Did American serial killer John Wayne Gacy have a wife and kids? Family life explored ahead of Conversations with a Killer premiere

Trigger Warning: S*xual abuse, r*pe, murder

Conversations with a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes, Netflix's newest serial killer docuseries, follows the story of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who brutally r*ped and killed at least 33 young men and boys, burying them beneath his home in Illinois.

The three-part series will follow in the footsteps of its predecessor, featuring over 60 hours of audio interviews with Gacy himself, as well as talks with others who either worked on the investigation or were presumably intended victims of the serial murderer.

The series takes a look at how Gacy could get away with his heinous atrocities for so long. Let's take a look at the family life of the infamous serial killer.

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All about John Wayne Gacy's family life, wife, and kids

Gacy, from Cook County, Illinois, was known as The Killer Clown. He was infamous for luring victims into his home, r*ping and killing them. However, before the killings began, John lived a normal, ordinary existence. He was married twice and had children as well.

In 1964, John relocated to Springfield, Illinois, to work as a store manager for a shoe manufacturer. He met his first wife, Marlynn Myers, who also worked at the same store, when he was 22 years old. Within a year, they were married and moved into her wealthy parents' house.

Marlynn's parents eventually relocated to Waterloo, Iowa, because her father had purchased a couple Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises there. John and Marlynn moved to Waterloo in the late 1960s, where John assisted his father-in-law with the KFC franchises. Michael and Christine, the couple's son and daughter, were born soon after.

It was revealed that John's first homos*xual experience occurred around the same time.

John's activities with young boys generated problems two years into their stay. He was condemned to ten years in prison in 1968 after he was deemed guilty in two instances. Marlynn and John divorced in September 1969, citing cruel and inhumane treatment, and she was granted exclusive custody of their children.

John was paroled 18 months into his ten-year sentence. He promptly returned to Chicago, where he eventually established his own company, PDM, which stood for Painting, Decorating, and Maintenance.

John married Carole Hoff, whom he had known since they were children, in June 1972. She was John's sister's friend, and the two had even gone on a date when she was sixteen.

After experiencing financial difficulties, the divorced mother of two daughters moved in with John and his mother. It was the same house where John had murdered and buried his first victim in the crawl area in January 1972.

Carole had discovered that John was bis*xual. She claimed that there were wallets belonging to young boys in his vehicle, and when she asked him about it, he became enraged. In 1972, Carole complained about a bad odor coming from the attic, which John attributed to a leaking sewer pipe.

Carole also claimed that John "started bringing home a lot of pictures of n*ked men" towards the end of their marriage. After three and a half years of marriage, the couple divorced in 1976.

In a 1979 interview, Marlynn revealed that she had remarried after divorcing John Wayne and that had not seen him in a long time. She stated that she was taken aback when she discovered John's actions and that she had never been afraid of him or thought he liked guys during their marriage.

Given the notoriety of John Wayne Gacy and his deeds, both Marlynn and Carole have stayed away from the spotlight. There is very little information about them or their current whereabouts.

Conversations with a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes will be released exclusively on Netflix on April 20, 2022.