Where is Michael Bonnin ‘Mike’s Sister Patti Vasquez Now? Let’s find her whereabouts. Michael Bonnin, Patti Vasquez’s half-brother, was one of the 33 young men killed by John Wayne Gacy. Vasquez was four years old when he vanished in 1979 at the age of seventeen, and he was living in Norwood Park with his father and his second wife. She was seven years old when they discovered his body in Gacy’s crawl space. Michael Bonnin was driving from Chicago to Waukegan when he was persuaded into John Wayne Gacy’s car for a ride, he proceeded to his house, and then he was murdered by Gacy’s terrible hands. Gacy killed him with a ligature. Bonnin was strangled to death. Gacy buried him in his crawl space afterwards.
The arrest of John Wayne Gacy in December 1978 was followed by a thorough investigation of his home. This eventually led to the discovery of many young men’s bodies buried on his land. Over the course of seven years, John had slain at least 33 men.
‘Conversations With a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes,’ a Netflix documentary, delves into Gacy’s murders and includes conversations with the victims’ families. Michael Bonnin, Patti Vasquez’s half-brother, was one of the men John killed. She discusses how the family dealt with the aftermath on the episode.
So, if you’re interested in learning more, here’s what we know.
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Patti Vasquez, Who is She?
Mike vanished unexpectedly in June 1976, when Patti was only four years old. He was only 17 years old at the time. Patti resided in Norwood Park, Illinois, with Mike, their father, and her mother. Since she was a child at the time, all she knew about Mike came through her father’s search for him. Patti recalled going to the police station with her father to obtain information. Mike’s unexpected disappearance made little sense to Mike’s family.
Patti recalled her mother answering a phone call seeking Mike’s information more than two years later. Mike’s fishing licence was discovered among his possessions after John Wayne Gacy was arrested in December 1978 in connection with another missing youth. Mike was one of John’s first victims, and his body was discovered in his home’s crawl area. Through dental records, the remains were identified as his by January 1979.
Patti’s father, who works as a cab driver, took it very hard. She said that it had devastated him and that he had become an alcoholic as a result. Mike’s father always wondered if he might have done a better job as a father. “I’m the one who should have died, not Mike,” he told Mike’s mother after a night of drinking, according to Patti. If only I’d been a better father, if only I’d been present.”
What happened to Patti Vasquez and Where Is She Now?
Patti kept the story of her brother a secret for many years after that. She went by her mother’s maiden name in public and went on to have a successful career in radio. When Patti decided to run for the 19th District state house seat in the Illinois House of Representatives in 2019, she had to go public with the narrative. Patti was required by law to run using her legal name, Patricia Bonnin.
Patti is currently the host and executive producer of her own radio show. She also works for the Illinois State Comptroller as a health care liaison and assistant policy adviser. “It never seemed fair: there are all these books on Gacy, yet people know the names [of his victims] as if they were just the next victim,” she said of Mike and his brief existence. Michael’s story was not only unfinished, but it was also untold. I couldn’t share my pain because I chose to keep it secret.”
Patti, her husband, Steve, and their two sons live in Chicago, Illinois. With Kind Words was founded by her in 2014. Patti works as a consultant for healthcare providers through this company. Her goal was to improve how they communicate with patients by being more empathetic and observant, and she did corporate speaking as part of that. Patti was also a stand-up comedian in her early years.