Sheriff ID's Another Victim Of Infamous Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy

By Stephen Gossett in News on Jul 19, 2017 9:34PM

James Byron Haakenson / Cook County Sheriff

DNA analysis has confirmed the identity of a previously unnamed victim of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced on Wednesday.

The remains—which were found in Gacy's crawl space back in December of 1978 alongside several other victims—are those of James Byron Haakenson, who was just 16 years old when he left his Minnesota home.

When Haakenson phoned his mother, on Aug. 5, 1976, and told her he was in Chicago, it was the last anyone had seen or heard from the teenager, according to the Cook County Sheriff.

Haakenson, who was known as Jimmie, was the second Gacy victim identified in the last six years. Sheriff Dart in 2011 reopened an investigation to identify each of the then-eight remaining unknown victims. Six now remain to be identified.

DNA from Haakenson's remains was compared with samples from Jimmie's siblings after a family member wondered if the teen may have been a victim of Gacy's, according to CBS News.

"It's not every day you heard this: A monster murdered your brother," Lorie Sisterman, James' sister told CBS. "It's just not an everyday, normal conversation that you have with a detective from a different state that tells you this awful news."

Jimmies's late mother tried in 1979 to determine if her son was killed by Gacy, but dental records—the main, pre-DNA method of identification—"were not available," according to the Sheriff's Office.

Gacy tortured and killed at least 33 teenage boys and young men, in Norwood Park, between 1972 to 1978. Twenty-six of his victims—whom he typically lured—were buried in the crawl space of his home. Known to dress up as "Pogo the Clown" at kids' parties and events, Gacy became known as the "Killer Clown" once his murders were revealed. He was put to death in 1994.