I mean we're talking GROSS here!!!

[twinsrwe]

I agree, Ford owners were a rather large group of suspects, but murderers who were also Ford owners was a bit more specific. I don't know if Gein had anything to do with the hunters disappearing, but he would be a logical suspect in the event of anyone reported missing in the area around Plainfield during that time. …

Well, Ed could not have been a suspect in the disappearance of Georgia Weckler, at the time she turned up missing, because Ed did not become a known murderer until 1957, when the body of Bernice Worden was found on his property. According to the article that Patsy provided a link to, regarding the disappearance of Georgia Weckler, the authorities were looking for an "old" car, believed to be a Ford, then later on in the article they were looking for a man in his late twenties, driving a black, four door 1936 Ford Sedan. As far as I can tell from the research I’ve done, Ed Gein drove a 1949 Ford Sedan. (At least that is what is stated in an article for Ed Gein's Ghoul Car. See: http://adbarkerwriter.blogspot.com/2010 ... l-car.html) My point being, if it is true that Ed’s vehicle was a 1949 Ford Sedan, then his vehicle wasn’t even on the market in 1947 when Georgia Weckler disappeared! So, why was he even considered a suspect, in this case? Another thing that confuses me is in the article regarding Ed Gein's Ghoul Car, the vehicle is referred to as a car, however, in several articles (See: http://www.serialkillercalendar.com/edgein.html and http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/seri ... ons_5.html) that I found during my research the following was stated: Gein had difficulty remembering every detail, because he claimed he had been in a dazed state at the time leading up to and during the murder. Yet, he recalled dragging Worden's body to his Ford truck, taking the cash register from the store and taking them back to his house. So was the vehicle that Ed used to transport the corpses, a car or a truck?

… Were Georgia Weckler and Evelyn Hartley the only two children who went missing in that area during the late 40's and early 50's? If there were others, why wasn't Gein suspected in those cases? I guess it might depend on what they found for evidence, the extent to which they could make an identification of the remains. Given the purpose of Gein's activities, the choice of children is strange. He targeted women closer in age to his mother when he robbed graves, and both Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden were over 50. Maybe trying to make logical sense out of a madman's activities is doomed to failure!

If the were other missing children, they are not mentioned anywhere. Maybe Georgia Weckler and Evelyn Hartley were the only two missing, during that time period. We know that Ed was a suspect in Georgia Weckler’s case, because he drove a Ford, but why was he a suspect in Evelyn Hartley’s case???

I agree, the choice of children as targets, is very strange; the same goes for the two missing men. These four people just do not fit in with the targeted two older women, whom we know for a fact, he killed.

I think you’re right about trying to make logical sense out of a madman's activities.

[twinsrwe]

Inside his mind would be a very scary place......

You've got that right, Pam!!!

[Yooper]

I expect inside his house was scary enough!

[Yooper]

I don't think they suspected Gein of the other murders until after they discovered Bernice Worden. They found Mary Hogan's head or face in a paper bag somewhere in the house. He wouldn't have been suspected of any of the other murders at the time they occurred because they didn't know of his activities. His brother's death was the exception, but apparently they couldn't make a case against him at that time. I don't know how much hindsight played into suspicion of Ed in his brother's death, but if they thought it was suspicious to begin with in 1945, 1957 would have left them with even less doubt. I think they were looking for a 1936 Ford at the time Georgia Weckler disappeared, but I don't know what Gein was driving at that time. For that matter, I don't know when he bought the '49 Ford.

Gein was considered a bit odd by his neighbors, but more in the sense of being a hermit than being dangerous in any way.

[twinsrwe]

I totally agree, Jeff.

[shakiboo]

I expect inside his house was scary enough!

That had to have been a nightmare, for the police who first arrived!! They had to have been shocked right down to the sole's of their feet!

[twinsrwe]

With the finding of Bernice Worden’s body in the shed behind the house, and then the overpowering stench of spoiled food, decaying matter, and the smell of death, that greeted them upon entering the house itself, let alone what they found in the house, I don’t doubt for a second that their lives were forever changed.

It is my understanding that Waushara County Sheriff Art Schley, one of the officers who searched Gein’s property, died at the age of 43, from a massive heart attack. All of the things Sheriff Schley had to endure during and after the search of Gein’s house, arrest and trial, contributed to his early death.

Source: http://www.newcriminologist.com/article.asp?nid=22

Here are some other links that I found interesting, and maybe you will too (If you don't wish to view all of the following links, be sure to check out the last one listed):

http://crime.about.com/od/murder/p/gein.htm

http://midnightgraffiti.net/edgein.html

http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/art ... icle=15391

Ed Gein In the Flesh ~ Page 1
http://www.midnightgraffiti.com/edgein.html

Ed Gein In the Flesh ~ Page 2
http://www.midnightgraffiti.com/edgein2.html

Ed Gein In the Flesh ~ Page 3
http://www.midnightgraffiti.com/edgein3.html

Ed Gein In the Flesh ~ Page 4
http://www.midnightgraffiti.net/edgein4.html



And, I was thrilled to find this extremely intriguing, article:

Augusta Gein, the woman who drove a man Psycho
By
Denise Noe
http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive ... 00002.html

[Angel]

I remember the Ed Gein case vividly even though I was quite young because I grew up in that area. I think that they discovered years later that he was visiting relatives or something in the LaCrosse area at the time of Evelyn Hartley's disappearance, so there was a link. When I was old enough to start babysitting the Harley case was always uppermost in my mind because she disappeared from a house where she was babysitting that night, so I was always freaked out by the slightest sound.

[twinsrwe]

... I think that they discovered years later that he was visiting relatives or something in the LaCrosse area at the time of Evelyn Hartley's disappearance, so there was a link. ...

I remember reading about this, and I think I may have found the link you are referring to. Here is a partial piece of the article:

Police suspect Edward Theodore Gein may have been involved in Hartley's case. … He was visiting relatives in La Crosse, just blocks from the home where she was babysitting, on the night of her disappearance.

Scroll down to the second post on this thread: http://fromwhisperstor.6.forumer.com/vi ... .php?t=291

[Yooper]

Seems like good reason to suspect Ed Ted in the Hartley case. It might have inspired a general reluctance among babysitters in the area, and for who knows how long? Thanks for the links, Judy!

[twinsrwe]

... Thanks for the links, Judy!

You're welcome, Jeff.