Sylvia
Marie
Likens
January
3, 1949
- October 26, 1965
Find
A Grave Memorial
On
October 26, 1965
in Indianapolis, Indiana a beautiful, young woman named Sylvia Marie
Likens
was released from the home that had been her prison for a long time.
That
release, unfortunately, came in the form of her death.
When
the police found
her body, it was covered with bruises and small wounds that were later
revealed to be cigarette burns, there were over 100 of them on her
body.
Sylvia Marie Likens also had skin peeled back away from her body, the
number
3 was burned into her body as were the words "I'm a prostitute and
proud
of it".
A
37
year old woman
named Gertrude Baniszewski had lead a group of children, some as young
as 11 years old and including, UNWILLINGLY, Sylvia's younger
sister,
Jenny and willingly, Gertrude's daughter Paula to beat and torture this
young woman, until one day she died after being given a bath.
Sylvia
and Jenny's
parents had left their children with Gertrude to care for them while
they
traveled with a carnival. They hardly knew this woman and didn't even
bother
to check out her home before leaving their children alone with her.
Lester
told Gertrude that his daughters needed some discipline and asked her
to
straighten them out. Lester
and
Betty had offered
her $20. a week to care for their daughters. She did more than
straighten
them out.
One
adult, Gertrude
and four children were the only ones, out of the many who had
contributed
to Sylvia's tortured existence, to stand trail for her murder.
The
charges against most of the children who had joined in were dropped.
Gertrude,
her daughter Paula, her son John, Coy Hubbard and a boy with the last
name
Hobbs were all charged and went
to trial.
In
May of 1966, Gertrude
was on trial and denied having any part in the torture and death of
Sylvia.
She claimed that the children must have been the one to do this to her.
She plead not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.
On
May 19, 1966,
Gertrude was found guilty of first degree murder and was sentenced to
life
in prison. Paula was found guilty of second degree murder and sentenced
to life in prison. All of the boys were sentenced to two to 21 year
terms
at the Indiana State Reformatory in Pendleton.
In
1971, Gertrude
and Paula were granted a new trial by the Indiana Supreme Court based
on
a prejudicial atmosphere. Gertrude was, once again, convicted of first
degree murder on August 5, 1971. Paula
entered
a guilty
plea to manslaughter and served ONLY two years in prison. In
1968,
the three boys who had been found guilty, were each granted parole for
good behavior. They had only been in prison for about two years each.
In
September 1985,
Gertrude Baniszewski was released on parole. She changed her name to
Nadine
Van Fossan and moved to Iowa where she lived in obscurity until her
death
from lung cancer on June 16, 1990. Paula married and moved to a farm in
Iowa. John became a lay minister in Texas and counseled children of
divorced
parents. Hobbs died of cancer at the age of 21, four years after being
released from the reformatory. Hubbard has had several brushes with the
law. Lester and Betty Likens divorced. Betty remarried and died in 1998
at age 71. Jenny Likens Wade died in 2004 at age 54.
SHOCKINGLY
in December of 1985, Gertrude was paroled from prison after serving
only
20 years for her inhuman crimes against Sylvia Marie Likens. Changing
her
name to Nadine Van Fossan, she moved to Iowa and died of lung cancer on
June 16, 1990.
Paula
was married
and moved to Iowa to live on a farm. John became a minister in Texas.
He
was a counselor for children who came from homes where the parents had
divorced. Coy had many other dealings with the law. Lester and Betty
Likens
were divorced. Betty remarried and she died in 1998 at the age of
71.
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Jenny
married, had
children and was there when a monument was put up to honor her sister,
Sylvia. Jenny died on June 23, 2004 at the age of 54.
How
could so many
people, including an older sister, a Reverend, a child's mother and
several ADULT
visitors to this home become aware of the horrible things that were
happening
to this innocent young girl, yet ignore it which allowed the abuse to
continue
until finally Sylvia Marie Likens body could take it no more and she
died.
Clearly
the case
of Sylvia Marie Likens is one in which had ANY of the adults
who
witnessed this horror reported it to the proper authorities, she could
have been released from the nightmare she was living. This true story
should
be a reminder to us all that we should NOT turn our backs on ANY
child that needs our help.
I
received an e-mail
at one point, from a man who said that he had been one of the children
who had tortured Sylvia all those years ago. He told me that not a day
goes by that he doesn't think about Sylvia and regret what took place.
I offered him the chance to tell his story here on her pages and he
could
even remain anonymous, I never heard from him again.
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Below
are pictures
of the house where Sylvia died, the
room where Sylvia was
tortured and died, back then and
how the house looks today.
 
Below
is a picture
of Sylvia's headstone.
Click
below to view
a
trailer for the movie due out in 2007.
I
received an e-mail
on June 19, 2003 and here is
what is
said:
"I
want to thank
you for the memorial I saw on a web site for Sylvia Marie Likens. I
remember
Sylvia and Jennie
when we
were very young playing together when they came to visit or stay with
their
Grandmother. Then
for a short
time living in our neighborhood. Thank you so very much!!
Sylvia
is buried
in my hometown."
"Connie
T."
After
asking her
for permission to use her comments on my site she had this to add:
"You
may add what
I had said earlier. I really do not remember much
about our
times together,
we were so little. They moved around
a lot,
and was never in one place for long. I remember
Sylvia
as a quiet
girl, which I assume we played dolls together, and
Jennie with
her leg brace,
which she was more wary
about
kids."
"Connie
from
Lebanon, Indiana"
My
sincerest thanks
go out to Connie for writing me and for allowing me to use her comments
on my site. If you know any of the children within my child abuse pages
and would like your comments to be on my site, on their page, please
let
me know by e-mail. THANK YOU!
You can see Jenny Fay Likens memorial,
here: Find
A Grave Memorial
Sylvia had a brother who died, you can
read about Benny Ray Likens, here: Find
A Grave Memorial
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1-800-422-4453 