The_Info_Web/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Michael Rossi.md

category	tags	updated	summary
Criminals & Offenders	Person OrganizedCrime	2026-10-15	Michael Rossi was an employee of John Wayne Gacy who lived at his Norwood Park home and was named by Gacy as an accomplice in the murders of young men during the 1970s.

Michael Rossi was an employee of John Wayne Gacy who lived with him at his Norwood Park home and was named by Gacy as an accomplice in the rape, torture, and murder of young men during the 1970s. Rossi worked for Gacy's construction company Painting Decorating Maintenance and was in possession of John Szyc's car at the time Szyc disappeared in January 1977, telling detectives Gacy had given it to him. Rossi had lived with Gacy on and off at the Norwood Park house along with another employee named David Cram.¹

During Gacy's interrogation following his arrest in December 1978, he named Rossi and David Cram as accomplices who had buried bodies in the crawlspace beneath his home. Gacy claimed to have multiple personalities and confessed in the third person to the murders of Robert Piest, John Butkovich, and John Szyc, stating that Rossi and Cram were involved and had dug graves in the crawlspace. Cram and Rossi testified at the 1980 trial that they dug trenches in the crawl space. Rossi testified that he helped dig them and supervised newer employees who dug there, and that Gacy placed markers showing where the trenches were to go.² Cram testified that Gacy described the trenches as purportedly for drainage purposes.² The writer S. Dovey wrote that both men denied knowing the purpose of the trenches and that Rossi and Cram testified that Gacy claimed to work for a crime syndicate involved in "setting people up," with Cram stating Gacy told him victims' identification cards were "from some kind of deceased people" and "had something to do with setting people up for the crime syndicate."¹ Rossi testified that Gacy said he had been involved in "over 30 syndicate-related killings," and that Gacy told Cram the same, which Rossi believed.³ On December 16, 1978, Cram told Des Plaines police that Gacy said he worked for a syndicate and had set people up before.⁴

On December 17, 1978, Rossi told Des Plaines police that Cram had telephoned him that morning, and that Cram had also found wallets in Gacy's garage.⁵ Terry Sullivan wrote that Rossi, whom he calls Dick Walsh, gave erratic and inconsistent responses on a polygraph administered by Joseph Kozenczak, who could render no definite opinion.⁶ On December 21, 1978, Rossi was unloading tools at Cram's house when Gacy arrived; Sullivan reports that Rossi testified Gacy told him and Cram of over thirty killings, that he dug one trench between knee and hip depth and about a foot wide, refused to dig a second, and supervised others after Gacy marked locations with sticks.⁷

Rossi, 20, testified on February 12, 1980 that he dug knee-high drainage trenches for Gacy in summer 1977, that Gacy marked the digging areas with sticks and got very upset if the markers were moved (an answer to defense attorney Robert Motta), that 800 to 900 pounds of lime were put in the crawl space on Gacy's orders, and that the house sometimes smelled musty; prosecutors charged, as reported, that Gacy ordered ditches dug because he wanted graves available. Rossi and Cram both testified they lived with and worked for Gacy despite his sexual propositions, and that Gacy told them he had admitted to police involvement in "syndicate" slayings of more than 30 youths.⁸

One of the victims, nineteen-year-old John Mowery, had moved into an apartment with Rossi just days before his disappearance. Two of Mowery's friends visited the apartment looking for him and spoke with Rossi, who told them Mowery was away for a few days but then asked if they would take his dog. The friends claimed Rossi also mentioned a place where dead bodies were buried during that same conversation, describing how "he knew of a location where there were a bunch of dead bodies that nobody knew about, not even the police" while saying it with what one witness described as "such a terrible smirk on his face."¹

Connections to the Odyssey Network

Gacy named a third accomplice beyond Rossi and Cram: Phillip Paske, and through him a fourth, John David Norman. Gacy said he was introduced to Paske through David Cram, describing Paske as a dangerous child pimp who procured boys for sex and movies. Gacy stated that Cram, Rossi, and Paske all had keys to his house and frequently used it during periods he was out of town. In a recorded conversation later played publicly, Gacy stated: "Aside from the twelve keys, we already know that Rossi, Cram, Paske, and Norman were involved in the case. And you know something, what's funny, these sons of bitches know it too." Rossi reportedly hired former state attorney Ed Hanrahan to represent him during the investigation. A victim named Jeff Rignall, who was chloroformed and raped by Gacy at the Norwood Park home in early 1978, stated at least one other person was present during the assault. Police were reported in 1979 to be looking at Rossi and two others as possible accomplices.¹

Footnotes

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1. Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar. ↩︎

2. People v. Gacy, 103 Ill. 2d 1 (1984), Illinois Supreme Court, No. 53212, June 6, 1984, testimony summaries of David Cram and Michael Rossi. https://static.case.law/ill-2d/103/cases/0001-01.json ↩︎

3. Testimony of Michael Rossi, People v. Gacy, Circuit Court of Cook County, Indictment Nos. 79-69 et al., trial transcript Volume 5 of 13, February 1980, index pages 938 to 1064. https://archive.org/details/Gacy_trial ↩︎

4. Des Plaines Police Department, John Wayne Gacy investigation file, part 5 of 6, interview of David Cram, December 16, 1978. https://archive.org/details/Gacy_DesPlainesPD ↩︎

5. Des Plaines Police Department, John Wayne Gacy investigation file, part 5 of 6, statement of Michael Rossi, December 17, 1978. https://archive.org/details/Gacy_DesPlainesPD ↩︎

6. Terry Sullivan with Peter T. Maiken, Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders (Grosset & Dunlap, 1983), pp. 129 to 130. ↩︎

7. Sullivan, Killer Clown, pp. 140 to 141, 285. ↩︎

8. United Press International, "Gacy had youths dig trenches under suburban home: Witness," Journal Gazette and Times-Courier (Mattoon, Illinois), February 13, 1980, p. 3. ↩︎