The Case of Robert Edward Gilroy Jr.

Robert Edward Gilroy Jr., 18, disappeared on September 15, 1977, after leaving his home in Chicago. He was later identified as one of John Wayne Gacy's victims after investigators discovered his remains beneath Gacy's Norwood Park Township home in December 1978. Gilroy's murder occurred during the increasingly concentrated period of Gacy's killings in 1977.

Robert Gilroy Jr. was 18 years old and lived in Chicago. He disappeared in September 1977, during one of the most active periods of John Wayne Gacy's known murder series. By the time Gilroy disappeared, Gacy had already killed numerous young men and boys and was continuing to conceal their bodies beneath his home. The disappearances of young men in Chicago were not yet recognised as being connected to a single offender. Gilroy's disappearance would remain unresolved for more than a year before the investigation into Gacy exposed the burial site beneath his house.

Gilroy was murdered by Gacy and his body was concealed beneath 8213 West Summerdale Avenue in Norwood Park Township. Gacy had been using the crawl space beneath the house as a burial site for his victims. Investigators eventually excavated the property after Gacy's arrest in December 1978 and recovered numerous sets of human remains. Gilroy's remains were among those recovered from the property.

Gilroy's disappearance was investigated as a missing-person case, but there was initially no known connection to Gacy. The investigation changed following the disappearance of 15-year-old Robert Piest in December 1978. Piest had been seen speaking with Gacy at a Des Plaines pharmacy shortly before disappearing, prompting police to investigate Gacy. A search of Gacy's home uncovered evidence that led investigators to the crawl space. Human remains were discovered, and the excavation ultimately revealed the scale of Gacy's crimes. Investigators compared the recovered remains with missing-person cases involving young men from the Chicago area. Gilroy was subsequently identified as one of the victims.

John Wayne Gacy was convicted of Robert Gilroy Jr.'s murder in 1980, along with 32 other murders, and sentenced to death. Gilroy'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.

Robert Gilroy Jr. was Gacy's seventeenth identified victim in the chronological sequence. His murder occurred on September 15, 1977, during a period when Gacy's killings were becoming increasingly frequent. Several additional victims would disappear in the final months of 1977, creating one of the most concentrated periods of his known offending.