CHICAGO (AP) — After her older brother disappeared
in 1976, Laura O'Leary suspected that the 19-year-old construction worker had
probably died at the hands of John Wayne Gacy. But the family was never able to
prove it.
They got little help from authorities. And they
couldn't locate any dental records to compare with the skeletal remains found
beneath the serial killer's house.
So O'Leary waited, clinging for more than 30 years
to a few items that once belonged to William George Bundy — a bracelet she'd
given him for his 18th birthday, a high school photo ID and an autographed
school book.
O'Leary's worst suspicions were confirmed Tuesday,
when authorities announced that Bundy was one of the eight unidentified young men
found under Gacy's home.
"Today's terribly sad, but it is also a day
that provides closure," O'Leary said. "We have been waiting for a
long time for closure."
The identification of Bundy came weeks after the
sheriff's office issued a public plea for families of young men who disappeared
in the 1970s to submit DNA samples for comparison with the victims' remains.
Investigators exhumed the remains earlier this
year, hoping that the passage of time and advancement of technology would work
in their favor. They established a hotline and a website for people to file
reports.
O'Leary, who was 15 when her brother vanished, said
she immediately went to the site after hearing the news. She and her brother,
Robert, provided DNA samples. The sheriff's office also received a call from a
friend of Bundy's who said he believed his friend may have worked for Gacy.
"For so many years, we've had unanswered
questions," O'Leary said. "There were no leads. Time went by."
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said the office received
calls from 29 states and developed a total of 125 leads, 80 of which required
follow up.
Eleven DNA samples were submitted in connection
with some of the seven other victims. Four samples did not match, and
investigators are waiting on the others, working with a lab at the University
of North Texas.
"People are really desperate to find their
missing loved ones, and there are not a lot of outlets," Detective Jason
Moran said.
He said investigators were learning more about
Gacy, his victims and gaps in police work in the 1970s and 1980s, including
missing-persons reports that were never followed up or pursued.
The building contractor stabbed one and strangled
the others between 1972 and 1978. Most were buried in a crawl space under his
home. Four others were dumped in a river.
Gacy was executed in 1994.
Bundy, who grew up in Chicago, was last seen in
October 1976 heading out to a party, authorities said. He had forgotten his
wallet at home.
A day after he vanished, his family filed a
missing-persons report. But, O'Leary said, "it wasn't pursued
aggressively."
Bundy's family contacted authorities again when
news of Gacy and his victims became public, but they had no way to identify any
remains. Their dentist had retired and destroyed all dental records.
Two years later, Bundy's remains were found under
Gacy's house, identified only as "Victim No. 19" because his was the
19th body removed from a crawl space beneath Gacy's home.
Investigators said there is no way to know for sure
the circumstances of Bundy's death or how he came into contact with Gacy. But
Dart said it appeared the motive was luring Bundy with the promise of
construction work.
Bundy's disappearance and the unanswered questions
weighed heavily on O'Leary's family. Her parents died years ago.
"My mother, she was never really the
same," O'Leary said, declining to discuss matters in detail. She said she
and her brother want time to heal.
O'Leary and her brother recalled Bundy as a
teenager who had a lot of friends, was an excellent diver and excelled at
gymnastics. Many of her girlfriends wanted to date him, she joked.
She said learning the truth about his fate allowed
the family to close a door. Bundy's amended death certificate was submitted to
the Cook County medical examiner's office.
The family plans to put up a grave marker for Bundy
in the spring and have a ceremony at the cemetery where other relatives are
buried.
"The sorrow will eventually go away," she
said. "And I'll have a place to visit him."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
