More than three decades after his disappearance, the Cook County sheriff’s office put an identity to a boy who had long been known as “John Wayne Gacy victim #19.”
The family of William “Bill” George Bundy received confirmation Nov. 28 that their relative was among Gacy’s more than 30 murder victims after he went missing in October 1976.
Gacy is among Chicago’s most notorious serial killers. He is believed to have murdered at least 33 young boys, many of whom he admitted to molesting. He was executed in 1994.
Bundy was positively identified by the Cook County Sheriff’s office using new DNA technology, according to a statement released by the Sheriff’s office. Bundy’s brother and sister submitted DNA samples which was matched against DNA from the remains found in Gacy’s crawlspace.
According to the Sheriff’s office, Bundy’s mother had long suspected that her son was among those murdered by Gacy. She attempted to obtain the boy’s dental records to match them against remains found in Gacy’s house, but Bundy’s dentist had retired and destroyed his records.
Authorities have identified approximately two dozen Gacy victims, but eight still remain unknown.
Last month, Sheriff Tom Dart launched a new campaign to identify remaining victims. The search prompted two phone calls regarding Bundy. One came from his sister, and the other from a childhood friend who said he feared Bundy worked for Gacy’s construction company.
Gacy’s own DNA samples have also been entered into the system, according to the sheriff’s department. DNA information from Gacy and his victims will be entered into a Federal Bureau of Investigations database, where it can be cross-matched with unsolved cases throughout the county.