The United States is home to some of the most notorious and prolific serial killers in history. Names such as Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgeway, and the Zodiac Killer have become household names due to the horrific nature of their crimes. One of the most pro Social construction of disability lific serial killers in American history is John Wayne Gacy. Nicknamed the Killer Clown because of his profession, Gacy Social construction of disability  raped and murdered at least 33 teenage boys and young men between 1972 and 1978, which is one of the highest known victim counts. Gacy’s tale has become so well known that his crimes have been featured in popular culture and TV shows, such as American Horror Story: Hotel and Criminal Minds. Forensic science has, and continues to, play an important role in the solving of the case and identification of the victims. John Wayne Gacy’s history of sexual and emotional abuse was instrumental in piquing investigator’s interest of him as a suspect. John Wayne Gacy was born on March 17, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois. Being the only son out of three children, Gacy had a strained relationship with his father, who drank heavily and was often abusive towards the entire family (Sullivan and Maiken 48). In 1949, a contractor, who was a family friend, would fondle Gacy during rides in his truck; however, Gacy never revealed these encounters to his parents for fear of retribution from his father (Fore Social construction of disabilityman 54). His father’s psychological abuse continued on into his young adult years, and Gacy moved to Las Vegas where he worked briefly in the ambulance service before becoming a mortuary attendant (Sullivan and Maiken 50). As a mortuary attendant, Gacy was heavily involved in the embalming process and admitted that one evening, he climbed into the coffin of a deceased teenage boy and caressed the body (Cahill and Ewing 4 Social construction of disability 6). Shocked at himself, Gacy returns to Chicago to live with his family and graduates from Northwestern Business College in 1963, and accepts a management trainee position with Nunn-Bush Shoe Company. In 1964, Gacy is transferred to Springfield and meets his future wife, Marlynn Myers. In Springfield, Gacy has his second homosexual exper Social construction of disability ience when a coworker drunkenly performed oral sex on him (London 11:7). Gacy moves to Waterloo, Iowa, and starts a family with Myers. However, after regularly cheating on his wife with prostitutes, Gacy commits his first known sexual assault in 1967 upon Donald Vorhees. In the coming months, Gacy sexually abuses several other youths and is arrested and charged with oral sodomy (Sullivan and Maiken 60). On December 3, 1 Social construction of disability 968, Gacy is convicted and sentenced to ten years at the Anamosa State Penitentiary. Gacy becomes a model inmate at Anamosa and is granted parole in June of 1970, a mere 18 months after his sentencing. He was forced to relocate to Chicago and live with his mother and observe a 10:00PM curfew. Less than a year later, Gacy is charged again with sexually assaulting a teenage boy but the youth did not appear in court, so>