Grey's Anatomy actor Jack Merrill recalled an encounter with John Wayne Gacy, a notorious serial killer. According to the 65-year-old actor, he was 19 when he was abducted and abused at the latter's ranch house in Chicago in 1978.
Jack Merrill managed to survive what he calls a "dangerous" ordeal, and months later, on December 21, 1978, Gacy was cuffed and charged with the abduction, assault, and murder of at least 33 young men and boys. By 1994, he was sentenced to death by lethal injection.
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Jack Merrill says he felt "puny" in front of the "dangerous" man who abducted him
In a letter to People magazine, the actor recounted the night he was walking home from the swimming pool at the YMCA when a strange man in a car pulled over next to him to offer him a ride. He said,
"I thought I’d go around the block a few times, but he started driving quickly and turned into a really bad neighborhood. He said, “Lock your door. It’s dangerous.” I said they kept that out of the papers because it was bad for business on nearby Rush Street, and he said, 'How do you know that, huh? You’re smart. You’re not like those other kids.'"
He continued, adding that getting into an unknown car like that was strange for him. The unknown man then pulled over beside the Kennedy Expressway and asked if Jack Merrill had ever done “poppers”—amyl nitrite. He went on, revealing how the next few moments played out:
"He pulled out this brown bottle, splashed some liquid on a rag and jammed it into my face. I passed out, and when I woke up, I was in handcuffs. I saw the exit for Cumberland on the expressway, near the airport, and the next thing I knew, we were outside his house."
Jack Merrill recalled Gacy instructing him to keep quiet, and that's when it seeped in, just how dangerous the man really was. He recalled feeling "puny" in front of the man. He also revealed that the stranger had asked him if he trusted him, to which the actor said he did. The answer was enough for the former to take off the handcuffs and hand him a beer from the bar.
However, after that, Merrill was cuffed once again and hauled down the hall. He also revealed that the kidnapper tied a "homemade contraption" around his neck-- one that had ropes and pulleys.
It was made so that should the victim struggle, he would choke. The actor revealed that he did, and at one point it became difficult to breathe. That's when Gacy "stuck a gun" in his mouth and forced himself on him.
"I knew if I fought him, I didn’t have much of a chance. 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. We’d been there for hours. Finally, I could tell he was tiring. All of a sudden he said, 'I’ll take you home.'"
Jack Merrill recalled being dropped off at 5 in the morning not far from where he was picked up. He made his way home, along with Gacy's phone number, which he later flushed down the toilet.
He shared that he didn't call the police as he didn't know he was a killer at the time. In the moments after, he recalled making a pact with himself to get past the incident and not "leave my happiness in that house."
According to Jack Merrill, a part of his recuperation journey includes acting, noting that it was "therapeutic" for him. However, another step he took was to "somehow forgive Gacy.” He also credits his husband of 23 years for helping him in his healing.
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