A man who had been missing for 41 years and presumed dead was located by the Cook County Sherif's Department and reunited with his family.Robert Hutton was found as part of the sheriff department's ongoing investigation to identify unnamed victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Hutton was not a victim, but was found living in Montana. He has been reunited with his family, police said.Gacy killed 33 teenage boys and young men from 1972 to 1978. He was executed for his crimes in 1994. Seven of his victims remain unidentified. Since 2011Sheriff Dart has prioritized efforts to identify these victims and bring closure to their families.Hutton's family asked the sheriff to investigate the disappearance as part of the Gacy investigation because Hutton was the right age range (21) when he disappeared and often hitchhiked. Additionally, he worked in construction doing cement work – Gacy was known to lure many of his victims by first hiring them for freelance construction work.Hutton also had told his mother by phone that he was planning to travel from New York to California and presumably would have traveled through Chicago during Gacy's killing spree.

At the request of Hutton, Sheriff's Police have since reunited him with his sister and father. Hutton has visited with his father several times, with plans to visit in-person with his sister as well.

