Relatives of a man who vanished more than five decades ago have provided DNA samples in the hope of discovering whether he was among the unidentified victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
Roger Aguirre was 23 when he disappeared in Chicago on November 20, 1975. Witnesses last reported seeing him outside his apartment building while speaking to a man sitting in a red car.
Concern grew when Roger failed to make contact for several days. When family members checked his apartment, they found the lights on and the television still running, but Roger was nowhere to be found.
He has not been seen or heard from since that day.
“It was like he walked out of the apartment intending to come home, but he never returned.”
Roger went missing during the period when Gacy was carrying out the crimes that would later make him one of America’s most notorious serial killers.
John Wayne Gacy was convicted of murdering 33 boys and young men in the 1970s, and investigators later identified many of his victims through dental records, missing-person reports and, more recently, DNA testing. Today, five of Gacy’s victims remain unidentified, and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office says DNA profiles suitable for comparison have been obtained from all five.
Because several of Gacy’s victims were never identified, Roger’s family have long wondered whether he could have been one of them.
Now, advances in genetic genealogy and DNA analysis are giving them renewed hope that they may finally learn what happened. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office says it is still seeking living relatives of missing men who vanished between 1970 and 1979 and are willing to provide a DNA sample for direct comparison with the unidentified victims.
“All we want to know is whether or not one of Gacy’s victims is Roger.
“It has been seven years since Roger’s sister submitted DNA to the police. We just want to know if Roger is a victim.
“Nobody wants their relative to die the way those boys did. It would be upsetting to find out he is a victim, but at last we would know where he is, and we could bury him.
“If it is not him, we can go on and continue looking for him.”
Wakefield said Roger had been going through a difficult time shortly before he vanished, after splitting up with his boyfriend.
“Around that time, Roger was upset because his boyfriend had broken up with him.
“He went round to see his sister, Carol, 82, on November 18 to talk through what had happened – that was the last time she saw him.
“Two days later, he was seen talking to a middle-aged man in a red car, which is the last time anyone saw him.
“They thought he could have been a friend, but they didn’t recognise the man. This led us to wonder whether he was Gacy.”
According to Becky, Roger’s sisters Carol and Debbie have both already submitted DNA, though those earlier efforts did not produce conclusive results.
The family are now hopeful that newer forms of genetic testing could finally provide the clarity they have waited decades for.
“All we are looking for are answers. We’re hoping that genomics testing will give us the answers we are looking for,” Becky added.
“None of us is getting any younger; we want to be able to mourn Roger.”