The Case of Francis Wayne Alexander

Francis Wayne Alexander, who was 21 or 22 when he was killed, was identified in 2021 as one of John Wayne Gacy's victims. Alexander had moved from North Carolina to Chicago in 1975 after previously living in New York. His remains were among those recovered from Gacy's home in 1978, but remained unidentified for more than four decades until genetic genealogy and DNA testing finally established his identity.

Francis Wayne Alexander was born in North Carolina and later lived in New York before moving to Chicago in 1975. He had married while living in New York, but the marriage lasted approximately three months before ending in divorce in 1975. After moving to Chicago, Alexander worked in bars and clubs and lived on the city's North Side. He was living only a short distance from areas frequented by Gacy and where several of Gacy's other victims also lived. Very little was known about Alexander's final months. Investigators determined that he was killed by Gacy sometime between early 1976 and early 1977, when he would have been approximately 21 or 22 years old. Because there was no known connection between Alexander and Gacy, his disappearance did not immediately lead investigators to the serial killer.

Alexander was murdered by Gacy and his remains were buried beneath Gacy's home at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue in Norwood Park Township. His remains were designated Victim No. 5 when investigators excavated Gacy's property in December 1978. Unlike many of the victims, however, investigators were unable to determine his identity at the time. The remains remained unidentified for more than four decades.

Gacy's arrest in December 1978 led to the excavation of his property and the discovery of 26 sets of remains beneath the home. Alexander was one of the victims whose identity could not be established during the original investigation. In 2011, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart reopened the effort to identify the remaining unidentified Gacy victims. Investigators exhumed the unidentified remains and began applying newer forensic techniques that had not been available during the original investigation. The breakthrough came through a partnership between the Cook County Sheriff's Office and the DNA Doe Project. Genetic genealogy produced a potential connection to Alexander's family. Investigators then obtained DNA samples from Alexander's mother and a half-brother and found a strong genetic association with Victim No. 5. Investigators did not rely solely on the genetic match. They also examined financial records, public records and post-mortem information. Alexander's last known record was a traffic ticket issued in Chicago on January 5, 1976, and investigators found no evidence that he was alive after that period. His residence in an area frequented by Gacy and other victims further supported the identification. On October 25, 2021, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart publicly announced that Victim No. 5 had been identified as Francis Wayne Alexander. His family had been formally notified several days earlier.

Alexander's identification finally gave his family an answer more than 40 years after his remains were discovered. The Cook County Sheriff's Office confirmed that Victim No. 5 was Francis Wayne Alexander through genetic genealogy, DNA comparison and supporting investigative evidence. His identification reduced the number of unidentified Gacy victims from six to five. John Wayne Gacy had already been convicted and sentenced to death by the time Alexander was identified. Gacy was executed in Illinois in 1994.

Francis Wayne Alexander is an especially important CrimeTrakr case because his identity was unknown when Gacy was originally investigated and convicted. For more than four decades he was simply known as Gacy Victim No. 5. Modern forensic genealogy eventually restored his name and allowed his family to learn his fate. This case is therefore Notable: true — not simply because Alexander was a Gacy victim, but because his 2021 identification generated significant national and international news coverage and represented a major development in the continuing investigation into Gacy's unidentified victims.