BURIED: Inside the John Wayne Gacy Investigation

Featuring never-before-heard recordings of John Wayne Gacy (The Gacy Tapes) and new admissions from the detectives who investigated him, BURIED is a true-crime podcast that investigates the police investigation, re-examining the John Wayne Gacy case and the police work that uncovered a serial killer.

BURIED: Inside the John Wayne Gacy Investigation is Defense Diaries' remastered re-release of The Gacy Tapes season. The original Gacy recordings have been professionally remastered for enhanced clarity, bringing new life to this groundbreaking true-crime investigation podcast.

In 1978, John Wayne Gacy was arrested for the murders of 33 young men and boys, their bodies buried beneath his house in Norwood Park Township, Illinois. The case shocked the nation and defined a generation of true crime. But the full story of how Gacy was caught has never been told. Until now.

BURIED is hosted by criminal defense attorney Bob Motta, whose father, Bob Motta Sr., represented John Wayne Gacy during his insanity defense trial. BURIED shares decades old exclusive audio recordings of Gacy speaking candidly with his defense team—tapes that reveal the mind of one of America's most notorious serial killers.

But this isn't another John Wayne Gacy biography. This is the story of the victims, the desperate police investigation to find them, and the John Wayne Gacy trial that brought it all to a close, reexamined through an investigation that uncovers the lines crossed to bring Gacy to justice.

Bob Motta and producer Darron Wood conducted their investigation in real time, interviewing detectives, uncovering documents, and discovering revelations in real time as each episode was produced, never knowing what the next interview or document would reveal. Listeners experiences the same unfolding journey, revelation by revelation, exactly as it happened.

With exclusive access to thousands of pages of police reports, evidence logs, and witness statements, along with shocking interviews Bob conducted with the lead detectives revealing truths they’ve never shared publicly, BURIED exposes what has remained hidden for over 40 years and takes listeners inside the historic John Wayne Gacy trial.

For years, young men connected to Gacy went missing, dismissed by Chicago police as runaways or reduced to stereotypes about gay men. Then 15-year-old Robert Piest disappeared, and one lone-wolf detective became determined to find him at any cost. From a 24/7 surveillance operation that produced nothing to crucial evidence that mysteriously appeared to support the search warrant that brought Gacy down—this is the investigation you thought you knew, told through the eyes of a defense attorney's son who discovered his father's case wasn't what anyone believed.

The podcast culminates in the historic John Wayne Gacy trial that captivated America, featuring historic courtroom reenactments: defense attorney Robert Motta Sr. performing his opening statement and prosecutor William Kunkle performing his devastating closing argument, both using the original trial transcripts. The insanity defense. The verdict. The aftermath.

BURIED goes beyond the monster to examine the system that caught him, the John Wayne Gacy trial that defined him, and the secrets that have been buried alongside the victims. If you were intrigued by Peacock’s Devil in Disguise, you’ll find BURIED goes deeper, revealing parts of the Gacy case shared only with its host. It’s a story of depravity, police power, and the dangerous line between justice and truth.