Sneed: Sheriff gets two new leads in Gacy case

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The Gacy file . . .

Two new leads in the John Wayne Gacy case have cropped up in recent weeks.

Sneed is told a family has come forward wanting to know if their long-missing loved one is among the seven unidentified victims of Gacy’s bloodlust.

“One family that came forward is a really solid Gacy lead,” said Ben Breit, a spokesman for the office of Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, who is ramrodding the DNA search.

“The missing relative is a teen boy who went missing in the 1970s, right when Gacy was most active.

“We’re going to begin investigating as soon as possible,” Breit said.

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The missing teen boy was white, which was also consistent with Gacy’s victims.

Interestingly, a second person has come forward telling the story of a terrifying run-in with the convicted serial killer.

A man who claims he hitchhiked from Chicago to Rockford, Ill., in the 1970s told Dart’s office he was actually picked up by Gacy.

“When Gacy began behaving bizarrely, he jumped out of the car at a stoplight in the western Lake County/eastern McHenry County area,” Breit said.

“He was so scarred by the experience that he never forgot about it, and years later after Gacy was arrested he connected the dots.”

A handful of Gacy’s known victims were hitchhikers, Breit said.

Dart’s office will use this information to check missing persons reports from the area where Gacy was known to be driving and see if any could match the unidentified bodies.

Interest was spurred by the recent identification of a body discovered decades ago near San Francisco after a Chicago woman submitted her DNA. The woman feared her half brother, Andy Drath, missing since 1978, was a Gacy victim.

“Drath hadn’t been killed by Gacy, but because of the Gacy case and DNA technology, Drath was finally identified,” said Breit, who added 11 leads from the Gacy investigation have resulted in closed unrelated cases.

Trump ’em . . .

So what’s the secret to the success of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s 10-year marriage to his third wife, Melania?

Whoa. Get a load of this answer: The Trumps have separate bathrooms . . . and insist they watch their own television shows . . . so they handily endorse the TiVo.

“We have our own bathrooms, so that’s the key,” said Melania, a successful model in a former life, during the couple’s interview with People magazine.

Melania, who hails from Slovenia, also claims she is the one who helps their nine-year-old son, Barron, with his homework; takes him to after-school sports herself; has taught him to speak Slovenian — and does not rely on nannies to care for him.

Zopp zip!

Andrea “Andy” Zopp, the former Chicago Urban League CEO and current Dem candidate for Senate, is counting her fundraising pennies . . . all the way up to $1 million!

• Translation: Sneed is told Zopp raised around $400,000 in the third quarter of fundraising, which ended Wednesday.

Add that to the nearly $700,000 she raised in the first month after she announced, and she’s got enough to “get a significant campaign going,” said a Zopp source.

• Buckshot: Zopp lost the endorsement of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to her opponent, Rep. Tammy Duckworth, but she’s got the backing of many Illinois heavyweights, including former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley.

I spy . . .

Cubs’ stellar Ryne Sandberg, who is moving back to Chicago, was spotted at Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse on Kinzie Wednesday lunching with his wife, Margaret. . . . White Sox broadcaster Steve Stone, who was at an adjacent table, came over to say hi and catch up with the baseball legend.

Sneedlings . . .

The Foxx hunt: A battle to unseat Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez is heating up. Two founders of the Chicago Foundation for Women, Marj Benton and Sunny Newton, teamed up to host a fundraiser in Evanston Wednesday night for attorney Kim Foxx, former chief of staff to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle . . . Thursday’s birthdays: Randy Quaid, 65; Julie Andrews, 80, and Zach Galifianakis, 46.

Follow Sneed on Twitter: @Sneedlings

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