Because The other children denied Sylvia access to the bathroom and she lived in constant fear and hunger, she went herself. Gertrude decided that this meant Sylvia was a whore.
Sylvia was taken out of school and locked in the basement. When she was being punished the children and Gertrude dragged her up the stairs and into the bathroom. They would lay her in the bathtub and pour scalding hot water from the faucet. It burnt Sylvia's skin. Gertrude would then rub salt into the seared flesh.
Sylvia, locked in the basement, was naked and hungry. At times she was dragged upstairs and made to dance for the other children. If she struggled they would beat her or force her to eat the contents of a baby's diaper.
Kids from the neighborhood were charged 5 cents to beat Sylvia. They burned her, slapped her, cut her, and mutilated her. She screamed and begged for help but it never came.
Jenny and Sylvia has no way to contact their parents and if Jenny mentioned the abuse to anyone the other children would beat her. A public health nurse came to assess the situation but she was told that Sylvia had run away.
Sylvia was very dehydrated, a doctor would later claim that she could no longer produce tears.
Things got worse in October. Sylvia was allowed to spend the night in a room with her sister. The room was just a mattress on the floor. It was Gertrude's gesture of goodwill.
Before the girls went to bed, Sylvia begged Jenny for a glass of water. During the night she wet the bed. Gertrude was outraged. She dragged Sylvia out of bed and into the living room where she forced her to masterbate with a Coca-Cola bottle in front of the whole family.
Still raging she heated up a needle and branded words into Sylvia's bare stomach. "I'm a prostitute and proud of it!"
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Halfway through she handed the job to a neighborhood kid, Richard Hobbs, who later claimed "Gertie told me to".
Afterwards they threw Sylvia back into the basement. The next day Gertrude decided they needed a cover story. Gertrude told Sylvia to write a letter explaining that she'd run away. The letter could be presented to Sylvia's parents or the police. She could then be left in the woods for dead. But Sylvia had a plan. That night she tried to escape. But, her injuries kept her from running. Gertrude caught her and dragged her back to the basement where she and her husband beat her so band she was barley comprehensive.
Sylvia made one last attempt to crawl out of the basement. Gertrude stood on Sylvia's head and her brain began to hemorrhage. She died. Gertrude accused her of faking it. When it became clear she was dead she told one of the children to call the police.
Gertrude showed them the letter and claimed she had run away with a group of Boys. She said they had tortured her and brought her back already dead and left her body in the basement.
The story was repeated by the children. But, before the police could leave Jenny hobbled forward and whispered in the policeman's ear "Get me out of here and I will tell you the whole story."
Concerned the officer escorted Jenny out of the house. She told him everything. Before long, Gertrude and her entire family were on trial. The horrified judge described it as "the most terrible crime ever committed in Indiana." Then entire family got harsh sentences.
Gertrude only have one defense to her actions "I had to teach that girl a lesson."
