A man presumed killed by serial killer/amateur clown John Wayne Gacy has turned up, very much alive, 35 years later in Beaverton.

Take it away, Associated Press!

“My family thought I was dead. That hurt when I heard that,” the 59-year-old carpenter told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “There’s a difference between being murdered and running away, and I basically just ran away.”

Szal was 24 when he parked his car at Chicago’s O’Hare airport in 1977, threw his keys down a sewer grate and got on a plane to Colorado Springs. He abandoned his relatives after the turmoil of a divorce and a bitter family feud.

He intended to never look back, Szal said. But it wasn’t that easy. Holidays and birthdays were tough, and his wife pleaded with him to reconnect, he said, but he was too stubborn to make the phone call.

Who says nothing exciting ever happens in Beaverton?

Sarah Shay Mirk reported on transportation, sex and gender issues, and politics at the Mercury from 2008-2013. They have gone on to make many things, including countless comics and several books.

10 replies on “John Wayne Gacy “Victim” Found in Beaverton… Alive!”

  1. I can’t think of too many things to say in Beaverton’s favor, but I guess it’s better than being murdered by a serial killer and buried in a crawl space under a house in Des Plaines, Ill.

  4. Who was it that confused John Wayne Gacy and John Wayne? I want to say Palin. Confusing mavericky from murdery. Sounds like something she’d do, anyway.

  5. Sooo, why would his family just up and assumed that this guy Ted Szal was abducted and killed by a serial killer? Even during that specific time and place, the chances of that happening would’ve been extremely slim. What actually happened is FAR more plausible: he took off!

    See what happens when people jump to crazy conclusions?

  8. Really Mirk? Could’nt avoid a cheap hokey shot at the suburbs in a news piece? How very Portland Mercury of you. What, going the Johnny Carson route now? You’re better than that. As for you DaDaA…do us all a favor….die. Or at least don’t post on every fucking blog piece you ass clown

  9. @DaDaA: What I understand is that you have some kind of problem. I really dont care if it goes by seasons or if its cyclical, or if its really just there to stay.

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