Man thought to have been murdered by 'Killer Clown' John Wayne Gacy in 1970s is found ALIVE in Florida

A family who believed their brother was murdered at the hands of one of America's most notorious serial killers was stunned to be told he's actually alive and well.

In May 1977, Harold Wayne Lovell vanished from his family's home in Cook County, Illinois, and was never heard from again.

For his family, all signs pointed to John Wayne Gacy, the prolific killer who murdered 33 young men in the 1970s.

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Found: Harold Wayne Lovell (pictured left in 1975) disappeared in 1977 but has now resurfaced in Florida. Pictured right is a 2007 booking photo



Family: Harold Wayne Lovell right, is reunited with his brother Tim after 34 years

Mr Lovell's brother Tim Lovell and sister Theresa Hasselberg researched Gacy’s every move before his arrest, and even constructed a timeline on when he and their brother may have met.

Thirty years ago, the skeletal remains of eight young men were found under Gacy's home and their identities were never confirmed.

Earlier this month, detectives secretly exhumed the bones in hopes of answering a final question: Who were they?

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office urged relatives of anyone who vanished between 1970 and Gacy's 1978 arrest - and still unaccounted for - to undergo tests to compare their DNA with that of the skeletal remains.

Exhumed: Detectives secretly unearthed the remains of eight people in hopes of identifying unknown victims of infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy

One of them was Mr Lovell’s family, who had ended their search after seeing a composite sketch of a Gacy victim who resembled him.

They applied for the DNA testing to confirm what they feared all along, but were shocked by what happened next.

A search of police records found that Mr Lovell, 53, was alive, and living in Florida.

They reached their brother, who goes by his middle name, and bought him a bus ticket, and the family was reunited Tuesday after 34 years.



He said that he left home on that day in 1977 because he 'never felt wanted' by his mother and stepfather.



The Chicago Tribune reported that he had settled in the Sunshine State 30 years ago, doing various odd jobs.

He had several arrests in Florida on charges ranging from marijuana possession to domestic violence.

Lovell said: I've gone from having nothing to having all this. I'm still pinching myself.'

Getting answers: Authorities urged relatives of anyone who vanished between 1970 and Gacy's 1978 arrest - and still unaccounted for - to undergo DNA testing

At one point, he returned to the Chicago area in search of his mother, but she had died in 2001, believing that her son was the victim of a cruel killer.

What makes the story even more bizarre is that Mr Lovell may have actually crossed paths with Gacy at some point.



Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart told MailOnline that a piece of jewelry found in Gacy's home at the time of his 1978 arrest was specifically identified by Lovell's mother as belonging to him.

Lovell fit the profile of the murderer's victims - white, same age group and in the same vicinity. Authorities are scheduled to talk with him next week.

The sheriff said that the new probe sheds light on the shoddy record-keeping of missing persons cases in the 70s and 80s.

Back then, records were kept on a town-by-town basis, and in an age before computers, many were either lost or destroyed.

In Gacy's case, one of the bodies found in his home was later identified as a young man whose case had been closed, Sheriff Dart said.



Gacy, who is remembered as one of history's most bizarre killers largely because of his work as an amateur clown, was convicted of murdering 33 young men, sometimes luring them to his Chicago-area home for sex by impersonating a police officer or promising them construction work.

Infamous: John Wayne Gacy was convicted of murdering 33 people, and was executed in 1994

He stabbed one and strangled the others between 1972 and 1978. Most were buried in a crawl space under his home. Four were dumped in a river.

Gacy was executed in 1994. His last words were 'Kiss my ass.'

Despite his death, the anguish caused by his crimes still resonates today.

After autopsies on the unidentified victims, pathologists in the 1970s removed their upper and lower jaws and their teeth to preserve as evidence in case science progressed to the point they could be useful or if dental records surfaced.

Detectives found out that those jaws had been stored for many years at the county's medical examiner's office.

But when investigators arrived, they learned the remains had been buried in a paupers' grave in 2009.

Detective Jason Moran said: 'They kept them for 30 years, and then they got rid of them.'

A court order allowed them to dig up a wooden box with eight containers shaped like buckets, each holding a victim's jaw bones and teeth.

The remains were then taken to Texas for testing.

The men who had probed and prosecuted Gacy reminded the sheriff's office that many victims were already lost when they met Gacy.

One had not even been reported missing when his body was found floating in the Des Plaines River.

Killer clown: John Wayne Gacy was arrested in 1978, and executed in 1994, but the anguish of his crimes still resonates today

Retired Detective Phil Bettiker said: 'I can almost guarantee you that one or two of these kids were wards of the state.

'I don't think anybody cared about them.'

Most of them were 17 or 18 years old and had been 'through God knows how many foster homes and were basically on their own.'

At the same time, they recalled, others insisted their loved ones were among Gacy's victims, but no evidence ever came to light confirming it.

Sheriff Dart said the revelation that Lovell is alive is proof of some good coming out of the investigation, and the response has been 'amazing.'



He said that since the campaign began, more than 120 families have contacted his office to line up for DNA testing.

Of those, 70 are in the department's range of possible matches.

While the probe is ongoing, one family is glad to have their brother back.

Theresa Hasselberg told the Tribune: 'After all these years, he's home.'

IDENTIFYING JOHN WAYNE GACY'S 'LOST VICTIMS'

Thirty years ago, the skeletal remains of eight young men were found under John Wayne Gacy's home and their identities were never confirmed. But detectives in Cook County, Illinois are working to answer the question that has perplexed authorities – and possibly eight families - for years: Who were they? The plan to identify the lost victims of ‘Killer Clown’ John Wayne Gacy began unfolding earlier this year, when the Cook County Sheriff’s office was trying to identify human bones found scattered at a forest preserve. They started reviewing other cases of unidentified remains, which led them back to Gacy. After autopsies on the unidentified victims, pathologists in the 1970s removed their upper and lower jaws and their teeth to preserve as evidence in case science progressed to the point they could be useful or if dental records surfaced. Detectives found out that those jaws had been stored for many years at the county's medical examiner's office. But when investigators arrived, they learned the remains had been buried in a paupers' grave in 2009. A court order allowed them to dig up a wooden box with eight containers shaped like buckets, each holding a victim's jaw bones and teeth. Back in June, Det Jason Moran flew with them to a lab in Texas. Weeks later, the lab called. The good news was that there was enough material in four of the containers to provide what is called a nuclear DNA profile, meaning that if a parent or sibling or even cousins came forward, scientists could determine whether the DNA matched. But with the other four containers, there was less usable material. That meant investigators had to dig up four of the victims. Detectives found them in four separate cemeteries and removed their femurs and vertebrae for analysis.