Prime Crime: Solved Murders - Robert Piest Pt. 2

Episode Date: January 13, 2021

As police zeroed in on a local contractor named John Wayne Gacy, they began to suspect they weren’t investigating the disappearance of one missing teenager — but the murders of several.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this murder case, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes graphic descriptions of sexual violence and dead bodies as well as dramatizations and discussions of murder and assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. By December 16, 1978, 15-year-old Robert Peist had only been missing for five days. But in that short time, the police discovered that, this case was much bigger than anyone could have expected. Several witnesses believe that John Gacy, a local contractor,

was the last person to see Robert Pist alive. And as the police dug deeper into Gacy's history, they found that he had a history of attacking young men. Not only that, several boys who worked for Gacy had gone missing, and those cases were never solved. Gacy claimed innocence, but after child, Chief of detectives, Lieutenant Joe Kozenzak, and his men searched Gacy's house, they found several trinkets that couldn't easily be explained,

a class ring, several driver's licenses, and a receipt for a roll of film from the pharmacy where Robert Pist worked. The police couldn't prove that John Gacy killed Robert Pist, but as Cozenzance act drew closer to Gacy, the nature of the case grew darker. With every passing day, the detective became more convinced he was dealing with a serial killer. Welcome to Solved Murders, True Crime Mysteries, a Spotify original from Parcast. I'm your host, Carter Roy.

And I'm your host, Wendy McKenzie. Every Wednesday, we step into the world of true crimes, most fascinating murder cases, and tell the tale of how real-life detectives closed the case. You can find episodes of solved murders and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free exclusively on Spotify. This is our final episode on the murder of Robert Peace. Last week, we covered the investigation into his disappearance. This week, we'll cover the shocking conclusion of the case. We have all that and more coming up. Stay with us.

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There comes to time when you have to take action when you have to choose your own destiny. Watch the new Hulu original series, The Testaments. Streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply. On December 16th, Desplanes was already getting into the holiday spirit. families walked the frosty streets with arms full of shopping bags and the tinny sound of Christmas music poured out of every storefront. But at the Des Plains Police Station, things were hardly festive.

Chief Detective Kozenzak sat looking over the evidence he and his men had gathered in the five days since Robert Peast went missing. All roads led to John Casey, but the police didn't have anything substantial to prove his guilt. The detective couldn't stop thinking about the phone call he had received from James Hutton, the 19-year-old who worked for Gacy's contracting business. The day before, James revealed to Cozenzac that two of Gacy's former employees had gone missing. This fact left a rancid taste in Cozenzac's mouth. Gacy kept showing up around cases of missing boys, and that couldn't be a coincidence.

But the detective needed to know more before he could act. Gacy seemed to be in the habit of employing young men for his business, so Cosenzac set out to find another employee who would be willing to talk. And luckily for him, several of Gacy's employees made a habit of loitering around Gacy's Somerdale House. One of those boys was named David Cram. A long-faced teenager, roughly the same age as James Hutton, David worked as a painter for Gacy. And like James, David was called. comfortable talking to the police about the strange nature of his employer. Kozenzak knew this boy would be useful to the investigation.

So that day he had detectives Ron Adams and Jim Pichel bring in the teenager for an interview. So, David, tell us a bit about Mr. Gacy. Well, he could be the nicest guy in the world, but he was also, what's the word, evasive? Like, he would go on trips to Wisconsin in the middle of the night. He always said it was to make some kind of delivery. It seemed weird to me. Anything else strange about him? Yeah.

He liked to talk about how he had all this stuff from dead people in his garage, like driver's licenses and watches and stuff. Did you ever see any of these items? Yeah. I showed up late a few times and one day John gave me this watch and said, Here, now there's no excuse for you to be late. The watch was in pretty good condition, so I asked him where he got it, and he said it was from a dead person.

Did Mr. Gacy ever tell you why he had so many items from dead people? He told me that he used to work for the syndicate, like the mafia or something. I didn't think about it much honestly. It was a nice watch. Detective Pekyll considered the evidence that he, Kosenzak and the other detectives had found at Gacy's house. The driver's licenses, the class ring, all of that was starting to add up. Bickle surveyed the two licenses he had brought with him to the interview. They were similar. Both boys were around 5'7 inches with light-colored hair.

Looking at David Cram, Pekyll saw a similarity there, too. He had light-colored hair. He could be around 5'7. If Casey was a killer, he certainly had a type. But slowly, Pekyll began to shift the conversation towards Gacy's house. David Cram had been with Gacy back at his house after the police searched it, and Detective Pekyll was eager to know how Gacy had reacted. When you and Mr. Gacy got back to his house, what happened?

He was really mad, upset. He walked all over the house looking around. Where did he go first? The crawl space. What did Gacy do down there? He jumped down, crouched and looked around in a big circle. He didn't even walk around or anything. He just climbed back out.

Something was down there that the police hadn't seen, but without new evidence, they wouldn't be able to acquire a second search warrant to find out. They had to keep looking for another opportunity. Kozin-Zack and his team organized an endless stream of search parties to scour the wooded area around Gacy's home. night after night, the bellowing sound of police dogs echoed through the neighborhood, but they never found any trace of Robert Peast.

And while scores of officers combed through the forest, Kozenzac decided to seek out more people in John Gacy's orbit, who might be able to add information about the mysterious contractor. John Gacy was twice divorced, and Cozenzac had a hunch that one of his ex-wives might know something about Gacy's strange behavior and habits. On December 16th, the police brought in Gacy's second ex-wife, who we'll call Sandra Peters. Thank you for coming in, Sandra. Why don't you start by telling us about your relationship to John? Well, it wasn't a particularly happy marriage. It started out

okay, but things went south really fast. I had two daughters from a previous relationship, and John didn't want anything to do with them. And pretty quickly, he didn't want anything to do with me either. What do you mean? John made it clear to me that he wasn't interested in me romantically, let alone sexually. He hardly spent any time with me by the end of things. He would stay out late and come back late, sometimes with a young man. They would go to the garage together. Can you describe these men? They were relatively short, no taller than six feet, I'd guess. Light, sandy brown hair usually. He wouldn't talk to me about them. But once I went into the garage by myself, there were mattresses all over the floor, red lights, a mirror on the ceiling. Did you ever

confront John about this? If I ever brought it up, he would become furious with me. I tried to ask him what he was doing on one of those nights and he screamed at me, told me to go back to bed. This was certainly lining up with a picture that David Cram had painted of John Gacy. The man had a type. Detective Cosenzac changed course and decided to ask Sandra about Gacy's relationship to his employees. John works with a lot of young men. Do you remember anything strange happening with these boys? Any of them disappear out of the blue?

Well, there was one boy that comes to mind. And, uh, Butkevich, John Butkevich. He worked for John around 1972 and used to come around the house a lot. But then something happened, I don't know. And he just didn't come around anymore. John Butkovich, another boy who went missing after working with John Gacy. That brought the number of disappearances to four, including Robert Peist. The next day, December 17,

Cozenzac brought Gacy's employee James Hutton back to the station for another interview. It had a specific purpose to try and see if there were even more missing boys to add to the list. James Hutton certainly delivered. Over the course of several hours, James recounted the names of additional former PDM contractors' employees, most young men who had either left or disappeared under bizarre circumstances. More often than not, these young men stopped showing up for work after arguing with Gacy about a paycheck. The memory of Gregory Gaudzik and John Zick sprang to the front of Kozenzak's mind. Both of those boys were missing, and both had disappeared shortly after arguing with Gacy about their paychecks.

Kozenzac could see a pattern emerging. And with that in mind, Kozenzak asked James about the teenager's own relationship to John Gathe. Did John ever flirt with you or ask you about sex? Yeah, but only once. He asked me how liberal-minded I was about sex. He asked David Kramm about that too. He asked all the guys, but I told him I was into chicks, so he didn't bother me about it again. Okay, thank you, James.

I think that's... He did try to proposition another guy, though. Chris LeCore. Gacy told him he would pay him $100 for oral sex. Detective Kosen said, left the interview overwhelmed by the information he had gathered. John Gacy clearly had a sexual interest in young men of a certain physical appearance. He made a habit of asking his young employees about sex

and would pressure them into performing sexual acts. John Gacy was the only thing linking together a growing string of disappearances. And always, the missing person was a young boy with light-colored hair. Kozenzak started the investigation into the disappearance of one boy, but by this point, he could see that this case was much bigger and much more frightening. Coming up, the police find a piece of evidence that cracks the case wide open. Stay with us. Listeners, have you heard the eerie new podcast superstitions? Every Wednesday explore the varying beliefs, people are around the world fear and follow in this fantastic series from Parkest. It's already one of my new favorites. Each week, step inside stories that illustrate the horror, weirdness, and truth

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And now, back to our story. By December 19th, 1978, the police, were looking at John Gacy with extreme suspicion. A number of young men had disappeared, and John Gacy was the link that connected each missing boy. Most had worked for Gacy, or in the case of Robert Pist, had been offered a job by him. Both James Hutton and David Cramm had offered shocking anecdotes about their employer, but there was just one problem. None of it was the kind of hard-hitting evidence that Detective Kozenzanzac would need for an arrest. On December 19th, over a week had passed since Robert Pist had gone missing.

While the police had a hunch that John Gacy was responsible, they still didn't have proof. But if Detective Kozenzak couldn't arrest John Gacy, he could have him followed. While the police continued searching for clues that could lead them to Robert Pist, a surveillance team began monitoring Gacy's movements 24-7. John Gacy first responded to this development with pure indignation. He even went so far as to have his lawyer call the police station to claim that this constant surveillance was tarnishing his client's reputation in the Des Plains community. But when that didn't work, Gacy changed his strategy.

He began cozying up to the police, buying them drinks at local bars, making a point to say hello to the men sitting in a squad car in front of his house. And on December 19th, Gacy took it one step further. Detective Schultz, Sergeant Lang, I see you. Why don't you come inside for some breakfast? I'm just sitting in here all by myself, and I could use the company. Uh, I'm not sure. It's no use trying to say no.

Come on, boys, get in here and have some breakfast with me. You've earned it. The two officers eyed each other. It hardly seemed like a good idea to walk inside the house of a man who could be a serial killer, but they were both hungry, and maybe it would help to get a closer look at Gacy's home life. The two men went inside. Stepping through the door still affronted any visitor with a confusing hodgepodge of interior decor. The Tiki-style bar in the living room, the wood-paneled walls,

the clown paintings that Gacy made himself. Make yourself at home. I'm just getting started. I bet it's exhausting sitting out there waiting for me to do something. Do you have any plans for today, John? Ha! Yeah, now that you mention it, this afternoon I've got to drop off a few bodies behind the railway bridge in Chicago. Care to lend me a hand? Ha, ha. Very funny, John. While Gacy chuckled to himself in the kitchen, Detective Schultz decided to freshen up in the bathroom, alone with his thought. The detective mused to himself about the strange man in the other room.

He was a character, but maybe that was the worst of it. Maybe he wasn't the killer. But then the furnace turned on. A slow, rumbling sound moved through the house as hot air traveled from the basement to the heating vents. Oh, Jesus Christ! What does that smell? There was a heating vent directly in front of the toilet. As Detective Schultz knelt before it, he recoiled back and disgust. The scent was so strong that he nearly gagged.

It smelled like a dead body. Schultz walked back into the living room as casually as he could. He and Sergeant Lang had to get out of there. John, I think we're going to have to skip out on breakfast today. We should be getting back to the cruiser. The chief might want to talk to us over the radio. What? Come on, boys. I'm nearly done with the bacon. Another time. Lang, let's head out.

The two men left Gacy in the kitchen, still standing over a skillet of crackling bacon. In the car, Schultz described the bizarre smell coming from the vents. Detective Kozenzak would want to hear about this. Back at the Desplanes police station, Kozanzac was having another meeting with the Peasd family. Robert's parents were still determined to speed up the investigation. And on December 19th, they had discovered something big. We talked to one of Rob's co-workers. This girl named Kim Byers.

She said that he had something of hers that night. The night he... Well, you know. Oh, well, that could be very interesting. What was it? Well, it's a whole story. She says she got cold, so Rob let her borrow his jacket.

Then while she was working, she told us that she decided to get some film developed and put the receipt in the jacket pocket. She thinks she forgot to grab the receipt when she returned the coat back to Robert. You mean the jacket he was wearing when he disappeared? Yes. Kim gave Robert his jacket, but forgot the receipt in the pocket.

Wait a minute. Detective Kozenzak rushed out of the interview room, down the hall and into the room where he had been keeping the evidence taken from John Gacy's house. Among the many items sitting there in little bags, he found what he was looking for, the receipt he had pulled from Gacy's trash can.

It was a Nissan pharmacy receipt for a role of film. Kozenzak ran back into the interview room and showed the receipt to the pieists. With unrestrained excitement, he explained where he found it. Kozenzak immediately sent the receipt to the lab for processing. While he waited for the results, the detective returned to the Nissan pharmacy to see if the numbers on the receipt matched the log entry that Kim Byers had left at the store. Sure enough, they were a match. This single slip of paper definitively showed that Robert Peast had been inside John Gasey's house. Finally, this was the evidence that the police had been looking for. Cozenzac was more sure now than ever before.

John Gacy was a liar. The following day, December 20th, Detective Schultz, told Kozenzak about the horrendous smell he had discovered at Gacy's house. A chill ran down the chief's spine. He remembered the crawl space in the hidden door in the closet floor that led to it.

Something had to be down there, and Kozenzak needed to get another search warrant. But when he explained the new developments to the state's attorney's office, they were unconvinced. Have you found a body? No, but... Listen, this receipt is solid evidence,

but everything else you have is circumstantial at best. Get us more evidence, or a body, or get this man arrested. Then we can talk. Kozenzak was frustrated and running out of ideas. He felt more convinced than ever that John Gacy was responsible for Robert Pist's disappearance. And maybe even the disappearance of dozens of young men.

But every time he tried to pin the man down, Gacy slipped through his fingers like smoke. On December 21, 1978, that changed. Gacy was starting to crack under the pressure of round-the-clock surveillance. He had spent the night at his lawyer's office. His Black Oldsmobile parked at a sharp angle across multiple parking spots.

The two officers who had followed him there waited through the night for Gacy to emerge, but he never did. On the morning of December 21st, the officer saw Gacy's lawyer, San Amirante, exit the building. He looked visibly disturbed. The two detectives watched as Amirante attempted to light a cigarette. His hands were shaking. Something wasn't right. Suddenly, the Black Oldsmobile roared to life and tore across the parking lot. The unmarked Police cruiser sped after Gacy skidding across the icy streets. The Oldsmobile was swerving erratically across lanes of traffic, making it hard for the officers

to get close. Gacy made several stops around the city, skidding into the driveways of his friend's houses and the apartment buildings of his employees. It almost looked like Gacy was making the rounds as a way to say goodbye. At every stop, Gacy burst from his car like a man possessed. He was sweaty and erratic, rushing from place to place. He almost seemed to forget the existence of the police cruiser that tailed him from one stop to the next. Eventually, the police caught up to Gacy, who had pulled into a gas station.

The cruiser idled to a stop and watched as the contractor, sweating and baggy-eyed, emerged from his car. He approached a gas station clerk, a young man. The two talked briefly, and then Gacy produced from his pocket four. small cigarettes. The teenager gave Gacy some cash and the two parted ways. The officers immediately stepped out of the cruiser and, approaching the young man, demanded to see what Gacy had just given him. Those weren't tobacco cigarettes. They were joints. Chief, Chief, we witnessed Gacy sell marijuana to a teenage boy. That's a drug charge. We can arrest him. Excellent work, boys. Keep following him. I could Sergeant Lang on the line and let him know he

can book John Wayne Gacy any time he wants. Gacy continued driving his Oldsmobile around Des Plains like a man possessed, swerving and veering all over the road. Shortly afternoon, his car lurched onto a particularly congested street. With so much traffic, Gacy was stuck. Detective Schultz's cruiser swung in front of Gacy, blocking him. The detective got out of the driver's seat, drew his revolver, and tapped on the window of Gacy's car. Good afternoon, John.

I think you know why I pulled you over. You don't have anything on me. I don't have to go anywhere. It's all over, John. You're going to have to come with me. John Gacy was brought back to the Des Plains police station and formally arrested for selling illegal drugs. Gacy was slick with sweat, his eyes red and drooping.

This, at last, was the catalyst that Kozenzak needed to get a second warrant approved. And shortly after 5 p.m. of that same day, he finally got it. Detective Kozenzak wasted no time. While John Gasey sat in police custody, Kozenzak and Sergeant Walter Lang hopped in a police cruiser and sped to Gacy's home. Another pair of men would join them at the house, Carl Humbert and Dave Genty, two evidence technicians with shovels, ready to dig. It was already dark when the two men arrived. Kozenzak opened the door and stepped into the dingy cold house.

This time, there was no use searching the rest of the rooms. Koz and Zach quickly made his way to the hall closet, knelt down, and opened the trap door to the crawl space below. Coming up, the police close the case. Stay with us. All right, class, settle down. Today's lesson is on the Arco Rewards app. Try to stay with me. The fundamentals are simple.

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at participating locations, terms, and conditions apply. And now, back to our story. On December 21, 1978, two evidence technicians, Carl Humbert and Dave Genty, dropped down into the crawl space. It looked exactly as it did over a week ago, nothing but damp earth from wall to wall. The men got straight to work. The technicians brought in huge spotlights, rubber cords, and large metal shovels. Detective Kozenzanzac waited in the hallway above, pacing.

back and forth. If there was nothing down there, he would look like a fool, but if there was. Kozinzak, get over here. What is it? What have you found? I've got a body down here. I've got a body. In less than ten minutes, the technicians found three bodies buried in the crawl space. An air of crazed relief spread through the men at the scene. They got him. They got John Wayne. Gacy. Back at the station, John Gacy was delivered his Miranda rights and told that human remains were found at his house. Strangely, Gacy's mood completely changed. He was almost happy. And how many bodies have you found? Three. Oh, dear. You have so much more work to do. By my math, I've killed, oh, over 30 people. Most of them should be in the crawl space. One might be under the garage, too.

And what about Robert Pist? Oh, I killed him, too, but he's not at the house. I threw his body into the Des Plains River at a nice spot off I-55. Good luck finding him. I can't help you there. Anything else? Over the next several days, John Wayne Gacy confessed to killing 32 young men and boys. His initial statement was correct. most of the bodies were eventually found in the crawl space beneath Gacy's house.

Several of Gacy's former employees were discovered there, including Gregory Gaudzick and John Zick. Gacy would prove to be extremely useful for the police in their search for the bodies. From Cook County Jail, Gacy made diagrams of the crawl space and the garage and drew in the locations of the buried bodies with pristine accuracy. Gacy's statement about Robert Pist's body was also true. While the police found more and more bodies hidden in the house, none of them were Robert. The police continued to search the Des Plains River, but couldn't find a body. Months passed. By March 1979, the police would end up finding 28 bodies of young men and boys buried in the crawl space of John Gacy's home, one under his garage,

one under his driveway, and two additional bodies dumped into the Des Plains River. The total number of victims was just as Gacy had claimed, 32. Many of the bodies found by the police had underwear or cloth lodged in their throats. They also had ligature marks on their throats, suggesting that they had been strangled to death. Years of decay had disfigured the bodies, and the authorities often had to rely on dentistry, records to identify them. And while some families were willing to offer this information to the police in the hopes of identifying their lost children, others were not so willing. Some parents refused to cooperate. They couldn't bear to know that their missing sons had been the victims of John Wayne

Gacy. On April 9, 1979, the case was far from over. John Gacy was awaiting trial for murder, and the police were still attempting to identify each of the 32 bodies that the killer had left in his wake. And Robert Peast, Gacy's final victim, remained missing. The harsh winter that lingered in Des Plains was beginning to thaw. The birds were slowly returning to the trees. The bank of the Desplains River was shedding its icy cover. The slow approach of spring finally exhumed one of the river's dark secrets. On April 9, 1979, the Des Plains Police got the call they had been waiting to receive.

Detective Kozenzak. Kozenzak sped down I-294 to the hospital where the body was being kept. The corpse was ghostly white and water-logged. The icy river water had washed away any useful information that could have helped the police identify the body. Instead, the police had to rely on dental records. By the time Kozenzak arrived at the hospital, a dentist was already comparing the body's teeth with Robert Peist's dental records. Within an hour, they had an answer. This was the body of Robert Peast.

It's still difficult to know with perfect accuracy what happened the night Gacy abducted and murdered Robert Pease. Gacy's many confessions were bizarre and convoluted, with Gacy frequently contradicting the previous statements and referring to himself in the third person. The story of Robert Peast was no exception. We do know that on December 11th, shortly after 9 p.m., Robert Peast approached Gacy's car to ask about a job. Then at Gacy's suggestion, Robert joined him in the Oldsmobile, and the two drove back to the Somerdale House.

It's unclear how exactly Gacy killed the teenager, but every person John Wayne Gacy killed was murdered in his home. usually by exfixiation. Gacy would often play a trick on his victims, encouraging them to place a noose around their own neck as a joke, only to tighten the rope and strangle the boy to death. It is safe to assume that Robert Pist suffered a similar fate on that cold December night. John Gacy also sexually assaulted Robert, though it's unclear if he did so before or after the boy was dead.

The police learned through their investigation that Gacy would often keep the bodies of his victims inside his home for a day before burying them. So it's likely that Robert Peast's body was inside Gacy's house when the police initially tried to interview the man on December 12th. Gacy, sensing the urgency of the situation, decided to dump the body that night, refusing to be interviewed by the police until things were taken care of. He then placed Robert Peast's body in the trunk of his car and drove out to the rural town. of Morris, Illinois. There, Gacy could park without being disturbed by traffic.

And in the wee hours of the morning, without anyone witnessing the act, John Wayne Gacy opened the trunk of his black Oldsmobile, picked up the limp body of Robert Pist, and threw it over the edge of the bridge into the dark water below. John Wayne Gacy pled innocent at his murder trial, claiming insanity at the suggestion of his lawyers. And in consideration of that plea, several psychiatrists were brought in to monitor Gacy from jail. While it was concluded that he was a narcissist, a sadist, and had an antisocial personality, none of that excused his actions. After five weeks of testimony, it only took a jury two hours to reach a verdict. On March 12, 1980, John Wayne Gacey was found guilty of the murder of

33 young men and boys and sentenced to death. But this verdict was only one piece of the healing process that would need to take place in the Des Plains community. The city was rocked by the discovery of a serial killer in their midst, and the lingering effects of John Wayne Gasey's brutality took decades to heal. There was the matter of his house, now unoccupied, that served only as a ghoulish relic of the violence that occurred with the within it. The city demolished the building, leaving a rough patch of dirt and grass in place of the house of horrors that once stood there. As more bodies were identified, Des Plains' families finally laid their sons to rest. Robert Peast was one of them. His body interred

at the All Saints mausoleum and cemetery a week after his body was found by police. John Wayne Gacy was eventually executed by lethal injection on May 10th, 1994, after spending over a decade behind bars. Outside the prison, crowds of onlookers cheered and held signs that said, No tears for the clown. A new house was eventually built on the plot at 82.13 West Somerdale, though the new house never quite freed itself from the legacy of that patch of land. And the listing is always referred to as the house where Gacy's home once stood.

Even now, some of Gacy's victims are unnamed. The last body connected to the case was IDed by police in 2017. And still, six boys whose bodies were found slain at the hands of John Wayne Gacy remain unidentified. The graves of Gacy's 33 young victims populate cemeteries all over it as plain. and the city of Chicago. There is never any indication of how these boys died, and to the untrained eye, it would be impossible to know the horrific story of their death.

Only their shortened lives, carved in the stone, would offer any indication of the fate that befell them. Thanks again for tuning into solved murders. We'll be back next Wednesday with a new episode. For more information on Robert Peast's disappearance, Amongst the many sources we used, we found the book, The Chicago Killer, The Hunt for Serial Killer John Wayne Gasey by Joseph R. Kozenzak and Karen M. Kozenzak, extremely helpful to our research.

You can find all episodes of Solved Murders and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. If we live till next time. Solve Murders True Crime Mysteries is a Spotify original. original from Parcast. It is executive produced by Max Cutler. Sound design by Michael Langsner, with production assistants by Ron Shapiro, Carly, Madden, and Isabella Way. This episode of Solve Murders was written by Georgia Hampton, with writing assistance by Giles Hoffseth, fact-checking by Bennett Logan, and research by Mickey

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