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Jack Merrill.
Greg Doherty/Getty ImagesAn actor Jack Merrill some ideas about why he survived a harrowing encounter with a serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
In his one man show The Rescueand a performance was attended by Us Weekly On Friday, January 17, Merrill, 65, says he was “abducted and raped by John Wayne Gacy” in Chicago when he was just 19 years old. The performance explores the reasons why the famous serial killer eventually let him go free.
“The whole reason I do it The Rescue is to connect with people in a way that is very different from what most would expect from someone who has experienced what I have,” Merrill said exclusively Us following his performance on Friday. Merrill’s screen credits include minor roles in shows like Law and Order, Hannah Montana, Grey’s Anatomy a Sex and the City.
Between 1972 and 1978, Gacy abducted, sexually assaulted and killed at least 33 young men until he was finally caught. In 1980, he was found guilty of 33 counts of murder and sentenced to death. His execution took place 14 years later in 1994.
According to Merrill, he was one of the lucky ones despite his horrific abduction and difficult childhood.
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Growing up, Merrill said both of his parents were emotionally, physically and verbally abusive towards him and his sisters, describing his childhood home as “an unhappy and uneasy place.” He credits a lifetime of his mother’s “fury” for his survival in the Gacy home.
John Wayne Gacy.
Getty Images“My mother and having to lie low during the rage, that was the same thing,” he explained during the show, adding, “My family gave me some serious tools that I was able to use to defend myself.”
Merrill explained that Gacy liked and trusted him. He told Merrill that he was “not like the others.” He even took Merrill’s handcuffs off so they could sit at the bar at Gacy’s house together, have some beer, smoke and talk but only if Merrill promised it would be “good.”
“I could tell he didn’t like the others,” the playwright explained. “He wanted to separate me. I knew if I listened to him, he wouldn’t hurt me. I had to accept that this was normal. There was no other choice.”
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Gacy’s trust in him did not save Merrill from harm – the killer still sexually assaulted him. “This is how I lost the last part of my innocence,” Merrill said, adding that as the attack happened, “I told myself I was going to get through this, I was going to get past this.”
In an interview in October 2024 with People, Merrill said of the incident“I knew if I fought him, I didn’t have much of a chance. I never freaked out or shouted.”
The following morning, Gacy let Merrill go free, allegedly saying, “You’re a good kid. i like you Maybe we can get together again sometime.” He gave Merrill his phone number on a small piece of paper, and the actor says he promptly flushed it down the toilet.
A month or so later, he saw Gacy’s face on a newspaper with the headline, “Bodies Found at Suburban Site.” However, Merrill did not come forward with her story to the police. “I decided if the police ever needed me, I would come forward,” he said. “But, they never needed me.”
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Merrill says he kept what happened to him a secret for a while. He decided to come forward, however, after both his parents died. He says he is happy that his parents died without ever knowing what happened to their son.
“I wanted to tell people at a certain time. It happened and it’s a part of me, and I wanted them to know,” he explained. “Anyone I said grew far from me, to try to process it, I don’t blame them.”
Merrill shared that in order to move forward with his life, he inevitably had to forgive Gacy. “Actually not only with Gacy but with my family as well,” he said. “I’ve lived a great life. I didn’t let them take my chances away from me.”
He said, “Forty-six years later, I’m still here. Happy and grateful and proud. I didn’t leave my sanity in that house near the airport. I am not a victim. It was one night. Something happened. This is my life.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). https://www.rainn.org/
Reporting by Sienna Leone
