The Murder and Torture of Sylvia Likens {True Story}

Gertrude Baniszewski

Born into a poor family in 1929 Gertrude was the third child out of six. When she was ten she witnessed her father have a fatal heart attack. When she was sixteen she dropped out of high school and married a man named John, John was two years older than her and beat her regularly. They had six children.

Gertrude left John and married a man named Dennis to get away from the abuse, he beat her too. They had a child together. Abuse seemed to follow Gertrude, depressed, angry, and short of money Gertrude looked like a haggard asthmatic.

To make ends meet she would house kids from the neighborhood while their parents were away. This led to her meeting the Likens family.

Lester and Betty Likens were carnival workers, they didn't make good money and work wasn't consistent.
In the summer of 1965 they were offered a job and weren't in the position to refuse. They had a problem though, their two daughters, Sylvia, 16, and Jenny, 15. Sylvia was healthy and active but Jennie had polio that left her permanently disabled.

In a tough spot they turned to their neighbor Gertrude who had seven children and seemed like an honest woman. They asked her to look over their children for the summer. Jenny's disability unsettled Gertrude but she was in no position to say no to the $20 a week. I'm exchange for the fee she fed and housed the Likens daughters. In addition to Gertrude's seven children the girls were shoved into the small home.

Gertrude had a temper and it began to show after the first week. The girls were constantly hungry, only given toast for breakfast and soup for dinner.

After the first week Gertrude dragged the two girls to an empty room upstairs and beat them. She screamed at them and told them she was "taking care of them for nothing." Even though she was receiving $20 a week, she resented having them around.