In 1978, the notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy attacked Jack Merrill. He never told anyone about it because he was afraid of being “remembered” only for that one event in his life and forever linked to the Gacy story.
A character actor known for his roles on shows like Law & Order and Grey’s Anatomy, Merrill, said in an article in People that he met Gacy when he was 19 years old and walking home from the YMCA after swimming.
This was months before Gacy was arrested and eventually found guilty of killing 33 young men in 1978.
“Someone stopped and asked, ‘Would you like to go for a ride?'” I write for Merrill. After a while, “He took out this brown bottle, sprayed some liquid on a rag, and slammed it into my face,” he says.
“I passed out, and when I woke up, jail bars were around my wrists.”
Merell writes that Gacy took him to his house and put “this homemade contraption around my neck.” The belt went around my back and through my bound hands in a way that would choke me if I tried to fight it.
Merrill, who is now 65 years old, goes on to talk about the rape and how he came out of it alive by not fighting back. Merrill writes, “He raped me in the bedroom.” “I knew I would not have a good chance if I fought him.” I did not get scared or yell.
Finally, Gacy got “tired” and offered to drive Merrill home. He then gave the kid his phone number and drove off. He writes,
“When I got home, I flushed the number down the toilet and then took a shower. I did not call the police at the time because I did not know he was a killer.”
Later, a few months later, Merrill read in the Chicago Sun-Times that bodies had been found near where Gacy had picked him up.
This made him think again about what had happened. He called the newspaper to say that he thought the murders were linked to the rape, but he did not give his name because his father worked as a writer for the paper.
“I put the phone down.” I figured I would come forward if the cops ever needed my help. In the end, he did not have to because “they found all these bodies under that house, and he was found guilty years later.
” Gacy was found guilty of his crimes and given a lethal shot to end his life in 1994.
Years ago, Merrill almost told everyone about his story when he talked to a Hollywood producer about making a movie about it.
People asked Merrill, “That is how you want to be remembered?” which made him think. “I thought, ‘No, I guess not. That would mean I had to be tied to him.
He has since changed his mind and is now going to tell his story in a one-man show called The Save at the Electric Lodge in Los Angeles. He told the magazine, “I am proud of my journey” and that the play helps him feel better.
