According to Heirens, he remembered drifting into consciousness under questioning. The police had taken him to Bridewell Hospital, which was adjacent to the Cook County Jail. The questioning became more intense, with officers demanding to know how he did it, to say that he did it, they “knew” that he did it. At one point, someone punched him in the testicles, causing him to nearly vomit. They also burned them with ether.

Heirens later said he was interrogated around the clock for six consecutive days, being beaten by police and not allowed to eat or drink. He was not allowed to see his parents for four days. He was also refused the opportunity to speak to a lawyer for six days.

Two psychiatrists, Doctors Haines and Roy Grinker, gave Heirens sodium pentathol without a warrant and without Heirens’ or his parents’ consent, and interrogated for three hours. Under the influence of the drug, authorities claimed, Heirens spoke of an alternate personality named “George Murman”, who had actually committed the murders. Heirens claimed that he recalled little of the drug-induced interrogation. What Heirens actually said is in dispute, as the original transcript has disappeared.

On his fifth day in custody, Heirens was given a lumbar puncture without anesthesia. without Moments later, Heirens was driven to police headquarters for a polygraph test. They tried for a few minutes to administer the test, but it was rescheduled for several days later after they found him to be in too much pain to cooperate.

When the polygraph was administered, authorities, including Touhy, announced that the results were “inconclusive.” On July 2, 1946 he was transferred to the Cook County Jail where he was placed in the infirmary to recover.

This kid was 17 when he was made to confess to three murders. He’s still in jail. A spinal tap without anesthesia…too much pain to imagine.