The Murder of Sylvia Likens

Sylvia Likens was a sixteen-year-old girl who was subjected to prolonged, systematic torture and murder in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1965 in one of the most disturbing child abuse cases in American history. Her parents — carnival workers who traveled frequently — had left Sylvia and her younger sister Jenny in the care of thirty-seven-year-old Gertrude Baniszewski in exchange for $20 per week. When the payments fell behind, Baniszewski began punishing Sylvia with escalating violence, and over several months the abuse expanded to include Baniszewski's children and neighborhood teenagers who participated in or watched. Sylvia was burned, beaten, starved, branded with a hot iron, and subjected to unspeakable degradation; she was kept in the basement and denied food and bathroom access. She died on October 26, 1965.

The case came to light when a neighborhood boy, troubled by what he had witnessed, told his parents, who called police. Officers found Sylvia's body covered in burns and bruises; her emaciated condition indicated prolonged starvation. Gertrude Baniszewski and several of her children, along with two neighborhood boys, were arrested and charged with first-degree murder. The investigation revealed that dozens of neighborhood children had participated in or observed the torture over months, and that multiple adults had known something was wrong without intervening.

Gertrude Baniszewski was convicted of first-degree murder in 1966 and sentenced to life in prison. Her daughter Paula was also convicted of first-degree murder. Three teenagers received lesser convictions. On appeal, Baniszewski was retried in 1971 and again convicted; she became eligible for parole in 1985 and was released in 1985 over the vigorous objections of Sylvia's surviving siblings, who considered the release a profound injustice. She died in 1990.

The murder of Sylvia Likens is considered one of the most harrowing crimes of the twentieth century — not merely for its brutality but for what it revealed about the capacity of ordinary people, including children, to participate in or ignore torture when provided social license by an authority figure. The case influenced the development of child protection laws in Indiana and nationally, and has been the subject of multiple books, documentaries, and the 2007 film "An American Crime." Jenny Likens, who had witnessed her sister's torture helplessly due to her own disability, spent her life haunted by her inability to save Sylvia.