"I Actually Do": Survivor Anthony Antonucci on Escaping John Wayne Gacy, Inside Edition, 2025
Fifty years on, Anthony Antonucci tells Inside Edition how, as a teenage high school wrestler working for Gacy, he slipped out of Gacy's handcuffs and turned them on him.
- Subject
- John Wayne Gacy
- Recorded
- about October 17, 2025
- Runtime
- 2:32
Content warning: Concerns Gacy's murders of young men and boys and his attempt to restrain a teenage employee; no graphic detail.
The Interview
This is a two-and-a-half-minute Inside Edition report, broadcast in October 2025 as Peacock premiered its drama series "Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy". Correspondent Steven Fabian interviews Anthony Antonucci, who worked for Gacy's construction company as a teenager and who believes Gacy meant to kill him in 1975. The report also includes short clips from the drama and ends with about 15 seconds of Bill O'Reilly's 1994 telephone interview with Gacy for Inside Edition, in which Gacy is heard twice, briefly.
Historical Context
John Wayne Gacy, a building contractor in Norwood Park Township near Chicago who performed at parties as "Pogo the Clown", was arrested on December 21, 1978. Most of his victims' remains were found in the crawl space under his house. On March 12, 1980, he was convicted of 33 murders of young men and boys, and on March 13 he was sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center on May 10, 1994. According to the published account of the case, Gacy hired Antonucci, then 15, in May 1975. About two months later Gacy came to his home, wrestled him to the floor and handcuffed his hands behind his back; one cuff was loose, and Antonucci, a high school wrestler, freed himself, overpowered Gacy and cuffed him. Gacy left once he was released. Antonucci went on working for Gacy's firm, PDM Contractors, for some months afterward.
Circumstances
The interview was a tie-in to the Peacock series, which premiered on October 16, 2025; Inside Edition says Antonucci "spoke out" the next day. Where the interview was recorded is not stated. The 1994 Gacy audio is Inside Edition's own archive material.
What the Recording Covers
Asked whether Gacy was there to kill him that night, Antonucci says, "Absolutely," and believes he would have been "about victim, I don't know, three or four". He describes Gacy suddenly producing handcuffs from his pocket and getting one on his wrist. Fabian narrates how Antonucci wriggled free and cuffed Gacy instead; asked whether his wrestling background saved his life, Antonucci says, "I do. I actually do." The report notes that Detective Rafael Tovar is portrayed in the series, explains the "Pogo" clown persona, and closes with O'Reilly asking Gacy whether he feels remorse. Gacy answers that he has never had a fair trial and says he will "go to my death" maintaining his innocence.
What Makes the Recording Significant
Antonucci is one of the few known people to have survived an attack by Gacy, and here, about 50 years later, he describes it on camera in his own words.
Archival Importance
A recent first-person survivor account from the program that recorded Gacy's 1994 telephone interview, setting the survivor's words beside Gacy's denial.
Important Caveats
That Gacy came to kill him, and that he would have been an early victim, are Antonucci's beliefs. Inside Edition says he was 16 and that Gacy "challenged him to a wrestling match"; the published account gives his age as 15 when hired, with the attack about two months later, so his age at the time (15 or 16) is unsettled. The drama clips are actors, not archive footage. Gacy's claim of an unfair trial is contradicted by his confessions and the trial evidence.
Anchor: Notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy played a clown at children's parties while murdering at least 33 young men. Fascination in the case renewed, thanks to a new Peacock series. Now Steven Fabian speaks with a man who actually survived the killer clown.
Steven Fabian: Anthony Antonucci is one very lucky guy. He believes he escaped certain death at the hands of John Wayne Gacy.
Steven Fabian: Do you think he was there to kill you that night?
Anthony Antonucci: Absolutely.
Drama Clip: Get in the car.
Steven Fabian: He's speaking out today as a new drama about Gacy, "Devil in Disguise," debuts on Peacock.
Anthony Antonucci: I would have been about victim, I don't know, three or four. It was pretty early on.
Steven Fabian: It was 1975. Antonucci was just 16, working part-time for Gacy's construction company, when the creep challenged him to a wrestling match.
Anthony Antonucci: And all of a sudden, um, he got a, he had handcuffs. I didn't see them. He took them out of his pocket, uh, [unclear: "unbeknownst" / "pronounced it"], and got it on one of my wrists.
Steven Fabian: It was a trick Gacy used on many of his victims. But Antonucci, a high school wrestler, managed to wriggle out of the cuffs and turn the tables, slapping them on Gacy.
Anthony Antonucci: Jeez, you know, look.
Steven Fabian: Do you attribute your wrestling background to saving your life?
Anthony Antonucci: I do. I actually do.
Anthony Antonucci: Like most serial killers, [unclear: "these are" / "are"] intelligent.
Steven Fabian: Rafael Tovar, one of the lead investigators who brought Gacy to justice, is portrayed in the TV series.
Drama Clip: We got to talk. Kids missing. Reported last seen with you.
Drama Clip: I don't know who that is.
Steven Fabian: Gacy preyed on young men and boys and was known as the killer clown, because he liked to dress up as a clown he called Pogo to entertain children at parties.
Interviewee: Clowns are friendly. Clowns are, you know, everybody's friend.
Steven Fabian: And with a clown face, he could draw kids closer to him. He's believed to have murdered at least 33 victims. Cops found most of the bodies buried in the crawl space under his home in a Chicago suburb. He was sentenced to death and gave Inside Edition his final interview. Our former anchor, Bill O'Reilly, spoke to Gacy on the phone hours before he was executed.
Bill O'Reilly: Do you feel any sense of remorse about anything that's happened here?
John Wayne Gacy: Well, considering I've never had a fair trial, how am I supposed to feel?
Bill O'Reilly: Even at this late date, you still say that you are innocent?
John Wayne Gacy: I will go to my death that way.
Steven Fabian: The eight-part series "Devil in Disguise" is streaming now on Peacock. [02:23 to 02:32: music; no further speech.] ---