The missing boy's ring found in a crawl space — 27 bodies later

🚨 THE RING IN THE CRAWL SPACE

The ring was small, gold, and it belonged to a missing 15-year-old boy.

Police found it on December 13, 1978, during a search of John Wayne Gacy's home in Des Plaines, Illinois.

The boy had last been seen the previous evening, leaving for his part-time job at a pharmacy.

He never came home.

His mother reported him missing on December 11.

Police initially treated the case as a runaway.

Not because the evidence pointed that way. But because a teenager who misses curfew is easier to file than a teenager who vanishes.

The search of Gacy's home changed the file.

Officers found the ring among suspicious items.

They also found a receipt from the pharmacy where the boy worked.

The ring was a hinge.

A small object connecting a missing-person report to a building contractor who performed as a clown at children's parties.

The exact location of the ring within the house is not specified in the source.

It could have been on a table. It could have been in a drawer. It could have been anywhere.

That would require evidence.

What the record shows is this: on December 13, 1978, police searched the home and found the ring.

What the record also shows: the boy had gone to that house to discuss a job.

What the record does not show: how the ring got there.

The mother had pushed police to look. She pushed them toward Gacy.

The search warrant came after police learned the boy had gone to the contractor's home.

Inside, officers noticed a strong odor.

They found the ring.

They found the receipt.

They found something else, too, though they did not know it yet.

The crawl space beneath the house held more than suspicious items.

It held bodies.

Twenty-seven of them, recovered between December 13 and December 29.

But that came later.

On December 13, there was only the ring.

And a missing boy.

And a contractor who said he knew nothing.

DECEMBER 11 — THE DISAPPEARANCE

It was December 11, 1978, when the mother reported her 15-year-old son missing.

The boy had been last seen leaving for his part-time job at a pharmacy the previous evening.

He did not come home.

The exact time he left for work is not in the record.

The mother, widely identified as Elizabeth Piest, told police her son was not a runaway.

She pushed them to investigate.

Police initially treated it as a runaway case.

A 15-year-old boy missing one night, in Des Plaines, Illinois.

That is how it looked on paper.

Not because of anything they found. Because of what they did not look for.

The mother insisted.

She gave them the name of a local contracting company where her son had gone to discuss a job.

She gave them the name of the owner.

John Wayne Gacy.

But on December 11, that name meant nothing yet.

There was only the report.

A boy, a pharmacy, a mother who would not stop calling.

The record does not say how many times she called.

It says what she did: she pushed.

And the case stayed open.

THE MOTHER'S PERSISTENCE

She pushed until the missing persons file was not a file anymore.

Her persistence led police to the owner of a local contracting company.

The boy had done side work for that owner.

The record does not detail the nature of the side work.

That owner was John Wayne Gacy.

Police learned the boy had gone to Gacy’s home to discuss a job.

Not a suspicious place to go.

A job interview.

A contracting company.

A businessman in Des Plaines.

Gacy was a building contractor, 36 years old at the time of his arrest.

He was also a part-time clown performer known as “Pogo the Clown.”

A clown.

A contractor.

The man police were now questioning.

The lead was hers.

She had named the connection, pushed it, and the officers followed it.

It is a relief that a lead emerges.

It is also unease about who is being questioned.

DECEMBER 13 — THE SEARCH WARRANT

The warrant was signed on December 13, 1978.

Officers entered Gacy’s home with it, after learning the boy had gone there to discuss a job.

Inside, they noticed a strong odor.

The specific odor is not described in the record.

What is described is what they found: a ring belonging to the missing boy.

A receipt from the pharmacy where he worked.

The ring was on a table. The receipt was among papers. The smell hung in the air.

Gacy was taken in for questioning.

He was not arrested that day.

He was asked about the boy, and he answered.

The officers had a warrant, a ring, a receipt, and a question.

They did not yet have a body.

It is a relief that a lead emerges.

It is also dread, because the lead has a smell attached to it.

The boy had gone to that house for a job.

The ring says he was there.

The receipt says he was there.

The odor says something else was there too.

That would require evidence.