Detectives are investigating whether one of America's most notorious serial killers could have been responsible for more murders.
The investigation into the crimes of John Wayne Gacy has been reopened in the hope that DNA technology can put names to victims who were never identified.
Gacy killed 34 young men and boys between 1972 and 1978 and buried most of them in the cellar at his home.
He was convicted in 1980 and executed in 1994.
Sheriffs in Cook County, Illinois, have obtained exhumation orders for bodies of eight victims who were never identified and hope to find DNA matches with relatives of young men who went missing in the area in the 1970s.
Dozens have already come forward and detectives are looking into unsolved murders in 14 states and across the border in Canada.
Former detective Joseph Kozenczak, who helped catch Gacy, has said he believes there are more victims.
He told USA Today: "There's no question about it in my mind."
Gacy, who owned his own building business, often posed as a police officer to attract his victims.
He was dubbed the 'Killer Clown' because he had appeared as a clown called Pogo.
The new investigation has already produced one remarkable result - a man who was believed to have been one of Gacy's victims has turned up alive and well in Florida.
Harold Wayne Lovell was reunited with his family for first time since he left his Chicago home in 1977 after police, preparing a DNA test for his family, discovered a recent police booking photo for him.
Lovell, who is now 53, described the reunion with his family as "awesome".
A team of detectives is now working on the case and potential DNA matches have been identified for young men who disappeared in other states.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says it is "beyond preposterous" that Gacy stopped killing when he was not in Illinois.
He said: "We're not going to be surprised if we find we're solving some missing persons cases."
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