Gertrude Baniszewski

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Gertrude Baniszewski
Born	1929 Indiana, USA
Died	June 16, 1990 Iowa, USA
Alias(es)	Gertrude van Fossan (maiden name) Gertrude Wright Nadine van Fossan
Conviction(s)	First degree murder
Penalty	Life imprisonment
Status	Dead
Spouse	John Baniszewski Sr. Edward Guthrie
Children	Paula Baniszewski Stephanie Baniszewski John Baniszewski Jr. Marie Baniszewski Shirley Baniszewski Dennis Lee Wright Jr.

Gertrude Baniszewski (née van Fossan) (1929 – June 16, 1990), also known as Gertrude Wright and Nadine van Fossan, was an Indiana divorcee who, with the aid of some of her own children and neighborhood children, such as Ricky Hobbs and Coy Hubbard, oversaw and facilitated the prolonged torture, mutilation, and eventual murder of Sylvia Likens, a teenage girl she had taken into her home. When she was convicted of first-degree murder in 1966, the case was called "the single worst crime perpetrated against an individual in Indiana's history".

The case has since been subject to numerous fictional and non-fictional adaptations, one of the most recent being An American Crime, featuring Catherine Keener as Gertrude Baniszewski and Ellen Page as Sylvia Likens, which was released nation-wide in 2008.^[1]

Contents 1 Life before Sylvia Likens 2 Sylvia Likens 2.1 The torture begins 2.2 Escalation 2.3 The basement 2.4 Murder 3 Trial 3.1 Aftermath and death 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading

[edit] Life before Sylvia Likens

Baniszewski was born in 1929, the third of six children. In 1940, Baniszewski saw her father, with whom she was close, die of a sudden heart attack. Five years later, she dropped out of school at the age of 16 to marry 18-year-old deputy John Baniszewski, with whom she had four children.

Although John Baniszewski had a volatile temper, the two stayed together for 10 years before divorcing. After a brief marriage to a man named Edward Guthrie, Gertrude and John Baniszewski remarried and had two more children, before divorcing permanently in 1963.

Baniszewski, then 34, moved in with a 23-year-old Dennis Lee Wright, who abused her. They had a son, Dennis Jr., but after his birth, Wright abandoned Baniszewski and disappeared.

[edit] Sylvia Likens

In July 1965, Lester and Betty Likens, traveling carnival workers, suggested that she take their two daughters - Sylvia Marie Likens, 16, and Jenny Likens, 15 - as boarders in return for $20 a week in compensation while they worked across the country. The Likens sisters attended high school and social functions with the Baniszewski children, as well as church with Gertrude Baniszewski on Sunday.

However, when Lester Likens's first $20 payment failed to arrive on time, Baniszewski beat the girls. Shortly thereafter the girls were beaten for having candy that Baniszewski accused them of stealing (they had, in fact, bought it). Thus began a regular pattern of child abuse.

[edit] The torture begins

In August 1965, Baniszewski began to verbally and physically abuse Sylvia Likens, allowing her older children to beat her, and push her down stairs. Baniszewski also accused Likens of being a prostitute, and delivered "sermons" about the filthiness of prostitutes and women in general. After the Likens sisters reportedly accused Baniszewski's daughters Paula and Stephanie of being prostitutes, Stephanie Baniszewski's boyfriend, Coy Hubbard, and several other classmates and local boys were brought in to assist Baniszewski in beating Sylvia Likens. Baniszewski even forced Jenny Likens to hit her sister.^[2]

[edit] Escalation

In August 1965, Phyllis and Raymond Vermillion moved in next door to the Baniszewski family, and immediately noticed a pattern of abuse and violence towards Likens. However, they did not approach the authorities with any concerns. Around this time, Likens stole a gym suit from school, without which she was unable to attend gym class, but Baniszewski found it and beat a confession out of her, before burning her with a lit cigarette - a practice which became routine. It was after this that Baniszewski pulled Likens out of school. Soon after, Baniszewski again accused Likens of prostitution, forcing her to strip and forcibly insert a Coca Cola bottle into her vagina ^[3]for a group of neighborhood boys.

[edit] The basement

Following the Coke bottle incident, Likens became incontinent; as a result, Baniszewski locked her in the basement. Baniszewski then began a bathing regime to "cleanse" Sylvia, involving dousing her with scalding water and rubbing salt into the burns. She was often kept naked and rarely fed. At times, Baniszewski and her twelve-year-old son John Jr. would make Likens eat her own feces.

Sometime around this period, Jenny Likens managed to contact her older sister, Diana Likens, outlining the horrors that the two sisters were experiencing, and asking Diana to contact the police. Diana Likens ignored the letter, believing that Jenny was simply displeased with being punished and that she was making up stories so that she could come live with her.

Shortly after this, Diana Likens came by to visit her sisters, but Baniszewski refused to allow her into the home. The elder Likens then hid nearby the house until she spotted Jenny outside, and then approached her. Jenny Likens told her older sister that she was not allowed to talk to her and then ran away. Concerned, Diana Likens contacted social services, who were informed that Sylvia Likens had been kicked out of the house for being physically unclean and a prostitute, and that she had since run away. Baniszewski threatened Jenny Likens not to tell the social worker the truth, thus Jenny then told the social worker that Sylvia had indeed run away. The social worker returned to her office, where she filed a report stating that no more calls needed to be made to the Baniszewski home.

[edit] Murder

On October 21, Baniszewski instructed John Jr., Coy, and Stephanie Baniszewski to bring Likens up from the basement and tie her to a bed. The next morning, Baniszewski again forced her to insert a coke bottle into her vagina^[3], before beginning to carve the phrase "I am a prostitute and proud of it" into her skin with a hot needle. When Baniszewski was unable to finish the branding, she enlisted Ricky Hobbs to finish. The next day, Baniszewski woke Likens, and then dictated a letter to her, intended to look like a runaway letter to her parents.

After Likens finished the letter, Baniszewski began formulating a plan to have John Jr. and Jenny Likens take Sylvia to a nearby garbage dump and leave her there to die. When Sylvia overheard this, she tried to escape, but was stopped.

On October 24, Baniszewski came into the basement and attempted to bludgeon Likens with a chair and paddle, but missed her. Coy Hubbard stepped in and beat Likens unconscious with a broomstick. On October 26, Baniszewski told the children she would give Likens a bath. Stephanie Baniszewski and Hobbs brought Likens upstairs and laid her in the tub fully clothed; they took her out shortly thereafter when they realized she was not breathing. Stephanie Baniszewski attempted to give Likens CPR, but by this time, Likens was already dead.

Baniszewski told Hobbs to call the police. When they arrived, Baniszewski gave them the letter she'd made Likens dictate; in the midst of the commotion, Jenny Likens whispered to one of the police, "Get me out of here and I'll tell you everything." This statement, combined with the police's discovery of Likens's body, prompted the officers to arrest Gertrude , Paula, Stephanie, and John Baniszewski, Hobbs, and Hubbard for murder. Other neighborhood children present at the time - Mike Monroe, Randy Lepper, Judy Duke, and Anna Siscoe - were arrested for "injury to person."

[edit] Trial

Baniszewski, her children, Hobbs, and Hubbard were held without bail pending their trials.

An autopsy of Sylvia Likens turned up burns, bruising, and muscle and nerve damage. In her death throes, Sylvia bit through her lips, nearly severing each of them. Her vaginal cavity was nearly swollen shut, although an examination of the canal determined that her hymen was still intact, discrediting Baniszewski's assertions that Sylvia was a prostitute and her insistence that she was pregnant. The official cause of death was brain swelling, internal hemorrhaging of the brain, and shock.

Baniszewski was found guilty of murder in the first degree. She was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

[edit] Aftermath and death

Baniszewski appealed, was granted a new trial, and was again found guilty, though this time she was sentenced to 18 years to life. Over the course of the next 18 years, Baniszewski became a model prisoner, working in the sewing shop and becoming a den-mother to younger female inmates; by the time she came up for parole in 1985, she was known by the prison nickname "Mom."

The news of Baniszewski's parole hearing sent shockwaves through the Indiana community. Jenny Likens and her family appeared on television to speak out against Baniszewski; the members of two anti-crime groups, Protect the Innocent and Society's League Against Molestation, travelled to Indiana to oppose her parole and support the Likens family, beginning a sidewalk picket campaign. Over the course of two months, the groups collected 4500 signatures from the citizens of Indiana demanding that Baniszewski be kept behind bars. Despite the efforts, Baniszewski was granted parole. During the hearing, she stated:

I'm not sure what role I had in it... because I was on drugs. I never really knew her... I take full responsibility for whatever happened to Sylvia.

Baniszewski walked out of prison on December 4, 1985, and travelled to Iowa; she died there of lung cancer on June 16, 1990.^[4]

[edit] See also

• The Girl Next Door
• An American Crime

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Dean, John Edwin. The Indiana Torture Slaying: Sylvia Likens Torture and Death. 1999. ISBN 0-9604894-7-9.
• Crime Library
• New York Times; May 20, 1966, 5 Are Convicted In Torture Death; Mother and 4 Teen-Agers Guilty in Girl's Slaying. Friday; Indianapolis, May 19, 1966 (UPI) A Criminal Court jury today found Mrs. Gertrude Baniszewski, 38-year-old mother of seven, guilty of first degree murder in the torture slaying of Sylvia Likens, 16. Four teenage defendants were convicted on lesser charges.
• New York Times; May 25, 1966, Wednesday; 2 in Torture Death of Girl Are Sentenced for Life. Indianapolis, Indiana, May 24, 1966 (AP) Two defendants in the torture slaying of Sylvia Likens got life sentences today in the Indiana Women's Prison. Three others were sentenced to the Indiana Reformatory for terms of 2 to 21 years.