
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 15, 1994                   TAG: 9405150038
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                LENGTH: Short

A FIRE SALE FOR GACY ART

A businessman spent about $20,000 to buy up most of executed serial killer John Wayne Gacy's artworks, and he plans to get a return on his investment by burning them.

"We want them wiped off the map," said Joe Roth, who bought more than two dozen of the 40 Gacy works for sale at Saturday's auction. "It's too bad we couldn't have wiped them all off the map."

Roth, owner of a truck parts business, said he wants to make a point by burning the paintings created by the man convicted in 1980 of killing 33 boys and young men during the 1970s.

Gacy was executed Tuesday.

Roth, 50, said he was fed up with media coverage of the execution because it didn't send strong enough messages to parents.

"We're going to burn all the pictures and try to get the attention of parents to watch their kids so this never happens again," Roth said.

Roth promised the burning would be within 30 days.

Saturday's auction included some of Gacy's most famous renditions - Elvis Presley, Jesus, Mickey Mouse and clowns named Pogo, Patches, Skull and Death.

by CNB