kind and for any other pertinent information about the case.
By the evening of December 12, the Des Plaines police knew the following about case #78-35203 and the suspect, John Wayne Gacy:
The black 1979 Oldsmobile that John Gacy drove, bearing license plate number PDM 42, was registered to PDM Contractors Corporation, as was the Chevrolet pickup with the snowplow attached.
Not a single friend or relative of Robert Jerome Piest had seen or heard from him since nine o’clock the previous evening.
Not a single friend or relative of Robert Jerome Piest considered him a likely candidate to run away from home. He had no recent troubles, no problems at school, no fights with girlfriends, friends,or family. He was a good student, an athlete, a hard worker, and a responsible young adult.
Linda Mertes confirmed that she had spoken to Robert Jerome Piest about the fact that John Wayne Gacy said that he hired his new employees at a starting pay of $5 per hour. She had specifically, although jokingly, mentioned that Rob should get a job with Gacy.
Kim Byers confirmed that Robert Jerome Piest had told her that he was going to talk to some contractor about a job just before he left Nisson Pharmacy at approximately nine o’clock the previous evening.
Elizabeth Piest confirmed that Robert Jerome Piest had told her that he was going to talk to a contractor about a new job just before he left Nisson Pharmacy at approximately nine o’clock the previous evening.
John Wayne Gacy had been arrested and convicted for the crime of sodomy in Waterloo, Iowa, and had been sentenced to ten years in the Iowa Men’s Reformatory at Anamosa on May 20, 1968. He had been granted early release and had been paroled to Chicago, Illinois, on June 19, 1970.
John Wayne Gacy had been arrested and charged with aggravated battery and reckless conduct on June 22, 1972, in Northbrook, Illinois. This case had been dismissed.
John Wayne Gacy had been arrested and charged with battery on July 15, 1978, in Chicago, Illinois, Sixteenth District, and said charge was pending and unresolved.
Needless to say, John Wayne Gacy became the primary suspect in the disappearance of Robert Jerome Piest. There was evidence of both deviant and violent behavior in his past. As far as anyone knew, Gacy was the last person to see Rob. It was time to pay this guy a visit. It was time for Mr. Gacy to go on the record.
After a twelve-hour day, Officer Adams had family matters to attend to at home; however, he was replaced by Detective DavidSommerschield, who was brought up to speed by the other officers. Somebody said it. No one remembers who, but it got said; and unfortunately, all agreed:
“We have to get this motherfucker. This son of a bitch is either holding … or, more likely, has done something much worse to Rob Piest, no fucking question about it.”
Sometime around 9:00 p.m., exactly twenty-four hours since the last time anyone had seen Rob Piest, the four police officers piled into two unmarked squads—Kozenczak and Pickell in one, Olsen and Sommerschield in the other—and screeched out of the dark garage of the Des Plaines police headquarters, headed for the home of John Wayne Gacy. They had no clue what to expect when they arrived.
Rob Piest’s body remained resting silently in the attic above the hallway in Gacy’s house.
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M ICHAEL R OSSI HAD worked for PDM Contractors for about two years and, along with David Cram, had become a trusted and essential member of John Gacy’s contracting business and one of Gacy’s best friends, in spite of the nearly twenty years that separated their ages. Rossi had learned enough about the business to run jobs on his own, thereby freeing Gacy to take in more work. He had begun his employment as a green sixteen-year-old kid but had matured into an integral cog in the success of PDM Contractors.
As one of the perks of his job, Rossi was also allowed to use the company van, with the name of the company