Jack Clark Hebard, a 38-year-old White/Caucasian man, was killed on February 18, 1963, inside his family’s home on the southwest side of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Hebard worked for North Central Airlines and also performed as a part-time automobile stunt driver under the professional name “Lucky O’Hara.” What initially appeared the following morning to be a silent, unexplained tragedy inside the home was soon revealed to be the killing of nearly an entire blended family.
Along with Jack, the victims were his wife, Joyce Hebard, and Joyce’s three children from an earlier marriage, John Rudell and twin sisters Judith and Janice Rudell. All five suffered fatal gunshot wounds. Contemporary reports said Jack was found on a sofa in the front room, while the other victims were found elsewhere in the house.
The killings occurred during the late afternoon or early evening as the household was preparing for dinner. Police found food on the stove, the table set, and the television still operating. Joyce was seen arriving home at approximately 5:30 p.m., and a telephone call placed to the house around 6:00 p.m. went unanswered. Evidence developed during the investigation and later court proceedings placed Jack’s son from an earlier marriage, Harry R. Hebard, at the center of the killings. Harry was a high school junior who had attended school during the morning but was absent that afternoon. Earlier that day he had arranged for a friend to meet him about two blocks from the family home at approximately 5:30 p.m. When the friend arrived shortly afterward, Harry was carrying a bundle of clothing and said he was leaving home. He later buried the bundle in the snow and spent the night away from the Hebard residence.
There had been warning signs in the weeks leading up to the shootings. In January, Harry and two friends had been involved in stealing cigarettes, and Jack and Joyce had become concerned about his poor school performance, difficulties with his stepbrother, and indications that he was considering running away. They took him to psychologist Dr. Thomas Grib, who concluded at that time that Harry had a personality disturbance but was not psychotic. On February 14, Jack told the two friends involved in the cigarette incident that he did not want his son associating with them. Within the next day or two Harry attempted to purchase a pistol but was refused because he was too young. On February 17, the day before the killings, he went hunting with one of his father’s automatic rifles. Contemporary newspaper accounts also reported that investigators later found material in Harry’s school locker indicating that he had contemplated the killings beforehand.
The crime was discovered early on February 19 after Jack failed to report for his scheduled shift at work. His coworker and neighbor, Darold Aebischer, became concerned and had his wife telephone the Hebard home. Although the lights were still burning and the family’s dogs could be heard barking, no one answered. Police were summoned, and officers looking through a window could see what appeared to be bodies inside. Detective Dale Herfort entered the residence and discovered Jack, Joyce, John, Judith and Janice dead. Investigators determined that the victims had died at approximately the same time.
Police immediately focused their attention on Harry, who was missing from the house. He was located later that morning away from Green Bay, with contemporary reports describing his apprehension at a farm near Pulaski. Harry was taken into custody and questioned by the district attorney. He initially denied responsibility but then confessed to the killings. Investigators also recovered the bundle he had buried in the snow. Inside were clothing items, some stained with blood, and a nine-shot. 22-caliber revolver. Firearms evidence presented at the eventual trial identified the revolver as one of the weapons used in the killings. An automatic rifle recovered from the Hebard residence was also introduced as a murder weapon.
Harry reportedly told authorities shortly after his arrest that he had felt excluded from the family. Newspaper accounts said he described a general feeling of being left out of the family circle. Whatever explanation he offered investigators, the case against him ultimately rested on considerably more than those statements. Police possessed the firearms, bloodstained clothing and evidence establishing his movements immediately before and after the killings. His confessions themselves became a major legal issue. Before trial, a judge ruled that two written confessions and an oral confession could not be used against him because the interrogations did not satisfy constitutional safeguards that were subsequently established under Miranda. The court nevertheless found that the statements had been voluntarily given.
The prosecution did not proceed immediately. After Harry’s arrest, two court-appointed psychiatrists examined him, and he was found mentally incapable of standing trial. He was committed to Central State Hospital at Waupun. Years passed before authorities determined that he was competent to face the charges. Brown County officials were informed in May and again in August 1967 that he was capable of standing trial. On December 28, 1967, Harry Hebard was formally charged with five counts of first-degree murder, covering the deaths of Jack, Joyce, John, Judith and Janice. He pleaded not guilty and also entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. His attorneys sought to have the trial moved because of the extensive publicity surrounding the killings, but the request for a change of venue was denied.
The case finally reached a jury in September 1968. On September 20, the jury found Harry guilty of the first-degree murders of all five members of the household. Because Wisconsin used a separate proceeding to determine criminal responsibility when an insanity defense was raised, the jurors then considered whether he had been legally insane when he committed the crimes. On September 27, they determined that he was not insane at the time of the killings. The court subsequently sentenced him to a life term for each murder, with the five life sentences ordered to run concurrently.
Harry appealed his convictions, challenging several aspects of the proceedings, including the two-stage guilt-and-insanity trial, the refusal to move the trial outside the area, and the admission of physical evidence. Among the evidence reviewed on appeal were the revolver recovered from the bundle Harry buried in the snow, the automatic rifle recovered at the house, bullets and other crime-scene evidence. On March 5, 1971, the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected his arguments and affirmed the convictions and life sentences. A request for rehearing was denied on May 4, 1971, leaving intact the judgment that Harry R. Hebard was legally responsible for the murders of Jack Clark Hebard and the four other members of the family.
