The depressing task of finally identifying all of John Wayne Gacy's victims has resulted in a second happy ending. A man whose family thought he became one of the Chicago serial killer's victims in the 1970s has instead been found alive and well in Oregon, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. Ted Szal disappeared at age 24 in 1977, and the only clue was his abandoned car at O'Hare airport—which happens to be near the home Gacy lived in.
As it turns out, Szal left town without a trace in part because his marriage had fallen apart. No word yet on whether a reunion will take place with his dad and siblings, but both sides sounded happy about the turn of events. “Being able to tell an 88-year-old father that his son, whose picture he has been carrying around for 34 years in his breast pocket, has been found alive is something special," says the sheriff. Click to read about how another suspected victim turned up in Florida. (More John Wayne Gacy stories.)