The Last Victim_ A True-Life Journey Into the Mind of the Serial Killer - Jason Moss [67]
The second notable aspect of this letter was Gacy’s apparent desire to train a successor to carry on his “work.” If I was a potential victim—perhaps the last one he’d get his hands on—then Jarrod was a potential surrogate who could act out the things he wanted to do. The rub was, he couldn’t bring Jarrod fully under his control.
When pleading and threatening didn’t work with Jarrod—or rather, the Jarrod character I’d created—Gacy tried bribing him. As mentioned previously, this was one of Gacy’s favorite tactics when he ran into trouble, and he favored the move even after he was locked up. In this case, he promised Jarrod one of his paintings if he’d be more compliant. By this time, he’d already sent two paintings to me, which I kept in my safe; a third soon followed that was intended for Jarrod.
It said something about Gacy’s inflated opinion of himself that he considered the gift of a simple drawing sufficient to turn an intractable student into a worshipful disciple.
29
Q & A
As a way to encourage Jarrod and me to supply more details regarding our supposedly ongoing sexual experimentation, Gacy sent along vivid descriptions of various escapades he’d had with hitchhikers over the years. Many of these boys he eventually tortured and murdered, although the versions he sent me featured a lot of consensual sex. Tucked into each of these tales was a lesson concerning how to break down a victim’s resistance.
The whole time Gacy was teaching Jarrod his tricks to dominate and abuse me, he was tutoring me as well—in the art of being a victim. In response to his insistent urgings, I’d begun reporting stories of hustling on the street—all, of course, spun out of whole cloth. He was very explicit in the acts he wanted me to perform, and what I should charge for these services. For example: for a “golden shower,” in which I was supposed to allow a man to urinate on my face, I should demand fifty dollars. He also advised that, during sadomasochistic sex, if the guy started to beat me up, I’d be better off if I just went along with it.
I told Gacy I’d try some of this stuff—yeah, right —but only if he’d agree to answer some questions he’d been putting off. I told him I was under a lot of pressure to finish a school paper I was doing on him and that I really needed his cooperation. Drawing on a number of sources, including the “fact sheet” he’d sent with his very first letter, I peppered him with a long list of discrepancies between his original confession, his eventual testimony, and the later explanations he offered to account for the presence of so many bodies beneath his home.
In two different letters written to me during the middle of February, he took the time to address each of the questions. In his introductory remarks, he seemed quite put out that I’d even consider the possibility of his guilt. He portrayed me as obtuse and ill informed, but decided to humor me anyway.
His ability to deny the most overwhelming evidence against him is evident in what follows:
It is the totality of the facts on the fact sheet which gives doubt to my conviction, not just one thing. Thats why it was done that way. Thats why it is not me saying it but eight years of investigation proving all the points listed. Under our system of Justice a man is not guilty if the facts don’t match the state theory of the crime or truth. Thats why the doubt is listed not with the major things but all the things which point to showing that this was a poor investigation of the facts in this case.
In a masterpiece of flawed logic, he continues:
The state said that I confessed to the Crime and thats not true, so the state is presenting improper evidence. They are giving you fantasy and not fact, which was told the trial jury. That could have lead to believing my guilt and that was false.
In my letter, I’d asked him point-blank about the manner in which he killed the boys. I’ve read and reread his response