Apache6f1--in post #6 above, poster mjl1962 has a link to a timeline of Pierce's crimes. Apparently he confessed to killing Billy--but I'm not sure if this was ever proven to be true.
IL IL - William 'Billy' DeSousa, 10, Chicago, 20 June 1972
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Apache6f1--in post #6 above, poster mjl1962 has a link to a timeline of Pierce's crimes. Apparently he confessed to killing Billy--but I'm not sure if this was ever proven to be true.
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Kline, this is so reminiscent of Lonnie's case, it's scary.
It was said that Pierce confessed to the killing while incarcerated in March 1981 for many other similiar type murders of other young people. To me there was a great possibility he was telling the truth because he not only told them Billy SeSousa's name he also worked at that Topps carnival at 79th & Cicero where he disappeared & was kidnapped from. This guy had sickly molested & killed so many kids i dont know how many there have been but they go all the wat back to the 50's. He died in 1999 from the piece i read on the internet. Here's The link:
http://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/pierce-charles.htm
People brought this case up recently in a Facebook group & since i remember it well & had a very close friend that knew him from his neighborhood i found this page. Someone who knew me on Facebook said that someone he closely knew or was related to is the one who's dog found the remains. What a sad story and a even more horrific emding. He was missing for a few years as he disappeared on 6/20/71 & they found his remains sometime in 1975. Those 4 years must have been hell for that family and i can't even imagine how they felt when they finally found him as they always had a small bit of hope that he would turn up someday but alive. I think it was hard to tell when exactaly he died as i couldnt find that info but this article from Chicago Tribune Feb 1975 said they were trying to figure that out:
Seems like yesterday and i was really surprised it was 1975. To me i thought it was in the 80's when they found him as it didnt seem that long ago.
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/...agic-ending-to-search-boys-skeleton-is-found/
Billy DeSousa, God rest his soul.
http://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/pierce-charles.htm
People brought this case up recently in a Facebook group & since i remember it well & had a very close friend that knew him from his neighborhood i found this page. Someone who knew me on Facebook said that someone he closely knew or was related to is the one who's dog found the remains. What a sad story and a even more horrific emding. He was missing for a few years as he disappeared on 6/20/71 & they found his remains sometime in 1975. Those 4 years must have been hell for that family and i can't even imagine how they felt when they finally found him as they always had a small bit of hope that he would turn up someday but alive. I think it was hard to tell when exactaly he died as i couldnt find that info but this article from Chicago Tribune Feb 1975 said they were trying to figure that out:
Seems like yesterday and i was really surprised it was 1975. To me i thought it was in the 80's when they found him as it didnt seem that long ago.
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/...agic-ending-to-search-boys-skeleton-is-found/
Billy DeSousa, God rest his soul.
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I just stumbled onto this page while looking for something else.
I am also from Chicago South Side, know this area well and vaguely remember this case.
If Billy went to the carnival at an off time, its very possible that he encountered a carney worker who may have befriended him and ultimately harmed him. Carnivals are notorious for having workers that are just a shade above the law and many who are below it. I imagine that the police thoroughly vetted all the workers but it still remains the most likely scenario in my opinion.
I am also from Chicago South Side, know this area well and vaguely remember this case.
If Billy went to the carnival at an off time, its very possible that he encountered a carney worker who may have befriended him and ultimately harmed him. Carnivals are notorious for having workers that are just a shade above the law and many who are below it. I imagine that the police thoroughly vetted all the workers but it still remains the most likely scenario in my opinion.
I am researching Billy's case. I'm a documentary filmmaker and the childhood friend of Andy Puglisi. I would love to talk with you - hoping you will still get this. I know it has been many years. Thank you!
I can't find the FB group. Is it still around? Trying to locate people that knew Billy. Thank you!
I graduated with Billy’s brother from St. Bede. I believe he is on fb. You might want to try that for a start. However- if family doesn’t want to participate ....I hope you respect that. I spent 8 years in school with his brother- and didn’t learn of this until I was an adult. As others have mentioned in the area- this case was never discussed.
Emulvey7830
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I just came upon this site. I'm actually recovering from Covid and watching different crime shows to pass the time. I remember the disappearance of Billy very well. I was 16 at the time. I attended the same grade school and church as he and his siblings but I didn't know them so if you weren't in the same grade you may never cross paths. Our grade school was the largest in the diocese. I recall flyers being passed out with Billy's picture and I recall a helicopter circling above the early evening of his disappearance or it could have been the following evening. I was at my friends home off 79th street about a half a mile from the carnival at Topps. Looking back it was very strange how quiet the neighborhood was about this missing boy. I believe it was out of respect for the family. Rumors were the mother had reached out to psychics to help find Billy. It was never far from our minds. I had heard he went with his sister to the carnival and they were either separated or she wanted to go home before he did. I remember how excited we all were when the carnivals came to our area. I recall my mother saying she suspected a carnival worker took him. It sounds like that was true. I don't remember if they prayed for Billy at church on Sundays as I would expect they should have. I do know we in the neighborhood prayed for Billy and his family... even those of us who were not in his class or a siblings class. We were connected by the neighborhood. I still think of him. I had no idea someone from the neighborhood found his remains. I remember being in college when the news broke. I was so sad again for his family. It's hard to believe June of 2022 will be 50 years. Those were different times. No one was suspicious of evil people lurking around. We all road our bikes to the carnivals with friends. It all changed after Billy's disappearance. I hope the man who confessed was truthful. I know there have been others who boast of crimes they didn't commit.
I had a conversation years ago concerning the FBI highway serial killings initiative, with a well known member of the FBI
I asked the question about transient workers, such as carnival workers etc.., and his answer was "almost certainly" " like any other transient work it provides them to access to victims, and the ability to disappear after with no question as to why .
The lifestyle is that of much unaccounted for time, most require no criminal background checks, pretty tempting environment for a deviant criminal , many seek out that type of lifestyle because no one really sees them they can hide they can disappear. Most of the time they're paid in cash, Many live in mobile homes, which itself can be a crime scene that moves hundreds of miles
Remember this , where there is "prey" there is almost always somewhere "predators", the predators are better at finding and obtaining victims, than we are identifying danger, and protecting them. They often try to hide in plain sight , assume roles wed rarely ever question, but often our gut tells us something about people around us, TRUST that gut feeling
I asked the question about transient workers, such as carnival workers etc.., and his answer was "almost certainly" " like any other transient work it provides them to access to victims, and the ability to disappear after with no question as to why .
The lifestyle is that of much unaccounted for time, most require no criminal background checks, pretty tempting environment for a deviant criminal , many seek out that type of lifestyle because no one really sees them they can hide they can disappear. Most of the time they're paid in cash, Many live in mobile homes, which itself can be a crime scene that moves hundreds of miles
Remember this , where there is "prey" there is almost always somewhere "predators", the predators are better at finding and obtaining victims, than we are identifying danger, and protecting them. They often try to hide in plain sight , assume roles wed rarely ever question, but often our gut tells us something about people around us, TRUST that gut feeling
In the later 1970s, I attended the Oak Lawn Community Presbyterian Church (now called Rios de Aqua Viva). My Sunday school teacher, Dian Lake and her husband Lyle, an Oak Lawn firefighter were out hiking at Swallow Cliff Woods during autumn/winter. Suddenly their dog got very excited and ran off toward a tree where it began digging furiously at a ground covered with fallen leaves. This is how Billy DeSousa was discovered. I seem to recall a mention of a large rock at the location as well that seemed out of place, but not sure. Back then, my memory of what she said is that they found a bicycle chain near the body. According to a newspaper article, the key to his bike was discovered near the body. I'm guessing what she actually said is that they found his bike key attached to a chain he wore. Either way, she mentioned a chain of some sort found near the body and alluded to it being used as a weapon used to murder the boy—if I remember correctly. As much as I would like to discredit much of her story, if not all of it, because—why is a Sunday school teacher telling this to a group of 10 to 12 year olds??—but the fact that her husband was a fireman, in my mind at least, is verification enough.
Based on those statistics and what Mrs. Lake share with our class, it seems more consistent with the child killings of Charles Pierce than John Wayne Gacy. It seems Gacy looked for interaction with his victims that presented some level of engagement that presented itself as at least some level or challenge or resistance that he would not find in an average docile and compliant 10-year-old boy.
Based on those statistics and what Mrs. Lake share with our class, it seems more consistent with the child killings of Charles Pierce than John Wayne Gacy. It seems Gacy looked for interaction with his victims that presented some level of engagement that presented itself as at least some level or challenge or resistance that he would not find in an average docile and compliant 10-year-old boy.
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They found Billy's remains at Swallow Cliff Woods, there's an enormous toboggan slide there, if I'm not mistaken.
John Gacy attended Northwestern Business College and graduated in 1963. Northwestern Business College is located in Oak Lawn Illinois. It's about eight miles from Swallow Cliff Woods, there are different routes you can take there, including 111th Street. Even today, the Palos suburbs southwest of Chicago-- Palos Hills, Palos Heights, and Palos Park-- are notorious for being poorly lit, and we're talking streets, not the actual woods, which would undoubtedly be black as pitch at nighttime. A lot of Chicagoans would know this. I'm wondering exactly why Gacy chose Oak Lawn for a business degree, it was quite far from the area where he grew up and he could easily have obtained a degree at a location requiring less travel. Yes, he didn't graduate from high school and needed to "shop around" for the right admission standards, but I doubt the shopping would have taken him all the way down to Oak Lawn.
I've read about Pierce, definitely think Pierce has some connection, he knew things only the killer of the victim would know.
But Gacy was into clowning, and where did clowns work, where did they perform in the 1960s/70s? Gacy is known to have done his clowning at block parties, children's parties, hospitals, and charity events. He joined the Jolly Jokers Club in 1975. But other places clowns may be working would be... circuses; theme parks; rodeos; retail store openings/events; fast food restaurants. And some of these clowns and others associated with them will be traveing frequently at various points in their careers.
We already know Gacy did "charity events," and he also organized plenty of charity events through the Jaycees. With every clowning experience, he'd be coming into contact with other clowns and festival/fair workers, perhaps. While I find it incredibly unlikely, it's not impossible he shared some information with some like-minded twisted individual he came across in the course of clowning. Don't think Pierce can be ignored, but definitely don't think Gacy can, either. Those toboggan slides at Swallow Cliff-- they're memorable. Someone who used one of those slides may have remembered that area, and the slides (don't know if one or multiple) were still actually in use through the 1970s, based on what I'm reading.
We don't really necessarily know where Gacy traveled in the course of his existence, we don't really know where Gacy did his clowning. It worries me that he kept insisting that he never killed as a clown. But I do tend to believe it, as he'd be easier to identify and track. Whether he used the clowning, though, to troll for potential victims is an entirely different matter. Because just as he'd be trackable as a clown, the people he'd come into contact with through that work-- he might be able to track them, hospital patients, for example. And on the flipside, he also may have come into contact with individuals that had simister interests similar to his own. The idea that the severely disturbed and murderous Gacy may have done a little "networking" even at that level of criminality can't be cast aside. Such a scenario might become increasingly possible if he somehow became privy to another perp's crime. Maybe someone who'd been trying to get a job with PDM, for example, with a criminal record. Gacy might feel he could let his hair down, so to speak.
I don't trust one word that came out of John Wayne Gacy's mouth and fear that he was given far too large a role in creating his own narrative.
RIP Billy.
John Gacy attended Northwestern Business College and graduated in 1963. Northwestern Business College is located in Oak Lawn Illinois. It's about eight miles from Swallow Cliff Woods, there are different routes you can take there, including 111th Street. Even today, the Palos suburbs southwest of Chicago-- Palos Hills, Palos Heights, and Palos Park-- are notorious for being poorly lit, and we're talking streets, not the actual woods, which would undoubtedly be black as pitch at nighttime. A lot of Chicagoans would know this. I'm wondering exactly why Gacy chose Oak Lawn for a business degree, it was quite far from the area where he grew up and he could easily have obtained a degree at a location requiring less travel. Yes, he didn't graduate from high school and needed to "shop around" for the right admission standards, but I doubt the shopping would have taken him all the way down to Oak Lawn.
I've read about Pierce, definitely think Pierce has some connection, he knew things only the killer of the victim would know.
But Gacy was into clowning, and where did clowns work, where did they perform in the 1960s/70s? Gacy is known to have done his clowning at block parties, children's parties, hospitals, and charity events. He joined the Jolly Jokers Club in 1975. But other places clowns may be working would be... circuses; theme parks; rodeos; retail store openings/events; fast food restaurants. And some of these clowns and others associated with them will be traveing frequently at various points in their careers.
We already know Gacy did "charity events," and he also organized plenty of charity events through the Jaycees. With every clowning experience, he'd be coming into contact with other clowns and festival/fair workers, perhaps. While I find it incredibly unlikely, it's not impossible he shared some information with some like-minded twisted individual he came across in the course of clowning. Don't think Pierce can be ignored, but definitely don't think Gacy can, either. Those toboggan slides at Swallow Cliff-- they're memorable. Someone who used one of those slides may have remembered that area, and the slides (don't know if one or multiple) were still actually in use through the 1970s, based on what I'm reading.
We don't really necessarily know where Gacy traveled in the course of his existence, we don't really know where Gacy did his clowning. It worries me that he kept insisting that he never killed as a clown. But I do tend to believe it, as he'd be easier to identify and track. Whether he used the clowning, though, to troll for potential victims is an entirely different matter. Because just as he'd be trackable as a clown, the people he'd come into contact with through that work-- he might be able to track them, hospital patients, for example. And on the flipside, he also may have come into contact with individuals that had simister interests similar to his own. The idea that the severely disturbed and murderous Gacy may have done a little "networking" even at that level of criminality can't be cast aside. Such a scenario might become increasingly possible if he somehow became privy to another perp's crime. Maybe someone who'd been trying to get a job with PDM, for example, with a criminal record. Gacy might feel he could let his hair down, so to speak.
I don't trust one word that came out of John Wayne Gacy's mouth and fear that he was given far too large a role in creating his own narrative.
RIP Billy.
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