Actor Jack Merrill is opening up about his terrifying encounter with serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
Merrill, 65, whose on-screen credits include minor roles in Law & Order, Hannah Montana, Grey’s Anatomy and Sex and the City, said he was abducted and raped by the notorious criminal in 1978 when he was just 19.
Writing for People magazine on Wednesday, October 23, Merrill described living by himself in Chicago at the time and encountering Gacy — who was executed via lethal injection in 1994 — while walking home at night.
“A guy pulled over and said, ‘Do you want to go for a ride?’” the actor recalled.
Merrill continued, “He pulled over near the ramp of the Kennedy Expressway and asked if I’d ever done ‘poppers’—amyl nitrite. He pulled out this brown bottle, splashed some liquid on a rag and jammed it into my face. I passed out, and when I woke up, I was in handcuffs. I saw the exit for Cumberland on the expressway, near the airport, and the next thing I knew, we were outside his house.”
Describing himself as a “puny 19-year-old,” Merrill said he was taken back to Gacy’s house, where he realized he was in danger. “I knew I couldn’t anger him,” he wrote.
“The house was dark. I sensed it was a trap,” the actor continued.
Merill wrote, “He put this homemade contraption around my neck. It had ropes and pulleys, and it went around my back and through my handcuffed hands in a way that if I struggled, I would choke. I did at one point and started to lose air. He stuck a gun in my mouth. Then he raped me in the bedroom.”
“I knew if I fought him, I didn’t have much of a chance. I never freaked out or yelled,” he added.
After some time, Merrill said he could tell Gacy “was tiring,” writing, “All of a sudden he said, ‘I’ll take you home.’” Gacy then dropped Merrill near where he’d found him at around 5 a.m.
“He gave me his phone number and said, ‘Maybe we’ll get together again sometime.’ When I got home, I flushed the number down the toilet, then took a shower,” he said.
Merrill said he didn’t call the police at the time and didn’t realize that the man he encountered was a prolific serial killer.
Months later, the actor said he saw a headline that read, “Bodies Found at Suburban Site,” and knew it was the same man who had assaulted him.
Since his horrifying ordeal, Merill wrote that he has learned to “forgive” Gacy and found solace in acting.
“Acting was therapeutic for me. You’re forced to express yourself, and there is some honesty that goes with that. Recognition and acceptance,” he explained, adding that he has also found peace through his relationship with his longtime husband.
Merrill has now written a one-man show about his experience, The Save, which is currently playing at the Electric Lodge in Los Angeles. “I’m proud of the journey. I was able to learn from the bad and use it for the good,” he wrote.
Gacy abducted, sexually assaulted and killed at least 33 young men between 1972 and 1978, when he was finally caught. He was found guilty of 33 counts of murder in 1980 and sentenced to death. His execution took place 14 years later in 1994.
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/
