Pennsylvania woman charged after 4 dead babies found in home, sources say
An Armstrong County woman is facing charges after sources told KDKA-TV that four dead infants were found in her house.
According to a previously released criminal complaint, 39-year-old Jessica Mauthe told police that while she was living at a home on Oak Lane in Cadogan Township, she gave birth three times. Police said she admitted to investigators that each time she gave birth, she wrapped the infants in towels, put them in bags and hid their bodies.
State police said they were called to investigate on Sept. 13 after a dead baby was found inside a vacant home. Police said the property owner told them Mauthe had been evicted, and while cleaning up, the property owner found a trash bag in a closet with a foul odor. The coroner was called and confirmed that there was a dead infant inside, the criminal complaint said.
As police continued to investigate, they said they found two totes in the attic, with dead babies inside each of them.
When police interviewed Mauthe, she allegedly told them that she gave birth to the first baby about a year ago in her bathroom while sitting on the toilet. According to the criminal complaint, she said the baby remained in the toilet for several minutes and she could hear it making noises. Police said Mauthe told them she took the baby from the toilet and wrapped it in towels “until it stopped making noises.” Then she put it in the closet.
Police said Mauthe told them she gave birth to two more babies while she lived at the house, and she admitted to putting their bodies in the attic.
Autopsies were performed on Sunday. Investigators are waiting for a full report from the medical examiner’s office.
“Very sick. Very disgusted. Sad for the two that are left behind, the living children. No words,” Ford City’s Elizabeth Germy said.
Germy helped the landlord search for three days for several cats left behind after Mauthe was evicted.
To know she was so close to those dead babies repulses her. She also remembers a smell upstairs in the bedroom.
“It smelled very funny. It didn’t have a very potent smell when we first went in, but upstairs in the one specific bedroom, it did smell funny,” Germy said.
“It’s just evil,” neighbor says
On Monday, a cleanup crew was working to erase the horror left behind. Neighbor Carmen Felix said the whole neighborhood is in shock.
“It’s just evil. It’s beyond sick,” Felix said.
“How could she do that, three times? You don’t just plop babies in toilets,” Felix added.
KDKA-TV learned Mauthe has two other children, ages 6 and 8.
Felix lived near Mauthe for years and watched her two other children on numerous occasions. He said he didn’t even know Mauthe was pregnant.
“It’s a close-knit community. Everybody watches out for each other. Them two boys of hers, the whole neighborhood babysat them,” Felix said.
As investigators search for a motive, many are wondering about the future of those two children.
Another neighbor who didn’t want to be identified said she often watched the boys and fed them.
“Her support system was minimal, and I think she loved her boys,” the neighbor said. “I feel she tried the best she could for them. I can’t speak for the negativity that happened.
“Giving them structure. They needed structure. They needed love. They needed hugs. If they needed to eat, we fed them. And we did that.”
State police will work to obtain search warrants for things like Mauthe’s medical records and plan on interviewing her friends, coworkers, and her incarcerated husband later this week.
Mauthe is facing one count of criminal homicide, and officials say more charges are expected.
19 Disturbing And Gruesome Facts About The Real Ed Gein That You Probably Don’t Know
Ed Gein’s car, which he used to move the bodies of his victims, was auctioned for $760 in 1958 after his arrest. The owner toured the car around the Midwest, calling the attraction “Ed Gein Ghoul Car.”
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If you’ve been on Netflix recently, you’ve probably noticed there’s a new #1 show in the US. Monster: The Ed Gein Story is the third season in Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s anthology series, and another true crime show garnering widespread attention.
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Starring Charlie Hunnam, the series is set in 1950s rural Wisconsin, where recluse Eddie Gein (Hunnam) lives on a decaying farm, hiding in a house of horrors. Driven by isolation and an all-consuming obsession with his mother (Laurie Metcalf), Gein’s crimes would become so renowned that they would birth countless fictional monsters and stories such as Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs.
So because Monster: The Ed Gein Story is based on real people and a real case, here are 19 facts about Ed Gein and what exactly happened:
There are obviously major spoilers ahead for Monster: The Ed Gein Story on Netflix.
This post contains mentions of murder, necrophilia, and more.
1. First, Ed Gein was born in 1906 in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, to parents George Philip Gein and Augusta Wilhelmine Gein. He had one older brother named Henry. The Gein family owned a 155-acre farm in Plainfield, Wisconsin, where Ed grew up and lived until his arrest in 1957. Augusta was very religious and was described as “nominally Lutheran.” She was said to have isolated her children and encouraged Ed to stay on the farm and not make friends, especially with women.
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2. Following his father’s death from heart failure in 1940, Gein’s brother, Henry, died under mysterious circumstances in 1944. After a brush fire grew out of control on the family’s farm, the local fire department came to put out the fire. Then, Gein reported his brother missing. Local law enforcement eventually found Henry’s body, with the coroner ruling he died by asphyxiation. It was eventually reported by the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune that he died of a heart attack “trying to protect his farm from the ravages of a grass and brush fire.”
3. After his father’s and brother’s deaths, Gein became the sole caregiver for his mother, Augusta, after she had a stroke. In 1945, Augusta died at the age of 67, leaving Ed totally alone. In his book, Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, the Original ‘Psycho,’ author Harold Schechter wrote, “He lost his only friend and one true love. And he was absolutely alone in the world.”
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4. Gein began taking “odd jobs” in town after Augusta’s death, which allowed him to venture outside of his family’s farm. He reportedly worked as a handyman and occasionally babysat for local children, which is depicted in the Netflix series. There is no evidence to suggest Gein ever took these children to his home; however, in 1947, 8-year-old Georgia Weckler disappeared from her home and was never found. Witnesses reported seeing a dark Ford sedan in the area, and the only evidence found by police was tire tracks.
5. Relatedly, in 1953, 14-year-old Evelyn Grace Hartley also disappeared from La Crosse, Wisconsin. There were reportedly indications of forced entry at the home she was babysitting at, with authorities believing Hartley was dragged through the yard by her abductor. Her body was never found, except for her bra and underwear. After his arrest, Gein was considered a suspect; however, he reportedly denied involvement. Hartley’s disappearance and kidnapping led to one of the biggest searches in the history of Wisconsin.
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6. Two local men, Victor Travis and Ray Burgess, also went missing in 1952 after they were seen drinking at a local bar. They were never found again, and their case remains unsolved to this day. Travis and Burgess were two other disappearances that many speculate Gein had something to do with, but it was never proven.
7. After his mother’s death, it is reported that Gein began reading books about human anatomy, taxidermy, cannibalism, and more. The Netflix series heavily leans into reports that Gein became obsessed with German war criminal Ilse Koch, who had ties to the Nazis. Nicknamed the “Witch of Buchenwald,” Koch reportedly made lampshades, book covers, gloves, and more from the skin of tattooed camp prisoners.
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8. In 1957, Plainfield Deputy Sheriff Frank Worden reported his mother, hardware store owner Bernice Worden, missing after searching her store and finding blood on the floor and the cash register open. At the time, Time magazine reported that Gein went into Worden’s store and shot and killed her with a .22 rifle. While investigating her store, police apparently found a receipt for antifreeze made out to Gein, which was the final sale Worden made.
9. According to Time magazine in 1957, when police arrived at Gein’s farmhouse, they “found a chamber of horrors.” Time wrote, “Bernice Worden’s body was strung up by the heels in a summer kitchen. It had been eviscerated and dressed out like a deer. Her severed head was in a cardboard box, her heart in a plastic bag on the stove.”
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10. While Monster: The Ed Gein Story depicts necrophilia between Gein and one of his victims, there is no evidence to suggest this, with Gein reportedly denying he ever did so because he didn’t like the smell of the dead bodies, saying, “They smelled too bad.” As reported by Time in 1957, Gein apparently didn’t practice cannibalism or necrophilia, “but preserved the remains just to look at.”
11. After finding Worden’s body, police searched the rest of Gein’s farm, where they found a disturbing number of body parts, which reportedly included, according to Time magazine, “ten skins of human heads, neatly separated from the skull; assorted pieces of human skin, some between the pages of magazines, some made into small belts, some used to upholster chair seats (the largest piece, rolled up on the floor, was the front upper section of a woman’s torso); a box of noses.”
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12. While investigating the home, police also discovered the remains of Mary Hogan, a tavern operator who had disappeared in 1954. Namely, her head was found, reportedly her skull, and then her face had been turned into a mask. Apparently, both Worden and Hogan resembled Gein’s mother. The details of Gein’s murders, his fascination with his mother, and the horrors found in his house became the inspiration for movies like Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs.
13. As for the other body parts found that did not belong to Hogan or Worden, Gein admitted during a lie detector test that he had visited local graveyards in a “daze-like” state over the years and exhumed bodies of recently buried middle-aged women. He said he robbed the graves of at least nine women. At the time, Waushara County authorities reopened two graves in Plainfield Cemetery to check Gein’s story. When the women’s caskets were opened, the coffins were empty, with the grave of Eleanor Adams also including “a few bones and a small prying bar.”
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14. Gein confessed to the murders of Worden and Hogan. In November 1957, Gein entered “a plea of innocent by reason of insanity” when he was arraigned on a first-degree murder charge in Waushara County, according to a local newspaper. He was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, which ruled him unfit for a trial. He was committed to Wisconsin’s Central State Hospital for observation and treatment.
15. Gein’s trial began on Nov. 7, 1968, and lasted a week, which was after doctors reportedly determined that he was “mentally able to confer with counsel and participate in his defense.” The trial was held without a jury, and he was found guilty of first-degree murder in Bernice Worden’s death. However, during his second trial, the judge ruled he was “not guilty by reason of insanity,” and he was committed to Central State Hospital. He was later transferred to Mendota Mental Institute in Madison, Wisconsin.
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16. In 1957, after Gein’s arrest, Adeline Watkins claimed to the Minneapolis Tribune that she and Gein had dated for 20 years, and described him as “good and kind and sweet.” She told the Tribune, “I loved him and I still do,” and they reportedly had their last date in February 1955 when he proposed, with Watkins saying, “Not in so many words, but I knew what he meant.” She said they used to talk about books and would discuss murder, adding, “I guess we discussed every murder we ever heard about. Eddie told how the murderer did wrong, what mistakes he had made. I thought it was interesting.”
17. Following Gein’s arrest, his house, other buildings, and the 195 acres were appraised for a reported $4,700 at the time, and were set to be auctioned off on March 30, 1958. However, on the morning of March 20, the house was destroyed by a fire. In a newspaper article, the fire marshal said he found “hot coals buried in the two-foot high pile of ashes left by a bonfire” that was reported to have been started by a cleaning crew disposing of trash. While arson was suspected, the cause of the fire was reportedly never officially determined.
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18. Gein notably used his 1949 Ford sedan to move his victims’ bodies back to his farm. After his arrest, the car was auctioned for $760 at the time to Bunny Gibbons, a carnival owner from Illinois. Then, Gibbons toured the car around the Midwest, calling the attraction “Ed Gein Ghoul Car.” It cost 25 cents to see the car, and Gibbons reportedly had more than 2,000 paying customers in July 1958.
19. And finally, Gein remained at Mendota Mental Institute until his death in 1984, where he died from respiratory failure related to lung cancer. He was buried in Plainfield Cemetery at his family’s plot next to his mother and brother. However, visitors began taking pieces of his headstone as souvenirs, with the cemetery unable to maintain the site. In 2000, his headstone was stolen altogether, and it was never found or returned, so his grave remains unmarked.
