Who Was Adeline Watkins? All About Ed Gein's Alleged Girlfriend, Who Once Called the Murderer 'So Nice' By Katie Mannion

It’s been almost 50 years since Ed Gein’s gruesome crimes were uncovered, but now new questions have been brought to light about the infamous serial killer and the woman who reportedly loved him: Adeline Watkins.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is the third installment of the Netflix anthology series created by Ryan Murphy. This time, the series focused on Ed Gein, one of the most notorious criminals in American history. Known as the “Butcher of Plainfield,” Gein was a 1950s serial killer and grave robber who murdered at least two women, exhumed multiple corpses and transformed his rural Wisconsin farm into a “house of horrors.”

After his arrest in 1957 for the killing of Bernice Worden, a local hardware store owner, police discovered a grotesque collection of keepsakes, furniture, clothing and household items made from human remains at his farmhouse. The case shocked the nation and Gein became a pop culture boogeyman whose crimes inspired numerous horror films, including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, and The Silence of the Lambs.

In his personal life, however, Gein was linked to Adeline Watkins, portrayed in the series by Suzanna Son, who described him as “good and kind.” After he was arrested, she claimed the two had been together for decades before later retracting her statements.

Here’s everything to know about Ed Gein’s alleged girlfriend, Adeline Watkins.

Watkins initially claimed they had a 20-year romance

In November 1957, just days after Gein’s arrest, Watkins, a 50-year-old woman from Plainfield, Wis., famously claimed she had a decades-long romance with the serial killer. In an interview with the Minneapolis Tribune, she reportedly said she and Gein dated for 20 years.

Watkins, who lived in a small apartment with her widowed mother, had nothing bad to say about Gein, describing him as “good and sweet and kind.” Her mother said the same, calling him a “sweet, polite man” and explaining that he always had her daughter home by 10 p.m. after their dates.

According to Watkins, their dates typically consisted of going to see a movie, but they occasionally went to local taverns for drinks, although she confessed that Gein wasn’t much of a drinker.

“I would almost have to drag Eddie into a tavern,” she said. “He would much rather have gone to a drugstore for a milkshake.”

They shared a love of reading

Watkins, who was described by the Minneapolis Tribune as “a plain woman with graying bangs and horn-rimmed glasses,” told reporters that she and Gein shared a love of reading.

“Eddie and I discussed books,” she said. “We never read the same ones, but we liked to talk about them anyway,” she added, saying that Gein enjoyed books about exotic animals, like lions and tigers, as well as Africa and India.

Aside from literature, Watkins told reporters that the two often talked about crime, although not any that Gein committed. “I guess we discussed every murder we ever heard about,” she said. “Eddie told [me] how the murderer did wrong, what mistakes he had made. I thought it was interesting.”

She claimed she turned down a marriage proposal from him

According to Watkins, on their final date, which she said was on Feb. 6, 1955, more than two years before his eventual arrest, Gein proposed.

“I turned him down, but not because there was anything wrong with him,” she explained to the Minneapolis Tribune. “It was something wrong with me. I guess I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to live up to what he expected of me.”

She went on to say that Gein was such a good partner that she didn’t feel she deserved him.

“Eddie was so nice about doing things I wanted to do that sometimes I felt I was taking advantage of him,” she said. Despite rejecting his proposal, her feelings for him stayed the same. “I loved him and I still do.”

Watkins later retracted her statements

Watkins’ claims about a 20-year affair with Gein became infamous. Other outlets picked up the story, and her photo was printed across the front pages of multiple newspapers.

Seemingly uncomfortable with her newfound celebrity, Watkins retracted her initial statements days later. She contacted the editor of the Plainfield Sun, a smaller, local paper, to correct the record. Watkins denied being Gein’s “sweetheart,” but said the pair had a friendship.

“There was no 20-year romance,” she said, describing their relationship as purely platonic. Gein would stop by her apartment to visit on occasion, and sometimes they would go to the theater together to watch a movie, she explained.

Despite denying any romantic feelings, Watkins insisted her earlier portrayal of Gein as “quiet and polite” was an accurate one. However, she denied ever having called him “sweet” ad was “quite emphatic in stating that she had never ‘practically dragged him into a tavern,’ as was reported.”

Further, she reportedly said she felt sorry for him. 

She is portrayed by Suzanna Son

While the true nature of Gein’s relationship with Watkins may never be fully known to the public, it is explored in the third season of Monster.

In the series, Watkins is portrayed by The Idol actress, Suzanna Son. “It’s just a dream role,” Son told Women’s Wear Daily in May 2025. “I feel like I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”

Speaking about why she was drawn to the role of Watkins, Son described it as an elusive process. “I can’t explain what I’m attracted to, but I always follow that feeling when I have it,” she said.