John Wayne Gacy Investigation Leads to Break in 36-Year-Old California Case

A woman who believed her half-brother may have fallen victim to Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy may soon put part of the mystery to rest.

DNA she submitted to the Cook County Sheriff’s office in 2011 was connected not to a Gacy victim but to the body of a teen-ager found shot to death in San Francisco 36 years ago.

Andre “Andy” Drath, 16, was last seen in Chicago sometime in late 1978 or early 1979. A ward of the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services, he traveled to San Francisco in hopes of getting his guardianship transferred to California.

This was the last time his sister heard from him.

In June 1979, a teenager’s body was found in San Francisco. He’d been shot to death. An investigation yielded no leads, and the case went cold. However, the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office took great care to preserve tissues for future examination.

In 2011, Sheriff Dart announced the reopening of the investigation into the eight unidentified victims of John Wayne Gacy, issuing a national call to action to the families and friends of young men who went missing in the 1970s. As a young white male from the North Side of Chicago who went missing during that time period, Andy Drath fit a profile similar to many of Gacy’s known victims. Recognizing this, Dr. Willa Wertheimer – Andy Drath’s maternal half-sister – reached out to Sheriff Dart’s investigators and submitted her DNA.

Testing revealed that there was no genetic association between Dr. Wertheimer and any of the unidentified Gacy victims. However, Sheriff’s investigators uploaded her DNA sample to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), the federal DNA database, to be cross referenced with DNA of unidentified deceased persons throughout the nation.

In late 2014, DNA from tissue samples of the unknown 1979 homicide victim was uploaded to CODIS, the federal database.

In May 2015, investigators received notice there was a genetic association between Dr. Wertheimer and the 1979 San Francisco victim. An “Andy” tattoo and dental records also helped in identification. Investigators also uncovered records from Andy’s time at DCFS that documented his travel to San Francisco.

On Sept. 10, Sheriff Dart and Sheriff’s Police investigators informed Willa Wertheimer that Andy Drath had been officially identified. He will be formally removed from the federal missing person’s database, and the family is making plans to bring his body back to Chicago.

San Francisco police are investigating the 1979 homicide of the unidentified teenage boy, now known as Andy Drath.

“On this bittersweet day, I’m thankful that Andy Drath will be brought home and laid to rest with the dignity he deserves. This breakthrough illustrates that we should never give up on a cold case, no matter how hopeless it appears,” Dart said.