Suspected Gacy Victim Turns Up Alive

Family feared he was killed by serial killer; instead, they get a reunion
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 26, 2011 4:49 PM CDT
Suspected Gacy Victim Turns Up Alive
Harold Wayne Lovell, right, and his brother, Tim, posing for a photo during a family reunion.   (AP Photo/Theresa Hasselberg)

Craziest family reunion story in a while: Harold Wayne Lovell disappeared from Chicago as a young man in 1977, and his family long suspected he became one of serial killer John Wayne Gacy's victims, explains the Chicago Tribune. His siblings contacted the Cook County sheriff's office a few weeks ago upon learning that authorities were reopening the Gacy case to put names to eight still-unidentified victims. Cops looked into Lovell's history—and discovered him alive and well in Florida. He was reunited with his brother and sister this week.

"I've gone from having nothing to having all this," says Lovell. "It's awesome." Turns out he had left home because he didn't get along with his mother and stepfather, reports AP. He worked a series of manual labor jobs over the years and has had some minor brushes with the law, but his sister didn't care about that. "He's home," she said. (More John Wayne Gacy stories.)

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