Actor reveals John Wayne Gacy abducted and raped him at gunpoint: ‘I didn’t know he was a killer’

An actor who has appeared in TV shows including “Law & Order” and “Grey’s Anatomy” revealed John Wayne Gacy abducted and raped him at gunpoint.

For the first time in nearly five decades, Jack Merrill publicly shared his story of being sexually assaulted by Gacy just seven months before the notorious serial killer was charged with the murders of 33 men.

Merrill told People Wednesday that he was walking home from a YMCA in the Chicago area in 1978 when Gacy drove up to him and asked whether he wanted a ride.

Actor Jack Merrill, seen here in high school, revealed John Wayne Gacy abducted and raped him in 1978. jackymerrill/Instagram Seven months later, the serial killer was arrested for the murders of 33 men. Getty Images

Merrill said he reluctantly accepted, but not long after, Gacy pulled over and asked the then-19-year-old whether he had ever done “poppers,” a recreational form of amyl nitrite that people inhale to get high.

“He pulled out this brown bottle, splashed some liquid on a rag and jammed it into my face,” he remembered. “I passed out, and when I woke up, I was in handcuffs. … The next thing I knew, we were outside his house.”

Merrill, now 65, admitted he was a “puny” teen and did not want to “anger” Gacy, who looked “dangerous” once he got a better glimpse of the then-36-year-old, so he tried to “diffuse the situation and act like everything was OK.”

Merrill, seen here with creative director Olivia Chantecaille in 2004, told People he “didn’t know [Gacy] was a killer at the time.” WireImage for BWR Public Relations The actor, pictured above in a throwback photo, recalled Gacy handcuffing him and sticking a gun in his mouth. jackymerrill/Instagram

Merrill told the magazine that Gacy removed his handcuffs after they went inside the Killer Clown’s home, where they drank beer and smoked pot.

However, Gacy later put the shackles back on Merrill and dragged him down a hallway.

“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 recalled.

Merrill, seen here in a recent selfie, was 19 at the time of the sexual assault. jackymerrill/Instagram “I knew if I fought him, I didn’t have much of a chance,” the actor, shown above in 2020, said. Getty Images

Merrill, who has also acted in episodes of “Sex and the City” and “Hannah Montana,” said Gacy then “stuck a gun in [his] mouth” and “raped” him in a bedroom.

“I knew if I fought him, I didn’t have much of a chance,” he continued. “I never freaked out or yelled. I also felt sorry for him in a way, like he didn’t necessarily want to be doing what he was doing, but he couldn’t stop.”

Hours went by, according to Merrill, before Gacy grew tired and said, “I’ll take you home.”

Police arrested Gacy in 1979 after finding bodies under his Chicago-area home. TNS The Killer Clown was executed in 1994. Martin Zielinski

Merrill shared that Gacy dropped him off “not far from where he’d picked [him] up” and gave him his phone number, which the teen flushed down the toilet once he got home.

“I didn’t call the police — I didn’t know he was a killer at the time,” he told People.

Later that year, Merrill read in the Chicago Sun-Times that bodies had been found under Gacy’s house. The murderer was subsequently arrested and convicted in 1980 before being executed in 1994.

If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.