John Rudell was a 15-year-old White/Caucasian male whose life ended inside his family's Green Bay, Wisconsin, home on February 18, 1963, during one of the city's most shocking family killings. John lived with his mother, Joyce Hebard, his twin sisters, Judith and Janice Rudell, and his stepfather, Jack Hebard. Also part of the blended family was Jack's son from an earlier marriage, Harry Raymond Hebard.
By the end of that winter evening, John, his mother, his sisters, and his stepfather were all dead from gunshot wounds.
The killings occurred at the Hebard residence on Green Bay's southwest side. Contemporary reports placed the violence around the family's normal dinner period. Food was reportedly on the stove, the table had been set, and the television was still on when the crime was discovered. Jack Hebard was found on a sofa in the front portion of the home, while John and the other members of the Rudell family were found in or near the kitchen area. Investigators determined that firearms, including a. 22-caliber handgun and a rifle, had been used and that the victims suffered gunshot wounds to their heads. Later accounts of the shooting describe John as initially being struck in the back and then being shot additional times, including at least once in the head.
Suspicion quickly centered on Harry Hebard, John's stepbrother, who was missing from the residence when the bodies were discovered. The family had reportedly been experiencing difficulties before the killings. Harry had been having problems at school and trouble getting along with John. In January 1963, Harry, John and other youths had been connected to an incident involving stolen cigarettes. Harry's father subsequently attempted to limit his association with some of those friends, and Harry had been taken to a psychologist because of his behavior, poor grades and indications that he might run away. The psychologist reportedly believed Harry had a personality disturbance but was not psychotic.
There were additional warning signs in the days immediately before the deaths. Harry tried to purchase a pistol shortly before the killings but was refused because of his age. On February 17, he went hunting with one of his father's automatic rifles. The following morning he attended school but did not remain for the afternoon. Around noon on February 18, he arranged for a friend to pick him up that evening at a location approximately two blocks from his home. The circumstances later became important to prosecutors because they suggested Harry had made arrangements to leave the area before the bodies were discovered.
By approximately 5:30 that afternoon, Joyce Hebard returned home. A neighbor saw her arrive. Evidence eventually established that John, his sisters and Jack were already inside the residence. Investigators concluded that Joyce was also shot shortly after arriving. Harry then left the neighborhood carrying a bundle of clothing and met the friend who had agreed to pick him up. At some point, Harry buried the bundle in the snow before spending the night away from the family home.
The killings remained undiscovered until the morning of February 19. Jack Hebard was expected at his job but failed to report for work. A coworker and neighbor, Darold Aebischer, became concerned. Attempts to telephone the house went unanswered even though the lights were still on and the family's dogs could be heard barking. Police were contacted. Officers looking through a window could see what appeared to be bodies, and Detective Dale Herfort entered the residence. Inside, authorities found Jack, Joyce, John, Judith and Janice dead.
Police immediately began searching for Harry. He was eventually located at a farm outside Green Bay and taken into custody. During questioning by the district attorney, Harry initially denied responsibility and then admitted involvement in the killings. Contemporary newspaper accounts reported that he said he had felt excluded from the family. Investigators also recovered the bundle he had buried in the snow. It contained clothing, some of it bloodstained, along with a nine-shot. 22-caliber revolver. At the eventual trial, firearms testimony connected the revolver to the killings.
The prosecution of Harry Hebard became unusually complicated because of his mental condition and the long delay before he could be tried. Shortly after his arrest, two court-appointed psychiatrists examined him. He was found incompetent to stand trial and was committed to Central State Hospital at Waupun. As a result, the criminal case remained unresolved for several years. Early in the proceedings he had been arraigned on four first-degree murder counts, while prosecutors indicated that the charge involving John's death was being held in reserve. Once Hebard was determined capable of standing trial, prosecutors formally charged him on December 28, 1967, with the first-degree murders of all five victims, including John.
Hebard entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. His defense also sought to have the trial moved from Brown County because of the extensive publicity surrounding the massacre, but the request for a change of venue was denied. Another major pretrial issue involved the admissions Hebard had made after his arrest. Although a court concluded that his statements had been voluntarily given, his oral and written confessions were ultimately excluded from the trial because they did not meet constitutional protections governing custodial interrogation that had developed after the 1963 killings.
Even without those confessions before the jury, prosecutors presented the physical and circumstantial evidence connecting Hebard to the deaths. The trial proceeded in two stages, first determining whether he committed the murders and then addressing his insanity defense. On September 20, 1968, the jury found Harry Hebard guilty of the first-degree murders. A week later, on September 27, jurors rejected the contention that he was legally insane at the time of the killings.
Hebard was subsequently sentenced to concurrent terms of life imprisonment for the murders. He appealed, challenging aspects of the trial procedure, particularly the separation of the guilt and insanity portions of the case and the handling of psychiatric evidence. In 1971, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld his convictions, leaving the life sentences intact.
The investigation and prosecution ultimately established that John's death was not an isolated shooting but part of a planned attack that destroyed nearly an entire household. What had initially appeared on the morning of February 19 to be a silent family home, with its lights still burning and dogs barking inside, became the scene of five homicides. The person authorities identified, arrested, prosecuted and convicted for John's killing was his own stepbrother, Harry Hebard, whose convictions brought the criminal case to a conclusion more than five years after the murders.
