Editing Ed Gein (section)

== Crimes ==
===Confirmed===
On the morning of November 16, 1957, 58-year-old Plainfield hardware store owner Bernice Worden disappeared. The hardware store's truck was seen driving out from the rear of the building at around 9:30{{nbsp}}a.m. The hardware store saw few customers the entire day; some area residents believed that this was because of deer hunting season.<ref name="Schechter2010"/> Worden's son, Deputy Sheriff Frank Worden, entered the store around 5:00{{nbsp}}p.m. to find the cash register open and blood stains on the floor.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/183986412|title=Widow, 58, Found Slain in Wisconsin|date=November 17, 1957|work=[[Star Tribune]]|access-date=March 3, 2017|page=1|language=en|via=Newspapers.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170303202401/http://www.newspapers.com/image/183986412/|archive-date=March 3, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

Frank Worden told investigators that on the evening before his mother's disappearance, Gein had been in the store and was expected to return the next morning for a gallon of [[antifreeze]]. A sales slip for the antifreeze was the last receipt written by Worden on the morning that she disappeared.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/wisconsin/stevens-point/stevens-point-daily-journal/1957/11-18?tag=ed+gein&rtserp=tags/?pc=28055&psi=103&pci=7&pf=ed&pl=gein/ |title=Signs of 10 Victims at Farm |date=November 18, 1957 |newspaper=Stevens Point Daily Journal |page=1, cols. 7–8 }}</ref> That evening, Gein was arrested at a West Plainfield{{Efn|West Plainfield was an unincorporated community {{convert|3|mi|spell=in}} west of the center of Plainfield at {{coord|44.213931|-89.552818|name=West Plainfield, Wisconsin}},<ref name=":1"/> which has since diminished and disappeared.}} grocery store,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/246086117|title=Gein Admits Killing Woman, Kileen Reveals|date=November 18, 1957 |work=[[The Oshkosh Northwestern]] |access-date=March 3, 2017 |page=1 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304193508/http://www.newspapers.com/image/246086117/ |archive-date=March 4, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the [[Waushara County, Wisconsin|Waushara County]] Sheriff's Department searched the Gein farm.<ref name=":0"/>

A sheriff's deputy<ref name=":0"/> discovered Worden's [[decapitated]] body in a shed on Gein's property, hung upside down by her legs with a crossbar at her ankles and ropes at her wrists. The torso was "[[Field dressing (hunting)|dressed out]] like a deer".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Douglas |first1=John E. |author-link1=John E. Douglas |first2=Mark |last2=Olshaker |title=Obsession: The FBI's Legendary Profiler Probes the Psyches of Killers, Rapists, and Stalkers and Their Victims and Tells How to Fight Back |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |location=New York City|year=1998 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/obsession00john/page/367 367–368] |isbn=0-671-01704-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/obsession00john/page/367}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Michael H.|last1=Stone|first2=Gary|last2=Brucato|title=The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime|publisher=[[Prometheus Books]]|location=Amherst, New York|date=2019|isbn=978-1633885325|page=8}}</ref> She had been shot with a [[.22 Long Rifle|.22-caliber]] rifle, and the mutilations were made after her death. Searching the house, authorities found:<ref name="necrophile">{{cite web |last=Ramsland |first=Katherine |authorlink=Katherine Ramsland|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/necrophiles/index_1.html |title=A True Necrophile |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202224429/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/necrophiles/index_1.html |archive-date=December 2, 2013 |work=[[Crime Library]]}}</ref><!--Do not add to this list or modify it without adding a reliable source to your changes.-->

* Whole human bones and fragments{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=192|loc="Judge Gollmar relied on the detailed report of state crime lab investigator Allan Wilimovsky who searched the Gein house, inventoried the evidence and interviewed Edward Gein. Gollmar also quotes other contemporary investigators, including Captain Lloyd Schoesphoester (Green Lake Sheriff's Dept.) who assisted the investigation of the Worden murder and search of Gein's home."}}
* A wastebasket made of human skin{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=44}}
* Human skin covering several chairs{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=20}}
* Skulls on his bedposts{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=22}}
* Female skulls, some with the tops sawn off{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=44}}{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=20}}{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=18}}
* Bowls made from human [[skull]]s{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=44}}
* A corset made from a female torso skinned from shoulders to waist{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=20}}
* Leggings made from human leg skin{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=44}}
* Masks made from the skin of female heads{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=20}}{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=22}}{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=18}}
* Mary Hogan's face mask in a paper bag{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=22}}
* Mary Hogan's skull in a box{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=17}}
* Bernice Worden's entire head in a burlap sack{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=25}}
* Bernice Worden's heart "in a plastic bag in front of Gein's [[potbelly stove]]"{{sfn|Schechter|1989|p=92}}
* Nine [[vulvas]] in a shoe box{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=24}}
* A young girl's dress and "the vulvas of two females judged to have been about fifteen years old"{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=87}}
* A belt made from female human [[nipples]]{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=46}}
* Four noses<ref name="necrophile"/>
* A pair of lips on a window shade drawstring<ref name="necrophile"/>
* A [[Lampshades made from human skin|lampshade made from the skin of a human]] face<ref name="necrophile"/>
* Fingernails from female fingers

These artifacts were photographed at the state crime laboratory and then "decently disposed of".{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=48}} When questioned, Gein told investigators that between 1947 and 1952,{{sfn|Schechter|1989|p=97}} he had made as many as forty nocturnal visits to three local graveyards to exhume recently buried bodies while he was in a "daze-like" state. On about thirty of those visits, he said that he came out of the daze while in the cemetery, left the grave in good order and returned home emptyhanded.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gein Also Admits He Killed Mary Hogan; Results of Lie Tests Announced |date=November 20, 1957 |newspaper=Stevens Point Daily Journal |page=13}}</ref> On the other occasions, he dug up the graves of recently buried middle-aged women he thought resembled his mother<ref>{{cite web |url=http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc%20405/serial%20killers/Gein,%20Ed.pdf |title=Edward Theodore Gein, American Psycho |website=Department of Psychology, Radford University |location=Radford, Illinois |quote=Beginning in 1947 – He saw a newspaper article of a woman who had been buried that day. The first corpse came from a grave near the grave of Gein's mother. Indeed, one report is that among the first grave robbing incidents was that of his own mother. |access-date=August 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180603003708/http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc%20405/serial%20killers/Gein,%20Ed.pdf |archive-date=June 3, 2018|url-status=live }}</ref> and took the bodies home, where he tanned their skins to make his [[paraphernalia]].{{sfn|Schechter|1989}}

Gein admitted to stealing from nine graves<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=https://hannemanarchive.com/tag/augusta-gein/|title=Augusta Gein |website=The Hanneman Archive |date=November 4, 2014 |access-date=December 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822213921/https://hannemanarchive.com/tag/augusta-gein/ |archive-date=August 22, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=897&dat=19571126&id=buUKAAAAIBAJ&pg=2954,2739537 |title=Prescott Evening Courier |via=Google News Archive Search |access-date=October 16, 2017 |website=news.google.com}}</ref> and led investigators to their locations. Allan Wilimovsky of the state crime laboratory participated in opening three test graves identified by Gein. The caskets were inside wooden boxes; the top boards ran crossways (not lengthwise). The tops of the boxes were about {{convert|2|feet|cm|spell=in|abbr=off|sp=us}} below the surface in sandy soil. Gein had robbed the graves soon after the funerals while the graves were not completed. The test graves were exhumed because authorities were uncertain as to whether the slight Gein was capable of single-handedly digging up a grave during a single evening. They were found as Gein described: one casket was empty; another casket was empty but contained a few bones and Gein's [[crowbar (tool)|crowbar]]; <ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PbpHAAAAIBAJ&dq=Find+2+Gein+Graves+empty&pg=PA1&article_id=6343,2632601|title=Warsaw Times Union November 26,1957|via=Google News Archive Search |access-date=November 29, 2024 |website=news.google.com}}</ref>and the final casket saw most of the body missing, yet Gein had returned rings and some body parts.{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=48}}{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=49}}{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=50}} Thus, Gein's confession was largely corroborated.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Empty Coffins Discovered in Graves at Plainfield; Appears To Back Up Gein's Story |date=November 25, 1957 |newspaper=Stevens Point Daily Journal |page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=DA Convinced Gein Actually Raided Graves |date=November 26, 1957 |newspaper=Stevens Point Daily Journal |page=1}}</ref>

Soon after his mother's death, Gein began to create a "woman suit" so that "he could become his mother—to literally crawl into her skin."<ref name="necrophile"/> He denied having sex with the bodies he exhumed, explaining: "They smelled too bad."<ref name="psycho">{{cite web |last1=Bell |first1=Rachael |first2=Marilyn |last2=Bardsley |url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/gein/weird_3.html |title=Seriously weird |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130062755/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/gein/weird_3.html |archive-date=January 30, 2009 |work=[[Tru TV]] |access-date=July 24, 2018 |publisher=[[Turner Broadcasting Systems]]|location=Atlanta, Georgia}}</ref> During state crime laboratory interrogation, Gein also admitted to shooting 51-year-old Mary Hogan, a tavern owner missing since December 8, 1954, whose head was found in his house, but he later denied memory of details of her death.{{sfn|Gollmar|1981}}

A 16-year-old youth, whose parents were friends of Gein and who attended baseball games and movies with him, reported that Gein kept shrunken heads in his house, which he had described as relics sent by a cousin who had served in the Philippines during [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Youth Tells of Seeing Gein's Heads |date=November 20, 1957 |newspaper=Stevens Point Daily Journal |page=1, col. 6}}</ref> Upon investigation by the police, these were determined to be human facial skins, carefully peeled from corpses and used by Gein as masks.{{sfn|Schechter|1989|p=128}}

During questioning, Sheriff Art Schley reportedly assaulted Gein by banging his head and face into a brick wall. As a result, Gein's initial confession was ruled inadmissible.{{sfn|Schechter|1989|p=30}}{{sfn|Schechter|1989|p=31}}{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=31}}{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=32}}{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=33}}{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=34}} Schley died of heart failure in 1968 at age 43, before Gein's trial.{{sfn|Gollmar|1981|p=34}} Many who knew Schley said he was [[psychological trauma|traumatized]] by the horror of Gein's crimes and this, along with the fear of having to testify (especially about assaulting Gein), caused his death.{{sfn|Schechter|1989|p=30}}{{sfn|Schechter|1989|p=31}}

===Suspected===
In addition to the murders of Hogan and Worden, Gein was also considered regarding several other unsolved cases in Wisconsin.{{sfn|Schechter|1989|p=95}}{{sfn|Schechter|1989|p=100}} In November 1957, authorities confronted Gein with a list of missing persons cases that had occurred between the death of his mother and Worden. Their suspicions were further aroused after the discovery of Hogan's remains. However, [[lie detector test]]s exonerated Gein of any other murders, and his psychiatrists concluded that his violence was only directed to women who physically resembled his mother.{{sfn|Schechter|1989|p=105}}{{sfn|Schechter|1989|p=177}}
* Georgia Jean Weckler, 8, disappeared near her farm home in [[Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin|Fort Atkinson]] at approximately 3:30&nbsp;p.m. on May 1, 1947.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Georgia Jean Weckler|language=en-US|work=The Charley Project|url=https://charleyproject.org/case/georgia-jean-weckler}}</ref> She was given a lift home from grade school in [[Jefferson, Wisconsin|Jefferson]] by a neighbor who dropped Weckler off at the lane that led from [[U.S. Highway 12]] to the Weckler farm. Weckler was last seen pausing to open the family mailbox and removing a stack of mail.<ref>{{Cite web|title=1727DFWI – Georgia Jean Weckler|language=en-US|work=The Doe Network|url=https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1727dfwi.html}}</ref> Witnesses reported seeing a dark-colored, possibly black, 1936 Ford sedan with a gray plastic spotlight in the vicinity that afternoon; Gein owned a black 1937 Ford.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19571121&id=a6pTAAAAIBAJ&pg=7001,2194001 |title=Sanity Trial Due Farmer in Murders |newspaper=The Victoria Advocate |date=November 21, 1957}}</ref>
* [[disappearance of Evelyn Hartley|Evelyn Grace Hartley]], 14, went missing while babysitting a 20-month-old girl at the home of La Crosse State College professor Viggo Rasmusen on the evening of October 24, 1953, in La Crosse.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1388dfwi.html |title=The Doe Network: Case File 1388DFWI |website=www.doenetwork.org|access-date=August 30, 2016}}</ref> That evening, her father Richard called the Rasmussen house several times after she failed to check in as planned at 8:30&nbsp;p.m.; he received no answer.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nampn.org/cases/hartley_evelyn.html |title=Evelyn Grace Hartley |website=www.nampn.org|access-date=August 29, 2016}}</ref> Concerned, he drove to the Rasmussen house to find the doors were locked, the lights and radio on and items scattered all over the house. The living room furniture had been moved around to different places, as were Evelyn's school books.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=957&dat=19531027&id=Y_sLAAAAIBAJ&pg=1328,1920148 |title=Baby Sitter Abduction Shocks Town |first=Chris |last=Edmonds |agency=AP |newspaper=Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph |location=[[Quebec City]], Quebec, Canada |date=October 27, 1953}}</ref> Richard found her shoes in different rooms, one shoe upstairs and one downstairs. He also found his daughter's broken glasses upstairs. Richard did not find Evelyn in the house.<ref name=Charley>{{Cite web |url=http://charleyproject.org/cases/h/hartley_evelyn.html |title=The Charley Project: Evelyn Grace Hartley |last=Good |first=Meaghan Elizabeth |website=charleyproject.org |access-date=August 28, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103172012/http://charleyproject.org/cases/h/hartley_evelyn.html |archive-date=January 3, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> After his arrest, Gein was questioned regarding Evelyn's disappearance, however, he denied involvement in the disappearance and passed two lie detector tests; police found no trace of Evelyn's remains during a search of Gein's property.<ref>Schechter, p. 177.</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uQvYtm-EPTEC&pg=PA177 |title=Deviant |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4391-0697-6 |first=Harold |last=Schechter |authorlink=Harold Schechter |page=177}}</ref>
* Victor Harold Travis, 42, a resident of [[Adams County, Wisconsin|Adams County]], went off to hunt deer in the company of acquaintance Raymond Burgess on November 1, 1952. In the late afternoon, the pair stopped for refreshments at Mac's Bar in Plainfield for several hours. At around 7 p.m., they both left the bar, got into Burgess’ car and drove away. The hunters, along with the car Burgess was driving, were never seen again and no trace of them was ever found. Travis and Burgess had been hunting on the farm next to Gein's despite his objections on the day of their disappearance.<ref name=Sarasota>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19571121&id=bbcqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_WQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4374,4166939&hl=en|title=Butcher Of Humans Admits Two Killings |newspaper=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |date=November 21, 1957}}</ref>
* In addition, Gein has also been tentatively linked to the June 1954 disappearance of neighbor James Walsh, 32; Walsh and his wife lived near Gein, who performed chores for her after her husband went missing.<ref name=Sarasota/> Gein was also investigated for potential involvement in the August 1956 disappearance of Irene Keating, 30, who was last seen in Plainfield, and in the attempted abduction of Judy Rodencal, 16, from [[Auroraville, Wisconsin|Auroraville]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fantasyworldproject.com/MADMAN.html |title=THE CONVENIENT MADMAN |first=Michael |last=Winkle}}</ref>