CHICAGO (AP) - An Illinois sheriff says the mother of a St. Paul, Minn. teen identified as a victim of John Wayne Gacy had suspected her son was a victim of the serial killer and came to Chicago to talk to investigators in 1979.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said Wednesday that at the time the only way to identify bodies was with dental records, which 16-year-old James Byron Haakenson's mother didn't have.
Dart says the dead teen's nephew always wondered what had happened. Earlier this year he saw a news clip of Dart talking about his effort to identify the victims. Dart says the nephew persuaded his father and his aunt to submit saliva samples for testing.
The sheriff says investigators "got an immediate hit" when they ran tests this spring.