Dart's Gacy Investigation Solves A Cold Case In Utah

By Chuck Sudo in News on Sep 20, 2012 8:20PM

John Wayne Gacy

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s ongoing attempt to identify the John Doe remains continues to pay unexpected dividends. DNA samples collected by Dart’s office were able to help close a 34-year-old missing persons case with roots in central Illinois.

Daniel Noe of Peoria went missing in 1978. The last contact Noe had with his family was a Sept. 30, 1978 phone call with his father where he said he was headed back to his studies at Northwestern University. Noe, an experienced hiker, was following I-80 and hitchhiking his way back to Illinois.

A group of hikers found some human remains along a Utah mountainside in 2010. Noe’s family submitted DNA samples to Dart’s office, believing he may have been a victim of Gacy. Testing didn’t link Noe's family to any of the John Doe remains, but they did match the remains in Utah.

Noe’s mother, Phyllis, said the news was bittersweet.

“I think it’s wonderful they found the body after all these years,” said Noe’s mother, Phyllis Noe. “This is a lot better than him being killed by somebody like Gacy.”

Phyllis Noe told the Sun-Times her son was an avid cyclist and a competitive chess player. She and her husband ray gave up hope long ago that Daniel was still alive. Ray Noe said that didn’t stop creditors from calling their home several times a week over the next 20 years asking Daniel to pay off his student loans.

Scores of families from across the country have contacted the Cook County Sheriff’s office since Dart re-opened the investigation to identify the eight unidentified Gacy victims. One of the victims was identified as William George Bundy in November 2011. Two suspected Gacy victims were found alive and well in Florida and Oregon, respectively.

John Wayne Gacy killed 33 people between 1972 and 1978. He was executed in 1994.