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60 - PLACES/CITIES/Norwood Park.md
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@ -4,25 +4,26 @@ tags:
- Place
- Illinois
- JohnWayneGacy
summary: "Norwood Park is a township on the northwest edge of Chicago, Illinois, where John Wayne Gacy lived and committed at least 33 murders between 1972 and 1978, burying most of his victims beneath his house at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue."
summary: "Norwood Park is a community area on the northwest side of Chicago, Illinois, where John Wayne Gacy lived and committed at least 33 murders between 1972 and 1978, burying most of his victims beneath his house at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue."
created: 2026-05-14
updated: 2026-05-17
location: "Cook County, Illinois, USA"
---
Norwood Park is an unincorporated township in Cook County, Illinois, situated on the northwest edge of the Chicago metropolitan area. The community occupies a residential stretch of bungalows and ranch-style homes between the city of Chicago and its northwest suburbs.[^1]
Norwood Park is a Chicago community area (Community Area 10) on the city's northwest side, originally an 1870s railroad suburb whose village incorporated on July 25, 1874 and voted on November 7, 1893, by 124 to 27, to be annexed to Chicago. Its homes include Victorian, Tudor, bungalow and ranch styles. The separate Norwood Park Township, created in 1873 and 1874, survives as the unincorporated part of the township together with the villages of Harwood Heights and parts of Norridge and Park Ridge, which share some government services.[^1]
### John Wayne Gacy
Norwood Park is the location where [[John Wayne Gacy]] lived and carried out all of his known murders. Gacy operated a construction contracting business and maintained a visible public profile in the community - hosting annual neighborhood parties attended by hundreds of residents, politicians, and business associates, and volunteering as a community entertainer in a clown costume under the persona "Pogo."[^1]
[[John Wayne Gacy]] lived at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue, in the unincorporated part of Norwood Park Township with a Norridge address, and the murders for which he was convicted were committed there.[^2] He operated a construction contracting business, PDM Construction Company.[^2]
Gacy's home at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue was the site of at least 33 murders committed between 1972 and 1978. His victims were predominantly young men and teenage boys whom he lured to the house, often under the pretext of offering construction work. He would dupe victims into placing handcuffs on themselves as part of a supposed magic trick, then rape, torture, and kill them by asphyxiation or strangulation. He buried 26 victims in the crawl space beneath his house, three elsewhere on the property, and discarded four in the Des Plaines River.[^1]
Gacy was charged with 33 counts of murder. The Illinois Supreme Court recorded that he told police he had killed about 30 people, that excavation of the crawl space and the area around the house recovered 29 bodies (from the crawl space, under the driveway and under the garage), and that four bodies were recovered from the Des Plaines and Illinois rivers, downstream from where he said he had thrown them. The record describes a "rope trick" with a rosary used to strangle victims and testimony that victims were tricked into handcuffs; six bodies were found with ligatures around the neck and 13 with cloth or other material in the mouth and throat.[^2]
Gacy was arrested in December 1978 following the disappearance of 15-year-old [[Robert Piest]], the final victim. Police traced the last known contact to Gacy, and the subsequent investigation uncovered the bodies in the crawl space. He was convicted on 33 counts of murder and sentenced to death on March 13, 1980. He was executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994.[^1]
Gacy was arrested in December 1978 following the disappearance of 15-year-old [[Robert Piest]], the final victim, who had told his mother he was going to see a building contractor about a summer job. Police traced the last known contact to Gacy, and the subsequent investigation uncovered the bodies in the crawl space. He was convicted of 33 counts of murder, with death sentences on 12 counts and natural-life terms on the other 21, the death verdict returned on March 13, 1980; the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed on June 6, 1984.[^2] He was executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994.
The house at 8213 West Summerdale was demolished after Gacy's arrest. A new structure was built on the lot.[^2]
The house at 8213 West Summerdale was demolished after Gacy's arrest. A new structure was built on the lot.[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "John Wayne Gacy," Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy
[^2]: "What Happened to John Wayne Gacy's House?" *Newsweek,* 2022. https://www.newsweek.com/john-wayne-gacy-house-now-what-happened-location-1701023
[^1]: Norwood Park Historical Society, "Defining Norwood Park" and "History of Norwood Park," https://norwoodparkhistoricalsociety.org/defining-norwood-park/ and https://norwoodparkhistoricalsociety.org/about-chicagos-norwood-park-neighborhood/
[^2]: People v. Gacy, 103 Ill. 2d 1 (1984) (Illinois Supreme Court, No. 53212, opinion filed June 6, 1984), https://static.case.law/ill-2d/103/html/0001-01.html
[^3]: "What Happened to John Wayne Gacy's House?" *Newsweek,* 2022. https://www.newsweek.com/john-wayne-gacy-house-now-what-happened-location-1701023