Actor Jack Merrill Has Theory Why Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy Let Him Go

[Warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse.]

John Wayne Gacy has once again returned to the spotlight thanks to Peacock’s limited series Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy, which revisits how the infamous serial killer was finally caught and honors the lives of his victims. Arrested in 1978 and convicted two years later on 33 counts of murder, Gacy was executed in 1994 after years on death row.

Among those who crossed paths with the killer and lived to tell the tale is Law and Order alum Jack Merrill , who was abducted and sexually assaulted by Gacy when he was just 19 years old. Decades later, Merrill shared his story in a one-man play titled The Save, which premiered in October 2024. The performance recounts how he met Gacy — and ultimately survived — during that terrifying encounter in Chicago in 1978.