Those targeted but not killed by John Wayne Gacy tell their stories in People magazine docuseries

August 11, 2026, 10:03 am CDT Pictured is the suburban Chicago home of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. When the photo was taken in 1979, authorities found the remains of 29 bodies at the one-story structure. (Photo by CEK/The Associated Press) True-crime media often comes in one of two flavors: defendant-centric or victim-centric. When the focus is on those accused of a crime, procedural aspects of the case are spotlighted. Was evidence illegally obtained? Was there bias among witnesses? Was the defense attorney ineffective? There’s usually a tried-and-tested menu of legal processes and pitfalls to choose from. The victim-centric offerings are less paint by numbers, though. Most of that is because, when done correctly, this version of true crime recenters the people who were subjected to the crime, not just the criminal process. In People Magazine Investigates: Surviving a Serial Killer , a docuseries on HBO Max, the survivors are the story. Ultimately, that is where the series succeeds. One episode features interviews of three men who escaped John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer also known as the Killer Clown. David Bolton, Patrick Dati and Tony Antonucci tell tragic but sometimes harrowing accounts of one-on-one encounters with Gacy that subjected them to varying degrees of criminal acts. All the while, Surviving a Serial Killer never falters from its focus: the victims. Why is that noteworthy? True crime as a genre is oversaturated. In a world with seemingly endless options, many production teams look for an angle that will help them stand out from the crowd. With newer offerings such as Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story dramatizing serial killers, the decision to maintain focus on the victims instead of the person who victimized them is telling. After all, victim-centric true crime is not new. It is not necessarily exciting. Nevertheless, the subgenre has a valuable place in that overarching category of media because of the role it plays in educating viewers on the lasting impact an encounter with evil can leave on the human psyche. Janine Rubinstein, who acts as a host of sorts and quasi-narrator, explains that People produced this series to “give a voice to the survivors.” While that is likely not the magazine’s only motive, it does a fair job of giving the interviewees room to breathe. Each survivor interviewed details the plethora of ways in which Gacy’s criminal acts changed their lives. First, Bolton explains how he met the murderer when Gacy was a teenage counselor at the camp he attended as an 8-year-old. He describes in explicit detail how Gacy orally sodomized him. After Gacy also threatens to end his life if Bolton discloses the crime, Bolton learns that his mother gave Gacy their home address in case he wanted to visit while in town. Bolton relates how he lived in fear for the rest of his younger years. Nevertheless, he never told a soul about what had occurred. I enjoyed People’s decision to interleave Gacy’s life events as a method of moving the narrative along. We hear about his marriage, children and separate conviction for sodomy with a different victim in a straightforward way that simply delivers the facts without giving too much credence to the criminal. His defense attorney, Sam Amirante, explains how Gacy was a dichotomy of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Still, the segment is quick enough that it doesn’t cast any more ambivalence on him than necessary to move the story forward in time. Which then leads to Dati. The audience hears how Gacy attacked him as a boy alone in a bathroom stall. Although Dati was able to cause enough raucous to make himself a difficult target, based on the chronology of when the attack occurred, it’s fair to say he escaped being Gacy’s second murder victim. Antonucci, who, as a 15-year-old, helped Gacy with some remodeling work, accounts an interesting juxtaposition: He was a teenager when Gacy attacked him, not a child. Each of the three seems to struggle with similar lasting effec