Case file · Waushara County Circuit Court, Wisconsin, United States

Edward Theodore Gein: charges, verdict and sentence

Edward Gein was arrested in November 1957 in Waushara County, Wisconsin, in connection with a killing, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and was found unfit to stand trial and committed to Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Waupun. After he was found competent in 1968, Judge Robert H. Gollmar found him guilty of first-degree murder and also found him legally insane at the time, and he was committed to state mental hospitals for the rest of his life. He died at Mendota Mental Health Institute on 26 July 1984.

Charges and outcomes

Sentence

No criminal sentence. Committed to a state mental hospital after being found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1968.

Court record, stage by stage

1. 16 November 1957
   arrestArrested on the day police searched his farmhouse³
2. 21 November 1957
   indictmentPleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to a charge of murder³

   Waushara County Court
3. March 1958
   trialFound unfit to stand trial and committed to Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, Waupun^4,1

   Waushara County Court
4. 1968
   trialFound competent and tried before Judge Robert H. Gollmar^1,4

   Circuit Court, Waushara County
5. 1968
   verdictFound guilty of first-degree murder and also found legally insane at the time of the killing, resulting in a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity and commitment to a state hospital^3,4,2

   Circuit Court, Waushara County
6. 26 July 1984
   deathDied at Mendota Mental Health Institute, Madison, aged 77, of complications from cancer^2,4

Sources

1. Wisconsin Historical Society, Gein, Edward 1906 to 1984
2. HISTORY.com, Real-life Psycho Ed Gein dies
3. A&E, Ed Gein (1 October 2025)
4. Lawyer Monthly, Ed Gein timeline: true story, crimes, trial and legal legacy (October 2025)

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