Wisconsin's Original Psycho - 50 Years Later
By Mick Trevey
MILWAUKEE - Ed Gein was the inspiration for movies like "Silence of the Lambs" and "Psycho."
Fifty years ago, investigators discovered his twisted reality when they went looking for a missing Plainfield woman - Bernice Worden.
Gein shot Worden while she was working at her family's hardware store. Gein then dragged the body to his barn where he mutilated it and hung it upside down.
Inside his farmhouse, investigators found even more shocking evidence of crime. Gein robbed graves and gathered a collection of human body parts. He made lampshades and clothing out of human flesh. He had skulls on his bedposts.
TODAY'S TMJ4 sat down to talk with Gein's Milwaukee-based attorney, Dominic Frinzi. Frinzi practiced law in Milwaukee but was appointed to represent Gein in the Waushara County case.
"You talk to him - you would not conclude - unless someone told you - that he was capable of doing something like that," Frinzi said.
Gein was initially found incompetent to stand trial and spent ten years in an institution before going on trial. When Frinzi represented him at trial, Gein was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
"He was very soft spoken," Frinzi said. "He liked me - I don't know why - he liked the way I handled him - I didn't jump him - I was real calm with him."
Frinzi is now 87 years old but remains sharp in his memory of the Gein trial. He said that the Gein case stands out in his career.
"I went to the crime lab - and I've been through a lot of cases in my life, and it was probably the most disoriented thing I've ever seen," he said.
Gein's land where the crimes happened is owned by a Madison area family. They have been trying to sell the land for months but have not found a buyer.
Gein's tombstone was stolen from his grave site in Plainfield. It was found several years ago and placed in secure storage at the Waushara County Sheriff's Department.
It remains at the Sheriff's Department but could end up in the Waushara County Historical Society's Museum - which is coincidentally in the old jail where Gein spent one night.
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