On December 20, 1978, a drunken and disheveled John Wayne Gacy wandered into Sam Amirante’s office, where he spent the night admitting to his attorney what he had done. One week earlier, on December 13, police had executed a search warrant on Gacy’s house and discovered part of a photo receipt from the same pharmacy where Piest had worked. His co-worker recalled placing the slip in his jacket pocket, and she was able to identify that Gacy was the man that Piest had run out to talk to about a job (via Newsweek).
Amirante found himself in a bind, as turning in his client would have meant violating attorney-client privilege and would have harmed his career, but there was no doubt that Gacy was a true danger. Fortunately, police arrested Gacy the next day on a drug charge, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and with him locked away, police were able o return to his home with a second search warrant, where they discovered bodies under Gacy’s home.
