Gertrude Baniszewski

Case information

Name: Gertrude Baniszewski Also known as: Gertrude Wright; Nadine Van Fossan; Gertrude Van Fossan Dates: 1929–1990 Victim: Sylvia Likens (teenage girl) and her younger sister, Jenny Likens

Background

Gertrude Baniszewski was born in 1929 and was the third of 6 children. She had an extremely close bond with her father but had a frigid relationship with her mother. She watched her father die in 1940 of a sudden heart attack when she was 11 years old.

Five years later, Baniszewski dropped out of school at the age of 16 to marry 18-year-old deputy John Baniszewski. She had 4 children with him. John Baniszewski had a volatile temper and often beat his wife for “annoying him.” After the two stayed together for 10 years, they divorced; Baniszewski was granted custody of their children.

Within a year of the divorce, Baniszewski met and married Edward Guthrie, who divorced her after 3 months when he tired of having her children around. Shortly thereafter, Baniszewski and John Baniszewski reconciled and remarried. The couple stayed together for 7 years and had 2 more children before divorcing permanently in 1963.

Around that time, Baniszewski began an affair and moved in with Dennis Lee Wright, who was 23 years old. Wright further abused her. She became pregnant by him twice, suffered one miscarriage (possibly as the result of an assault by Wright), and gave birth to one child (Dennis Jr.), which was her last child. In total, she had 7 children and suffered 6 miscarriages.

Shortly after Dennis Jr.’s birth, Dennis Wright Sr. abandoned Baniszewski and disappeared. Baniszewski was left destitute because Wright had been supporting her financially. She then supported herself and her 7 children on occasional child support payments from the unreliable John Baniszewski, and by performing odd jobs such as babysitting and doing other people’s laundry.

Her health declined, and she was chronically ill with unidentified illnesses. She ceased practicing proper hygiene and barely ate, which affected her appearance, resulting in a receded hairline, sunken eyes, and an overall skeletal appearance.

Baniszewski began presenting herself as “Mrs. Wright,” claiming she had in fact married Dennis before he abandoned her, to keep up a veneer of respectability.

The offence

In July 1965, Paula Baniszewski met up with a friend of hers, Darlene McGuire, who introduced Paula to neighborhood girls Sylvia Marie Likens (16) and Jenny (15), who was required to walk with braces due to polio. Paula took the girls to the Baniszewski home at 3850 East New York Street, where they drank soda and listened to records.

Their mother, Betty Likens, was in county jail after having been arrested for shoplifting. This left Sylvia to care for Jenny. Betty had abandoned Sylvia’s father, Lester Likens, effectively kidnapping their two daughters.

When Lester arrived in town, Baniszewski introduced herself as “Mrs. Wright.” Lester and Baniszewski discussed boarding Sylvia and Jenny. Eventually, Lester agreed to leave the children with Baniszewski for $20 a week. Lester did not inspect the home before leaving, despite conditions including no stove or microwave, only enough beds for half the people in the house, only bread and crackers in the pantry, surfaces caked with thick layers of dirt, and only enough plates and eating utensils for 3 people.

Early abuse of Likens

During the first week, Sylvia and Jenny’s lives at the home “went relatively well.” They attended high school and teenage social functions with the Baniszewski children as well as church with Gertrude on Sundays.

When Lester’s $20 payment failed to arrive, Baniszewski threw a temper tantrum, screaming: “I took care of you two bitches for nothing!” She then forced the girls to lie across her bed with their skirts and underwear around their ankles while she beat their buttocks.

Lester and Betty came into town to check on the girls; neither made reference to beatings, presumably under threat from Baniszewski.

The next week, Sylvia and Jenny went through neighborhood garbage collecting old Coca Cola bottles to sell for candy. When they returned, Baniszewski accused them of stealing. Sylvia explained how she had gotten the candy, but Baniszewski accused her of lying and forced her to bend over her bed before beating her across the buttocks with a paddle.

After a church social, the Baniszewski children told Baniszewski they were disgusted with the amount of food Sylvia was eating. Baniszewski told Sylvia she was angry Sylvia would ruin her physical appearance and forced her to eat a hot dog piled with condiments; when Sylvia vomited, Baniszewski forced her to scoop the vomit up and devour it.

Later, Lester and Betty came again to check on the girls, and Sylvia made no reference to the vomit incident due to Baniszewski’s instructions.

Escalation and the lead-up to the murder

An incident in August 1965 appeared to coincide with a sharp decline in Baniszewski’s mental stability. She overheard Sylvia remarking that she had once allowed a boy to feel her up. Baniszewski burst into a fit of obscenities, accused Sylvia of being a prostitute, and informed the rest of the house that Sylvia was pregnant because she had let a boy touch her vagina. Baniszewski attacked Sylvia, repeatedly kicking her in the crotch. When Sylvia attempted to sit down, Paula threw her out of the chair and said, “You ain’t fit to sit in chairs.” After that, Baniszewski only allowed Sylvia to sit in a chair with permission.

Around this time, Baniszewski also allowed her older children to use Sylvia as a living “play thing,” including beatings and being pushed down stairs. Baniszewski justified attacks by accusing Sylvia of being a prostitute, and delivered “bizarre ‘sermons’” to her children and Sylvia about the filthiness of prostitutes and women in general.

After Baniszewski kicked Sylvia in the crotch, Sylvia and Jenny told classmates they had seen Paula and Stephanie (Baniszewski’s second oldest daughter) having sex with boys in exchange for money. Stephanie’s 15-year-old boyfriend Coy Hubbard discovered what had been said and came to the Baniszewski home to beat Sylvia. Hubbard, encouraged by Baniszewski, made frequent visits and Baniszewski instructed him to practice judo on Sylvia.

Baniszewski also got Sylvia’s best friend, Anna Sisco, alone long enough to convince Anna that Sylvia had been telling boys that Anna’s mother was a whore. Baniszewski then took Anna to see Sylvia and directed Anna in a violent attack on the girl. Baniszewski later told Judy Duke that Sylvia was spreading rumors about her mother, and pitted Judy and other girls against each other in a fist-fight. During the fight, Baniszewski instructed Jenny to punch Sylvia. When Jenny refused, Baniszewski began beating Jenny in the face with her fists until Jenny agreed to punch Sylvia.

Witnesses

In August of 1965, the vacant house next door was purchased by Phyllis and Raymond Vermillion. Phyllis believed Baniszewski would make a good babysitter and that paying her would help. The Vermillions arranged a backyard barbecue so the families could get to know each other.

At the barbecue, Phyllis noticed Sylvia with a pronounced black eye. Paula announced she had given it to her. Under Baniszewski’s supervision, Paula approached Sylvia with a glass of steaming water and threw it in Sylvia’s face. Neither Vermillion reported the incident to authorities.

Two months later, Phyllis went to the home to borrow something. She saw Sylvia in a daze with swollen lips and a black eye that had swollen shut. To demonstrate how it had happened, Paula took her belt off and began beating Sylvia with it in front of Phyllis. Phyllis again neglected to report anything.

Further coercion and sexual violence

After a school issue involving a sweat suit, Baniszewski questioned Sylvia and coerced her into confession. Baniszewski shifted the topic from stealing to Sylvia being a prostitute. She threw Sylvia onto the ground, repeatedly kicked her in the crotch, then returned to theft. To “cure” Sylvia of her “sticky fingers,” Baniszewski burned the tips of Sylvia’s fingers with a lit cigarette, then made Sylvia bend over while she whipped her with a belt. Cigarettes were then arbitrarily extinguished on Sylvia’s body as reminders not to steal.

Later, when Sylvia returned from selling soda bottles, Baniszewski accused her of prostitution. Baniszewski forced Sylvia to strip naked in front of her sons and several neighborhood boys on the threat of beating Jenny. Baniszewski handed Sylvia a glass Coca Cola bottle and forced Sylvia to masturbate with it for the boys.

The basement imprisonment and “bathing regime”

After the Coke bottle incident, Sylvia became incontinent. Baniszewski locked Sylvia in the basement. Because there was no toilet in the basement, Sylvia defecated and urinated on the floor. Baniszewski began a “bathing regime” to “cleanse” Sylvia, calling her a “dirty girl.” The regime included filling a bathtub with scalding water, binding Sylvia’s wrists and ankles, and dunking her. It was administered arbitrarily, sometimes once or many times a day.

After the baths, Paula rubbed handfuls of salt over Sylvia’s nude body. During this period, Baniszewski took on 14-year-old Ricky Hobbs as her “personal assistant.” Hobbs was described as an honor student who experienced a sudden shift in personality when he began blindly following Baniszewski’s orders.

Baniszewski’s children turned Sylvia into a money-making opportunity by charging neighborhood children a nickel to gawk at Sylvia’s nude condition or push her down the stairs to the basement. Sylvia was kept constantly naked and rarely fed, and when allowed to eat she was forced into bizarre methods (including eating soup with her fingers). Baniszewski and her twelve-year-old son John Jr. made Sylvia “clean” the basement by allowing her to eat her own feces. Baniszewski gave Sylvia a container to collect her urine, which Sylvia drank.

Near rescues

Jenny managed to send contact to Sylvia’s older sister, Diana. Jenny outlined what she and Sylvia were experiencing and instructed Diana to contact the police. Diana ignored the letter, believing Jenny was simply displeased with being punished and had made up stories to live with Diana.

A neighborhood child, Judy Duke, told her mother that “they were beating and kicking Sylvia.” The mother replied that that was what happened when someone was punished.

The Baniszewski reverend Roy Julian visited as part of a program. He drank coffee with Baniszewski, and Baniszewski complained that Sylvia had been an intense burden. Baniszewski claimed Sylvia was a prostitute who had been servicing married men and had gotten pregnant. Baniszewski insisted Paula was a virgin while claiming Sylvia attempted to pass off misdeeds onto Paula. Baniszewski and the reverend prayed for Sylvia’s salvation before Julian left.

When the reverend returned, Paula told him during prayers that she had “hatred in [her] heart” for Sylvia. Baniszewski interjected that the opposite was true.

Shortly after, Diana visited her sisters. Baniszewski refused to allow her into the home and threatened to call the police and have her arrested for trespassing. Diana hid nearby until she spotted Jenny outside. Jenny told Diana she was not allowed to talk to her and ran away.

Diana contacted social services. A social worker arrived and Baniszewski told her Sylvia had been kicked out for being physically unclean and a prostitute and that Sylvia had run away. Baniszewski then got Jenny alone and told Jenny that if she told the truth, Jenny would join Sylvia naked in the basement. Jenny told the social worker that Sylvia had indeed run away. The social worker returned to her office, filed a report stating no more calls were needed, and did not pursue further visits.

The murder and immediate preparations

On October 20, Gertrude called the police to arrest a boy at her home. Robert Bruce Hanlon claimed Baniszewski’s children had stolen things from his basement. Hanlon came earlier in the evening demanding Baniszewski return his things; when she refused, he attempted to sneak into the home. Phyllis Vermillion witnessed Hanlon being put into the back of a squad car and approached the police to speak on his behalf. She did not mention Sylvia.

On October 21, Baniszewski instructed John Jr., Coy, and Stephanie to bring Sylvia up from the basement and tie her to a bed. Baniszewski told Sylvia that if she could hold her bladder through the night, she would be permitted to sleep upstairs again.

When Baniszewski checked the next morning and found Sylvia had wet the bed, Baniszewski made her dress and brought her into the living area where she was forced to perform a striptease for sons and neighborhood boys, climaxed by forcing Sylvia to masturbate with a Coca Cola bottle. Afterward, Baniszewski declared, “You have branded my daughters so I will brand you!” Sylvia was forcibly stripped naked, tied down, and gagged while one of Baniszewski’s children heated a sewing needle with matches. When the needle was orange, Baniszewski used it to carve and burn the letter "I'" and part of the letter "M" into Sylvia’s stomach. She instructed Ricky Hobbs to continue carving letters to spell out the phrase, “I'M A PROSTITUTE AND PROUD OF IT.”

Hobbs stopped and asked Baniszewski how to spell “prostitute.” Baniszewski wrote it down on a piece of paper, and carving and burning recommenced. When finished, the tattoo was described as such that modern plastic surgery would have been unable to correct it.

Baniszewski left the room leaving Sylvia tied, gagged, and naked. Ricky, Paula, and Baniszewski’s ten-year-old daughter Shirley decided to give Sylvia another tattoo: an “S” in the middle of her chest. They later became confused about whether the “S” stood for “Sylvia” or “Slave,” with “Slave” leaning as correct. Ricky burned the bottom curve of the “S” into Sylvia; he then either choked or changed his mind and ordered Jenny to come carve the top half. Jenny refused but was threatened. Ricky relented and ordered Shirley to finish. Shirley’s carve was described with the result that the eleven-year-old choked and accidentally carved the curve backwards, so that the numeral “3” appeared on Likens’ chest.

Baniszewski returned and asked Sylvia: “What are you going to do now, Sylvia? You can't get married now, you can't undress in front of anyone... What are you going to do now?” Sylvia was un-gagged and replied: “I guess there's nothing I can do. It's on there.”

Hubbard then took Sylvia back to the basement and used her for judo practice before returning home. In the middle of the night, Jenny sneaked into the basement. Sylvia told her, “I'm going to die. I can tell.”

Shortly after, Baniszewski brought Sylvia upstairs and allowed her to sleep in one of the beds. She slept until noon on October 23, when Baniszewski woke her. Baniszewski and Stephanie took Sylvia into the bathroom and gave her a warm, soapy bath. Baniszewski and Paula dressed Sylvia, then dictated a letter intended to look like a runaway letter to her parents, with the salutation dictated as “Dear Mr. and Mrs. Likens.”

The letter dictated for Sylvia was: “I went with a gang of boys in the middle of the night. And they said that they would pay me if I would give them something so I got in the car and they all got what they wanted... and when they got finished they beat me up and left sores on my face and all over my body. And they also put on my stomach, I am a prostitute and proud of it. I have done just about everything that I could do just to make Gertie mad and cause [sic] Gertie more money than she's got. I've tore up a new mattress and peaed [sic] on it. I have also cost Gertie doctor bills that she really can't pay and made Gertie a nervous wreck and all her kids.”

Baniszewski instructed Sylvia not to sign the letter. After writing it, Baniszewski began formulating a plan for John Jr. and Jenny to take Sylvia to a nearby garbage dump and leave her there to die. Sylvia overheard this and ran for the front door, but in her emaciated and mutilated state moved so slowly that Baniszewski grabbed her and dragged her back inside.

Baniszewski settled Sylvia down, made toast in the kitchen, and Sylvia attempted to eat but said she couldn’t swallow. Baniszewski took down the kitchen curtain rod and beat Sylvia in the mouth with it. John took Sylvia back into the basement and tied her up while Baniszewski prepared crackers. When Sylvia was offered crackers, Sylvia said: “Feed it to the dog. It's hungrier than I am.” Baniszewski repeatedly punched Sylvia in the stomach before leaving her in the basement.

On October 24, Baniszewski came into the basement and attempted to bludgeon Sylvia. She first tried to hit her with a chair, missed, and broke it against the wall. She tried to beat her over the head with a paddle, but it swung back and blacked her eye. Hubbard stepped in and beat Sylvia unconscious with a broomstick. During the night and into the morning hours of October 25, Sylvia beat the basement floor with the scoop portion of an iron shovel. Nextdoor neighbors considered calling the police but chose not to.

On October 26, Baniszewski said she intended to give Sylvia a warm bath. Stephanie and Ricky brought Sylvia upstairs, laid her in the tub fully clothed, and took her out shortly thereafter when they realized she was not breathing. Stephanie gave Sylvia CPR, but Sylvia was already dead. Baniszewski instructed the children to take Sylvia’s body to the basement and strip it naked. She told Hobbs to go to a nearby payphone and call police because her house had no working telephone.

When the police arrived, Baniszewski gave them the letter. During the commotion, Jenny Likens whispered to a policeman: “Get me out of here and I'll tell you everything.” The police discovery of Sylvia’s body in the basement prompted the officers to arrest Baniszewski, Paula, Stephanie, John, Hobbs, and Hubbard for murder. Other neighborhood children present at the time—Mike Monroe, Randy Lepper, Duke, and Siscoe—were arrested for “injury to a person.”

Investigation

An autopsy found over 100 cigarette burns on Sylvia’s body, along with second and third degree burns, severe bruising, and muscle and nerve damage. In Sylvia’s death throes, she bit through her lips, nearly severing each of them. Her vaginal cavity was nearly swollen shut, but examination determined her hymen was still intact. This largely discredited Baniszewski’s assertions that Sylvia was a prostitute and disproved Baniszewski’s insistence that Sylvia was pregnant.

The official cause of death was brain swelling, internal hemorrhaging of the brain, and shock.

Arrest and pre-trial

Baniszewski, her children, Hobbs, and Hubbard were held without bail pending their trials. Charges against Siscoe, Duke, Monroe, and Lepper were dismissed.

Stephanie’s lawyer sought a separate trial; before it began, the district attorney dropped the murder charges.

Trial

The case commenced in May of 1966. The prosecution sought the death penalty for all involved, including John and Hobbs, who were 13 and 14 at the time respectively.

Paula’s time in court was interrupted when she was rushed to the hospital to give birth to a child that she and her mother had insisted she wasn’t carrying. Paula named the child Gertrude.

Baniszewski and the children were represented by four different attorneys—one for Baniszewski, one for Paula, one for Hobbs, and one for Coy and John—who worked against each other and attempted to shift blame among defendants despite being tried together.

Baniszewski’s attorney attempted to shift blame onto the children, portraying her as weak, chronically ill, and incapable of preventing or perpetuating abuse. The children’s attorneys attempted to shift blame onto Baniszewski and the other children.

Some damaging testimony against Baniszewski came from her own self-incrimination. She recounted bizarre tales of Sylvia being a neighborhood prostitute and of her trysts with middle-aged, married men, as well as accusing Sylvia and others of frequently starting fights in the home.

To corroborate Baniszewski’s testimony, eleven-year-old Marie was called to the stand. Initially, Marie backed up everything Baniszewski had said, until during cross examination she screamed: “God help me!” She then admitted everything she had said was a lie, and recounted in graphic, blunt detail how her mother and siblings tortured and murdered Sylvia. Marie’s turn was described as largely responsible for the eventual verdict.

Baniszewski was found guilty of murder in the first degree. She did not receive the death penalty and was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Sentencing

After sentencing, the record described the jury verdict and sentence outcome for Baniszewski and other involved defendants:

• Baniszewski was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
• Paula Baniszewski was convicted of second degree murder and later shifted to a plea of voluntary manslaughter.
• John Baniszewski, Hubbard, and Hobbs were convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to eighteen months in a juvenile detention facility.
• Charges and outcomes for other arrested neighborhood children were dismissed or dropped as described in pre-trial.

The status field also recorded that Baniszewski was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole on May 24, 1966, later resentenced to eighteen years to life, and released on December 4, 1985.

Appeals

Baniszewski appealed and was granted a new trial by the Indiana Supreme Court largely for reasons including a prejudicial atmosphere due to heavy news media publicity before and during trial.

A new trial was held in 1971. Baniszewski was again found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment again, and the case narrative later recorded a resentencing to eighteen years to life.

Outcome

Baniszewski was convicted of murder in the first degree and was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. She was later resentenced to eighteen years to life and was released on December 4, 1985.

Aftermath and death

Prison and parole

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 had earned the prison nickname “Mom.”

The news of the 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, traveled to Indiana to oppose Baniszewski’s parole and support the Likens family, beginning a sidewalk picket campaign.

Over the course of two months, the groups collected 4500 signatures demanding Baniszewski be kept behind bars (and another figure in the narrative described more than 40,000 signatures). Despite the efforts, Baniszewski was granted parole.

During the hearing, Baniszewski 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 traveled to Iowa under the name Nadine Van Fossan.

She died in Iowa of lung cancer on June 16, 1990.

Family after the case

The fates of Baniszewski’s children were described as largely unknown in parts of the narrative:

• Paula Baniszewski moved to Iowa and assumed a new identity; internet rumors claimed she was still alive and living on a farm in the Iowa countryside.
• Stephanie Baniszewski became a school teacher and assumed a new name.
• John Baniszewki changed his name to John Blake and worked as a truck driver before becoming a real estate agent and lay minister. He was never arrested again. He married and had three children. He resurfaced in 1998 in the wake of the Jonesboro Massacre to speak about the Likens murder and said he took full responsibility for his role, adding that a harsher sentence would have been more just.
• Hobbs died of lung cancer at 21. Coy Hubbard had multiple brushes with the law, as described in parts of the narrative.

Other details

Key names and participants mentioned

• Sylvia Marie Likens (16), victim; Jenny Likens (15), victim’s younger sister
• Gertrude Baniszewski, caregiver and defendant
• Paula Baniszewski, defendant and Baniszewski’s daughter
• John Baniszewski, defendant and Baniszewski’s son
• Ricky Hobbs (14), neighborhood boy; “personal assistant” in the narrative
• Coy Hubbard, Stephanie’s 15-year-old boyfriend and defendant
• Robert Bruce Hanlon, local youth involved in the October 20 police contact
• Phyllis and Raymond Vermillion, neighbors and witnesses
• Darlene McGuire, introduced Paula to Sylvia and Jenny
• Betty Likens and Lester Likens, Sylvia and Jenny’s parents
• Anna Sisco, Sylvia’s best friend
• Judy Duke, neighborhood acquaintance mentioned in multiple incidents
• Diana Likens, older sister of Sylvia and Jenny
• Roy Julian, reverend who visited and prayed with Baniszewski
• Neighborhood children arrested for “injury to a person”: Mike Monroe, Randy Lepper, Duke, and Siscoe
• Autopsy and death descriptors were given as findings and official cause of death.

Verbatim statements recorded

• Baniszewski: “I took care of you two bitches for nothing!”
• Paula: “You ain't fit to sit in chairs.”
• Baniszewski: “You have branded my daughters so I will brand you!”
• Baniszewski: “What are you going to do now, Sylvia? What are you going to do now?”
• Sylvia: “I guess there's nothing I can do. It's on there.”
• Sylvia to Jenny: “I'm going to die. I can tell.”
• Sylvia letter content included: “I am a prostitute and proud of it.” and the rest of the dictated runaway letter text as quoted above.
• Sylvia: “Feed it to the dog. It's hungrier than I am.”
• Jenny to a policeman: “Get me out of here and I'll tell you everything”.
• Marie during cross examination: “God help me!”
• Baniszewski during parole hearing: “ I'm not sure what role I had in it... because I was on drugs. I never really knew her...