John Wayne Gacy, Jr. was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 17, 1942. As a child, Gacy was fat and did not play sports. He was described as close to his mother, but not so with his father, an alcoholic who abused his wife and children. Senior Gacy has been described as "An Archie Bunker type, but without any humor." At age 4, his father beat him with a belt to rearrange car parts he had removed, and another time beat him unconscious with a broomstick. He was also verbally abused by his father, often called "stupid and stupid", "Sissy", "mama's boy", and told that he would "probably grow up to be a queer". This verbal abuse was a constant for the young Gacy, lasting throughout his childhood and adolescence, yet Gacy stated several times after his arrest that he did not hate his father. At the age of nine, Gacy was molested by a family friend, who took him on long trips in a truck and fondled him. Gacy never reported these incidents, as he was afraid that his father would blame him. At school he was often the target of bullying. He would assist the naval officer, no doubt earning more scorn from the other children, and was known to volunteer to run errands for the teachers. He was told to avoid all sports because of a heart problem and at the age of eight he began to suffer from blackouts. He was hospitalized for several of these blackouts, and again in 1957 for a burst appendix. His father didn't believe him and once accused him of faking it even while he was hospitalized. A childhood friend, Richard Dalke, described several instances in which his father mocked and hit Gacy for no reason. Dalke said Gacy would "raise his hands to defend himself" but that he never fought back against his father.......middle of paper...mother-in-law stopped the attack. Gacy explained this away, saying he refused to pay the man for his shoddy work. Thus began a pattern that would continue until his arrest in 1978: those who fought back, survived. Those who did not or could not, were raped and usually killed. Gacy's second murder occurred in 1974. The victim was a boy aged fifteen to seventeen with dark, curly hair, and remains unidentified to this day. Gacy smothered this victim to death and hid the body in his bedroom closet before burial. As the body decomposed in his closet, liquid leaked from his mouth and stained the carpet. In response to this, during all future murders, he would stuff a rag or the victim's underwear down his throat to prevent this from happening. The unidentified boy was buried in Gacy's backyard, about fifteen feet from the barbecue.