Earl Albert Nead was born on November 13, 1937. By Christmas Day, he was dead, the victim of a horrible accident. But as police looked into things, the more it appeared that Earl’s death was deliberate. What had happened in that small Wisconsin apartment that Christmas?
Sources
Boy of Nine Years is Fatally Injured. Stevens Point Journal, 3/8/1922
Vesper Youth Confesses ‘Spiritual Slaying’ of Son. Marshfield News-Herald, 12/27/1937
Release Wife of Confessed Baby Slayer. Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, 12/28/1937
Infant Killed Christmas Day. Marshfield News-Herald, 12/27/1937
Youth Confesses Killing Foster Son of Girl Wife. The Capitol Times, 12/27/1937
Vesper Youth Confesses ‘Spiritual Slaying’ of Son. Marshfield News-Herald, 12/27/1937
Officials Call in Pathologist. Marshfield News-Herald, 12/28/1937
Fine Hair, Skin Found Under Nead’s Nails. Stevens Point Journal, 12/28,1937
Wife’s Parents Charge Youth Previously Tried to Kill Baby. The Journal Times, 12/28/1937
Vesper Youth Enters Plea Of Insanity. Stevens Point Journal, 12/29/1937
Nead Pleads Innocent; Claims Insanity. The Daily Tribune, 12/29/1937
Slayer Makes Insanity Plea. The Journal Times, 12/29/1937
Slayer of His Foster Son to State Asylum. The Capital times, 12/29/1937
Nead Calm on Trip to State Hospital. Stevens Point Journal, 12/30/1937
Spiritualists Defend Nead. The Daily Tribune, 1/7/1938
Nead Sane, Claim of Psychiatrists Who Examined Him. Stevens Point Journal, 2/23/1938
Doctors Claim Youth Is Sane. Marshfield News-Herald, 2/23/1938
Nead Pleads Guilty; Gets 14 to 20 Years. The Daily Tribune, 3/14/1938
Nead Sentenced To 14 To 20 Years On His Plea of Guilty. 3/14/1938
Nead Accuses Wife of Christmas Day Murder. Marshfield News-Herald, 3/15/1938
Henry Nead to Ask Executive Clemency. Stevens Point Journal, 11/29/1940
Henry Nead Faces Return to Prison. Marshfield News-Herald, 12/9/1943
Nead Under Arrest for Violating His Parole. Green Bay Press-Gazette, 12/10/1943
Henry J. Nead To File Application About May 10. Marshfield News-Herald, 4/2/1946
Vesper ‘Ghost’ Killer Plans to Seek Clemency. Marshfield News-Herald, 3/31/1948
James Nead. The Oshkosh Northwestern, 9/17/1982
Whetstone, Rhonda. Man blames dead father’s ghost for killing infant. The Daily Tribune, 12/9/2014
Whetstone, Rhonda. Teenage dad plead insanity in death. The Daily Tribune, 12/23/2014
U.S. Census Records
Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1952
Frank Albert Nead, Sr. www.findagrave.com
Kaaryn Gustafson on the History and Impact of Bastardy Laws. www.law.uci.edu.
Year: 1940; Census Place: Waupun, Dodge, Wisconsin; Roll: m-t0627-04473; Page: 14A; Enumeration District: 14-60
Wisconsin Historical Society; Madison, Wisconsin; Wi Marriage Records 1907-1939