DNA Evidence Proves Gacy Victim Was Misidentified

By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 25, 2012 7:30PM

DNA evidence has proven invaluable for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s office to give some closure to families who believe John Wayne Gacy may have murdered members of their family. Now DNA testing raises questions regarding a suspected victim of the notorious serial killer.

Attorneys for Sherry Marino told the Chicago Sun-Times DNA samples from their client do not match those of the remains identified over 30 years ago as belonging to Marino’s son Michael. Sherry Marino long doubted the body identified as her son, who went missing in 1976, was actually Michael. She pointed to discrepancies between the Cook County Medical Examiner's autopsy and Michael Marino's medical and dental records when she petitioned to have the body exhumed for testing last October. Cook County Judge Rita M. Novak granted the request and Sherry Marino withdrew her request to have Cook County cover the exhumation fees.

Attorney Steven Becker told the Sun-Times it’s Sherry Marino’s hope the information regarding her son’s misidentification will bring more leads regarding what happened to him. It also means there’s another John Doe victim of Gacy’s to be identified. Dart’s office exhumed the remains of Gacy’s eight unidentified victims last year and placed a nationwide request for DNA samples from families who believe they had relatives who may have been killed by Gacy. One was identified as William George Bundy. Two other suspected Gacy victims were found to be alive and in various states of wellness in Florida and Oregon. Most recently, DNA evidence collected by Dart’s office helped to solve a missing persons cold case in Utah involving an Illinois man.