A San Antonio family is seeking answers nearly 50 years after their relative went missing in 1975. They are monitoring DNA testing on bodies recovered from John Wayne Gacy’s Chicago property to see if their relative could be among them.
Family Seeks Answers
The family spoke with local reporters on Friday and is pushing investigators to compare their DNA with remains exhumed from Gacy’s home decades ago, as reported by KENS5. Relatives asked anyone who remembers the missing man to come forward and help trace his last known movements.
Cook County Reopened Identification Work
In Cook County, investigators have reopened the effort to identify several unnamed victims recovered from Gacy’s property and are using modern forensic sequencing and genealogical resources to look for matches, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. Officials say the renewed work has already produced identifications and will continue whenever DNA quality and available records make comparisons possible. That program is why families across the country are now reconsidering whether a long-missing relative could correspond to one of the still-unidentified victims.
Genetic Genealogy Has Produced Names
Nonprofit genetic-genealogy teams working alongside county detectives have taken DNA from teeth and bones, sequenced the material, and compared it to public genealogy databases to build family trees and narrow down potential identities, the DNA Doe Project explains. That collaboration helped put a name to a previously anonymous Gacy victim in 2021, reporting by the Associated Press notes. Investigators caution that degraded samples and patchy historical records mean some cases may never be solved, but the approach has already delivered answers in multiple long-cold files.
Several Remains Still Unnamed
Volunteer tracking projects and public case files still list multiple sets of remains from Gacy’s property as unidentified, keeping cross-checks with missing-person reports crucial for families desperate for closure. The Doe Network and similar databases compile and publish the details that investigators and relatives can use when chasing possible connections. Those unresolved entries are why families far from Chicago — including the one in San Antonio — are following every new development closely.
What Families Can Do
Officials and national clearinghouses advise relatives to file or update missing-person reports, safeguard dental records and photographs, and work with local law enforcement to submit family-reference DNA. The federal NamUs system offers free forensic services and family DNA kits, as noted by NamUs. Local detectives and nonprofit genealogists also recommend that families gather any documents that might help build a detailed family tree for comparison.
Back in San Antonio, the family says it will keep urging investigators to run DNA comparisons while requesting privacy as testing moves forward, the local station reported. For them, the search comes down to one stark hope: a name and an end to five decades of not knowing.
