Sylvia Marie Likens (January 3, 1949 – October 26, 1965) was an American teenager who was tortured and murdered by her caregiver, Gertrude Baniszewski, many of Baniszewski's children, and several of their neighborhood friends. The abuse lasted for three months, occurring incrementally, before Likens died from her extensive injuries and malnourishment on October 26, 1965, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Likens was increasingly tormented, neglected, belittled, sexually humiliated, beaten, starved, lacerated, burned, and dehydrated by her tormentors. Her autopsy showed 150 wounds across her body, including several burns, scald marks and eroded skin. Through intimidation, her younger sister, Jenny, was occasionally forced to participate in her mistreatment. The official cause of her death was determined to be a homicide caused by a combination of subdural hematoma and shock, complicated by severe malnutrition.
Gertrude Baniszewski, her eldest daughter, Paula, her son, John, and two neighborhood youths, Coy Hubbard and Richard Hobbs, were all tried and convicted in May 1966 of neglecting, torturing, and murdering Likens. At the defendants' trial, Deputy Prosecutor Leroy New described the case as "the most diabolical case to ever come before a court or jury" and Gertrude's defense attorney, William Erbecker, described Likens as having been subjected to acts of "degradation that you wouldn't commit on a dog" before her death.
After eight hours of deliberation, the jury found Gertrude Baniszewski guilty of first-degree murder. She was sentenced to life imprisonment but was released on parole in 1985. Paula was found guilty of second-degree murder and was released in 1972; Hobbs, Hubbard, and John were found guilty of manslaughter and served less than two years in the Indiana Reformatory before being granted parole on February 27, 1968.
The torture and murder of Sylvia Likens is widely regarded as one of the worst crimes in Indiana history and has been described by a senior investigator in the Indianapolis Police Department as the "most sadistic" case he had ever investigated in the thirty-five years he served with the Indianapolis Police.
Background
Gertrude Baniszewski
Gertrude Nadine Baniszewski (née Van Fossan; September 19, 1928 – June 16, 1990) was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Hugh Marcus Van Fossan Sr. and Molly Myrtle (née Oakley), both of whom were originally from Illinois and were of English and Dutch descent. Baniszewski was the third of six children, and her family was working class. On October 5, 1939, Baniszewski saw her 50-year-old father die from a sudden heart attack. Six years later, she dropped out of high school at age 16 to marry 18-year-old John Stephan Baniszewski (1926–2007), who was originally from Youngsville, Pennsylvania, and was of Polish ancestry, and with whom she had four children. Although John Baniszewski had a volatile temper and occasionally beat his wife, the two remained together for ten years prior to their first divorce. Following her divorce, Baniszewski married a man named Edward Guthrie. This marriage lasted just three months before the couple divorced. Shortly thereafter, Baniszewski remarried her first husband, with whom she had two more children. The couple divorced for the second time in 1963.
Weeks after her third divorce, Baniszewski began a relationship with a 20-year-old welder named Dennis Lee Wright, who also physically abused her. She had one child with Wright, Dennis Lee Wright Jr. Shortly after the birth of their son in May 1964, Wright abandoned Baniszewski. Shortly thereafter, Baniszewski filed a paternity suit against Wright for financial support of their child, but Wright seldom contributed to the care of their son.
By 1965, Baniszewski lived alone with her seven children: Paula (17), Stephanie (15), John (12), Marie (11), Shirley (10), James (8), and Dennis Lee Wright Jr. (1). Although she was 36 years old and 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm) in height, she weighed only 100 pounds (45 kg) and has been described as a "haggard, underweight asthmatic" chain smoker suffering from clinical depression due to the stress of three failed marriages, a failed relationship, and a recent miscarriage. In addition to the sporadic checks she received from her first husband — a former Indianapolis policeman — upon whom she primarily relied financially to support her children, Baniszewski occasionally performed odd jobs for neighbors and acquaintances, such as sewing or cleaning in order to earn money. Baniszewski resided in Indianapolis at 3850 East New York Street, where the monthly rent was $55.
Sylvia Likens
Sylvia Marie Likens (January 3, 1949 – October 26, 1965) was the third of five children born to carnival workers Lester Cecil Likens (1926–2013) and Elizabeth "Betty" Frances (née Grimes; 1927–1998). She was born between two sets of fraternal twins — Daniel and Dianna (two years older than her) and Benny Ray and Jenny Fay (one year younger). Jenny Likens suffered from polio, causing one of her legs to be weaker than the other. She was afflicted with a notable limp and had to wear a steel brace on one leg.
Lester and Elizabeth's marriage was unstable; they often sold candy, beer, and soda at carnival stands around Indiana throughout the summer, moving frequently, and regularly experiencing severe financial difficulties. The Likens's sons regularly traveled with them in order to assist with their job, but Sylvia and Jenny were discouraged from doing the same, out of concern for their safety and education. As a result, both sisters frequently stayed with their relatives, often their grandmother.
In her teenage years, Sylvia Likens occasionally earned spending money by babysitting, running errands, or performing ironing chores for friends and neighbors, often giving her mother part of her earnings. She has been described as a friendly, confident, and lively girl, with long, wavy, light brown hair extending below her shoulders, and was known as "Cookie" to her friends.
Although exuberant, Likens always kept her mouth closed when smiling due to a missing front tooth, which she had lost while roughhousing with one of her brothers during a childhood game. She was also fond of music, particularly the Beatles, and was notably protective of her markedly more timid and insecure younger sister. On several occasions, the two sisters would visit a local skating rink, where Sylvia would help Jenny skate by holding her hand, while Jenny skated on her unaffected foot.
July 1965
By June 1965, Sylvia and Jenny Likens resided with their parents in Indianapolis. On July 3, their mother was arrested and subsequently jailed for shoplifting. Shortly thereafter, Lester Likens arranged for his daughters to board with Gertrude Baniszewski, the mother of two girls with whom the sisters had recently become acquainted while studying at Arsenal Technical High School, Paula and Stephanie Baniszewski. At the time of this boarding agreement, Gertrude assured Lester she would care for his daughters until his return as if they were her own children.
Shortly after the Fourth of July holiday, the sisters moved into 3850 East New York Street in order for their father and, later, their mother to travel to the East Coast with the carnival, with the understanding that Gertrude would receive weekly boarding fees of $20 to care for their daughters until they returned to collect Sylvia and Jenny in November of that year.
During the initial weeks in which Sylvia and Jenny resided at the Baniszewski household, the sisters were subjected to very little discipline or abuse. Likens regularly sang along to pop records with Stephanie, and she willingly participated in housework at the Baniszewski residence. Both girls also regularly attended Sunday school with the Baniszewski children, with the pastor commending Sylvia's piety.
Abuse
Although Lester Likens had agreed to pay Gertrude Baniszewski $20 a week in exchange for the care of his daughters, after approximately two weeks, these payments failed to consistently arrive upon the prearranged dates, occasionally arriving one or two days late. In response, Gertrude began venting her frustration at this fact upon the sisters by beating their bare buttocks with various implements, such as a one-quarter-inch-thick (6.4 mm) paddle, making statements such as, "Well, I took care of you two little bitches for a week for nothing!" On one occasion, in late August, both girls were beaten approximately fifteen times on the back with the aforementioned paddle, after Paula had accused the sisters of eating too much food at a church supper the household children had attended.
By mid-August, Gertrude Baniszewski had begun to focus her abuse almost exclusively upon Sylvia, with her primary motivation likely being jealousy of the girl's youth, appearance, respectability, and potential. According to subsequent trial testimony, this abuse was initially inflicted upon Sylvia, after she and Jenny had returned to the Baniszewski residence from Arsenal Technical High School, as well as on weekends. This initial abuse included subjecting Likens to beatings and starvation, forcing her to eat leftovers or spoiled food out of garbage cans. On one occasion, Likens was accused of stealing candy she had actually purchased.
On another occasion, in late August, Likens was subjected to humiliation when she claimed to have a boyfriend in Long Beach, whom she had met in the spring of 1965 when her family lived in California. In response, Gertrude asked if Sylvia had "ever done anything with a boy" to which Likens—unsure of her meaning—replied, "I guess so," and explained that she had gone skating with boys there, and had once gone to a park on the beach with them. Continuing the conversation with Jenny and Stephanie, Sylvia mentioned that she had once lain under the covers with her boyfriend. Upon hearing this, Gertrude asked, "Why did you do that, Sylvia?" Likens replied, "I don't know," and shrugged. Several days later, Gertrude returned to the subject with Likens, telling her, "You're certainly getting big in the stomach, Sylvia. It looks like you're going to have a baby." Likens thought Gertrude was kidding with her and said, "Yeah, it sure is getting big. I'm just going to have to go on a diet."
Gertrude then told her, and the other girls in the house, that whenever they "did something" with a boy, they would be sure to have a baby. She then kicked Likens in the genitals. Paula—herself three months pregnant, and also jealous of Likens's physical appearance—then participated in attacking Likens, knocking her off her chair and onto the kitchen floor, shouting, "You ain't fit to sit in a chair!"
On another occasion, as the family ate supper, Gertrude, Paula, and a neighborhood boy named Randy Gordon Lepper force-fed Likens a hot dog overloaded with condiments, including mustard and spices. Likens vomited as a result, and was later forced to consume what she had regurgitated.
In what was Likens's only act of retaliation, she is alleged to have spread a rumor at Arsenal Technical High School that Stephanie and Paula Baniszewski were prostitutes because she was upset with the household singling her out for similar accusations.
While at school, Stephanie was jokingly propositioned by a boy who told her that Likens had started this rumor about her. Upon returning home that day, Stephanie questioned Likens about the rumor and she admitted to starting it. Stephanie punched her in response, but Likens apologized to her, in tears, and Stephanie then also began to cry. However, when Stephanie's boyfriend, 15-year-old Coy Randolph Hubbard, heard of the rumor, he brutally attacked Likens, slapping her, banging her head against the wall and flipping her backwards onto the floor. When Gertrude found out, she used a paddle to beat Likens.
On another occasion, Paula beat Likens about the face with such force that she broke her own wrist, having primarily focused her blows upon Likens's teeth and eyes. Later, Paula used the cast on her wrist to further beat Likens. Gertrude repeatedly falsely accused Likens of promiscuity and of engaging in prostitution, ranting about the filthiness of prostitution and women in general. Gertrude would later occasionally force Jenny to strike her own sister, beating Jenny if she did not comply.
Coy Hubbard and several of his classmates frequently visited the Baniszewski residence to both physically and verbally torment Likens, often collaborating with Baniszewski's children and Gertrude herself. With Gertrude's active encouragement, these neighborhood children routinely beat Likens, sometimes using her as a practice dummy in violent judo sessions, lacerating her body, burning her skin with lit cigarettes in excess of 100 times, and severely injuring her genitals. To entertain Gertrude and her teenage accomplices, Likens was forced at one point to strip naked in the family living room and penetrate herself with a glass Pepsi bottle in their presence, with Gertrude stating to all present that this act of humiliation was for Sylvia to "prove to Jenny what kind of a girl you are."
Gertrude eventually forbade Likens from attending school after she confessed to having stolen a gym suit from the school due to Gertrude having refused to purchase the clothing for her. For this act of theft, Gertrude whipped Likens with a three-inch-wide (7.6 cm) police belt. Gertrude then switched her conversation to the "evils" of premarital sex before repeatedly kicking Likens in the genitals as Stephanie rallied to Likens's defense, shouting, "She didn't do anything!" Gertrude then burned Likens's fingertips with matches before further whipping her. A few days later, Gertrude repeatedly whipped Jenny with the police belt after she reportedly stole a single tennis shoe from the school to wear on her strong foot.