Did Ed Gein Kill His Brother? All About Henry Gein’s Suspicious Death

Ed Gein has long been considered one of the most notorious killers of the 20th century—but his crimes may have extended beyond what the public actually knows. 

The dark and twisted criminal, who’s been given the nickname the “Butcher of Plainfield,” is widely understood to have murdered at least two people and confessed to robbing nine graves, grotesquely exhuming the bodies of recently deceased women. But that may not have been the full extent of Gein’s reign of terror, as it’s believed that one of his closest family members could have also been one of his victims. 

Gein may have also been behind the death of his older brother, Henry, who died under mysterious circumstances in 1944. The pair had often been at odds throughout their life while under the control of their domineering mother, Augusta. 

But just as Henry was about to escape his mother’s controlling grasp, he died while he and Ed were battling a fire near the family’s property. His bruised body was found amid the scorched land, believed to have been killed from asphyxiation by way of smoke inhalation. 

While no autopsy was ever performed, many historians speculate that Henry’s death should have been deemed a murder. 

Henry was born in 1901, the eldest son of George and Augusta Gein. Several years after Ed’s birth in 1906, the family moved to a secluded family farm in Plainfield, Wis. Isolated from society, the brothers were often tortured by their alcoholic father, who frequently beat them whenever he was around. 

George would routinely abandon the family, leaving Henry and Ed to be raised by Augusta, a deeply religious woman who exerted extreme control over the young boys. They received minimal schooling and weren’t allowed to have interactions with other children. Their lives were ruled by Augusta’s tight rein and her lectures of a strict moral code based on the Bible. 

Later in life, according to Deviant: The Shocking True Story of the Original “Psycho” by Harry Schecter, Augusta even forced her sons to vow to remain “uncontaminated by women,”  committing themselves to permanent bachelorhood, bound to no woman other than their mother.  

Withdrawn from civilization, Ed came to idolize his mother, an obsessive relationship that would eventually shape his criminal behavior. Meanwhile, Henry didn’t have the same affection for Augusta, much to the chagrin of his younger brother. Henry often criticized their controlling mother and argued against her teachings, over time driving a wedge between himself and Ed. 

Schecter wrote that “Henry’s implied criticism of Augusta came as a real shock to Eddie.” It is that fractured relationship that is speculated to have pushed Ed to murder his own brother. 

Even as adults, Augusta still exerted an extreme amount of control over the two brothers. After their father died, Henry found work away from home, but Augusta still expected her sons to help maintain their family’s expansive property. It was a tense moment while the brothers were working together on the farm that ultimately led to Henry’s death. 

On May 16, 1944, a fire broke out on marshland near the Gein’s isolated family farm. While it is unknown if the blaze was accidental or purposeful, Ed is said to have told investigators years later that it was Henry’s idea to start the fire in order to burn off dry grass, according to Schecter. While Ed claimed that he tried to stop Henry, local papers at the time reported that the blaze had actually been Ed’s idea. 

As the flames grew unmanageable due to sudden high winds, the brothers allegedly got separated as they attempted to extinguish the fire. When the blaze was finally put out hours later, night had fallen and Ed couldn’t find his brother. 

When Deputy Sheriff Frank Engle rounded up a search party for Henry, Ed allegedly led the group directly to Henry’s body—despite claiming he had been unable to find him. Henry was found laying face down on the scorched land. He was noticeably free from any burns despite being amidst the blaze and had strange bruising on his head. 

Shortly after Henry was found dead, District Attorney Earl Killeen and County Coroner George Blader, as well as a Plainfield doctor, determined Henry’s death to be accidental. 

“It was determined by the medical authority present that death was due to asphyxiation. After an investigation by the coroner it was decided that an inquest was not necessary, as foul play did not enter into the death of Mr. Gein,” the Washara Argus newspaper reported, per Deviant. 

It was only after Ed’s true dark nature came to light years later that it was speculated he could have been involved in Henry’s death. Given that Ed was able to lead investigators directly to Henry’s body and the strange bruising on his head, it’s been theorized that Ed actually killed his brother and set the fire, aiming to blame the flames for his untimely passing. 

However, Ed was never charged for Henry’s death. While no one may ever truly know what happened on the Geins’ isolated family farm on that day in 1944, it marked a pivotal moment in Ed’s mental health struggles and his gruesome double life. Though Gein pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murder in court, he spent the rest of his life in mental health facilities and died of complications from cancer in 1984 at age 77.