Sheriff Arthur Schley arrested Ed Gein on Nov. 16, 1957
Waushara County Sheriff Arthur “Art” Schley put an end to American serial killer Ed Gein’s reign of terror.
Schley, alongside his deputy Frank Worden, arrested Gein, dubbed the “The Butcher of Plainfield,” on Nov. 16, 1957, after the latter reported his mother, Bernice, missing from her hardware store in Plainfield, Wis. A sales receipt for antifreeze, written just before her disappearance, pointed to Gein as the last customer she had served, per A&E. Acting quickly, Schley organized a search of Gein’s isolated farmhouse on the outskirts of town.
Inside, investigators stumbled upon a scene of unimaginable horror. They found Bernice’s mutilated body hanging in a shed — and, within the home, a grim collection of human remains, including masks made from human skin and furniture upholstered with flesh. The discovery shocked the small farming community and the nation as a whole.
Schley’s team arrested Gein at a neighbor’s home later that same day, where he’d been having dinner, per TIME. Schley’s investigation uncovered crimes so disturbing they became the basis for a number of horror films and TV shows, including Psycho and Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story, which premiered on Oct. 3.
So, what happened to Sheriff Arthur Schley? Here’s everything to know about his life after arresting Ed Gein in 1957.
Who is Sheriff Arthur Schley?
Schley was born on Feb. 19, 1925, in the town of Richford, Wis., per Stevens Point Journal. He spent his childhood in Richford and later settled in Wautoma with his wife, Nita Straw, whom he married on May 9, 1943.
The couple raised three daughters, and Schley served as the sheriff of Waushara County from 1957 to 1963. After his term as sheriff, Schley became the county’s highway commissioner.
What role did Sheriff Arthur Schley play in the Ed Gein case?
Schley played a pivotal role in uncovering the horrifying reality of Gein’s crimes.
The events that led Schley and Worden to Gein’s farmhouse began on Nov. 15, 1957, with the sudden disappearance of Worden’s mother, Bernice, the well-liked owner of Plainfield’s hardware store.
On Nov. 16, 1957, Worden reported his mother, Bernice, missing, after he found her hardware store’s cash register left open, blood stains on the floor and a .22 caliber rifle out of place, per A&E. Investigators quickly noted that Bernice had sold a small quantity of antifreeze to Gein the day she disappeared, making him one of the last people to see her alive.
On the evening of Nov. 16, 1957, Schley had gathered enough evidence to justify a direct search of Gein’s farmhouse. There, Schley discovered Bernice’s decapitated body hanging in a shed.
Inside the Plainfield farmhouse, the scene was equally macabre. Officers found belts fashioned from human skin, soup bowls made from human skulls and a human heart was found in a pot on the stove. Evidence suggested that Gein had exhumed corpses from local graveyards to create these grotesque objects, per UPI.
Investigators also found two severed heads, one belonging to Bernice and the other to local tavern owner Mary Hogan, who had gone missing three years earlier, according to A&E.
Later that evening, Schley supervised Gein’s arrest at a neighbor’s house. He went on to interrogate Gein, a conversation that was ruled inadmissible in court, according to two biographies: Edward Gein: America’s Most Bizarre Murderer and Deviant: The Shocking True Story of the Original “Psycho.”
This was due to an incident in which Schley, frustrated during the questioning, allegedly banged Gein’s head and face against a brick wall, per Edward Gein: America’s Most Bizarre Murderer. Gein was then interrogated a second time by the crime lab’s Joe Wilimovsky to produce a confession that could be used in court, according to the book.
Did Sheriff Arthur Schley testify against Ed Gein?
Schley did not testify against Gein at trial.
Following his arrest, Gein was initially found unfit to stand trial due to mental illness and was committed to a psychiatric institution. In 1968, he was deemed competent to stand trial, per History.com.
In the end, Schley never made it to the witness stand. He died on March 22, 1968, seven months before Gein’s trial.
The trial took place in November 1968 and lasted one week. Gein was found guilty by reason of insanity and was committed to a psychiatric institution for the rest of his life, according to History.com.
Gein died in 1984 at the age of 77 due to complications from lung cancer.
How did Sheriff Arthur Schley die?
Roughly seven months before Gein’s murder trial, Schley died on March 22, 1968, of a heart attack, according to his obituary in The Oshkosh Northwestern. He was 43 years old.
However, those who knew him believed that his “worry” about being subpoenaed to testify in Gein’s trial “hastened his death,” Robert Gollmar, the judge who presided over Gein’s case, wrote in Edward Gein: America’s Most Bizarre Murderer.
Schley was laid to rest at Wautoma Union Cemetery in Waushara County.
