29 Below (1979) is a harrowing true crime memoir by Jeffrey Rignall that chronicles his survival of John Wayne Gacy's assault and his subsequent investigation, which highlighted systemic institutional homophobia in 1970s Chicago. Rignall's persistence in the face of initial police apathy forced the investigation, contributing to the capture of the serial killer, according to accounts from Oxygen and Grunge .
Trusting the man, Rignall accepted the offer and got into the car. Once inside, Gacy offered him a drink. Almost immediately after consuming the liquid, Rignall felt intensely dizzy—he had been drugged with chloroform.
: Because it was an official exhibit in the Gacy trial (Exhibit #18), it is highly sought after by true crime collectors.
Gacy chloroformed Rignall, took him to his home, and subjected him to hours of torture and sexual assault while Rignall was bound to a wooden "torture board".
Jeffrey Rignall was the first known survivor of serial killer . His book, jeffrey rignall 29 below pdf
Jeffrey D. Rignall was born on August 21, 1951, in Kentucky. After attending Western Kentucky University, he moved to Chicago, where he worked as a building renovator and real estate investor with his partner, Ron Wilder. Described as small, attractive, and charismatic, Rignall lived a vibrant life in the city’s New Town neighborhood. He was open about his bisexuality, balancing a relationship with a girlfriend while living with his male partner, a fact that would later complicate how authorities treated his case.
Rignall was abducted and brutally sexually assaulted by Gacy. Unlike many of Gacy's victims, Rignall survived the encounter.
The 1979 memoir by Jeffrey Rignall (with Ron Wilder and Patricia Colander) is a seminal, yet rare, piece of true crime history. As the only victim known to have survived a direct, documented assault by Gacy before his eventual arrest, Rignall's firsthand account provides a chilling, intimate look into the actions of one of America's most prolific serial killers.
The memoir details Rignall’s survival of a brutal 1978 attack and his harrowing journey to bring his assailant to justice. 29 Below (1979) is a harrowing true crime
When Gacy finally went to trial, his defense team ironically called Jeffrey Rignall to the stand, aiming to use the sheer brutality of Rignall's torture to prove Gacy was legally insane. However, Rignall’s raw, emotional, and highly detailed testimony backfired on the defense. It solidified the jury's view of Gacy as a calculated monster. Gacy was found sane, convicted, and later executed in 1994.
Rignall’s persistence eventually forced the police to take Gacy seriously. When Gacy was arrested in December 1978, police discovered 29 bodies buried in the crawl space under his house.
Because the book was printed in a limited run of only 5,000 copies by the small Wellington Press, physical editions now command hundreds of dollars on the secondary market. This extreme scarcity has driven true crime enthusiasts, researchers, and historians to search online for a digital alternative: the elusive
who had been discovered buried on Gacy’s property at the time the book was written (the total later rose to 33). Once inside, Gacy offered him a drink
Jeffrey Rignall's story is a tragic monument to the failures of 20th-century policing and a testament to human resilience. While John Wayne Gacy was eventually executed in 1994, Rignall's life was permanently altered by the trauma he endured. 29 Below remains a crucial text for criminologists and historians, serving as a reminder that the most important voices in criminal justice are often the ones the system tries to ignore.
Rignall awoke inside Gacy’s suburban Norwood Park home. What followed was hours of calculated, brutal torture. Gacy strapped Rignall into a custom-made wooden "torture board," repeatedly chloroforming him, choking him, and sexually assaulting him. Rignall later recalled waking up intermittently to excruciating pain, at one point begging Gacy to kill him just to end the agony.
, is a rare first-hand account of the ordeal and his subsequent efforts to bring Gacy to justice when the authorities initially failed him.