Second long-unknown Gacy victim identified as boy from Minnesota

[Disir]

Jimmie Haakenson set out on an adventure more than 40 years ago, traveling to Chicago from his Minnesota home at just 16.

But the boy with a sunny smile disappeared without a trace, and on Wednesday, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said Haakenson fell victim to Chicago's most notorious serial killer — John Wayne Gacy.

DNA supplied by a brother and sister helped confirm that Haakenson was Victim 24, whose remains were found buried with many of the other victims in the crawl space of Gacy's Chicago-area house.

"My brother has been missing for so long, and it's so nice to know that we've found our brother now, even though now it's not good," Lorie Sisterman, Haakenson's sister, told the Tribune in a phone interview Wednesday evening from her home in Minnesota. "It's so wonderful, but it's also, you know, horrible at the same time."

Gacy was convicted of killing 33 boys and young men in the 1970s, 32 of them strangled. All but four of the victims were found in the crawl space of Gacy's home in Norwood Park Township. He was executed by lethal injection in state prison in 1994 after his appeals failed.

Six years ago, Dart announced his office had reopened the Gacy investigation in hopes of identifying eight victims whose names still remained a mystery decades later. Haakenson was the second to be identified.

Haakenson told his family in St. Paul that he planned to explore Chicago on his own, Dart said at a crowded news conference.

The teen called his mother on Aug. 5, 1976, to let her know he had arrived in Chicago, but his family never heard from him again, according to Dart.
Second long-unknown Gacy victim identified as boy from Minnesota

I am glad they have closure. Unfortunately, the first thing that popped into my head was:

The seventies. The time of no seat belts and allowing a 16 year old to explore Chicago alone.

 

[deannalw]

I did a lot of things in the 70's I wouldn't think to allow of a teen today.
It's good for the world that that evil fuck is dead.

 

[deannalw]

Come to think of it though... There's not a moment in history I'd of allowed any kid of mine to wander Chicago.
Who knows how many survived his evil attacks, but there was one that survived and tried to tell police, but they didn't give his story credence. His name was Jeff Rignall.
Like the Dahlmer victim that escaped just to be joked about and returned to his killers care.
It's enough to make you cry or kick something.

 

[Disir]

Come to think of it though... There's not a moment in history I'd of allowed any kid of mine to wander Chicago.
Who knows how many survived his evil attacks, but there was one that survived and tried to tell police, but they didn't give his story credence. His name was Jeff Rignall.
Like the Dahlmer victim that escaped just to be joked about and returned to his killers care.
It's enough to make you cry or kick something.

That's where I was at. I was trying to rack my brain for any time period in Chicago's history where it was a good idea to let a 16 year old living in another state explore Chicago. I get that news didn't travel as quickly as it does now but surely..........

Kicking definitely.

 

[deannalw]

Chicago nowadays has more shootings a day than a dog has fleas. It's pitiful, pathetic and just pisses me right the hell off. Fire that governor, mayor...whoever you have to and get some people in positions to clean up that cesspool of misery.
I can't remember when it began, but I was fairly young when I developed a dread fascination with killers. Serial killers especially. I must have read a large library of books on the subject trying to bed understand.
I eventually stopped reading them for the most part and never did get to understand but a few.
Men like Henry Lucas were made into monsters. Some were born as monsters and some will be a mystery forever.