House of Evil: The Indiana Torture Slaying (St. Martin's True Crime Library)

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Sylvia Likens and "Indiana's Most Terrible Crime" ". Sylvia's Child Advocacy Centre. January 1, 2021 . Retrieved March 8, 2021. Gertrude was not the only Baniszewski to be charged with homicide. Every one of Officer and Mrs. B.’s children hurt Sylvia Likens but only two of them were tried for murder: Paula and John. Paula, the oldest, pregnant after a misadventure with a married man, assaulted Sylvia with such ferocity on one occasion that Paula broke her hand. While on trial for her life, Paula pushed a new life into the world, a girl she belligerently named Gertrude. John Jr., twelve years old when Sylvia died, and two neighbor boys, Richard Hobbs and Coy Hubbard, were also tried for Sylvia’s murder. The three Baniszewskis, Hobbs, and Hubbard were all convicted, but none of them was executed. Gertrude served the longest sentence, twenty years. She became a model prisoner and was known to her fellow inmates as “Mom.” After the three Baniszewskis were released from prison, they all changed their names, as did Officer Baniszewski, who had not taken part in any of the household torture. A. Mom had scalding hot water running and she told Sylvia to come up from the basement and Mom putted her head under the hot water. Within her parole hearing, Baniszewski stated her wish that Likens's death could "be undone", [162] although she minimized her responsibility for any of her actions, [156] stating: "I'm not sure what role I had in [Likens's death], because I was on drugs. I never really knew her ... I take full responsibility for whatever happened to Sylvia." Taking Gertrude's good conduct in prison into account, the parole board marginally voted in favor of granting her parole. She was released from prison on December 4, 1985. [163] Aftermath [ edit ] Gertrude Baniszewski photographed in 1986, one year after her release from the Indiana Women's Prison. Noe, Denise. "The Torturing Death of Sylvia Marie Likens — In Memoriam — Crime Library on". Trutv.com. Archived from the original on September 30, 2012 . Retrieved September 22, 2012.

The torture and murder of Sylvia Likens is widely regarded by Indiana citizens as the worst crime ever committed in their state and has been described by a senior investigator in the Indianapolis Police Department as the "most sadistic" case he had ever investigated in the 35 years he served with the Indianapolis Police.

After her 1972 parole, Paula Baniszewski assumed a new identity. [163] She worked as an aide to a school counselor for 14 years at the Beaman-Conrad-Liscomb-Union-Whitten Community School in Conrad, Iowa, having changed her name to Paula Pace, and concealing the truth regarding her criminal history when applying for the position. She was fired in 2012 when the school discovered her true identity. [168] Paula married and had two children. [169] The baby daughter to whom she had given birth while awaiting trial in 1966, and whom she named after her mother, was later adopted. Every myth explains too much, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t truths to be found in the story. Girard’s grandiose explanation for human violence unearths part of the truth. Sylvia Likens was a scapegoat. Noe, Denise. "The Torturing Death of Sylvia Marie Likens: Drama in the Court Room". TruTV Crime Library. Archived from the original on August 24, 2008.

Gabriel Tarde, another French scholar of the period, was interested in how thoughts and feelings spread in populations. “What is society?” he wrote. “I have answered. Society is imitation.” Imitation, Tarde believed, usually worked by underlings imitating leaders, not the other way around. It can move beyond an immediate group and be caught by others. Bandits, for example, “an antisocial confraternity,” reinforce one another’s “toughness” within the group, but those mores “radiate” beyond the circle too, working their way into those vulnerable to its seduction. (Gabriel Tarde, The Laws of Imitation and Invention, trans. E. C. Parsons, New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1903.) Waldfogel, Jane (2001). The Future of Child Protection: How to Break the Cycle of Abuse and Neglect. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-00723-9. She was so angelic to look at. Taken with her mother. Articles with Silvia's parents. Oh look at the heartache in their faces. And now look at these The house of evil. I was ten years old when Sylvia Likens died, the same age as Marie, the girl who lit the match to heat the poker they used to brand the naked Sylvia, who was tied up, gagged, and held down by Marie’s brother John and her sister, either Stephanie or Shirley. Marie lied stub

What Happened To Sylvia Likens Inside Her New Home

Clutching a Bible, [93] Paula Baniszewski, having stated to all present in the household that Likens's death was "meant to happen," then glanced in Jenny's direction and calmly stated: "If you want to live with us, Jenny, we'll treat you like our own sister." [94] a b Flowers, R. Barri; Flowers, H. Lorraine (January 2004). Murders in the United States: Crimes, Killers and Victims of the Twentieth Century. Taos, New Mexico: Paradise House Press. p.120. ISBN 0-7864-2075-8. Well thanks for your input Diane your right that house is touched by evil by some dark sinnister fear and that fear seems to have been neatly wrapped up inside

Unnamed author: "Mrs. Baniszewski Meted Life in Likens Slaying", The Indianapolis Star, August 20, 1971.On October 26, 2015, numerous Indianapolis citizens, including Likens's older sister, Dianna Bedwell, gathered in Lebanon, Indiana, to honor Sylvia Likens, to reflect upon her life upon the fiftieth anniversary of her death, and to honor all children who lose their lives to child abuse. At this memorial service, Dianna informed those present that Sylvia's legacy "must always be remembered. Sylvia's tragic murder and abuse must always be remembered". [191] Sylvia's Child Advocacy Center [ edit ] On May 10, a Baptist Minister named Roy Julian testified to having known a teenage girl was being abused in the Baniszewski household, although he had failed to report this information to authorities as, having been informed by Gertrude that Likens had "made advances to men for money," he had believed the girl was being punished for soliciting. The same day, 13-year-old Judy Duke also testified, admitting to having witnessed Likens once endure salt being rubbed into sores upon her legs until she screamed. [125] Duke also testified to one occasion where she witnessed 10-year-old Shirley Baniszewski rip open Likens's blouse, to which Richard Hobbs had made the casual remark, "Everybody's having fun with Sylvia." [126]

The injury-to-person charges brought against the other juveniles known to have actively physically, mentally, and emotionally tormented Likens (Anna Ruth Siscoe, Judy Darlene Duke, Michael John Monroe, Darlene McGuire, and Randy Gordon Lepper), were later dropped. Siscoe died on October 23, 1996, at the age of 44, already a grandmother. Lepper—who had visibly smirked [124] as he testified to having hit Likens on up to 40 separate occasions—died at the age of 56 on November 14, 2010. [184] Monroe died on February 16, 2023, at the age of 68. [185] The marchers in Charlottesville are chanting, “Jews shall not replace us.” They are carrying torches. They are riled up, inflamed in their whiteness and their rage. James Alex Fields drives his car into the crowd and kills a counterprotester, Heather Heyer. The political meaning of this murder is not in doubt. Long ago in the city of I., there lived a poor man and his wife and their five children. Try as they might, the man and woman could not make a living in town, and when only a few coins remained in the family purse, they decided their only choice was to leave the children behind and try to make their fortune with a traveling carnival. Their oldest girl had married and lived with her husband, and their boys had a home with their grandparents, but the two youngest daughters, Sylvia and Jenny, had nowhere to stay. Sylvia was a pretty, obedient girl, who liked music and dancing. She helped her mother keep house and watched over her little sister, Jenny, who wore a brace on her leg and walked with a limp. The man and woman watched their money dwindle and prayed they would find lodging for their girls. Marc Hoover: Interview with Dianna Bedwell". The Clermont Sun. February 25, 2021 . Retrieved March 4, 2021.In September 1970, the Indiana Supreme Court reversed the convictions of Gertrude and Paula Baniszewski on the basis that Judge Saul Isaac Rabb had denied repeatedly submitted motions by their defense counsel at their original trial, for both a change of venue and separate trials. [112] This ruling further stated that the circumstances regarding the prejudicial atmosphere created during their initial trial, due to the extensive news media publicity surrounding the case, impeded any chance of either appellant receiving a fair trial. [153] Testimony delivered at trial clearly illustrated Paula Baniszewski and her mother as being the most enthusiastic participants in Likens's abuse and torture. [133]