We got exciting news over the weekend. As you know from our previous posts, we’ve been urging Cook County sheriff Tom Dart to reexamine the property at Miami and Elston because of the strong possibility it holds remains of victims of John Wayne Gacy. We’ve spoken to a recent tenant of the basement apartment there who described a soft spot under the carpet where the end of a board would pop up if you stepped on the hole. But never mind about that right now . . .

In response to evidence presented to Dart by our subject, former homicide detective, now PI Bill Dorsch, Dart is coming around.

Dart did submit an application for a search warrant to Cook County state’s attorney Anita Alvarez in March, but she rejected it, claiming there wasn’t enough evidence.

Take a look at the video interviews with witnesses posted here on this site and see if you’d agree.

But anyway, Dorsch obligingly gave the sheriff more evidence. His personal investigation has been going on for almost 15 years now, so . . . he’s got more.

Dart’s investigators were quite affected. They called it “compelling” and told us that they’re going to act on it. It’s taken a while, but we’re not going to dwell on that either.

Dart’s office tells us they’re preparing an updated search warrant for submission to Alvarez sometime in the next couple of weeks.

As you can imagine, we’re encouraged by the news, but based on events surrounding the property in 1998, we can’t be sure there won’t be further delays. Dart is very likely under considerable political pressure as he’s doing something the Chicago Police Department and the city of Chicago have so far refused to do.

But as many of the individuals involved in the 1978 investigation and the unsuccessful followup in 1998 are dead and retired, perhaps he’ll be able to withstand the pressure and just do the right thing. At least there’s a new sheriff in town.

Dart said in an earlier interview with us that he’s committed to seeing it through.

We’ll keep you posted. And soon we’ll give you a gander at some of the new evidence Dart and his investigators have recently viewed.