Who was John Wayne Gacy? Drake Bell reveals new details about his abuser flaunting a painting by serial killer

Drake Bell
Drake Bell's abuser Brian Peck was a fan of John Wayne Gacy (Image via YouTube/Netflix, Investigation Discovery)

In a brand new upcoming ID docuseries, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, Drake & Josh star Drake Bell went into excruciating details on how his then-dialogue coach turned manager and infamous actor Brian Peck sexually abused him. Peck pleaded no contest to multiple child s*xual abuse charges in 2004 and ended up serving only 16 months in prison.

Trigger Warning: The following article contains mention of torture, rape, child abuse, and murder.

The docuseries also claimed that Peck was a massive fan and pen pal of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. He even had a signed self-portrait of the killer. Gacy is known to be one of the worst serial killers that ever existed, having r*ped and killed 33 young men and boys. Twenty-nine bodies of his victims were found buried underneath his house. Gacy was executed by lethal injection in 1994.

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Drake Bell's abuser, Brian Peck, was allegedly a fan of John Wayne Gacy

Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV will premiere on March 17 and will showcase the harrowing plight of Nickelodeon's child actors. One of those actors was Drake Bell, who alleged that Brian Peck s*xually assaulted him on multiple occasions starting from when he was only 15 years old.

In clips of the upcoming show shared on YouTube, another child actor, Kyle Sullivan of All That Fame, talked about the details of Brian Peck's home, which he said he had seen when he was only 14. This included a harmless Planet of the Apes shrine and a menacing portrait of a clown with balloons.

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The portrait was of the infamous serial killer, John Wayne Gacy, who was also known as the 'Killer Clown.' Sullivan said in the docuseries that Peck became excited when Sullivan enquired about the painting. Sullivan said:

"Brian flipped the thing around and on the back it said ‘To Brian, I hope you enjoy the painting. Best wishes, your friend, John Wayne Gacy,"

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Sullivan also claimed that Gacy and Peck were pen pals and that Peck even kept a pile of pictures and letters he received from the serial killer on his nightstand. Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz, the directors of the docuseries, were shocked by the allegation. They were quoted by People magazine as saying:

"It raised a lot of questions about power dynamics on set and off, and what dangers were hiding in plain sight. Exploring those dynamic and revealing the secrets behind how culture is made is at the core of what we are trying to do with Quiet on Set."
Drake Bell opened up about being abused by Brian Peck for the first time (Image via Instagram/Drake Bell)
Drake Bell opened up about being abused by Brian Peck for the first time (Image via Instagram/Drake Bell)

The disturbing case of 'Killer Clown' John Wayne Gacy

John Wayne Gacy is a child r*pist and murderer. Born in Chicago to an alcoholic and abusive father, Gacy worked as a shoe salesman immediately after graduating from business college. According to IMDb, John Wayne Gacy married a co-worker whose family owned a KFC in Iowa. He started working there as a manager.

However, in 1968, Gacy was arrested for s*xual misconduct with the 15-year-old son of a fellow employee. He was sentenced to ten years for sodomy but got out on parole after only serving 18 months as a model prisoner who was well-liked by everyone. Gacy then moved back to Chicago and became a building constructor.

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In 1969, Gacy and his wife divorced, and she was granted custody of their kids. Just like his time in jail, Gacy was well-liked by his neighbors. He started a successful construction contracting company named PDM Contractors, got involved in the Democratic party, and had his picture taken with First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

However, he also infamously began dressing as 'Pogo the Clown' and performed at charity events and children's parties. Gacy also hired teenage boys to work for his construction company. He was once again hit with a s*xual misconduct charge against a teenager in 1971, but the case was dropped when the witness failed to show up in court.

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Gacy once again got married to Carole Hoff in 1972 but divorced in 1976. Right after his release in 1970, until 1978, Gacy would drive around town, picking up boys aged 9 to 20 years by pretending to be a cop. He would later befriend them and take them home before torturing, r*ping, sodomizing, and finally strangling them to death.

Gacy's victims would be buried in a crawl space underneath his house, and when that space ran out, he would simply dump their bodies in rivers along the area. In 1978, Gacy r*ped and killed his 33rd and last victim, a 15-year-old named Robert Priest, who had approached him for a contracting job.

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Before going to see Gacy, the victim had told somebody that he was going to see a contractor. This led to the police identifying Gacy as the contractor in question and paying him a visit when the smell of decomposing corpses hit them. This, along with Gacy's prior record, led to the acquisition of a search warrant for his house.

According to IMDb, police dug out 29 bodies of his victims buried under his house and five bodies inside a nearby river. John Wayne Gacy was found guilty of murdering 33 young men, including boys, in 1980 and was sentenced to death.

Gacy reportedly spent his last few days on death row painting before being executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center on May 10, 1994.


Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, which features Drake Bell's extensive revelation of what he went through, will air in two episodes, from 9 pm to 11 pm ET on March 17 and the following day.

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Edited by Shreya Das
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