CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Cook County Sheriff's office says it's been busy for the past month as authorities have run down tips that came in after the news media's stories on the 40th anniversary of the John Wayne Gacy case.
The Gacy case started to unfold in December 1978.
Forty years later, news stories on Gacy and the six still-unidentified victims prompted people to get in touch with investigators.
"A little over 20 phone calls and emails and other messages from people all over the country," said Detective Sgt. Jason Moran with the Cook County Sheriff's Police Department.
"Some of the leads that have come in since a lot of the press stories have been missing persons that I've been aware of -- ones that we've excluded based on DNA or other circumstances," he said. "And some are new -- new missing-persons cases."
At least two of the new leads are promising, Moran said.
He's hopeful about two other leads. They were already being pursued.
Authorities say John Wayne Gacy killed at least 33 young men and boys.
Since the sheriff's office reopened the case in 2011, two of the eight previously unknown victims have been identified.