body 32	Des Plaines River	Asphyxiation
James Mazzara	20	November 24, 1978	Body 33	Des Plaines River	Strangulation
Robert Jerome Piest	15	December 11, 1978	Body 30	Des Plaines River	Suffocation

10 - Undetermined. 13 - Undetermined. 21 - Undetermined. 26 - Suffocation. 28 - Suffocation.

Eyler summary

Name	Age	Date of murder	Date of discovery	Location of murder
Steven Crockett	19	October 23, 1982	October 23, 1982	Kankakee County, Illinois
Edgar Underkofler	26	October 30, 1982	March 4, 1983	Vermilion County, Illinois
John Johnson	25	November 1982	December 25, 1982	Lake County, Indiana
William Lewis	19	November 20, 1982	October 15, 1983	Jasper County, Indiana
Steven Agan	23	December 19, 1982	December 28, 1982	Vermillion County, Indiana
John Roach	21	December 22, 1982	December 28, 1982	Putnam County, Indiana
David Block	22	December 30, 1982	May 7, 1984	Lake County, Illinois
Ervin Gibson	16	January 24, 1983	April 15, 1983	Lake County, Illinois
John Bartlett	19	March 2, 1983	October 18, 1983	Newton County, Indiana
Michael Bauer	22	March 8, 1983	October 18, 1983	Newton County, Indiana
Richard Wayne	17	March 20, 1983	December 7, 1983	Hendricks County, Indiana
Jay Reynolds*	29	March 22, 1983	March 22, 1983	Madison County, Kentucky
Gustavo Herrera	28	April 8, 1983	April 8, 1983	Lake County, Illinois
Jimmie Roberts	18	May 4, 1983	May 9, 1983	Cook County, Illinois
Daniel McNeive	21	May 7, 1983	May 9, 1983	Hendricks County, Indiana
Richard Bruce	25	May 18, 1983	December 5, 1983	Effingham County, Illinois
John Brandenburg Jr.	19	c. May 29, 1983	October 18, 1983	Newton County, Indiana
Ralph Calise	28	August 31, 1983	August 31, 1983	Lake County, Illinois
Eric Hansen*	18	September 27, 1983	October 4, 1983	Kenosha County, Wisconsin
Daniel Bridges	16	August 19, 1984	August 21, 1984	Cook County, Illinois

Steelman infobox

Willie Luther Steelman
Born	(1945-03-21)March 21, 1945 San Joaquin County, California, U.S.
Died	August 7, 1986(1986-08-07) (aged 41) Maricopa County Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Cause of death	Liver cirrhosis
Criminal status	Died in prison while awaiting execution
Motive	Robbery Eyewitness elimination Braggadocio Revenge Possible sadism
Conviction(s)	California First degree murder (x9) Robbery (x5) Arizona First degree murder (x2) Kidnapping (x1) Robbery (x2) Burglary (x1)
Criminal penalty	California Life imprisonment Arizona Death
Details
Victims	17 (11 convictions)
Span of crimes	October 18 – November 7, 1973
Country	United States
State(s)	California, Arizona
Date apprehended	November 8, 1973
Imprisoned at	Florence State Prison

This user hates miserable wet days and stays inside when they occur

Casualties

Killed upon first floor:

• Alyssa Miriam Alhadeff (14)
• Martin Duque Anguiano (14)
• Nicholas Paul Dworet (17)
• Aaron Louis Feis (37)
• Christopher Brent Hixon (49)
• Luke Thomas Hoyer (15)

• Gina Rose Montalto (14)
• Alaina Joann Petty (14)
• Helena Freja Ramsay (17)
• Alexander Logan Schachter (14)
• Carmen Marie Schentrup (16)

Killed upon third floor:

• Scott J. Beigel (35)
• Jaime Taylor Guttenberg (14)
• Cara Marie Loughran (14)

• Joaquin Oliver (17)
• Meadow Jade Pollack (18)
• Peter Wang (15)

Injured:

• Ashley Baez (15)
• Anthony Borges (15)
• Isabel Chequer (16)
• Justin Colton (14)
• Alexander Dworet (15)
• Samantha Fuentes (18)
• Samantha Grady (17)
• Marian Kabachenko (14)
• Kyle Laman (15)

• Samantha Mayor (17)
• William Olson (14)
• Stacey Lynn Lippel (50)
• Kheshava Mangapuram
• Daniela Menescal (17)
• Genesis Valentin
• Benjamin Wikander (17)
• Madeleine Wilford (17)

infobox

Dolores Della Penna
Della Penna, c. 1972
Born	(1954-12-13)December 13, 1954
Died	July 12, 1972(1972-07-12) (aged 17) Kensington, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Cause of death	Undetermined. Possible stabbing and/or mutilation
Body discovered	July 22, 1972 Tom's River, New Jersey 39.994264°N 74.166154°W / 39.994264; -74.166154 (approximate) July 29, 1972 Cedar Glen West, New Jersey 40.0153°N 74.1703°W / 40.0153; -74.1703
Resting place	Resurrection Cemetery, Bensalem, Pennsylvania 40.12170°N 74.92330°W / 40.12170; -74.92330 (approximate)
Nationality	American
Occupation	Student
Known for	Victim of unsolved murder

Mark Rowntree
Born	Mark Andrew Rowntree 1956 Bradford, West Yorkshire, England
Occupation	Bus conductor
Motive	Paranoia Revenge Infamy
Conviction(s)	Manslaughter (x4)
Criminal penalty	Indefinite detention within a psychiatric hospital
Details
Victims	4
Span of crimes	31 December 1975  – 7 January 1976
Date apprehended	7 January 1976

Sir Bernard Spilsbury, seen here in the 1920s

Spilsbury (foreground), pictured conducting the forensic examination of Officer's House, Eastbourne. 4 May 1924.