On October 26, 1965, the Indianapolis police received a call to report that a young woman had been found dead. The call came from a phone booth in front of a station in an impoverished area of the city. The reporter's voice sounded like a teenager who had not fully changed his voice, and was very nervous. He pointed the police to the location: 3850 East New York Street, where the deceased was later found.
When police arrived at the squalid, shabby house mentioned by the anonymous reporter, they found the emaciated body of Sylvia Marie Likens, covered in bruises and small wounds. These small wounds later turned out to be burns from matches and cigarette butts, numbering more than a hundred. There were also several large pieces of peeling skin on the body. A big "3" was branded on the chest of the deceased. However, the most appalling thing is that a line of capital letters was branded in the middle of the dead man's abdomen: "I'M A PROSTITUTE AND PROUD OF IT!" (I am a prostitute, and I am proud of it!) So
far, The so-called "most horrific crime ever committed by a victim" was gradually revealed.
The crime was committed by a group of teenagers, some as young as 11 or 2, and a 37-year-old woman at the head. The woman was named Gertrude Baniszewski (pronounced: Gottrude Baniszewski). Sylvia and her sister, Jenny Fay Likens, a 15-year-old handicapped girl with a leg disabled due to polio, with an assistive walking device on her leg, came to the Baniszewski's home in early July of that year.
At the time, Sylvia's parents, the Likens, left their two daughters in the care of Mrs. Baniszewski, who claimed to be Mrs. Wright, so they could tour with their carnival performance team.
2. Baniszewski Who
Before meeting the Likens, Gertrude Baniszewski's life had been poor and low, but he had no criminal record (at least according to Gertrude Baniszewski himself). She was born into a commoner family in 1929, originally named Gertrude Van Fossan, the third of six children. When she was young, she preferred her father to her mother. Gertrude Baniszewski was 11 when her beloved father died of a heart attack right before her eyes. Her father's death hit her hard. During her teenage years, she often clashed with her mother. Gertrude Baniszewski dropped out of high school at the age of 16 and married 18-year-old John Baniszewski, and has been pregnant since then. Although John Baniszewski is a police officer, he has a duty to uphold the law. But when annoyed by his wife, he often beat her in violation of the law. John often settles differences between himself and his wife with fists. After ten years of marriage, the two divorced.
After the divorce, Gertrude Baniszewski met and married Edward Guthrie, but the marriage lasted only three months because Edward was unwilling to support the children of his wife and her ex-husband (Gertrude Baniszewski already had 4 children at the time). Gertrude Baniszewski and ex-husband John have since remarried. After seven years of remarriage and two more children, they divorced for the second time in 1963. At this time, a man much younger than John - Dannis Lee Wright took a fancy to Gertrude Baniszewski. Dennis was only 23 at the time, and Gertrude Baniszewski was 37. Dennis takes his unmarried cohabiting girlfriend seriously. He impregnated Gertrude Baniszewski twice, one of which was a miscarriage. Before Dennis sneaked away, Gertrude Baniszewski bore him a son, Dennis Jr.
At that fatal meeting with the Likens, the emaciated Gertrude Baniszewski looked a little premature. Her face was wrinkled from labor and premature aging. Although not yet in her forties, she has been pregnant more than thirteen times, giving birth seven times, and having six miscarriages. She smoked nonstop and suffered from asthma, bronchitis and neurasthenia. Her income comes from the sporadic child support of her ex-husbands (both fathers have committed serious crimes). She earns only a few dollars from odd jobs like ironing and babysitting. In order not to let others know that his youngest child was an illegitimate child, she called herself Mrs. Wright.
Betty Likens and her two daughters have just moved near Gertrude Baniszewski's home. She and husband Lester Likens recently separated. With Lester constantly looking for work to support the family, and the family moved a lot, they just settled here.
Today, Sylvia and Jenny and their new friend Darlene McGuire were walking aimlessly by the side of the road like other teenage girls when they met a girl named Paula Baniszewski. Paula is a fat 17-year-old girl with a mean personality. She fucks with a married man and is pregnant with his child.
Several girls came to Baniszewski's house, giggling and drinking soft drinks. Paula invites others to stay overnight at home. Sylvia and Jenny agreed without having to ask their mom, who was in jail.
3. Foster care The
next day, Lester Likens received news of his wife's arrest. He brought his eldest son, Danny, 19, to his estranged wife's house to pick up Sylvia and Jenny. He didn't find his two daughters there, and went to the neighbor's house to look around. Darlene MacGuire told him her daughters were at the Baniszewski's.
When Lester arrived at Gertrude Baniszewski, who called himself Mrs. Wright, it was late and he was tired and upset. He spoke to Gertrude Baniszewski about how he was reunited with his wife, Betty, and prepared to cruise with the carnival. "Mrs. Wright" graciously invited him to spend the night on the dusty sofa in the scruffy room.
The next day, Mr. Lester requested, and possibly Gertrude Baniszewski, offered (on this poorly documented) that Sylvia and Jenny move to Gertrude Baniszewski's house. In any case, the two came to an agreement that the sisters would be placed in foster care with Gertrude Baniszewski's home, and the sisters' father would pay Gertrude Baniszewski $20 a week.
More than a year later, in court, Lester will be questioned whether he visited the family that year. He replied: "I don't like to ask people around". It's really awkward for him to describe his irresponsible actions at the time. If he had paid attention at the time, he would have found that there was no stove, just a Hot Plate (probably something like an electric cooker), the bed was long gone, and there were only three spoons in the kitchen drawer. In the days when Sylvia was tortured, only a spoon was left.
And just like that, Lester Likens entrusted his two young daughters to a woman he had known only a few days and had not been recommended by anyone. But he must have known that, in addition to his two daughters, this woman had to support her own large group of children by herself.
Before leaving Gertrude Baniszewski's house, Lester offered "Mrs. Wright" a piece of advice he would regret for the rest of his life: "You must discipline these two children, their mother used to let them too much".
4. Who is Sylvia Likens?
During the trial, a prosecutor said: "She looked into the distance full of hope and expectation."
In The Indiana Torture Slaying by John Dean (after Watergate, to avoid being mistaken for another John Dean of Watergate fame, the author has been renamed Natty Bummppo), and by Kate Millett In the documentary The Basement, Sylvia is described as an ordinary girl. She likes going to church very much, and has average grades in schoolwork, likes roller skating and dancing, her nickname is Cookie, she also has a great sense of humour, and she never opens her mouth when she laughs, because she is less for herself Feeling shy about the front tooth (the tooth she lost in a fight with a brother).
Dean quotes a person familiar with Sylvia: "Sylvia felt like a lonely child in the family because she was born between twins". The Likens twins are fraternal and both twins. Danny and Diana are two years older than Sylvia, and Jenny and Benny are one year younger than Sylvia.
The Likens family was always poor, and the couple's marriage was full of conflicts. Lester and Betty have drawn and drawn many times. With two sets of twins in the family, one of whom is disabled, Sylvia has always felt neglected by her parents.
In Sylvia's only 16 years of life, she moved at least fourteen times. When parents find it difficult to keep Sylvia and Jenny around, they send them to grandma or foster care.
Like other teenage girls, Sylvia earns some change from odd jobs where she can take care of children or iron clothes (ironically, not unlike Gertrude Baniszewski's job). Also, he likes listening to music very much. In those days, her favorite rock band, of course, was the Beatles. She herself likes to sing. When she first arrived at Gertrude Baniszewski's house, she often sang to Stephanie Baniszewski, who also sang with her. One of Sylvia's favorite melody lines is "The stars in the sky...".
Sylvia is very close to her disabled sister. When the sisters went roller skating together, Jenny would put on roller skates on her healthy foot and Sylvia would pull her around in circles on the rink. In this way, Jenny can feel the joy of skating even with the support device on her legs.
5. Suspicious beginnings The
Likens sisters spent their first week with the Baniszewskis nothing out of the ordinary. I just got to know the other kids around me and got acquainted with the new school. During the second week, however, the Likens paid Gertrude Baniszewski slowly. Gertrude Baniszewski yelled at the sisters, "I looked after you two bitches for two weeks and got nothing!". So both kids had to lie on the bed with their butts exposed for Gertrude Baniszewski to spank.
The wages were sent the day after the beating.
However, the following week Gertrude Baniszewski found another reason to physically punish the two children because she believed Sylvia was leading the other children to steal from the storage room.
Since then, Sylvia's three "crimes" have been continuously accused: one is her "dishonesty", the second is her "psychological impurity", and the third, the crime that caused her belly to be branded, is " chaos".
Are any of these allegations true? Sylvia's mother once stole from the store, and Sylvia admits to having stolen at least one thing. Still, Gertrude Baniszewski blamed and punished Sylvia without stealing anything from her home. The Likens have a habit of picking empty soda bottles from the rubbish heap for money. But Gertrude Baniszewski wrongly believed that Sylvia's behavior was stealing.
There is no reason to believe that Sylvia is a dirty girl, other than the smudge Gertrude Baniszewski imposed on Sylvia. Sylvia is probably a virgin, although she likes to flirt with boys occasionally.
These accusations are most likely an outward expression of Gertrude Baniszewski's own fears. While there is no evidence that Gertrude Baniszewski ever stole, it must have been very tempting to steal in her situation. The hygiene of herself and her house is also very poor due to chronic illness and many children and a baby to be cared for. Since Gertrude Baniszewski herself had two pregnancies out of wedlock, and her 17-year-old daughter, Paula, also pregnancies out of wedlock, it's likely that he's also concerned about her own and her daughter's reputation for chastity.
When she first arrived at Gertrude Baniszewski's house, Sylvia went to church every week with Gertrude Baniszewski's children. Paula Baniszewski once talked to her mom about how Sylvia used to eat like a pig at a church-organized dinner. In this way, Gertrude Baniszewski and some of her children found a way to punish Sylvia. This method, like the others they've used, has a very wicked logic: Sylvia's sausage will be passed around the table, everyone will sprinkle a bunch of spicy condiments in it, and Sylvia will be ordered to eat the thing. . Sylvia ate it obediently, and vomited quickly. Gertrude Baniszewski then ordered her to eat the vomit again.
After that, the Likens stopped by the Gertrude Baniszewski family. They had also visited before, days after their two daughters were severely beaten for not delivering their wages in time to Gertrude Baniszewski. But on those two visits, and several later ones, none of the Likens sisters complained about what happened to them.
6. Is she a masochist?
The Likens sisters' resignation to Gertrude Baniszewski's brutality begs a question. Prosecutor Leroy K. News wrote in the foreword to "Indiana Torture Slaying": "I have been asked countless times, why didn't Sylvia run away?" When the case was first reported, a newspaper The correspondent also asked, "Is she a masochist?" Arguably
, there are many reasons for her submissiveness, but "masochism" is not one of them. First, Sylvia has no concept of "inappropriate discipline" at all. According to Dean's records, Sylvia and jenny were "often unjustly punished." The beatings they received in the first place may have been unfair, but they were not outright "abuse" either. Adults always talk about children's food, just like in the American swear "EAT YOUR VEGETABLES!" So even Sylvia's sausage with all the seasoning isn't considered overkill. In fact, at least one adult witnessed Gertrude Baniszewski's abuse, and the witnesses, while disturbed, did not consider it serious enough to warrant calling the police.
According to The Indiana Torture Slaying, a middle-aged couple with two children, Raymond Vermillion and Phyllis Vermillion, moved to Gertrude Baniszewski's house next door in late August 1965. Phyllis Vermillion, who works night shifts at the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) factory, also needs to find a babysitter for his children. He decided to visit Gertrude Baniszewski. He believes that a mother of seven and two for others must be able to take good care of their children.
So the two families sat around the table and drank coffee. The children were arguing with each other, and the infant Dennis was crying. Vermillion then noticed a thin, pretty, nervous and shy girl with dark circles. "That's Sylvia," Gertrude Baniszewski points out. "I did her dark circles!" Paula Baniszewski added. Just before showing off her "achievement", Paula poured a cup of hot water on Sylvia.
Understandably, Phyllis Vermillion decided to find a nanny at someone else's home. But what is more incomprehensible is that she did not report what she saw and heard to the relevant authorities.
Earlier in October, Vermillion visited her "extended family" neighbors again. This time, she saw Sylvia again. At this time, Sylvia was already in a trance, like a walking dead. Her other eye circle was also darkened and her lips were swollen. "I hit her again," Paula volunteered. Later, Paula starts beating the listless Sylvia with a belt. Phyllis Vermillion left Gertrude Baniszewski's house again and doesn't think the police should know what she saw. If a supposedly normal, responsible adult doesn't make Gertrude Baniszewski's actions a crime, who can expect a child as unruly as Sylvia to make it a crime?
She probably never thought about running away. Where can she go? When things got to the point where sleeping on the street was more comfortable than being with the Gertrude Baniszewskis, she couldn't run anymore. Sylvia later was sometimes clubbed, sometimes locked in a cellar...or tied in a cellar.
There was actually one time when Sylvia and Jenny did complain about what happened to them (more on that below) and no one believed them. The fear of not being trusted has been growing, which is what has led to Sylvia's silence.
Another reason could be that she is asking herself a question that is often asked by a lot of children who are being picked on: "Why don't people like me?". But Sylvia knew she had a hard time answering that question.
Complaining to others means telling others how you have been abused. As the abuse intensifies, the stigma silences Sylvia. Sylvia and her sister must be very afraid of Gertrude Baniszewski, afraid that if they speak out, Gertrude Baniszewski will be furious. In the end, Sylvia is also very likely to swallow her breath to protect her sister. She may be afraid that Jenny will get revenge by Gertrude Baniszewski if she speaks out.
Chapter 7:
Growing Terror It's worth emphasizing that Sylvia's life at the Baniszewskis didn't turn terrifying overnight. On the contrary, it was a gradual process, which began with unjust punishments at intervals of three to five in September, to the regular harshness and corporal punishment in August and September, and finally morphed into appalling abuse in October.
During the first week with Gertrude Baniszewski, Sylvia went to the same church with the Baniszewski family, listened to records with the other kids, watched TV, and went to the park with friends; he went to school with Stephanie and Paula, went to school with Gertrude Baniszewski and Eat with her children.
Of course, for everyone who lives in Gertrude Baniszewski's house, eating is not a very pleasant experience. There are ten people who need to eat, but there is no decent stove. They only eat foods like cookies and sandwiches. Soup is a big part of the food because it can be simply warmed up on a heater. But since there were only three spoons in the house when Sylvia moved in, they had to take turns drinking the soup, and then there were only two, and only the last one left. The only spoon used by one person will be taken to the faucet and rinsed, and then passed on to the next hungry person.
It is believed that one day in late August, Sylvia revealed that he once had a boyfriend lay in bed with her. "Then you're going to have a baby!" Gertrude Baniszewski yelled, before kicking Sylvia hard in the crotch. Then kick after kick to Sylvia's genitals. A later autopsy revealed that Sylvia had suffered severe injuries to the area near the pubic bone.
Sylvia's supposed pregnancy angers Paula, who is actually pregnant. Paula knocked Sylvia to the ground and yelled, "You don't deserve to be in a chair!" Apparently, out of vengeance, Syliva told her high school classmates that the two "eldest sisters" of Gertrude Baniszewski's family were "whores".
Stephanie's 15-year-old boyfriend, Coy Hubbard, heard about it and beat Sylvia in a fit of rage. Coy is a handsome young man with curly black hair. He looked older than his age and was one of the toughest kids in school. Later, he often practiced judo with Sylvia, throwing her against the wall or the ground. And Sylvia was beaten by Gertrude Baniszewski after the drill.
Gertrude Baniszewski instigated the surrounding children to believe some bad rumors about Sylvia and took revenge. Gertrude Baniszewski told even Ana Siscoe, who used to like Sylvia very much, that Sylvia used to call Ana's mother a "chicken". So Ana viciously attacked Sylvia. In that "near war", Sylvia may be painful clutching his stomach, shouting "Oh, my baby!"
There are indications that, even though Sylvia is still a virgin, but because of the people around baseless rumor, her own "pregnant "I am convinced that she is still very ignorant about childbirth. Gertrude Baniszewski told her daughter Paula that Sylvia had slandered Paula sexually. Gertrude Baniszewski said something similar to another girl, Judy Duke. This led to more brawls and fights.
Has Sylvia really slandered the morals of women around her? Probably. She's been framed for a lot of sexual indiscretions, so she might try to protect herself by shifting this negative attention to other people. - "You are a monster!" - "No, you are a monster!" Arguments like this happen every day in school playgrounds all over the world. However, it is also very likely that Gertrude Baniszewski deliberately framed the accusation against Sylvia in order to provoke other people's antipathy towards Sylvia as a scapegoat.
Paula quickly got into the habit of slamming Sylvia on the head with whatever he was at hand, sometimes a plate, sometimes a bottle, sometimes a tin. When everyone tortured Sylvia, Sylvia's sister Jenny was often ordered to beat her. Jenny timidly refused, and Gertrude Baniszewski slapped her angrily. Jenny then obeyed. But she later said she was using her left hand instead of her right (Jenny wasn't left-handed) so that Sylvia wouldn't really feel the pain.
Chapter 8: "Asexual" Sexual Persecution In
early October, an accident led Gertrude Baniszewski to decide to drop Sylvia from school. Sylvia didn't have the gym clothes she needed to wear in gym class, and Gertrude Baniszewski didn't give Sylvia money to buy one. However, one time Sylvia came back from school wearing a tracksuit she claimed to have "found". Gertrude Baniszewski irrationally thought it was Sylvia's stolen clothes. With Gertrude Baniszewski pestering, Sylvia admitted that the dress was indeed stolen. Gertrude Baniszewski then slapped, kicked Sylvia, and finally slapped him with the belt.
Afterwards, Gertrude Baniszewski put Sylvia's theft aside again, turning his attention to Sylvia's promiscuity, which she had asserted, and cursing her. Then started kicking Sylvia in the crotch again. Later in the day, feeling that Sylvia had not been punished enough for the theft, Gertrude Baniszewski set Sylvia's "dishonest" hand with a burning match, followed by another whip.
"Fire" became the main way to torture Sylvia later. Gertrude Baniszewski may have come up with this method because once her former sadistic boyfriend Wright snuffed out a cigarette butt around her neck.
A team of three religions and nine streams has since started burning Syliva with burning cigarette butts and matches. Paula beat Sylvia until she fractured her hand, before hitting her with a cast on her hand. Some of the neighborhood kids' favorite pastimes are going to Sylvia: kicking, hitting, watching or imitating Coy Hubbard's judo moves, knocking her over, burning her, etc.
The coroner will show how much pain Sylvia had endured through two signs on the body: Sylvia's fingernails on each finger were snapped backwards from scratching in the pain. She bit her lip too hard in pain, causing a partial tear in her lower lip.
As the persecution of Sylvia worsened, the nature of the persecution became more of a sexual persecution. However, such persecution is bizarrely called "non-sexual" sexual persecution. The sexual aspect begins with constant taunting of Sylvia, asserting that she is promiscuous, and escalates to Gertrude Baniszewski's violent kicks and punches on her back. There are many other "sex-related" attacks, one of which has been briefly described, but is not "sexual assault" as it is commonly understood. There are no reports that Gertrude Baniszewski ever touched Sylvia in any homosexual way. None of the men who indulged in beating and torturing Sylvia were also believed to have raped her or forcibly performed oral sex on him. The coroner found severe bruising around Sylvia's genitals due to kicks, but the layers of folds on the inside of her vagina were not characteristic of rape, and tests for semen residue were negative.
This group of beasts persecuted Sylvia by all means imaginable. Because of this, it's so baffling that Sylvia wasn't raped. Gertrude Baniszewski may be afraid of being called a "perversion" (assuming she knows what the word means), so she didn't use her fingers or tongue to violate the victim's genitals. Coy Hubbard is terrified of making her girlfriend Stephanie think she's unfaithful. It's also possible, as writer Millett describes in some of her compelling reasoning passages, that these people were convinced that Sylvia was a "bitch" and feared that sexual contact with her could lead to venereal diseases or other unknown infectious diseases.
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