Sylvia Likens was a teenager who was abused and killed by her caregiver Gertrude Baniszewski and her kids. The abuse had lasted for three months before she died on October 26, 1965, in Indianapolis, Indiana, due to malnutrition and extensive injuries.
Likens’ autopsy report showed that she had 150 wounds across her body, including eroded skin, eroded skin, and scald marks. The official cause of death was a homicide due to shock and subdural hematoma.
Likens’ younger sister Jenny Likens was also mistreated by Baniszewski, who also forced her to mistreat Sylvia.
The tragic death of Likens is considered the worst crime ever committed in Indiana, according to the state’s citizens. The senior investigator in the Indianapolis Police Department described the case as the most sadistic case he had ever investigated in the 35 years he served.
Sylvia Likens’ Parents
Likens’ was born to her father, Lester Likens, and her mother, Betty Likens. Sylvia was the middle child between two sets of twins.
Lester was a carnival worker who worked hard to fulfill his family’s needs. He and his wife Betty were often separated, so to look after his kids, he took the help of his neighbor Gertrude Baniszewski who promised that she would take care of them like her own.
When Lester went to visit his daughters, he noticed nothing out of order considering the living room was the only place he entered. He had paid $20 per week to look after his daughters.
He died at the age of 86.
Betty was arrested for shoplifting, one of the reasons Lester and her left their daughters with neighbors. She was also struggling with jobs, so she was often on the road. In 1967 she divorced her husband and remarried. She died on May 29, 1998, at the age of 71.
Lester and Betty were devastated by the death of their daughter and felt guilty about leaving Slyvia and Jenny with such a person.
Sylvia Likens’ Sister Jenny Likens
Jenny suffered from polio. She was also mistreated like her sister but comparatively less than her sister. When she couldn’t tell the neighbors about the situation, she feared that she would make things worse.
When her sister died and the police arrived to collect the body, she told the police that if they helped her get out of the house, she would tell everything to the authority.
She died in 2004.
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Sylvia Likens’ Abuse And Murder Story
**Warning: The story includes graphic details of child abuse**
The first two weeks of their stay with Gertrude Baniszewski were normal. Sylvia offered to help them with house chores, and the girls fitted into the family with a bit of discipline. They attended church and school with Baniszewski’s children, Paula, Stephanie, John, Marie, Shirley, James, and Dennis Lee Wright Jr.
The trouble began when the fee of $20 was late for the room. Baniszewski started beating the girls with a paddle when she was not paid on the pre-agreed date. One day, Gertrudels daughter Paula told her mother that the girls had overeaten that day, and the abuse escalated, and Sylvia was the main focus.
Sylvia was often left to starve and force-fed to the point where she would vomit and was forced to eat regurgitated contents. Paula had struck Sylvia in the face with a force that she broke her wrist during the punch, and when the cast was dry, she would use it as a weapon.
Not only did Gertrude and Paula abuse her, but Stephanie’s boyfriend Coy Hubbard and friends would also torment her. Baniszewski encouraged the boys to use Sylvia as a dummy for their martial arts practice.
Later, Sylvia was not allowed to attend school and had her fingers burned and kicked in her private parts. Once when the girls met their older sister, Marie complained to her mother they had eaten a sandwich. For that reason, they were given scalding hot baths.
When Sylvia fainted, Baniszewski slammed her head against the cast-iron bathtub to wake her up. She was later tied ob the basement till her final days.
The abuse escalated, and her body was branded as “I’M A PROSTITUTE AND AND PROUD OF IT” was carved with a needle. Gertrude took the help of neighborhood kid Richard Hobbs to complete the carving.
When she tried to escape with her sister, she was caught, and Sylvia lost the ability to speak correctly.
Richard Hobbs gave her a bubble bath and changed her into nice clothes before laying her on the mattress, where she never woke up again. Baniszewski knew Sylvia was dying, so she forced her to write a letter where she ran away, and the neighborhood boys tortured her.
Charges Against The Culprits For Sylvia Likens’ Death
Gertrude Baniszewski covered Sylvia’s body with rubbing alcohol to divert the blame on her and her children. When police arrived, she gave a false statement saying that Sylvia had returned home beaten and in a dying state. \
Later with the help of Jenny Likens Gertrude, Paula, Stephanie, Coy Hubbard, Richard Hobbs, and John Jr were arrested, and the other five kids from the neighborhood as well.
Baniszewski was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison. Paula was convicted of second-degree murder, but in 1971 her conviction was overturned, and was pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 2-21 years in prison.
Stephanie was not charged with murder as turned state’s witness and was released.