Jeffrey Rignall

Jeffrey Rignall (August 21, 1951 – December 24, 2000) was an American author who survived a 1978 attack by serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Rignall wrote the book 29 Below about the experience in 1979.

Jeffrey Rignall
BornAugust 21, 1951
Chicago, Illinois, United States
DiedDecember 24, 2000(2000-12-24) (aged 49)
Pinellas County, Florida, United States
NationalityAmerican
OccupationAuthor
Known forSurviving an attack by John Wayne Gacy

Attack by John Wayne Gacy

Rignall identified as bisexual and lived with his girlfriend and a male, described by Rignall's attorney as a live-in companion.[1] While walking to a local gay bar in Rosemont, Illinois, on March 21, 1978,[2] Gacy lured the 26-year-old Rignall into his car, promising to give him a ride and smoke a joint with him.[3] Gacy then held a rag soaked in chloroform over Rignall's mouth until he passed out. Rignall woke up intermittently during the car ride to Gacy's house but was chloroformed again each time he stirred and eventually lapsed into unconsciousness.[4]

When Rignall awoke, he was inside of Gacy's house.[4] Rignall was fastened to a torture device called "the rack".[5][6] The device kept Rignall restrained on a wooden board suspended by chains with holes for his arms and head to go through.[7] Gacy stood naked in front of him with an array of dildos and described in detail what he would do to Rignall with each of them. Gacy then brutally raped, drugged, whipped, and tortured Rignall.[4] In later accounts, Rignall stated that there was another man in the room while Gacy raped him.[8][9][10]

Rignall regained consciousness under a statue in Chicago's Lincoln Park. He made it back to his girlfriend's house and she took him to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he stayed for six days. In the hospital Rignall recounted the experience to police, but they were skeptical of his story and did not issue an arrest warrant.[3] Rignall testified against Gacy in People v. Gacy and said that Gacy was not legally sane at the time of the attack, citing "...the beastly and animalistic ways he attacked me".[7] Gacy was sentenced to death in 1980 after a trial, and was executed on May 10, 1994, at Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill.

29 Below

Rignall partnered with author Ron Wilder to write a memoir of his experience with Gacy and his investigative attempts to find the rapist afterward. The book, 29 Below, was released in 1979.[11] 29 Below describes staking out freeways and overpasses to spot Gacy's black Oldsmobile. He eventually spotted Gacy, writing down his license plate and following him to Gacy's house.[4] He provided police with the license plate number and address, but they did not act on the information. By the time police took Rignall's account seriously, Gacy had already been arrested for murder charges.

Death

Rignall died on December 24, 2000 of AIDS-related causes.

In literature

Rignall appears in the following books:

  • A Plague of Murder by Colin Wilson[12]
  • Encyclopedia of World Crime: Vol II: D-J by Jay Robert Nash[13]
  • Forensic Investigation Handbook: An Introduction to the Collection, Preservation, Analysis, and Presentation of Evidence by Michael Fitting Karagiozis and Richard Sgaglio[14]
  • Killer Clown by Terry Sullivan and Peter Maiken[15]
  • Murder, an Analysis of Its Forms, Conditions, and Causes by Gerhard Falk and Clifford Falk[16]
  • Serial Killer Timelines: Illustrated Accounts of the World's Most Gruesome Murderers by Chris McNab[17]
  • Serial Killers: Up Close and Personal: Inside the World of Torturers, Psychopaths, and Mass Murderers by Christopher Berry-Dee[18]
  • The encyclopedia of serial killers by Brian Lane and Wilfred Gregg[19]
  • The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers by Michael Newton[20]
  • The Man Who Killed Boys: The John Wayne Gacy Jr. Story by Clifford L. Linedecker[21]
  • The Serial Killers: A Study in the Psychology of Violence by Colin Wilson and Donald Seaman[22]
  • World's Infamous Killers by Octopus Publishing Group[23]

References
  1. "Gacy defense tells of rape, torture by accused". Gadsden Times. February 22, 1980. Retrieved November 30, 2013.
  2. Cahill 1986, p. 205.
  3. Bell, Rachael. "John Wayne Gacy Jr". Tru TV. Retrieved November 30, 2013.
  4. Bailey, Frankie Y. "Famous American Crimes and Trials". The African American Experience. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  5. "Serial Killers". University of Florida. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  6. "John Wayne Gacy". Carpe Noctem. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 30, 2013.
  7. "People v. Gacy". Leagle. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  8. Springer, Kate (February 13, 2012). "Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy May Have Had Accomplices". TIME Magazine. New York City: Meredith Corporation. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  9. Lutzke, Andrew. "Unsolved Mysteries and Scary Stuff: John Wayne Gacy". Culture Crossfire. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  10. Main, Frank (February 10, 2012). "Gacy had at least one accomplice, two lawyers believe". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  11. Rignall, Jeff (1979). 29 Below. California: Wellington Press, Inc.
  12. Wilson, Colin (2013). A Plague of Murder. Constable & Robinson Ltd. ISBN 978-1472108029.
  13. Nash, Jay Robert (1990). Encyclopedia of World Crime: D-J Volume 2 of Encyclopedia of World Crime: Criminal Justice, Criminology, and Law Enforcement. CrimeBooks. ISBN 0923582029.
  14. Karagiozis, Michael Fitting (2005). Forensic Investigation Handbook: An Introduction to the Collection, Preservation, Analysis, and Presentation of Evidence. Charles C Thomas Publisher. p. 158. ISBN 0398075794.
  15. Maiken, Peter (12 December 2012). Killer Clown. Pinnacle Books. ISBN 978-0786033263.
  16. Falk, Falk, Gerhard, Clifford (1990). Murder, an Analysis of Its Forms, Conditions, and Causes. McFarland. ISBN 0899504787.
  17. McNab, Chris (2010). Serial Killer Timelines: Illustrated Accounts of the World's Most Gruesome Murderers. Ulysses. ISBN 978-1569758885.
  18. Berry-Dee, Christopher (2007). Serial Killers: Up Close and Personal: Inside the World of Torturers, Psychopaths, and Mass Murderers. Ulysses Press. pp. 322–323. ISBN 978-1569759479.
  19. Lane, Brian (1995). The encyclopedia of serial killers. Berkley Books. ISBN 0425152138.
  20. Newton, Michael (2006). The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. Infobase Publishing. p. 86. ISBN 0816069875.
  21. Linedecker, Clifford L. (1993). The Man Who Killed Boys: The John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Story. Macmillan. ISBN 0312952287.
  22. Wilson, Colin (2011). The Serial Killers: A Study in the Psychology of Violence. Random House. pp. 273–274. ISBN 978-0753547229.
  23. Octopus Publishing Group (2003). World's Infamous Killers. Alva Press. ISBN 0785817468.
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