Although John Baniszewski had a volatile temper and occasionally beat his wife, the two would remain together for ten years prior to their first divorce.įollowing her divorce, Baniszewski married a man named Edward Guthrie. 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. On October 5, 1939, Baniszewski saw her 50-year-old father die from a sudden heart attack. Baniszewski was the third of six children, and her family was working class. and Molly Myrtle ( née Oakley), both of whom were originally from Illinois and were of American and Dutch descent. Gertrude Nadine Baniszewski ( née Van Fossan Septem– June 16, 1990) was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Hugh Marcus Van Fossan Sr. 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.īackground Gertrude Baniszewski
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. She was sentenced to life imprisonment but was released on parole in 1985. Erbecker, described Likens as having been subjected to acts of "degradation that you wouldn't commit on a dog" before her death.Īfter eight hours of deliberation, the jury found Gertrude Baniszewski guilty of first-degree murder. 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 C. Gertrude Baniszewski her oldest 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. 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.
Through intimidation, her younger sister, Jenny, was occasionally forced to participate in her mistreatment. Her autopsy showed 150 wounds across her body, including several burns, scald marks and eroded skin. Likens was increasingly neglected, belittled, sexually humiliated, beaten, starved, lacerated, burned, and dehydrated by her tormentors. The abuse lasted for three months, occurring incrementally, before Likens died from her extensive injuries and malnourishment on October 26, 1965, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Sylvia Marie Likens (Janu– 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.
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