All language subtitles for Invisible.Monsters.Serial.Killers.in.America.S01E03.Part.3.Catch.Me.if.You.Can.(1978-.1979).1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-Cinefeel

[haunting music]

[typewriter keys clacking]

- I was working at the
station that morning,

and our receptionist out
front brought his letter

back to the newsroom,
gave it to me.

The letter says,
and this is a quote,

"How many more people
do I have to kill

before I get my
name in the paper?"

That's a quote that
you don't forget.

[dramatic music]

[ominous music]

- Five of the most
prolific serial killers

in American history were all
operating at the same time.

- [Reporter] John Wayne
Gacy's criminal...

- [Reporter 2] Ted Bundy
is still alive...

- [Reporter 3] BTK might
- [Reporter 4] Jeffrey Dahmer.

- [Reporter 5] The so-called
Green River Killer

- [Detective] This was the
golden age of serial killers.

[ominous music]

- What sets this
group of men apart is

that they come across
as being fairly normal.

- [Detective] John Wayne Gacy
would hire young men

from the Chicago community.

He's searching for victims.

- My brother says, "Me and
this boy are working together,

and we're digging
around Gacy's house."

Well, it ended up, they were
digging their own graves.

[dark music]

- [Woman] Police were
unable to connect Gacy

to these crimes.

[dramatic music]

- [Detective] Rader
had left a book

in the library, and inside
that book was a letter.

- He wants to give
himself a brand,

and he says, my name is BTK

for bind, torture, and kill.

- And now he just needs
to take it up a notch

and make it an even
riskier behavior.

[dramatic music]

- [Newsman] Convicted
Utah kidnapper

Theodore Bundy has escaped.

- [Woman] It made the
county look really dumb

that he could jump out
of a window and escape.

- With guys like Bundy,
you have a success

and then another,
and then another.

And pretty soon, you start
to believe you're invincible.

[tense music]

- Serial killers like
Bundy, Gacy, and Rader

would get this additional thrill

from this cat-and-mouse game

that they're playing
with law enforcement.

So they're committing murder.

They're committing rape,

these vicious crimes that
have this power dynamic.

And then they're getting an
extra boost of power dynamic

by being able to

mess with the minds of
law enforcement.

- [Reporter] Streets of
Aspen are safe again.

Suspected multiple
murderer Theodore Bundy is

back in custody after an
absence of nearly seven days.

[tense music]

- After his first
escape in Aspen,

I visited him in the
jail in Glenwood.

And that's a more modern jail.

And supposedly a
more secure jail.

I noticed when I was
visiting him there

that Ted, who was never heavy,

had lost a lot of weight, lots.

- He was not eating
much, working out,

and working on losing weight.

- He found out that the
ventilation system

in his jail cell was
just a 12-inch grate.

- That opening led
into the second floor,

where the jailer lived.

His plan was that when he was
certain the jailer was out,

he would climb up that
opening in the ceiling,

get into the jailer's
apartment and then escape,

which is exactly what he did.

- [Reporter] Clever
convict crawled

through the ceiling of his
cell and escaped again.

- [Newscaster] Bordered
on a Houdini escapade.

Ground units,
helicopters and dogs

have been searching for Bundy.

- The search reaches all
over the West right now.

It's gonna be a long time

before Theodore Bundy
is behind bars again.

- I helped send him health food.

I helped get him a
telephone in his cell.

If I hadn't have
helped him get skinny,

unbeknownst to me, well, he
probably wouldn't have fit

through that 12-inch square.

I've always felt bad about
some of the things I did.

But as a defense lawyer, I
did what I'm supposed to do.

So Ted's in Ann Arbor, Michigan,

before they announce
he's escaped.

[TV sportscaster talking]

He was in the bar
watching the Rose Bowl

when the ticker thing
came across the thing.

It said Ted Bundy
just escaped.

[somber music]

- Back in the 1970s, you
did not have to show ID

when you bought a ticket.

You didn't have to
go through any kind

of security checks
at the airports.

You could get on trains
and planes and buses.

And he immediately
went to places

where the publicity about
him wasn't as pervasive.

We knew there would
be a bad ending,

and we did everything we
could to help law enforcement

throughout the country know

that there was a
killer on the loose.

But it doesn't get to everybody.

And it doesn't really get to
Florida, where he ends up.

- When crime started to
stretch across state lines,

law enforcement was
at a real disadvantage

'cause we just didn't
have that ability

to communicate with
anything other than actually

having to make a phone call
or with the teletype system.

So it's really an antiquated
way of communicating.

- The only news you got back

in that day was at six o'clock.

So nobody on the East
Coast knew who Bundy was.

As far as what was going
on on the West Coast,

back in the 70s, they
might as well have been

on another planet as
far as I was concerned.

[dark music]

- I was home and
sleeping with my family.

My phone rang.

They said, "Sheriff, we've
got murders and injuries

at the Chi Omega house at
the Florida State campus."

I said, "I'll be there."

[siren whaling]

When we arrived at the scene,

one of the women was being
rolled out on a stretcher.

As I stood there, I
said a prayer for her.

I didn't know if she was alive

or seriously
injured at the time.

- [Reporter] Police
say he simply walked in

through an unlocked door.

They say he was armed
with a heavy oak log.

[suspenseful music]

- He went from one room,
beat, badly, one victim,

crushing the skull,
dislocating the teeth,

breaking the jaw.

He left that room and
went to another room.

The same thing occurred.

And then the third room,

where there were
two young ladies.

He was beating on one

as the other one was
waking up from the noise,

turned to her and then
was beating on her.

[suspenseful music]

And when he knew he
needed to get out,

he went down the stairway.

But little did he know,

one young lady was
coming in that night.

She saw a side view of him.

[dramatic music]

- [Reporter] He clubbed
and then strangled to death

20-year-old Lisa Levy and
21-year-old Margaret Bowman.

At least one of them was raped.

Then he brutally beat Karen
Chandler and Kathy Kleiner.

- I got a radio call
while at the scene

of the Chi Omega house saying,

"Sheriff there's noises
coming from a duplex,"

which was only about
six blocks away.

He couldn't leave it
at what he had done.

He was in a frenzy.

And that's why he had to
go to another location.

He was not satisfied.

He was like a
shark, just eating.

[tense music]

The law enforcement
presence in the area,

the patrol cars, the lights,

and yet we had this
going on down the street.

When the deputy walked in,

there was the young lady in
a pool of blood on the floor.

We were not sure of the makeup

of a person that would do that.

Could the same
person go no further

than six blocks and not be able

to contain themselves enough?

- The cases in Florida
were somewhat different

from the cases in Seattle.

In Chi Omega in Florida,

you had hugely compulsive,
repeated murders

at the same time.

The cases in Florida
evidenced for us

that the killer was
really on a rampage,

that there was something in him

at this point that
was causing him

to commit these acts
in a crazed state.

- He was really out
of control by now.

To attack five
women in one night?

That was something
he'd never done.

[dark music]

- I remember distinctly,
as I'm driving,

I got a phone call.

There were only two telephones
in cars at that time.

I had a telephone in my car

and Governor Graham, governor
of the state of Florida.

And it was from Colorado,

investigators there saying
there had been an escape.

They heard about our murders,

and they said, "This man
murders women about that age."

And I asked for a name.

And they said, "His
name is Ted Bundy."

- The killer came
in from the night

and then returned to it

with an ease that has
so far baffled police.

[tense music]

- The whole world was upset
about the Chi Omega case.

The most tremendous manhunt

that you ever saw
was instituted.

Officers everywhere all
night long, surveillance.

- The Tallahassee police tell us

they don't have much
to go on right now.

No hard leads, no suspects.

They suspect the killer is
a student at the school.

- When we heard about
the cases in Chi Omega,

we immediately
thought it was Ted.

He could have varied from his MO

of killing one person at
a time to killing many.

Murderers don't always
do the exact same thing

over, over again, and
because of this compulsion

and the fact that he
had been locked up

for so long and
now was on the run,

he was going to keep
killing until he got caught.

- The first name within
the first few hours

associated with this
crime was Ted Bundy.

But it wasn't really
taken seriously

because he chose
a different M.O.

than what we thought
he would have.

And that's where he confused me.

So we were looking for leads.

We were asking people if
they saw anybody that night

at about that time.

[somber music]

- Bundy was still
trying to operate

in Tallahassee, the
flame was just too hot.

And he finally decided it
was time for him to go.

And he stole a van

and came west on US 90
looking for a victim.

- When we look at the
five serial killers,

the fact that they're
all psychopaths

tells you that they're
egocentrically driven.

They think that
they are in control,

that everything about
them is important.

- Theodore Bundy is
suspected of killing

three dozen women
throughout the West.

- But Rader was unique in
the sense that he was like,

I see what's going
on with Bundy.

He's got a lot of press.

He's becoming quite infamous.

- [Patrick] Before trial,
he escaped, was captured,

then last month, escaped again.

And he's still free.

- [Mark] I'm jealous of him.

I want that same
kind of notoriety.

[dramatic music]

- Dennis Rader apparently wants

more attention or just as
much attention as Ted Bundy.

After seven killings,

he wasn't getting
any publicity still.

No one had connected
the murders.

So two months after
Nancy Fox is murdered,

Channel 10 Kake-TV
gets a letter.

- I was working at the
station that morning,

and our receptionist out
front brought his letter

back to the newsroom and said,

"I think we have a
letter from BTK."

In it was a poem.

And I say, "You know, we've
gotta tell the police about it."

[dark music]

- Well, that was it.

Police had to go
public with the fact

they had a serial
killer on their hands.

The police chief back
then, Richard LaMunyon,

immediately called
a news conference.

And for the first
time, told Wichita,

"We have a serial
killer on the loose,

and he is claiming
responsibility

for, Oteros, Nancy
Fox, and Shirley Vian.

- This morning,
KAKE-TV was contacted

by the person who
police say they believe

murdered four members of
the Joseph Otero family

in January of 1974.

- It was signed with
the initials BTK.

He provided a list
of his victims,

with many details known
only to the police.

BTK began today's
letter with a question,

"How many do I have to kill

before I get a name in the paper

or some national attention?"

[dark music]

- "How many people
do I have to kill

before I get my
name in the paper?"

- That's a quote that
you don't forget.

I remember that my
entire life now.

- After reviewing the
contents of the letter,

there's absolutely no question

that the only person
who would have the type

of information that was
included in the letter,

would have to be
the killer himself.

- That was the moment that
BTK became a household name.

He lived to get his
name in the paper.

- There's this cat-and-mouse
nature to the relationship

between the serial
killer and police.

That might also
enhance the thrill,

this idea that I don't
want to get caught,

but it could happen
at any minute.

So he risks at all by
reaching out to the media,

reaching out to law enforcement,

to maintain that thrill.

- Do you know what the
initials BTK stand for?

- Yes, it's our feeling
that the initials

that were placed there stand
for bind, torture and kill.

[somber music]

- Once the police
department announced

that there was a guy called BTK,

and he was now a serial killer,

Wichita grew up a little bit.

We were not the innocent
little Midwestern city anymore.

All of a sudden, we had
a monster in our midst.

- You're not dealing with
a quote normal criminal.

You're dealing with a
person who is perverted,

a person that is sick.

- After that, it
was never the same.

Every woman and man started
locking their doors,

watching if there's
anyone behind them.

Wichita was scared.

- This individual is responsible

for seven murders in our city.

And with all probability,

that person is gonna kill again.

- Viewers were asked to call

the major case
squad at 268-4156.

- Call us.

We need all the citizens' help

and all the input we can get.

[tense music]

- The media from
the very beginning

have been wrapped
up in the case.

Law enforcement did
seek out the help

of the media in
the investigation.

- It was thought
by psychologists

who were working with the
Wichita Police Department,

that perhaps a subliminal
message might work.

[suspenseful music]

- In one of the
communications that he sent,

he sent a drawing.

And the drawing was
a pair of glasses

that he took off
one of the victims.

That stuck out to
the investigators.

They thought that the glasses
meant something to him.

[suspenseful music]

- We made this slide
that said call the chief.

And it was spliced
in for an instant.

And when you were
watching television,

it just look like a blip
going across the screen.

- [Richard] That's the
Kathryn Bright murder

that occurred in April of 74.

- The plan was, from
the psychologist,

that he would see this and
he would call the chief,

and they could talk.

They were trying everything
to catch this guy.

[dramatic music]

[pulsing music]

- Through one of the
chief's messages,

there was a subliminal message.

- That's the Kathryn
Bright murder

that occurred in April of 74.

- Chief LaMunyon was
more forward looking

as far as technology.

Back then, if you
could think of it,

the chief probably
made it happen.

It was tried.

- I think it was a
cutting-edge thinking

that this would really work.

They were in a position
where they would take

any measure to try to
solve these homicides.

[tense music]

- It was back in the day
in which they thought

a subliminal message might be
the answer to their problem.

It wasn't.

It didn't work.

And it almost sounds
laughable today.

And it probably is.

- That just shows you what
they were willing to try

at that time, the open
mindedness to try new techniques

when you're taking on a killer

that you've never had
to take on before.

- [Interviewer] There've been
a lot of crimes in society

that have never been solved.

Is this gonna be one of 'em?

- I think we'll solve the crime.

The question is, when
will we solve the crime?

- When you think
about serial killers,

they're very proud
of what they've done.

[threatening music]

They've enjoyed it.

They monitor and watch
other serial killers.

And it's a really exciting
period of their life.

- Well, they're still
looking for a murder suspect

Theodore Bundy,
who is celebrating...

- There were several
serial killers

watching Bundy, and Gary
Ridgway was one of them.

He's in the same area.

He's in Seattle, watching
the news about Bundy.

And at the same time, he is
cultivating his own fantasies.

And so the foundations of his
future acts are being set.

- A serial killer may have
already thought through

in great detail
about the behaviors

he wishes to engage in,

and all he needs is
the right moment.

In just four years, Ridgway
will pick up Bundy's torch

and continue terrorizing
the Washington state area.

[dramatic music]

[tense music]

- [Ken] The investigation
into the Chi Omega murders

was vigorous and extensive.

- [Policeman] The suspect
should be considered

armed and dangerous.

- I obviously didn't
think somebody escaping

in Colorado would be the one
that committed these crimes.

[tense music]

We were doing
everything to isolate

anybody that may have
seen someone unusual

or different in the area,

but we really had little
more to go on than that

until an orange
Volkswagen is puttering

along in Pensacola.

- And he is skulking
around late at night

in a kind of an industrial area

when he is seen by Pensacola
Police Officer David Lee.

- [David] It was a suspicious
vehicle behind a building.

And as a matter of routine,

I was running a check on the tag

when it did come back
as a stolen vehicle.

- [Bob] He proceeds to make
a traffic stop on Bundy.

- And at that time, Ted Bundy
tried to get away from him.

- He grabbed my wrist,

and we had a struggle for
control of my revolver.

Of course, after several
minutes of fighting,

I did manage to subdue him by
striking him with my revolver

and completing the arrest
by placing the cuff

on his other hand and taking
him back to the patrol car.

- On the way to
jail, Bundy says,

"I wish you'd killed me."

But Bundy doesn't say
who he is at the time.

- [Reporter] Police arrested
this 31-year-old man

after a high-speed
chase Wednesday morning

in Pensacola, Florida.

He claimed to be a Florida
State University law student.

- Driver's licenses then
were mere pieces of paper,

and they didn't have
photographs on them.

At that time, he gave a name

of one of FSU's
athletes, Ken Meisner.

Except Ken Meisner
calls and says,

"I'm not in Pensacola.

I'm in Tallahassee,

and by the way, my
wallet was stolen."

So now we don't know
who this person is.

And he finally said,

"You don't know who
you have in custody.

I want to see investigators
from the city of Tallahassee."

And they called me and told me.

And I said, "Could it be?"

[dramatic music]

- I got a call from Mr. Rosebud.

He was very interested
in "Citizen Kane."

So I knew that it was Ted.

I figured if they don't
figure out he's Ted Bundy,

they're gonna release him.

I knew that if he was released
that he would kill again.

But as an attorney, I
couldn't turn him in.

That was the worst night
of my life as a lawyer.

[dark music]

- Finally, after they allow
him a call to a lawyer,

and he says, "Okay,
I'll tell you who I am.

I'm Ted Bundy."

Norman Chapman, who's the
investigator out there

says, "Okay, how
do you spell that?"

Which was a tremendous
letdown for Ted Bundy

'cause he thought
he was world famous.

And nobody in Florida
ever heard of him before.

- [Reporter] He has been
positively identified

as prison escapee
Theodore Bundy,

a suspect in the
rape-murder cases

of at least 36 young women.

[somber music]

- We were so happy that
somebody connected the dots

that he was in custody,
that maybe they could just

end this horror nightmare
that was going on for so long.

- All of law enforcement
started putting things together,

and it wasn't long
before Ted was tied

to the cases in Chi Omega

but also the murder of
a very young girl named

Kimberly Leach, who was
abducted just the week before.

- [Ken] We transported him
from Pensacola to Tallahassee.

I met him at the jail.

- [Dan] Leon County Sheriff
Ken Katsaris invited

reporters for a reading
of the indictment

to the defendant in
front of the press.

Something rarely done
in criminal cases.

- Mr. Bundy?
- You told me that

you told 'em that you
were gonna get me.

He said he was
gonna get me, okay?

You've got the indictment.

It's all you're gonna get.

- He was now in a new mode.

He knew he was in trouble.

He was going to try
to befriend, joke,

act like he couldn't possibly
be the monster that he was.

[tense music]

- [Narrator] As Bundy's
killings come to an end,

Jeffrey Dahmer is
just getting started.

[dramatic music]

- Steven Hicks was 17.

He was a good kid
and was hitchhiking.

And that was his big mistake.

[ominous music]

Jeffrey Dahmer's killing started

right after he graduated
from high school.

- Dahmer picks up
this young boy.

He brings him back to his place.

They engage in some
sexual activity.

There's some drinking going on.

Steven Hicks decides
I've had enough of this.

It's time for me to leave,

but Dahmer doesn't
want him to leave.

[dramatic music]

And the only way that
he could figure out

how to do this was to
basically kill him.

And he did it with massive
blunt force trauma.

- He dismembers
Steven Hicks's body

and places the parts
in garbage bags.

He throws them in
the back of his car.

And eventually he's
pulled over by the police

while he has these bags of
body parts in the back seat.

[suspenseful music]

- An officer saw
him, stopped him,

said he was going over the
midline, questioned him,

"What's going on here?"

He was cool.

Not a mad man, not a
man out of his mind.

Very cool, persuaded
the officer.

Gotta throw it, get
rid of the garbage.

Even under the stress, imagine,

of having a dead body
that you've killed

in the backseat, and
you're engaging an officer

in a relaxed way.

- Dahmer was only 18
years old at this time,

and, actually, of our
five serial killers,

he is the youngest in
terms of first kill.

[chilling music]

- We don't typically
see serial killers

starting out in
their late teens.

It's typically more
into the mid to late 20s

to early 30s,
because it takes time

to develop your fantasies,

to be comfortable
with who you are

before you start acting out.

[dramatic music]

[light music]

- Jeffrey Dahmer was
isolated psychologically

and physically from a
very, very young age.

- His mother was on
many prescription drugs.

She had some mental issues
she was dealing with.

- It's been said that she had

sort of a phobia
related to germs.

She didn't allow other people
to touch young Jeffrey,

and that might have
sort of precluded him

from normal social development.

What he underwent as a child

with a mother who
was doped up on drugs

and a father who was very aloof,

we could say that he
suffered a form of neglect.

And so while Jeffrey Dahmer
was not physically abused

or psychologically
abused, per se,

I do believe that that
neglect would have been

equally as impactful.

[dark music]

- When he had time,

he would find roadkill
and dissect animals.

He was fascinated by the inner
workings of these animals.

- He found a dead
dog in the woods,

and he disemboweled the dog

and cut its head
off and mounted it

on a stick in his yard.

And I think that was
almost like a training camp

of how to do the horrific crimes

that he ended up
doing in later years.

[dangerous music]

- He had desires
to find a human,

knock him out, and cut 'em open
to see what they were like.

- Dahmer himself
recounted in an interview

these fantasies began in
his early teenage years.

- That was the beginning
stages of what resulted

finally in Dahmer's first
victim, and 17 deaths.

That was the incipient
start of it, that fantasy.

[dramatic music]

[dark music]

- By the end of
1978, John Wayne Gacy

has reached this
height of arrogance.

He believes that
he is unstoppable.

- Since killing
Gregory Godzik in 1976,

Gacy has killed
14 more young men.

He gets away with it.

He gets more confidence,

more sort of self-assured,

lets the fantasies
out a little bit more.

Does it again and
again and again.

And in this way,

getting away with
it actually might be

further fueling the behavior.

- If you kill 30-some people
and you never got caught,

you begin to think you're
never gonna get caught.

But biggest mistake he
made was Robert Piest.

That was, that was the
beginning of the end.

[dramatic music]

- Robert Piest was a student

at Main Township
West High School.

[haunting music]

He was working at the Nisson
Pharmacy in Park Ridge.

- He was gonna get
off at nine o'clock.

His mother drove up
there to pick him up

to take him home

to cut the birthday
cake for her birthday.

He said to her before
he went outside,

"Mom, I'll be right back.

I'm gonna go talk to this
contractor about a job."

- That was the last
time he's seen alive.

[dramatic music]

- [Greg] The parents went
directly to the police station,

and because it
was late at night,

the detectives said,

"Well, just come back
tomorrow morning."

- Police departments in
those days had a 72-hour rule

that in terms of a
personal disappearance,

the person is just
assumed a runaway,

and he'll probably come back.

And we'll talk to you
three days from now.

- Runaway culture was rampant.

In 1977 in Chicago alone,

almost 20,000 people
are reported missing.

[suspenseful music]

- But with Robert
Piest, we all knew

that he did not just run away.

It was his mother's birthday.

She came up there
to pick him up.

That doesn't spell runaway.

That spells
something's amiss here.

Something stinks.

- [William] So they began
their investigation that night.

[tense music]

- I remember the
piece on the news.

They showed pictures
of Mrs. Piest

waiting for her son
at this drug store.

- [Reporter] 15-year-old
Robert Piest vanished

from his Des Plaines,
Illinois, neighborhood

after telling his
mother that he was going

to see a contractor
about a summer job

that paid $5 an hour.

- My brother's been
gone like two years.

My parents did everything
that they possibly

could think of and had
nothing but dead ends.

I remember my
mother saying to me,

she says, "Oh my God,
I sure hope that lady

doesn't have to go through
what I went through.

I don't want her to have
to experience having

no Christmas with their son."

- The Des Plaines police
called the owners of the store.

They said, "Well, the
only guy that was there

that night was our
contractor, John Gacy."

[ominous music]

- The Des Plaines
Police Department

looked into Gacy's history.

- He had been arrested
in Iowa 10 years earlier

for sodomy involving
a young teenage boy.

All roads led to Gacy.

It was no question that
he was somehow involved.

It's just a question
of how much.

Everybody looked at each other

and said well, get
a search warrant.

Maybe the kid's being
held in the house.

[dark music]

- So they go in the house.

Everything looked
fine initially.

But when they went in the attic,

they found a variety
of sex toys, shackles,

a couple of driver's
licenses from young boys,

and a Main West class ring.

[ominous music]

- Had we been seasoned
serial killer investigators,

we would have realized
that this was

part of what a
serial killer does.

They keep souvenirs.

- Because so much of their
life is devoted to fantasy,

what we see is offenders
taking souvenirs or trophies.

- Rader did it.

Bundy did it.

Dahmer did it.

The purpose of these trophies is

to relive the experience
of the killing

after the murders.

- They can take this piece
out, look at it, touch it.

It's intoxicating.

It's powerful.

- At that point, the
lieutenant from Des Plaines

asked me, he says, "Do you
think we can charge him?"

And I says, "Well, what are
you gonna charge him with?

You don't have the body."

[dark music]

My mind went, he hid
the body someplace.

We said, "Well, let's
get the tail on him."

Two at a time, 24 hours
a day, 12-hour shifts.

- Back in 1978, I was

with the Des Plaines
Police Department.

I had been assigned to the
plainclothes tactical unit.

Bob Schultz and Ron Robinson
worked noon to midnight.

And then Mike
Albrecht and I worked

from midnight till noon.

Almost right from the get-go,

Gacy knew that he
was being tailed.

[dark music]

- We were in the Golden
Bear restaurant one morning,

and we sit a few tables away.

And he looks at us and he says,

"Guys, why don't we
just stop playing games?

Why don't you come on over here,

and we'll have
breakfast together?"

So that's what we do.

And he's trying to get
information from us.

We're trying to get
information from him.

At one point, he was talking
about volunteering himself

as a clown, and he
looks at me and he says,

"I gotta tell you, Dave,

this clown thing is AOK.

I can dress up as a clown,

and if I see a
good looking girl,

I can put my arm around
her and get a little feel."

He looks at me
right in the face,

and he says, "You know, Dave,

clowns can get
away with murder."

[ominous music]

And the hair on the back
of my head stood up.

But he obviously said
it intentionally.

That's how cocky
he was at the time.

[suspenseful music]

- All the while we
were hauling these kids

in left and right
that worked for him,

ex-wife, neighbors,
anybody that knew him,

we were interviewing them all.

- During their investigation,
they find out that two

of Gacy's employees
went missing:

John Butkovich and Godzik.

But the problem is that
both of those victims lived

in different police districts.

There was no communication
back and forth

between any of these districts.

- We had connected him to a
lot of kids that were missing,

but we had no body.

Without a body, you
don't have a murder.

[dark music]

- Throughout the investigation,

we were trying to
outmaneuver Gacy,

and Gacy was trying
to outmaneuver us.

But we were in
unchartered waters.

We really didn't know
how far we could go.

Mike and I kind of made a pact.

We're gonna go into
restaurants with him.

We're gonna go
into bars with him.

We'll go into job
sites with him.

But we're not
goin' in his house.

On the other hand, Schultz and
Robinson thought it was okay.

[dramatic music]

- It was cold, naturally,
it was December,

right before Christmas.

And Gacy being Gacy,

being a big shot that he was,

invites the cops
to come on in

for a cup of coffee, get warm.

Well, [chuckles] get warm.

- Schultz and
Robinson go inside.

They have some small talk.

Eventually, Schultz says,
"Hey, I gotta use the john.

Where's it at?"

And he says, "Oh,
go down the hallway.

And it's just on
your right-hand side.

You can't miss it."

[suspenseful music]

While in the washroom,
all of a sudden,

the heat kicks on.

- The vent was right
next to the toilet.

And it was connected directly

with the main heating
system in the crawlspace.

When the heat turned on,

you got this tremendous
immediate burst up

that particular vent,

and he smelled a smell that
he associated with death.

- If you've ever smelled
a decomposing body,

it's an odor that
you never forget.

Believe me, ask any cop.

[dramatic music]

[tense music]

- The surveillance
guys smelled an odor

coming out of the crawlspace.

It was the same
odor that you smell

when you go down to
the county morgue.

Can you arrest them for that?

No.

[dramatic music]

I thought I was gonna rip
the steering wheel off

the car in the
morning going to work.

I was like, we
gotta get this guy.

He's thumbing his nose at us.

It was like catch me if you can.

He felt he was invincible.

I called one of his employees.

I finally, I said, "Did you
ever see him get really mad?"

Gacy, did he lose his temper?

And he said, "Yeah,
I was digging.

He had me down in the
crawlspace, digging a trench."

Gacy came down,
checking on his work,

and he said he saw
where he was digging

and he lost his mind.

He was screaming and
hollering and swearing.

"No, no, no, I told
you don't dig there."

Well now, wait a minute.

What was so important
about the crawlspace?

[suspenseful music]

And why have we not found
any of these other kids?

We gotta get back in there.

We gotta get another
search warrant,

which we did.

[haunting music]

We all converged on the house,

and it was like,
okay, the crawlspace.

That's the first thing.

First thing they looked at,

and Dan jumped down there.

And he wasn't down
there, [scoffs]

he wasn't down there very long,

and he yelled up,
"I've got bones."

[dramatic music]

- I formally advised Gacy
that he was under arrest

for the charge of murder.

He was transported
back to Des Plaines PD.

And shortly after
we get back there,

he says, "Hey guys, I just
want to clear the air.

I think he knew, hey,
it's over for me,

but I still can get a little
bit of attention here.

[dramatic music]

Once we got in the
interview room,

he was loving it.

He was in control.

He was matter of fact about
how he killed these kids,

to the point of
actually bragging.

- [Reporter] Officers
armed with warrants

began searching the premises

for the bodies of young men

believed to have been
killed and buried there.

- [Newscaster] And
the house is giving up

its terrible secrets one by one.

- [Man] They found two bodies,
apparently of young boys.

- [Reporter] It may
be days or weeks

before police can
tell how many murders

were committed in this
quiet, residential community.

- Then it became a
circus after that.

I've never seen
anything like it.

The whole world was
showing up, presswise.

- Today, they found the bodies

of at least three young boys.

- Four more bodies.

[dramatic music]

- Six more bodies.

- [Reporter] Bringing
the total so far to 15.

- [Newscaster] News of
the multiple murders

has brought scores of
people to the scene.

- There are news crews,

news vehicles with cameras
propped up on top of them.

It was a circus atmosphere.

- [Reporter] Gacy's home has
become a tourist attraction.

Outsiders came here to
see bodies brought out

of Gacy's house.

[dramatic music]

- [Newscaster]
Investigators today

unearthed six more bodies.

- At last count,
27 bodies buried

under his house and garage.

And two more in a nearby river.

- You might be witnessing
one of the most

horrible crimes
perhaps in a century.

[reporters shouting questions]

- How is that possible,

that you could kill 33 people

and bury them under your house?

And the media just ate that up.

Nobody had had anywhere close
to that number of victims.

I mean, Gacy at the
time was probably

the most prominent serial
killer in the world.

[dramatic music]

- The legal preliminaries
are underway in Florida,

where Theodore Bundy
is charged with murder.

- Ted played to the cameras.

Here he was,
representing himself,

being a TV-star lawyer,
a big deal to Ted.

- If you're gonna have
capital punishment

in Illinois, John
Gacy deserves it.

- When I enlisted,
my roommate was

Private First Class
Jeffrey Dahmer.

- I remember those eyes,
those beady little eyes.

I am the only survivor of
the Green River Killer.