| Mystery and Crime Fiction posted September 14, 2009 |
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Based on a true story
Gruesome Secrets
by IndianaIrish
Write a Backwards Story Contest Winner
After sixteen years, it was over; justice had been served. When the doctor pronounced the unremorseful murderer dead, I experienced the relief of closure. I watched the injected medication make its way along the IV tubing and into the arm of the man strapped on the gurney. I was present outside the execution chamber to witness his death, and to represent the thirty-three lives he slaughtered.
“Kiss my ass!” he had said, and grinned at the people crammed into the viewing room after the Stateville Correctional Facility guard asked him if he had any last words.
He spent his fourteen years on death row by doing oil paintings of skulls, Christ, clowns, the seven dwarfs, and other killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer. During his time in prison, he believed he could out-smart the system by studying the law, and he filed numerous appeals and motions--all unsuccessful.
The sentence given to him: death by lethal injection. The trial lasted five weeks and the jury found him guilty of rape, torture, and murder of thirty-three young men and boys. The killer told a reporter during the trial, “I think the only thing I might be guilty of is running a cemetery without a license.”
When the investigation was over, the numbers were frightening—twenty-nine bodies were found in the crawlspace, in the yard, and under the garage, and eight of them remain unidentified. Three bodies found in the DesPlains River were linked to him, and the body of missing Bobby Piest was found in the Illinois River.
“I can draw you a map of where to look, Lieutenant Kozenczak. You’ll find the bodies without any trouble.”
“What else do you want to tell me?”
“I loved those boys, but I’d do different things to hurt them. I always had to stuff something in their mouths. They always screamed. I hated the damn screaming. They were so young and beautiful … I had to have them. I had to make them mine because I wanted them so bad. But it was the screaming that made me kill them. I had to stop it. I had a rope and would put it around their neck, and if they wouldn’t stop screaming, I’d tighten it until I couldn’t hear it any more. I could do anything I wanted to them.”
“How did you kill them?”
“It was so easy. All I had to do was offer a little money, alcohol, or pot, and they’d come home with me. I’d show them my “trick” handcuffs and dare ‘em to try to get out. Each one of them thought they were so smart, but they easily became mine to have. It was so easy.”
How did you get them to go with you?
“I may have done some nasty, rotten things in my life, but I’ve also done lots of good things, too. I’m president of the Jaycees, I’m the Democratic Party precinct captain, I visit the Pediatric Departments of the local hospitals, and I give huge neighborhood block parties for my friends and neighbors.”
“Are you a killer?”
He didn’t know the exact number of murders he’d committed, and when asked for any names, he said, “I dunno … most times I never asked.” Soon after his arrest, he made a confession.
When we arrived at the house on Summerdale, we found plenty of suspicious evidence: a boy’s high school class ring, male clothing too small for the suspect, drivers’ licenses of other people, handcuffs, syringes, a photo receipt from the pharmacy where Bobby Piest worked, and a very offensive odor coming from the basement of the house.
As a detective and member of the Des Plaines, Illinois Police Department, I discovered the suspect had been arrested years previously and had served time in an Iowa prison for sodomizing a young boy. With information obtained from the background check, we were able to get a search warrant, and our investigation began.
“Please, Lieutenant … find my son. Bobby called last night after working at the drugstore, and said he was going to talk to a man about a job who owns a construction company. He might have been the last person to see him, so please go talk to him. My son said he was going to see a man named John Wayne Gacy.”
The web of secrets woven by a prolific serial killer began to unravel when Mrs. Piest came to the police station to report her son missing.
After sixteen years, it was over; justice had been served. When the doctor pronounced the unremorseful murderer dead, I experienced the relief of closure. I watched the injected medication make its way along the IV tubing and into the arm of the man strapped on the gurney. I was present outside the execution chamber to witness his death, and to represent the thirty-three lives he slaughtered.
“Kiss my ass!” he had said, and grinned at the people crammed into the viewing room after the Stateville Correctional Facility guard asked him if he had any last words.
He spent his fourteen years on death row by doing oil paintings of skulls, Christ, clowns, the seven dwarfs, and other killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer. During his time in prison, he believed he could out-smart the system by studying the law, and he filed numerous appeals and motions--all unsuccessful.
The sentence given to him: death by lethal injection. The trial lasted five weeks and the jury found him guilty of rape, torture, and murder of thirty-three young men and boys. The killer told a reporter during the trial, “I think the only thing I might be guilty of is running a cemetery without a license.”
When the investigation was over, the numbers were frightening—twenty-nine bodies were found in the crawlspace, in the yard, and under the garage, and eight of them remain unidentified. Three bodies found in the DesPlains River were linked to him, and the body of missing Bobby Piest was found in the Illinois River.
“I can draw you a map of where to look, Lieutenant Kozenczak. You’ll find the bodies without any trouble.”
“What else do you want to tell me?”
“I loved those boys, but I’d do different things to hurt them. I always had to stuff something in their mouths. They always screamed. I hated the damn screaming. They were so young and beautiful … I had to have them. I had to make them mine because I wanted them so bad. But it was the screaming that made me kill them. I had to stop it. I had a rope and would put it around their neck, and if they wouldn’t stop screaming, I’d tighten it until I couldn’t hear it any more. I could do anything I wanted to them.”
“How did you kill them?”
“It was so easy. All I had to do was offer a little money, alcohol, or pot, and they’d come home with me. I’d show them my “trick” handcuffs and dare ‘em to try to get out. Each one of them thought they were so smart, but they easily became mine to have. It was so easy.”
How did you get them to go with you?
“I may have done some nasty, rotten things in my life, but I’ve also done lots of good things, too. I’m president of the Jaycees, I’m the Democratic Party precinct captain, I visit the Pediatric Departments of the local hospitals, and I give huge neighborhood block parties for my friends and neighbors.”
“Are you a killer?”
He didn’t know the exact number of murders he’d committed, and when asked for any names, he said, “I dunno … most times I never asked.” Soon after his arrest, he made a confession.
When we arrived at the house on Summerdale, we found plenty of suspicious evidence: a boy’s high school class ring, male clothing too small for the suspect, drivers’ licenses of other people, handcuffs, syringes, a photo receipt from the pharmacy where Bobby Piest worked, and a very offensive odor coming from the basement of the house.
As a detective and member of the Des Plaines, Illinois Police Department, I discovered the suspect had been arrested years previously and had served time in an Iowa prison for sodomizing a young boy. With information obtained from the background check, we were able to get a search warrant, and our investigation began.
“Please, Lieutenant … find my son. Bobby called last night after working at the drugstore, and said he was going to talk to a man about a job who owns a construction company. He might have been the last person to see him, so please go talk to him. My son said he was going to see a man named John Wayne Gacy.”
The web of secrets woven by a prolific serial killer began to unravel when Mrs. Piest came to the police station to report her son missing.
Write a Backwards Story Contest Winner |
 Recognized |
|
Contest Requirements:
You must write a mystery and crime story completely from the end to the beginning. Start with wrapping it up, then give us the climax, and work your way through all the way back to introducing your characters. Be careful not to try to introduce anything new until you get to the end.
The winner will be the one who is best able to write in reverse, and still keep us captivated.
Minimum 500 words, maximum 2500.
Thanks for reading and commenting. This was difficult! I'm sure you'll find some goofs, but the deadline creeped up on me (hope not too many goofs, though.)
Indy :>)
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