Presumed Victim of John Wayne Gacy Found Alive and in Florida

By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 26, 2011 6:20PM

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart's attempts to identify the remains of the eight unidentified victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy is already producing results.

Harold Wayne Lovell, long presumed to be one of Gacy's victims, was found to be living in Florida after his family submitted a DNA kit for testing.

Lovell went missing in 1979. His family stopped their search years ago after a reconstructive sketch of one of the unidentified Gacy victims resembled him. Lovell's sister, Theresa Hasselberg, was one of the families that requested a DNA kit in the weeks following the exhumation of the unidentified victims.

What they received instead was a hit for an online booking photo and a police record for Lovell. Here's a mugshot of Lovell, taken during a pot bust in Pinellas County, FL.

The 53-year-old Lovell was reunited with his family yesterday. Lovell said in an interview, "I've gone from having nothing to having all this. It's awesome." We can only assume that Lovell and his family, who didn't have the best relationship with each other growing up, probably have a ton questions to ask each other.

A family that, today, has closure.