LOS ANGELES, California — A longtime TV and movie actor says he was abducted and sexually assaulted by infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy in the 1970s but was able to survive.
Now People reports that Jack Merrill, 65, talks about the incident and how it’s affected his life in a one-man play, “The Save,” at the Electric Lodge Theater in Los Angeles. Merrill’s long career has included appearances on TV shows such as “Law & Order,” “Hannah Montana” and “Sex and the City,” and movies such as “Eight Men Out.”
Merrill tells People that in 1978 when he was 19 years old he was walking home from a YMCA in Chicago after going for a swim when a man pulled up next to him and offered him a ride. He said he accepted the ride and that the man eventually jammed a rag into his face, causing him to pass out.
He said when he woke up he was handcuffed and the man drove him to a home in suburban Chicago.
“He told me to be quiet,” Merrill tells People. “A light from the back of the house hit him in the eyes and suddenly I realized how dangerous he was. I was a puny 19-year-old. I knew I couldn’t anger him. I just had to diffuse the situation and act like everything was OK.”
After drinking beer and smoking marijuana, Merrill says the man dragged him to a room and sexually assaulted him, at one point putting a handgun in his mouth.
“I knew if I fought him, I didn’t have much of a chance,” Merrill tells People. “I never freaked out or yelled. I also felt sorry for him in a way, like he didn’t necessarily want to be doing what he was doing, but he couldn’t stop.”
He said the attack lasted hours, but the man suddenly told Merrill he would take him home. The man gave Merrill his phone number and suggested they meet again. Merrill says he flushed the number down the toilet.
Merrill tells People he was determined to put the attack behind him and didn’t call authorities. A few months later, he saw a newspaper story about Gacy and realized that was the man who assaulted him. He called the paper and said he was a victim, but then hung up, worried about the exposure it would bring on his family. He said if he believed police needed him, he would have come forward.
Gacy was charged and convicted for the murders of 33 men, many of whom were buried underneath his home. He was executed in 1994.
Merrill says he has had to deal with the aftermath of the assault for years, but he has forgiven Gacy. He said his 23-year relationship with his husband has helped with healing.
“There’s a lot of people who have had bad things happen to them,” Merrill tells People. “Many people who have been raped don’t talk about it. I understand that. Until now I’ve only told close friends. But doing my new show, I walk through it every night. I’m proud of the journey. I was able to learn from the bad and use it for the good. You know, I’m lucky.”