Postmortem

What Survives the John Wayne Gacy Murders

By: Courtney Lund O'Neil

Narrated by: Leanne Woodward

On a December night in 1978, Courtney Lund O'Neil's mother, teenaged Kim Byers, saw her friend Rob Piest alive for the last time. At the end of his shift at the pharmacy where they both worked, fifteen-year-old Rob went outside to speak to a contractor named John Wayne Gacy about a possible job. That night Rob became Gacy's final victim; his body was later found in the Des Plaines River. Kim's testimony, along with a receipt belonging to her found in Gacy's house, proving that Rob had been there, would be pivotal in convicting the serial killer who assaulted and killed over thirty young men and boys.

Though she grew up far from Des Plaines, Courtney has lived in the shadow of that nightmare, keenly aware of its impact on her mother. In search of deeper understanding and closure, Courtney and Kim travel back to Illinois. Postmortem transforms their personal journey into a powerful exploration of the ever-widening ripples generated by Gacy's crimes. From the 1970s to the present day, his shadow extends beyond the victims' families and friends—it encompasses the Des Plaines neighborhood forever marked by his horrific murders, generations of the victims' families and friends, those who helped arrest and convict him, and many others. Postmortem is a complex story of loss and violence, grief and guilt, and the legacy that remains long after a killer is caught.

©2025 Courtney Lund O'Neil (P)2024 Tantor Media

Insightful and very well researched.

Kim Byers-Lund and I are the same age and I was the median age of John Gacy's victims.so this case has always fascinated me.
Mrs. O'Neil brings her mothers story to light with harrowing personal insight, combined with raw forensic research. That part of her story made me very uncomfortable, but put me in the personal space of feelings and emotions of those entrenched in this saga.
I appreciated the introduction to the family of Robert Piest, a close knit family destroyed by an unimaginable ordeal. We see the warmth and strength of a family struggling to continue in the midst of an indelible nightmare.
Highly recommended.

remembering the victims and families

I loved the entire book, so indepth about how much Kim went through to get justice for Rob but also seeing how it carried on through her life.

Rare access to another victim of this crime

Courtney does a wonderful job describing what it was like to be her mother, Kim Byers, the key witness for the prosecution who was just a 17-year-old girl at the time. I like that this book focuses on one crime victim, Kim’s good friend and co-worker, Rob Piest. As someone who is around her age at this time, I kept imagining what it was like to be her and all of the stress she must’ve been under. Thank you, Courtney for telling this story.

A very interesting perspective of someone from the outside looking in.

It was a good read and very interesting to hear about the personal experiences family and friends dealt with throughout their lives