A Sebastopol nonprofit has cracked a four decade old cold case tied to notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
Since its creation four years ago, the DNA Doe Project has achieved the impossible, solving 70 cold cases across North America, most recently identifying a man known as Francis Wayne Alexander, previously known only as Gacy victim No. 5.
The DNA Doe Project was co-founded in 2017 by crime novelist Margaret Press and Forensic Genealogist Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick with one soul mission: to identify John and Jane Does using genetic genealogy.
Gacy victim No. 5 was one of six remaining John Does discovered on the prolific serial killer's property in 1978. Press, Fitzpatrick and their team took on the mission of identifying the victim in 2020 with help from technology similar to Ancestry.com and 23andMe.
DNA extracted from one of the victim's molars was used to create a list of people who share genetics with Gacy victim No. 5. "In some cases, those matches are very distant, and we just start scratching away, it's going to be a long haul," Press said in an interview with the Press Democrat. "In other cases we're lucky and there's someone who could be a second cousin. Second cousins are wonderful."
After discovering 2nd, 3rd and 5th cousins of the victim, the DNA Doe Project took to public records and news archives to zero in on a correct match. Finally, they found their man, Francis Wayne Alexander, a Chicago resident who went missing between 1976 and 1977.
"It is hard, even 45 years later, to know the fate of our beloved Wayne," the victim's family said in a statement released by Cook County Sheriff's Office. "He was killed at the hands of a vile and evil man. We can now lay to rest what happened and move forward by honoring Wayne."
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