The Murder of Sylvia Likens
The Murder of Sylvia Likens The brutal and cruel murder of Slyvia Likens still disturbs Indiana more than fifty years later. In 1965, police officers found the body of 16-year-old Likens laid on a filthy mattress; she was covered in more than 150 burns and cuts. It was clear at first that the young girl had starved to death as she was little more than skin and bone. Later, it was found that she died of a brain hemorrhage and malnutrition. Mother-of-seven Gertrude Baniszewski was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Likens’ parents had paid Baniszewski $20-a-week to care of her and their other daughter Jenny. Instead, Baniszewski allowed her own children to beat Likens and force her to eat feces. Attorney Natty Bumppo said, “A lot of people have compared this to Lord of the Flies . But that was just a bunch of uncontrolled children. In this case, they had an adult supervising what they were doing. It wasn’t children going wild. It was children doing what they were told Sylvia ...