The story of young Sylvia Marie Likens is a devastating one, bringing to light issues about child abuse, torture, and murder. A life taken far too soon; a little girl who never had a fighting chance. Sylvia was born on January 3, 1949 to parents Lester and Elizabeth Likens. She was the middle child in between two sets of twins, Dianna and Daniel and Jenny and Benny. Like most other young girls her age, at 16 years old Sylvia was vivacious and in love with life. Most of her time was spent enjoying the simple things with her family or babysitting to make money to spend while out with friends. The Likens were a poor family living in southern Indiana, and often struggled to get by day by day. Lester, having only an 8th grade education, often struggled to find work and tried his hand at a multitude of jobs before resorting to selling food at a carnival concession stand in the summer of 1965. Elizabeth ultimately was arrested in June of this same year for shoplifting, leaving no one to care for the 4 children (one was already married and moved away). The two boys were placed with their grandparents, leaving the need to find the two girls, Jenny and Sylvia, a place to stay.
The Likens were introduced to Gertrude Baniszewski, a woman who lived in a large rented house and agreed to take the girls in for $20 a week. Gertrude had 7 children of her own when the girls moved in. Sylvia and Paula (Gertrude’s eldest daughter) had many clashes, and this is what was believed to have been the cause for the train of torture that was to come. One day the money from Lester did not arrive to Gertrude on the day promised, and this enraged her. She brought Sylvia and Jenny upstairs and, as Jenny later testified, slapped them and belittled them. This sparked a chain reaction that led to the ongoing torture of Jenny and Sylvia. Even though Gertrude was a small, frail lady, she had a fraternity-like paddle and leather belt that she would use to beat the sisters with.
Jenny was already a very fragile girl due to suffering from Polio in her younger years, leading Gertrude to focus her anger on Sylvia. Sylvia had found a way to make small amounts of her own money by collecting soda bottles and exchanging them for cash. When Gertrude found out about this, she beat Sylvia with the paddle repeatedly on the back and head. On a few occasions she even suspected Sylvia of stealing which led to her burning the young girl’s fingertips with matches. On days when Gertrude felt too weak or sick to inflict torture on Sylvia, she enlisted the help of her daughter Paula. The torture escalated to a point where Gertrude refused to let Sylvia eat, and when she became aware that Sylvia was dumpster diving for food she only became angrier. She, Paula, and another local boy forced Sylvia to eat a hot dog smothered in various condiments and spices, and when she eventually got sick they even made her eat her own vomit.
The girl’s parents visited them in October of the same year, but the girls did not mention the abuse in fear that it would only make it worse. They were also banned from visiting their older sister Dianna who lived nearby. As time went on, more and more local children began to partake in the abuse and torture of Sylvia. Many of them took turns throwing Sylvia onto a concrete floor, kicking and beating her. After these awful attacks, Sylvia was forced into scalding hot baths to reportedly be “cleansed of her sins.” Gertrude then decided that Sylvia was deemed unfit to live upstairs with the other children, and caged her up in the basement of the home never letting her leave. During this time, Gertrude and a young boy named Richard Hobbs took a needle and etched “I’m a prostitute and proud of it” across Sylvia’s stomach. Sylvia knew that she wasn’t going to make it out of that home alive, and even confided in her little sister Jenny that she knew it was inevitable. Gertrude could see that Sylvia was giving up and thus forced her to write a letter to her parents claiming that she was beaten by a gang of boys and that she had been nothing but a trouble to Gertrude during her time there. Gertrude had been making plans to blindfold Sylvia and abandon her somewhere in the woods. Upon hearing this, Sylvia tried to make a run for freedom, but was ultimately caught at returned to the basement only to be beaten further. On October 25th, Sylvia became unconscious after being beaten on the head by Gertrude. She came to the next morning, but while being bathed by Gertrude and Paula she stopped breathing.
Gertrude had no choice but to notify the police, claiming that Sylvia had run away and come back severely injured. She also claimed that she was attempting to nurse Sylvia back to good health at the time she had died, and even handed them the coerced letter Sylvia had written. When police discovered the body of Sylvia they reported that her lips were basically chewed through, her nails were all bent and broken, and she had numerous wounds on her body at different stages in the healing process indicating on-going trauma. When asked by police what had happened, Jenny responded “You get me out of here, and I will tell you everything.” Gertrude and Paula were convicted of murder, but denied knowing anything about the abuse. Both Gertrude and Paula were found guilty and given life sentences. A few of the local children that took part in Sylvia’s death were also convicted of various crimes, and many were found guilty and given sentences as well. After being granted a second trial, Gertrude plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter for which she served ONLY 2 YEARS for her crimes. (Disgusting, I know.) She was released on parole in December of 1985 and continued to claim she had no memory of her actions. She remarried and lived out the rest of her miserable life in Iowa under a new name.
After being released, Paula also moved to Iowa where she was married, had children of her own, and even got a job as a school teacher. It is absolutely inexcusable for a woman who tortured a young girl to death to be granted a position educating and looking after children, and it is one of the most abhorrent facts of this entire case (in my opinion). The Likens divorced and lived out the rest of their lives apart. Jenny was able to continue out her life and was even married and had children of her own. However, one can never truly fully recover from the things that she had witnessed and experienced. She died in 2004 and the young age of 54. The house that Sylvia Likens was tortured and died in sat vacant for many years before it was transformed into a church parking lot. Today, a memorial stands in nearby Willard Park where Sylvia used to play as a young, happy child.
Pictured Below (Left to Right, Top to Bottom): Sylvia Likens, https://medium.com/@hlemonroe/the-disturbing-death-of-sylvia-likens-ba64ec62d345: Gertrude Baniszewski, https://medium.com/@hlemonroe/the-disturbing-death-of-sylvia-likens-ba64ec62d345: Gertrude at her trial, https://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2013/10/24/sylvia-likens/3178393/: Gertrude, Paula, and another local boy after being arrested for the murder and torture of Sylvia, https://allthatsinteresting.com/sylvia-likens-gertrude-baniszewski: How Sylvia's body was found after police were called, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/513691901223319655/: The house that Sylvia was tortured and eventually died in, https://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2013/10/24/sylvia-likens/3178393/: The memorial that stands today in honor of Sylvia, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/432416001693980000/.
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