Jimmy Haakenson

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Jimmy Haakenson
1972 photograph, age 12
Name	James Byron Haakenson
Sex	Male
Age	16
Missing from	St. Paul, Minnesota
Disappeared	August 5, 1976
Discovered	December 29, 1978
Location	Norwood Park, Illinois
Identified	July 6, 2017
Span	38 years
Cause of death	Homicide

James Byron "Jimmy" Haakenson, previously Body 24, was one of the victims of John Wayne Gacy. His identification was announced on July 19, 2017.

Case

Haakenson's skeletal remains were found in the crawl space of Gacy's home, located directly underneath Body 23, later identified as Rick Johnston, and above Body 26. Both Rick and Jimmy are believed to have died on August 6, 1976. Haakenson was found wearing a shirt, underwear, sock remnants, and two silver-colored metal chain necklaces. He also had a fracture in his right clavicle that had since healed.

Disappearance

Jimmy ran away from his home in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1976. He was described as a funny, good natured but troubled 16-year-old. He was one of four siblings, his mother worked three jobs and his father was an alcoholic and often would leave the home for a few days at a time. In the summer of 1976, Jimmy announced he was leaving home. He last contacted his family on August 5, 1976, informing his mother by telephone that he was in Chicago. This was one day before Rick Johnston was last heard from, leading police to believe that Gacy had murdered him within hours of this phone call. It is speculated that Jimmy could have made this phone call in Gacy's home.

After no one had heard from Jimmy for weeks, his family became concerned. A missing persons report was filed, and a message from St. Paul police (dated September 7th, 1976) stated: “Mother thinks he may be in the company of gays in Chicago.”

Jimmy's mother later tried to see if her son was one of Gacy's victims, but failed as she didn't have Jimmy's dental records on file, which was the primary method of identifying the victims at the time.

Identification

Jimmy was identified after a nephew, who had never stopped wondering what happened to the uncle he never met, contacted the Cook County Sheriff's Office after undertaking personal research. Jimmy’s relatives submitted DNA to law enforcement and it was found to be a match. It was announced on July 19, 2017, that Body 24 had been identified as Jimmy Haakenson.

Gallery

Media

• In 2018, the miniseries Deadly Legacy dedicated its final episode to documenting the process of identifying his remains.

• The 2021 miniseries Invisible Monsters: Serial Killers in America included the victim’s photograph in a montage of various victims during the final episode.

Sources

• Twin Cities - Pioneer Press
• CNN
• John Wayne Gacy on Wikipedia