page_title: Earle Nelson
section_title: Early offenses; institutionalization
hierarchical_section_title: Earle Nelson / Crimes / Early offenses; institutionalization
caption_attribution_description: English: Napa State Hospital original building, demolished 1949
context_page_description: Earle Leonard Nelson, also known in the media as the "Gorilla Man," the "Gorilla Killer," and the "Dark Strangler," was an American serial killer, rapist, and necrophile. He was the first known American serial sex murderer of the twentieth century. Born and raised in San Francisco, California by his devoutly Pentecostal grandmother, Nelson exhibited bizarre behavior as a child, which was compounded by head injuries he sustained in a bicycling accident at age ten. After committing various minor offenses in early adulthood, he was institutionalized in Napa for a time.
  Nelson began committing numerous rapes and murders in February 1926, primarily in the West Coast cities of San Francisco and Portland, Oregon. In late 1926, he moved east, committing multiple rapes and murders in several Midwestern and East Coast cities before moving north into Canada, raping and killing a teenage girl in Winnipeg, Manitoba. After committing his second murder in Winnipeg, he was arrested by Canadian authorities and convicted of both murders, and sentenced to death. He was executed by hanging in Winnipeg in 1928.
context_section_description: Nelson began his criminal career at a young age, and was sentenced to two years in San Quentin State Prison in 1915 after breaking into a cabin in rural Plumas County which he believed had been abandoned. He was paroled for this offense on September 6, 1916, but was arrested again in Stockton on March 9, 1917 for petty larceny. Nelson spent another six months incarcerated before being discharged, after which he was arrested in Los Angeles for burglary charges. After spending approximately five months in Los Angeles County Jail, Nelson escaped. 
  Sometime in late-1917, he enlisted in the U.S. military, but deserted after six weeks. He repeated this pattern on several occasions, enlisting in different military branches under different names before deserting. In 1918, Nelson was committed to the Napa State Mental Hospital after behaving oddly and erratically during one of his brief stints in the U.S. Navy. A Navy psychologist noted that Nelson was "living in a constitutional psychotic state."
  Upon his arrival at Napa State Mental Hospital, a psychologist who observed him on May 21, 1918 noted that Nelson did not appear "violent, homicidal, or destructive." William Pritchard, a psychiatrist who conducted a preliminary interview with him, noted that Nelson spoke of hallucinations and other paranoid delusions: "He has seen faces, heard music, and at times believed people were poisoning him. Voices sometimes whisper to him to kill himself. Says that if he were kept in jail, he would get something sharp and cut the veins in his wrists." Pritchard also indicated that Nelson had experienced occipital headaches, fainted several times, and felt dizzy during their interactions. 
  During his institutionalization, Nelson managed to escape at least three times before staff eventually stopped trying to locate him. His frequent escapes earned him the nickname "Houdini" among the hospital's employees. Nelson was formally discharged from the Navy in absentia on May 17, 1919, and his file with the hospital was closed with a note indicating he had "improved."
  Nelson subsequently acquired a job working as a janitor at St. Mary's Hospital, using the pseudonym "Evan Louis Fuller." There, he met 60-year-old Mary Martin, an administrative worker. The two began to date, and were married in August 1919. Their marriage, however, was short-lived, as Nelson "made her life a living hell" with his jealous rages, bizarre sexual demands, religious delusions, and increasingly violent behavior, leading her to separate from him after cohabiting for only six months. Martin would later recall various bizarre behaviors she witnessed while living with Nelson, which included protracted disappearances from their home and unusual bathing practices that entailed him pouring glasses of water over his toes.
  On May 19, 1921, Nelson posed as a plumber to enter the residence at 1519 Pacific Avenue in San Francisco and attempted to molest 12-year-old resident Mary Summers in the basement. His attempt was thwarted when she screamed and attracted help from her elder brother. Nelson fled, but was captured hours later while riding a trolley. At a competency hearing, he was deemed dangerous and recommitted to Napa State Mental Hospital. He would escape again on two occasions before being discharged from the institution in 1925.
caption: Napa State Mental Hospital, where Nelson was institutionalized on multiple occasions
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