Some of the original investigators who worked on the John Wayne Gacy murders say they wanted to relaunch those investigations nearly 20 years ago, revealing that Gacy himself told them about the possibility of more victims.
Retired Des Plaines Police Chief John Kozenczak said he vividly remembers watching FBI profiler Bob Ressler pressing Gacy during hours of taped prison interviews.
"John, how many people? How many people do you think you killed?," Kozenczak recalled Tuesday.
Eventually, words from the mouth of the monster himself confirmed to investigators that they should be begin immediately looking for more bodies in many more places.
Kozenczak said Gacy told Ressler the body count could be "well past 50."
That "well past 50" includes the 33 already-known victims, but could Gacy also be tied to the as many as 27 missing persons cases in 14 states and Canada? Recently re-discovered travel documents put Gacy in those locales at about the same time that several white men -- victims that fit Gacy's profile -- went missing.
"My gut has always told me that there is a distinct possibility that there are other victims," said Terry Sullivan, one of the men who prosecuted Gacy.
But Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said he believe that back then, an out-of-state Gacy victim probe would have been too costly and too difficult.
"They tools they had were so different than what we have. I mean, it was like operating in the stone age compared to what we have now. We have DNA and all sorts of things that can help," said Dart.
But Kozenczak said he always had a hunch and, though frustrated it took so long, applauds the sheriff's new effort.
