The lead investigator of a serial killer case will speak at NIU this week.

Lt. Joseph Kozenczak, retired Des Plaines police officer, will talk about his work leading to the arrest of John Wayne Gacy. Gacy was convicted of killing 33 people in the 1970s. He was arrested by Kozenczak and sentenced to death. He died on May 10, 1994.

The event will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Neptune Central, Room 110. The event is free and open to anyone interested in law enforcement. The Exploring Majors House will host Kozenczak’s visit.

Steven Barleen, associate director of the Academic Advising Center, said the event was too good of an opportunity to pass up for the students.

“He led the investigation in one of the most famous criminal cases in American history,” Barleen said. “We were presented with an opportunity to have a distinguished member of the law enforcement community speak, so we took advantage of it.”

Kozenczak is the grandfather to Megan Kozenczak, graduate assistant of the Academic Advising Center. She said her grandfather has loved talking about the case for as long as she could remember.

“I’ve grown up with my grandpa talking about this, and he absolutely enjoys talking about everything he saw and did in the case,” Megan said.

Kozenczak will give a PowerPoint presentation about the case and will also answer questions about jobs in law enforcement for people who are interested. Megan said she hopes students who are interested in criminal justice will come to the event.

“I know there are many students here who are disappointed that we do not have a criminal justice program,” Megan said. “I hope this can help bring students interested in criminal justice together and maybe if enough people are interested, we can try bring the program back one day.”

Junior Spanish major Sarah Pollack said she has a large interest in hearing Kozenczak’s insight on the investigation of Gacy.

“I love learning about murder cases,” Pollack said. “It’d be so cool to figure out what was going through those people’s minds first hand who were dealing with the investigation.”