The Case of John Antheney Mowery

John Antheney Mowery, 19, disappeared on September 25, 1977, during the height of John Wayne Gacy's murder spree. He was later identified as one of Gacy's victims after investigators excavated the crawl space beneath Gacy's Norwood Park Township home in December 1978. His remains were recovered alongside those of numerous other young men.

John Mowery was 19 years old and lived in the Chicago area. He disappeared on September 25, 1977, only ten days after the disappearance of Robert Gilroy Jr. The two cases occurred during a particularly active period in Gacy's offending, when young men were disappearing at increasingly short intervals. At the time, there was no recognised connection between Mowery's disappearance and the other missing young men. Gacy continued to maintain his ordinary public life while concealing the bodies of his victims beneath his home.

Mowery was murdered by Gacy and his body was concealed beneath 8213 West Summerdale Avenue in Norwood Park Township. Gacy had established a burial site beneath the house where he concealed many of his victims. The bodies remained undiscovered until December 1978, when investigators began excavating the property after Gacy became the focus of the Robert Piest investigation. Mowery's remains were among those recovered from beneath the house.

Mowery's disappearance remained unresolved for more than a year. The investigation into Gacy began in December 1978 after 15-year-old Robert Piest disappeared from a Des Plaines pharmacy. Piest had reportedly been seen speaking with Gacy shortly before his disappearance, prompting police to investigate Gacy and search his home. Investigators discovered human remains beneath the property. The excavation continued as more bodies were uncovered, revealing that Gacy had been killing and secretly burying young men for several years. Mowery's remains were eventually matched to his missing-person case and identified as those of the 19-year-old Chicago-area teenager.

John Wayne Gacy was convicted of John Mowery's murder in 1980, along with 32 other murders, and sentenced to death. Mowery's remains were recovered from Gacy's home during the 1978 excavation and subsequently identified. Gacy was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center on May 10, 1994.

John Mowery was Gacy's eighteenth identified victim in the chronological sequence. His murder occurred only ten days after Robert Gilroy Jr.'s disappearance and during the period when Gacy's killings were occurring with increasing frequency. The short intervals between victims during September and October 1977 help illustrate the acceleration of Gacy's offending.