Netflix’s new series Monster: The Ed Gein Story follows the life of the serial killer from start to finish, including the two women he killed, but misses out some details about Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden. He also has several more suspected victims, but these are his only confirmed killings.
Ed Gein killed tavern owner Mary Hogan in 1955
Ed Gein’s first killing was on 8th December 1954, when he shot 51-year-old tavern owner Mary Hogan. He admitted to killing her after his arrest in 1967, by which time she had been missing for more than three years.
She was born in Germany and moved to Portage County, Wisconsin, in 1949, the Stevens Point Journal reveals. The woman was married twice, but was single at the time of her killing.
Credit: Netflix
Mary owned a tavern in Plainfield, but she only opened it up in the daytime for people she knew personally, as she was scared of strangers. She also lived there. Gein told police he had been in her pub “probably three times” before killing her.
The 51-year-old was last seen alive between 4.40pm and 5.30pm, and a neighbour later recalled seeing bloodstains on the floor. However, nobody knew she had been killed until her skull was found in a box in Gein’s house, and her face was found in a paper bag.
Local people said Gein joked about Hogan when she was missing, they they didn’t take it seriously.
Bernice Worden is his only other confirmed killing
Three years later, Gein shot hardware store owner Bernice Worden with a rifle on the morning of 16th November 1957. The 58-year-old owned the store in the same town, Plainfield, which didn’t have many customers.
Her son, Deputy Sheriff Frank Worden, walked into the store at around 5pm that evening to find the cash register open and blood stains on the floor. He immediately told investigators that his mother was missing.
Credit: Netflix
Frank found a sales slip showing that Gein had been in the store that morning and bought antifreeze. The killer was arrested at a West Plainfield grocery store, and his home was searched by the Waushara County Sheriff’s Department.
They found Bernice Worden’s head in a burlap sack, and her heart in a plastic bag in front of his stove. Her entire body was also found in a shed on the farm, hung upside down.
While there, they also found other human bones and body parts, as well as furniture made from human remains. While arrested, he was analysed and declared mentally insane, before living the rest of his days in a mental asylum.
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Featured image by: Netflix
