CHICAGO — The effort to identify unknown victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy led to the closure of a 41-year-old missing person case, officials said Tuesday.
Gacy was convicted of killing 33 teenage boys and young men from 1972 to 78, and he was executed in 1994. Seven of Gacy's 33 victims remain unidentified.
One possible victim was thought to have been to Steven Soden, who was 16 when he was last seen at camp grounds in New Jersey in 1972, according to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.
Relatives thought Soden might have been traveling to Chicago, where his biological father lived.
A DNA sample was taken from Soden's sister in Washington State, but there was no match between her and the unidentified Gacy victims, officials said.
Her DNA, however, was added into a combined system and found to be a genetic match with human remains found in April 2000 not far from where Soden was last seen in New Jersey, the sheriff's office said.
The remains were identified as Steven Soden, but his cause of death remains unknown, officials said.
A search of Gacy's mother's home in Norwood Park for additional victims turned up no human remains, according to the Cook County Sheriff's Office.
Anyone who believes their male relative may have been a Gacy victim is asked to call 708-865-6244.
