Authorities use DNA to identify victim of serial killer John Wayne Gacy

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Through DNA testing, police in Chicago have been able to identify a victim of serial killer John Wayne Gacy whose name was unknown for more than 40 years.

On Monday, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart identified Victim No. 5 as Francis Wayne Alexander, a man who grew up in North Carolina and was killed not long after moving to Chicago. Dart said Alexander's family "just loved him, but they thought that he wanted nothing more to do with them, so that's why there was never a missing person's report."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.