Photo: Sylvia's Child Advocacy Center
Sylvia Likens, 16, died in October 1965 after months of torture at the hands of her caregiver and multiple others In October 1965, police officers in Indianapolis, Ind., found Sylvia Likens, 16, dead on a mattress in her caretaker’s home.
The teenager’s body, emaciated and weak from malnutrition, was covered in old and fresh bruises, burns and sores, according to The Indianapolis Star. One area of her skin was marked with the imprint of a hot metal brand, while the words “I am a prostitute” were cruelly etched into her abdomen.
Sylvia’s caregiver, Gertrude Baniszewski, claimed to police that Sylvia had been attacked by a group of boys, per the Indy Star. She even showed them a note, purportedly written by Sylvia, that seemed to back up her version of events.
However, the dark truth soon came to light, revealing that Sylvia had been tortured and held captive in Baniszewski’s home for several months prior to her death. Baniszewski spearheaded the abuse, and the participants included her children as well as others from the neighborhood.
Baniszewski had agreed to look after Sylvia and her sister Jenny for $20 a week that summer while the girls’ parents left town for a lengthy-work trip, the Indy Star reported. Baniszewski, who was divorced, had already been caring for her six children, the oldest of whom was her 17-year-old daughter Paula, and the youngest of whom was an 18-month-old boy.
According to the website for Sylvia’s Child Advocacy Center in Indiana, the girls “continued to live as teenagers do, singing, skating, earning modest incomes during the summer break, and doing housework.” But as time went on, the payments to Baniszewski began to wane. Angry, Baniszewski began beating the sisters more than a dozen times a week, often for “benign issues like eating too much food,” per the website.
According to the Indy Star, children from the neighborhood also took part in the abuse, after which Sylvia was made to take painfully hot baths as punishment, to “cleanse her of her sins.”
“By the end of the summer, Sylvia was being raped, verbally tormented, assaulted with objects physically and sexually, starved, beaten, burned, and forced to commit humiliating or heinous acts,” the advocacy center said. Sylvia was eventually forced to remain in the house and was forbidden from attending school.
Sylvia died on Oct. 26, 1965, from her extensive injuries and malnourishment, the Indy Star reported. At Baniszewski’s trial the following year, she pleaded not guilty, though she was eventually convicted of first-degree murder. Her daughter, Paula, was found guilty of second-degree murder. Both were sentenced to life in prison, according to the outlet.
Baniszewski’s son and two neighborhood children also stood trial but served little time behind bars, according to Indianapolis Monthly.
In December 1985, Baniszewski was released on parole. She lived in Iowa under a new name until her death from cancer in 1990, the Indy Star reported.
Sylvia’s case was instrumental in the Indiana law mandating that every person who knows of child abuse must report it to the Department of Child Services.
“This law was enacted as a direct result of Syvlia’s case; lawmakers were horrified to know that the neighbors heard Sylvia screaming and did not call the police,” says Kassie Frazier, Executive Director of Sylvia’s Child Advocacy Center.
“In 1965, it was common practice not to get involved in others’ business; however, we, as a state, said we would stand with our children,” Frazier added in the statement shared with PEOPLE on Nov. 27.
The organization, one of eleven nationally accredited child advocacy centers in the state, says on its website that it is “dedicated to [Sylvia’s] memory and the cause of protecting children from abuse in every corner of our community.”
