‘Both targeted people who were small’: Attorney reveals chilling similarities between Rex Heuermann and John Wayne Gacy

Notorious American serial killer John Wayne Gacy’s death row attorney has revealed that she sees a lot of chilling similarities between her client and alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann. In the early 1990s, Karen Conti attempted to overturn ‘Killer Clown’ John’s death sentence, but in vain.

Like Rex Heuermann (L), John Wayne Gacy (R) was also a successful businessman (James Carbone/Pool via REUTERS, Des Plaines Police Department)

Rex’s arrest is tied to the ‘Gilgo Four,’ referring to the four women whose bodies were found within days of each other in 2010. The women in question were Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, Amber Lynn Costello, 27, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25.

John was accused of raping, torturing and murdering at least 33 men and boys in Norwood Park Township, near Chicago, Illinois, in his ranch-style house. He would usually lure the boys and men into his house and trick them into wearing handcuffs, claiming it was a magic trick. John would eventually murder them either asphyxiation or strangulation with a garrote. He was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center on May 10, 1994.

Like Rex, John was also a successful businessman. Also, like Rex, he was married twice and had two children.

What are the similarities between John Wayne Gacy and Rex Heuermann?

“There are some amazing similarities between them,” said Karen, according to The US Sun. “They were both successful in their professional lives; they were both married and had children, they were both hardworking, and they had this life that was productive and profitable.”

“And then they both targeted people who were small. John Gacy had a preference for diminutive young men and boys who were all small in height and weight; Heuermann apparently targeted women of petite builds,” she added.

Pointing to claims by one of Rex’s victim’s family member that he called the family to torment them, Karen said, “That says to me he enjoyed torture and probably actually got sexual gratification from torturing her family as well. So I see a lot of similarities there. There was also planning. There was equipment and tools and Burlaps in Heuermann’s case, and in Gacy’s case, it was ropes and ties and boards.”

Talking about the killers’ lifestyles, Karen said, “The people who are good at serial killing can hide in plain sight, those who can have a family, a business, a house, and who can conduct their lives in an otherwise orderly fashion. And then they have this side of them that nobody seems to know exists: a side of them where they murder.”

‘I marveled at his duplicity’

Karen recalled her interactions with John in the days leading up to his execution, saying she thought the killer was a “shell of a person,” someone just impersonating a human being. “I marveled at his duplicity,” Karen recalled. “I spent hours with him on some occasions and it was incredible to me how someone could be so evil and do the horrible things that I know he did, and then just talk to me like the average person.”

“He would stand up when I walked into the room, and he’d be funny […] he has all these tools that he used to get people to deflect on his evil nature […] and I could see how he was able to get these boys and men to do what he wanted them to,” she continued.

Karen added, “[Before his arrest] all these people – including his wife – had been asking him all sorts of questions, like ‘why does the house smell so bad?’ and no one ever thought it was him. It was so interesting to see close up how a serial killer is able to deflect and, while it’s something I couldn’t do, it was so instinctive to him.”

John Wayne Gacy and Rex Heuermann are ‘weird in the same way’

Karen said that when she compares John and Rex, she believes they are “weird in the same way.” She added that Rex is possibly a “sociopath and a narcissist.”

“There are people who think the rules don’t apply to them. They act like the rules apply in the company of others, in their jobs, and in society, but truthfully they don’t think the laws apply to them. You’re going to see that he likely thinks he’s the smartest person in the room – Gacy certainly had that trait – and even though they both know killing is wrong, they won’t feel that it’s wrong because they have no conscience,” Karen said.

“Gacy would dehumanize his victims by referring to them as bodies or asking why their parents didn’t realize when they went missing,” she added. With Heuermann investigators may be witnessing something similar.”

Meanwhile, Rex’s DNA will reportedly be tested against DNA recovered in the case of Victoria Camara, a New Jersey mom who was found murdered in 2003. Following Rex’s arrest, Las Vegas authorities began probing cold cases to determine possible links. The Las Vegas Police Department’s DNA lab is now set to conduct a direct comparison of Rex’s DNA and the DNA recovered in connection with Victoria’s murder.