Ed Gein killed two women in real life: Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden. Mary Hogan was a tavern owner who disappeared in 1954, and her skull was later found in Gein's home. Bernice Worden was a hardware store owner who went missing in 1957; her dismembered body was found hanging in Gein's shed. Gein admitted to killing both women, motivated in part because they reminded him of his deceased mother. Most of the other body parts found in his house were from graves he had exhumed rather than murder victims. Gein was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was deemed legally insane, spending the rest of his life in psychiatric institutions.
There is no confirmed evidence that Gein killed anyone else, including his brother Henry, whose death was ruled an accident.
