FROM GUEST TO PRISONER.

When the cast of characters who make up this tale of woe first came together there was not the slightest hint that here was yet another story involving deprivation of liberty. Sylvia Marie Likens was 16 when her life changed forever but not in the way that so often happens. Unlike so many young women who become captives Sylvia was not picked up from the road while hitchhiking, nor snatched from a park nor while walking in a street. She was, all unwittingly, delivered into the hands of her captors and tormentors by her own parents.

Sylvia, quite simply, was boarded out, Sylvia went, with her younger sister to live with a family, a family where there were other children, in an ordinary rented house in an ordinary suburban neighbourhood. In July 1965 Sylvia and Jennie, her 15-year-old sister, moved into a somewhat run-down rented two-storey cottage at 3850 East New York Street, Indianapolis, Indiana. By October of that same year Sylvia was dead.

Sylvia's mother and father, Lester and Betty, were itinerant fairground workers who would travel far and wide as operators of a food outlet they'd set up from place to place. Their home base was, however, in Indianapolis. Sylvia had a younger sister, Jennie, 15, and the girls needed to be cared for when their parents were away from home. Sylvia had a little lower than average IQ and needed a certain degree of extra care.

Enter Gertrude Baniszewski, sometimes known as Mrs Wright after her de facto. Gertrude Baniszewski was a sickly woman with a long history of failed marriages, miscarriages and pregnancies. She was divorced (yet again) and had six children of her own, all still living with her. There was a small baby and then - Paula (17), unmarried but pregnant, Stephanie (15), John (12), Marie (11) and Shirley (10). With such a large family to provide for Gertrude was, naturally, struggling financially so when, through a mutual acquaintance, she learnt that Sylvia and Jennie needed to be boarded by someone, she willingly took the girls into her home - for $20 per week.

They moved in with her in July 1965 and as their parents departed Lester unwittingly opened the door to the horror that was to follow. He told the girls' new carer that they 'needed discipline' and that she should 'straighten them out'. Indeed Sylvia and Jennie were quite familiar with corporal punishment so it would come as no great surprise when they began experiencing similar discipline at the hands of Mrs Baniszewski. There was, however, one embarrassing difference - in this house they would be stripped nude before being beaten.

Mrs Baniszewski's husband had long since departed, leaving the mother struggling financially while trying to support her large family. A one-time policeman, he had left little by way of material value when he moved on but he did leave behind one very handy item: a heavy police belt. He told his wife that she might find it useful in disciplining the children. Gertrude was to make much use of it but not often on the bodies of her own boys and girls, much more frequently on the two boarders. Sylvia and Jennie, although in time less so the latter. Interestingly, that same belt lay on the kitchen table when the house was finally sealed by criminal investigators at the end of the long saga that was to follow. By then it had seen much service.

As we shall see, the coming of the two teenage girls had a strange effect on the household, one that was very soon to permeate in a surprising way the surrounding neighbourhood. Why this should be seems somewhat hard to fathom. But it is clear that beneath the surface of humanity are many passions that can, more easily than we might wish to acknowledge, be unleashed given the right conflation of circumstances. Thus the German bank clerk and the railway worker became members of the SS and were soon acting in cruel ways that would seem foreign to their 'respectable' nature.

Doubtless the two teenage girls had a certain sensuality as teenage girls do, more so in the case of Sylvia as her sister was crippled due to polio. And this seemed to affect first Gertrude, then Paula, and ultimately a whole group of young people, both male and female. Chiefly the sensual presences seemed to awaken the sadistic impulses latent in so many of us. After all sadism has strong sexual and sensual elements at its centre. To take but one example - the common pleasure many 'disciplinarians' experience in applying a cane to naked buttocks.

So it came about, that, little by little, ever so subtly at first, then with gathering pace, a boarder became a captive, a free young woman became a slave. It was an amazing transformation. What began as a seemingly innocent transaction between Mr and Mrs Likens and Gertrude was all too quickly transformed into a classic case of sadistic abuse, with just about every possible element of sexual deviance, bondage and torture present, compounded by downright stupidity. And, most unusually, the captive girl's chief tormentor was in this case not, as so often happens, a man but a woman, rather two women, mother and daughter. And the daughter, Paula, was but 17. Just a year separated tormentor and tormented. These two, however, were not the only tormentors. Others soon joined in the cruel fun, chiefly John Baniszewski who, my readers are reminded, was just 12 when all this started. John turned out to be a particularly cruel taskmaster.

Perhaps Sylvia's mild retardation played an important role in stirring the passions of Gertrude as it also did in ensuring Sylvia did not respond in a more assertive manner when she started experiencing abuse at the hands of her putative carers. She was a simple girl, not unattractive, with a reasonably good figure, at least she had a good figure when she went to live in her new home. Indeed, her breasts certainly excited the young boys who were soon to see them quite often, an unexpected opportunity to peek, as it were, through a bedroom window, an opportunity otherwise denied them.

Sylvia, a brunette, described by a girlfriend as 'a sweet nut' and nicknamed Cookie, brought with her only one treasured possession, a jewellery box. For the first few days after the girls moved in nothing serious happened; in fact, for about a week and a half, according to Jennie's later testimony in court, life was relatively uneventful. But a week and a half was all it took to discover that life was not going to be at all easy in their new home.

The motherly carer/keeper into whose hands Sylvia and Jennie had been trustingly committed by well-meaning parents was best described, in polite terms, as a 'disciplinarian'; that soon became apparent. But disciplinarian is altogether too mild a word. Perhaps 'martinet' is a better one for Gertrude Baniszewski was in reality a sadist and it soon became apparent that she had a sick, warped mind. Like so many of her kind throughout history she was - it is abundantly clear in hindsight - itching to use that heavy policeman's belt on her new boarders. It is, I suggest, very often easier to whip a stranger than one's own children. One fancies the lady started looking with renewed interest at the length of heavy leather almost within hours of the arrival of the Likens girls in the home.

BELT AND PADDLE
One can well picture Gertrude going about her household chores from day to day with many ideas flicking through her mind - possible excuses that could be used to put that delicious belt to work. Under the circumstances what is surprising is that she managed to last for a week and a half without coming up with some specious reason to unleash her fury. But, happily for Gertrude, a handy excuse soon came along. The rent cheque from the girls' father had not arrived on time. This was as good a reason as any to lay in the belt. It was, of course, not the fault of the teenagers but never mind - Sylvia and Jennie were now ordered upstairs, each to different bedrooms. There, in turn, the two teenagers, not exactly children at the ages of 15 and 16, were required to stretch over a bed after they had stripped off their clothing. The naked girls were now belaboured with that heavy policeman's belt. The experience was startling and it was both painful and humiliating.

From that day on the sisters were subjected to endless 'discipline'. Any excuse was a good excuse to punish - and to humiliate the teenagers through making them strip off their clothing before they were beaten. There was no need for them to be naked but Gertrude loved seeing them that way. It was typical of a sadist, it provided an extra element of what a sadist loves best - humiliating the victim.

The belt was not the only implement of punishment in use. In time Gertrude made even greater use of a paddle, that quintessential American beating device, a wooden bat-like affair with a handle. The substitute-mother was not acting illegally. The U.S. Supreme Court has sanctioned the use by parents and teachers of such an implement, provided it is was not longer than 60 cm (2ft) and not wider than 10 cm (4"). It is doubtful Gertrude would be too concerned anyway as to whether or not it was legal to beat the girls.

The 'paddle' employed was not, however, one of those specially-made implements one sees in photographs but rather a rough piece of timber that cut into the flesh of the buttocks and left scars. When the paddle was employed Sylvia and Jennie usually received ten stinging strokes at a time. But there were many occasions when Gertrude couldn't stop herself and perhaps fifteen or more strokes reddened the girl's buttocks. Sometimes when she was really worked up it was a great many more!

Soon any handy incident that came along was being pressed into service to supply an excuse for yet another beating. Typical was one involving, of all things, an old tennis shoe the sisters brought home. They said they had found it in a park; they were accused of stealing it. It didn't matter much - it was another good excuse for a beating.

From the very start there appeared to be hostility between Paula and the Likens girls. This could no doubt be traced back to an incident at their high school when Sylvia had publicly accused Paula of being pregnant. In fact, as it turned out, Paula was indeed pregnant. There must have been a growing sense of satisfaction for Paula as she began to realize that all unexpectedly her enemy had been delivered neatly into her hand! Here was Sylvia inside Paula's own home and here also was her mother, armed with strap and paddle, ready to punish for the slightest of reasons. Paula would not be backward in providing suitable material to fuel her mother's wrath. On one occasion she told her parent that the two boarders had 'acted like gluttons' at a church social function. This was as good a reason as any for a beating. On another occasion the girls were beaten when they exchanged some empty softdrink bottles for small change at a nearby store.

Sylvia and Jennie were herded upstairs yet again, stripped naked in the usual fashion, made to lie together across a bed, and on this occasion it was the paddle they were beaten with. One day a fight broke out between Sylvia and Paula and Paula hit Sylvia on the jaw so hard she broke her own wrist. Gertrude Baniszewski naturally took her daughter's part and slapped Sylvia. This was to be just the first of many assaults. From then on the woman began slapping Sylvia quite frequently for real or imagined crimes.

THE DEPUTY WHIPMASTER.
The first beatings with belt or paddle were carried out by Mrs Baniszewski herself; later she announced a change that would surely make young Paula jump for joy. She deputized her daughter, only fractionally older than Sylvia, to administer discipline in her stead. It was a heaven-sent opportunity. Needless to say Paula applied her very best efforts to carrying out her mother's orders. She beat with a will. All the innate hostility she felt towards the intruders, and especially towards the older girl, could be expressed freely now, with her mother's full permission.

Pause for a moment to consider what this meant. In all the annals of human disciplinary activity when before had a 16-year-old girl been forced to strip naked - for this was still the required of the girls - and submit to being whipped, caned, paddled and spanked by a 17-year-old girl? And this took place with adult permission and supervision. And it took place almost on a daily basis.

Paula went to work with a will. She soon proved herself to be every bit a sadist like her mother. Not only did she beat often and cruelly but at times even rubbed salt into Sylvia's wounds in order to increase her pain. On one occasion an assault on Sylvia by Paula was of such ferocity that Paula actually broke some bones in her own hand. A doctor treated the damage and put her hand in a plaster. She then used the heavy cast to beat Sylvia with even more force.

Curiously, from the time Paula became deputy-whipmaster Jennie, fortunately for her, began receiving fewer beatings. It was almost always Sylvia who suffered after this. It is a common phenomenon in abusive household situations. Often the more attractive of two children receives the greater punishment, a hint of the subtle sexual undercurrents involved. Which of the two, Sylvia or Jennie, was the more attractive; who can say? But perhaps Julie's polio-affected leg saved her. She later told the court that she was often dragooned into the group persecuting Sylvia, threatened with being beaten herself if she didn't help torment her sister.

Any excuse was now a good excuse for another beating. Two other older children from the Likens family made contact with their sisters on occasions but the sisters were evidently too scared to say anything about the abuse. Once, Gertrude accused Sylvia of having met up with her 18-year-old brother Danny outside the house and eaten a hamburger he gave her. She suffered a terrible beating for this 'sin'. She received another bad beating for eating a sandwich an older sister, Diana, had given her.

Paula was now the chief whipmaster. A neighbour later reported visiting the home from time to time and noticing the increasingly obvious bruises on Sylvia's body. Paula was unashamed, instead boasted to the woman that she was responsible for the damage. In fact she often beat or whipped Sylvia in front of the neighbour. Alas, the woman did not report the abuse to anyone.

Meanwhile the parents paid a visit but strangely neither Jennie nor Sylvia complained to them and the couple went off again, oblivious to the dangerous situation in which their daughters had been placed. Perhaps Jennie, now receiving fewer beatings, kept silent for fear of stirring things up. And maybe Sylvia was just too scared to say anything. Who knows? It is interesting to note that there were several contacts between members of Sylvia's family and the girls during the four months before disaster overtook them all, yet nothing seemed to come of these visits. This is one of the abiding mysteries of the case. Yet even as the parents went on their way dangerous undercurrents were eddying around and soon a flood of evil would be unleashed.

NEIGHBOURHOOD VOYEURS
Some of the neighbours heard things from time to time. During the trial it was reported that screaming had been heard coming from the house throughout one four-week period. But the neighbours did nothing; they, too, believed in corporal punishment so if the teenagers were being punished it was as it should be. These were people who firmly believe in the old adage about sparing the rod and spoiling the child.

One young girl, Judy Duke - it was revealed later - had actually watched Sylvia being beaten on more than one occasion and described what she saw to her mother. They both agreed Sylvia had obviously needed the beatings. In fact, during the trial it was revealed that as many as twenty-five neighbourhood children had actually witnessed Sylvia being beaten on various occasions! This information leaves one gasping to say the least! Sylvia was certainly an object of great - and no doubt prurient - interest in the neighbourhood. The disciplinary activities at 3850 East New York Street provided a great opportunity for numerous young voyeurs to sample the delights of seeing a cane or strap descending on a nude female body. It was great fun when it wasn't your own body under the lash.

Suggestions of abuse might have filtered through to the authorities at one point for there came a day when Mrs Barbara Sanders, a social worker, turned up inquiring about the wellbeing of all the children in the home. As often seems to happen in such cases advance warning allowed Mrs Baniszewski to prepare. Sylvia was carefully locked out of sight that day (probably even gagged, just in case). The other children put in an appearance, including Jennie, silent. The social worker knew that Sylvia and Jennie were staying there; she inquired about Sylvia. Mrs Baniszewski was equal to that question. She had been forced to kick Sylvia out, she said; the girl was unmanageable and 'loose'. End of story. There were no more inquiries from that direction. With her sister saying nothing and the social worker gone Sylvia was now entirely at the mercy of Gertrude and Paula.

And what of Jennie herself? Why had she not done something about her elder sister's torment, especially when the assaults escalated, as they did later? Perhaps she was too scared of what might happen to her; she had already experienced several beatings in that household and was not unfamiliar with a similar punishment routine in her own home. Both girls had been beaten often. Later, when the horror was all over, she was quoted as saying: 'I was scared. Paula did most of the beating . . . Gertie threatened me if I told anyone I would get the same treatment Sylvia was getting.'

Paula the young virago scared Jennie. She was a sickly girl with a health problem; she was a polio victim, with a lame leg and wore a brace. So it is not difficult to understand her caution, perhaps, although Jennie's behaviour has never been fully explained. Perhaps she, like the other participants in this strange ritual of punishment and death, even gained some sneaking enjoyment out of it all.

UNRESTRAINED SADISM.
The Baniszewski family must have breathed a little easier when Sylvia's parents came and went and nothing was said. The Likens' first visit seemed to mark a turning point, as if the abusive tribe now knew deep down that they could do as they wished with Sylvia and get away with it. And they had survived a visit from a social worker as well. From that point on a stronger streak of sadism began to creep into the punishments inflicted on the teenage girl. The beatings were bad, especially as they involved not only pain but humiliation. But soon beatings were insufficient to satisfy the sadistic impulses now starting to run wild. As the months of July and August progressed, new torment were dreamt up.
John Baniszewski, who had by then just turned 13, actually brought in two neighbourhood boys, Richard Dean Hobbs and Coy Hubbard, both 15, to share in the fun and games. What a delightful prospect had now opened up before the eyes of these fascinated schoolboys. The possibilities were endless. The ever-present problem of adult disapproval of schoolboy games had been removed. They now had the willing acquiescence of John's own mother and elder sister. All things were now possible.

In effect these teenage boys were experiencing in reality what many an older male only dreamt of (although a handful experienced it) - having a female slave. She wasn't in the common sense of that term a sex-slave but she was the next best thing to it. She was a slave, to do their bidding or suffer the consequences. They could order her about, abuse her in any ingenious way their minds could think up, and she must obey them, or be punished. It was the very stuff of schoolboy dreams. And sex was not far below the surface.

One of the chief and early objects of their cruel games was to compel slave-like submissiveness and obedience from Sylvia. She was ordered to perform all manner of tasks, useful or useless, simply for the fun of making her obey. If she did not carry out their orders she would be punished in various ways. Sometimes she was burned with matches and cigarettes and sometimes she was whipped with that heavy police belt - thoughtfully left around for their use by Gertrude. She was even hit over the head with objects.

The boys were not the only ones to play the obedience game. Gertrude, doubtless drawing inspiration from these young schoolboys, also tried her hand at it, too. She might, for example, demand that Sylvia should kneel on the floor when addressing her. Head down, eyes down, too. A submissive attitude was what was needed. Other forms of obedience training were to come later.

PHYSICAL RESTRAINTS
This was but the beginning of Sylvia's woes. There followed through the long summer weeks many incredible episodes of torture and ill-treatment from which Sylvia seemed either incapable of escaping or else was unwilling to summon the energy to try. Certainly by now she was sometimes being physically restrained in various ways, for no particular reason other than the pleasure of seeing her rendered helpless. It is quite probable that the chief activist in this regard was young John, who seemed especially fond of bondage. She might be tied spreadeagled to the bed, or left lying on the floor, tied hand and foot. Occasionally she would experience that particularly uncomfortable mode of bondage - a hogtie. This was unpleasant but there was worse to follow.

At first Sylvia wasn't tied all the time. There were opportunities to escape, but they were never taken. Bit by bit the message was now circulating among the boys of the neighbourhood that there was fun to be had in the Baniszewski household and various boys would come across from day to day to join in the activities. After school and on weekends Sylvia's bedroom was be the gathering-place of a small horde of visitors young and old. And it seems that Gertrude did nothing to spoil the fun. Sylvia must have dreaded the weekends, being subjected then to longer sessions of schoolboy torment. There seemed to be more boys than the main players, too; a boy named Randy Leper was also mentioned among frequent visitors. He was there on some occasions as were several others. And there were a number of girls who came and went, and looked or participated as was their inclination.

One of the many games the boys thought up is an example of sadism at work. The idea was to take Sylvia down to the basement and force her to crawl around on all fours on the floor for hours on end. At first sight this seems to be a difficult task - trying to keep her at it for long periods. It needed some creative imagination to work out how to achieve this without exhausting oneself supervising Sylvia's crawling. The answer was simple. Several boys would work together. They would order Sylvia to crawl around and one by one take turns in sitting and watching her. In this way the boys could come and go over a long period, during which time Sylvia had to keep crawling - or suffer punishment. Sylvia was was either in skimpy clothes or entirely naked during these sessions. By now everyone was tormenting Sylvia at will in one way or another, day in, day out, with nobody to help her.

Sylvia was usually naked when tied down on the bed and on one occasion she was restrained on the bed, stretched out with ropes and as usual, naked, when an unwanted visitor arrived at the front door - the church pastor. He had noticed that Sylvia was no longer attending services regularly and wondered if she were all right. As always, gertrude was equal to the occasion. Sylvia, she told the pastor, had been kept at home as punishment for stealing things! The pastor would not know until much later how literally true were the lady's words.
At that moment Sylvia was being 'kept at home' in no uncertain manner. And the pastor could not know that it was worse than that. Sylvia was spreadeagled on the bed that day as a punishment for some supposed fault and as part of the punishment she was being starved as well. She was being given neither food nor drink for an extended period. She was also told she could not use the toilet until permitted.

Sylvia's tormentors had thus thought up a new and unpleasant way to exercise control over their captive slave. From now on when tied to the bed - as she often was - she would be informed she could not use the toilet. She was warned that if she relieved herself in the bed she would be punished with a beating. She had to 'learn to control herself,' she was told. Hour after hour she would lie there helpless, no doubt eventually feeling the demands of her body. When, as would be inevitable, she could hold herself in no longer, having been bound to the bed for hours on end, squirming about in an agony of discomfort, she finally relieved herself there, she was beaten for doing so. It was the old Catch-22 situation and they loved finding new ways of applying it to Sylvia.

At a later period in her weeks of torture, Sylvia would be hung by her wrists above her head, tied to the railings of the basement stairway and left there. 13-year-old John, the young sadist, liked doing this to her. He had even beaten the girl on one occasion for calling his mother a 'bitch'. As had Randy Leper, one of the visitors. And a 12-year-old, Mike Monroe, was said to be fond of punching her during his visits.

But the cruelty did not only come from the young males. A frequent female visitor, 14-year-old Darlene MacGuire, during one extended period visited the house almost every afternoon after school and enjoyed herself using the paddle on Sylvia. One can well picture this young martinet watching the clock as the school day passed, with breathless excitement as she contemplated the pleasures of discipline. Eventually she seemed to tire of the game and left off.

But certainly John seemed to enjoy the bondage games best of all. So 16-year-old Sylvia would be hung up to please John, three years her junior, arms stretched painfully above. John even developed a form of spreader-bar for her ankles. He would tie a length of board from one ankle to the other, spreading her legs. Perhaps he had sneaked a look at adult bondage magazines and picked up ideas from them! It was here that the Catch-22 principle was put into operation again. Sylvia would be left hanging in this way in the basement for long periods and but if she pleaded for water she would be given a drink - but then punished with a beating for asking. The choice was: have a drink and a beating or go without the drink. Naturally John they were happiest when she chose the drink. This no-win type of punishment showed an incredible degree of sadism in the group and took many forms.

And young John always seemed to be on hand, ever willing to tie Sylvia's wrists when necessary (almost always behind the back), or her ankles, or to apply the gag when needed. On one occasion, while Sylvia lay helplessly bound, John, as if to emphasize his control over the helpless girl, scraped the sole of her bare foot with the leather sole of his shoe until her foot was red raw. And where were Gertrude and Paula while all this was going on? Evidently they either came and had a look and went their way or just ignored it all.

BONDAGE DAY AND NIGHT.
Sometimes up in the bedroom another bondage game was played. There was a strong nail at a particular point on the wall. John and the others would bind Sylvia's hands behind her back, then lift her and stretch her arms up and back until the rope hooked on the nail. And she would be left hanging helplessly there, her arms pulled back painfully back, the rope cutting into her wrists (she was no lightweight) and quite unable to get relief - her feet being off the floor.
And John was ready with his ropes at night, too, with sister Paula. Why not make add some discomfort to Sylvia's sleep? Thus it came about that often Sylvia had to sleep all night with her wrists bound behind her back and her ankles bound together. John and Paula must have had a lot of satisfaction lying in their comfortable beds thinking of Sylvia lying bound in hers. And come the morning there may not be instant relief. John might decide to leave her still tied for a few more hours - with the usual prohibition on using the toilet, becoming now an ever more frequent part of the cruel game.

The abuse was escalating. Every imaginable indignity was by now being heaped upon the girl, whose situation had reached a point of no return and had become hopeless. There was now no escape; she was guarded, bound, kept a prisoner in one way or another twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. In an earlier period, before her imprisonment had become irreversible, she had been seen by a neighbour outside the house - actually eating scraps from a garbage can, having been forbidden to eat at 'home'. Now she was never seen beyond the cottage walls.
There was frequent resort to the forbidding-use-of-the-toilet torment. This seemed to be a favourite cruelty, an obsession with the torturers. Sylvia would - almost unbelievably - be forbidden to go to the bathroom for days on end and then punished each time she befouled her bed. There were even some occasions when Gertrude forced excrement into the girl's mouth, taken from the nappy of her youngest child, and made her drink urine.

And even when Sylvia was allowed to wear clothes, or at least underwear, in front of the boys - and this wasn't often - it was her dirty clothing and soiled underwear she was made to use. It was yet another form of humiliation. And then she would be mocked for the grubbiness. In the later weeks, in her brief periods of freedom from the ropes that so often bound her, she would usually be required to go about in underwear before the salacious gaze of the teenage boys, or sometimes they would be lucky enough to look upon her bared bottom while the paddle rose and fell, and on a few occasions she would be fully naked in front of them, especially at the end. Few schoolboys would not enjoy a good viewing of female breasts - usually hidden from sight in the restrictive society in which they lived!

Tormenting Sylvia had by now become a sort of neighbourhood sport, with the children from outside coming and going and joining in the 'fun' as well as all of the Baniszewski children. Eldest son John told police later that at one time or another all the children had burnt Sylvia with cigarettes, mostly on her breasts, while she lay naked or semi-naked tied to her bed. Even the two youngsters, Shirley, 10, and Marie, 11, were usually around, excitedly watching the older torturers at their work, occasionally participating actively. Incredibly the adult neighbours never seemed to get to know what was going on, or perhaps didn't want to know. It was as if there was some sinister secret society that hid the truth from prying eyes while the members enjoyed the endless pleasures of tormenting a young girl.

SCALDING BATHS
As days and weeks passed it was necessary for the group to invent new torments to avoid the inevitable boredom of their games. Rolling Sylvia down the stairs was one activity. Paula and John and Richard enjoyed this sport. Down the stairs she would go, and then be dragged up again and rolled down yet again. Games with food, too. One night the family were consuming soup and John - ever a leader in the torment department - commanded Sylvia to eat hers with her fingers. She was informed she had just three minutes to eat it. She tried but didn't get much up in time limit set. After that the food was taken away again.

One torment, the worst of them all, which soon became a favourite 'punishment' with the group, was to tie a naked Sylvia hand and foot and then lower her body into a scalding hot bath. There was a specious reason, an excuse: the girl was 'dirty', having relieved herself in her bed. Never mind that she could do no other than relieve herself when kept helplessly restrained for extended periods. It took several of them, Gertrude actively participating, with Paula and the boys, especially Richard Hobbs, to get the struggling body into the water. This ordeal sometimes took place several times in a week. John would doubtless be pleased to see that the girl was well gagged on these occasions. After all, they didn't want the neighbours to hear Sylvia's screams of pain. Or maybe it didn't matter all that much - probably nobody in that neighbourhood would worry overmuch at the sound.

If there were any doubts about the real intentions of these hot baths (although the gag really said it all), the autopsy report soon laid these to rest. It was revealed that much of the skin on Sylvia's face, chest, arms and legs had peeled right off because of immersion in scalding water. It is amazing that neighbours did not hear some screams, in spite of the gag, during these cruel dunkings; or did they?

Another piece of fun was to force the girl to beg for her food and water, even plead for something to eat and drink. Even for a couple of dry biscuits. She was threatened with a beating if she refused to plead, as well as going without the food. She had to learn obedience, she was told, learn to beg, learn to do as she was told. But again, another sadistic twist. On one occasion when Sylvia was bound to the bed, her hands immobile, sister Jennie was sent by Gertie to tell the girl she could have a cracker and some water. Sylvia must have suspected a trap; she refused the food and water, saying to give the biscuit to the dog; it was hungrier than her. But 10-year-old Shirley was there and she forced the water on Sylvia, helpless with her hands tied. Then the young torturer ran and told her mother, 'Sylvia drank the water.'

This was just what the devious scheming Gertrude wanted to hear. 'You know you are not supposed to have water,' growled the woman, proceeding to punch the helpless girl viciously in the stomach with her fist, again and again. If she drinks she is punished, if she doesn't drink she is punished.

JUDO THROWS
Coy Hubbard, one of the regular visitors, frequently enjoyed a particularly satisfying bit of fun, treating the girl's naked body as an object for sport. Coy had been learning judo and, given the task of tying the naked girl, just out of her scalding bath, to the bed again, he would entertain Stephanie, his girlfriend as well as a fellow conspirator. He would tie Sylvia then, after she was helplessly bound, would 'flip' the bound naked girl in a judo throw several times against the wall or onto the floor. He also tried out choke holds on the girl and on one occasion knocked her unconscious with a broom handle.

New tortures kept being thought up. Make Sylvia strip in front of the boys and perform a lewd dance. Gertrude also on occasions urged the children to stub out their cigarettes on Sylvia's hands and arms. As well as the many burns, her body showed innumerable cuts and bruises. Sylvia had her fingernails broken upwards. Punishment and humiliation went hand in hand. At one point Paula cut off much of her hair. Another form of humiliation. Strangely, according to the pathologist's report, she was never raped but was subjected to everything short of outright rape, certainly to symbolic rape. Sylvia's genital area was the frequent object of attack and an autopsy later showed many injuries in that area.
Male tormentors of women seem to particularly enjoy forcing various objects into the vaginas of their victims so it is not surprising to learn that In one attack Sylvia was forced, standing naked in front of them all, to push a Coca-Cola bottle up into her own vagina while the laughing onlookers looked on and then helped push. Then she was made to squat down with the obscene object protruding. Even Jennie reportedly laughed on that occasion.

Sylvia spent most of the last weeks of her life, in between being dunked in hot baths and suffering other tortures, restrained in various ways - stretched naked on a bed, hanging by the hands or bound hand and foot lying on the floor. Often she would be gagged as well. That way they couldn't hear her complaints.

By September she was more or less confined permanently to the basement, which served as a convenient prison cell for the suffering captive. Sometimes she was kept in a box-like area under the stairs, but most of the time lay tied, nearly naked on a filthy mattress, soaked with her own urine. The urine was inevitable, for so often now she was forbidden even to use the bathroom. As late as October 5 Sylvia's parents visited again but somehow Gertrude managed to hide the truth from them. This was only three weeks away from their daughter's death; hard to understand.

As the end approached (although they did not yet know it was so near the end) there was one grand ceremonial occasion - the day of Sylvia's branding. Yes, it was quite appropriate that a slave girl should be branded, or so they thought. Sylvia was brought up from her basement 'dungeon' to the kitchen and paraded in front of the assembled troops and ordered by Gertrude to strip off all her clothing. Most of them were there for this important event. Richard Hobbs, Johnny, Paula, Randy Leper, Stephanie. Even the two youngsters and Sylvia's own sister, although Marie said she and Jennie had retreated after the burning started.

STRIPPED AND BRANDED
The clothes came off, reluctantly, in front of everyone, helped along by Gertrude. The top first, the breasts revealed, then, more reluctantly the pants, the underpants. She still had some modesty, in spite of all that had been done to her. But she could not resist. At length she stood naked before them all. Now in preparation for the operation she was bound hand and foot and a gag placed in her mouth. There was to be pain and she would want to scream out.
Incredibly the needle, in the hand of Richard Hobbs, was heated with matches. Was there enough heat? There must have been, for the words inscribed were clearly identifiable by those who came upon the scene later. 'I am a prostitute and proud of it' - spelt out in a young girl's living flesh as she was held firmly down. Hobbs claimed at the trial that Mrs Baniszewski told him to do it, but they were all involved. And Gertrude had a little extra to add to the occasion.

Laughingly she told Sylvia: 'Now you can't get married, you can't undress in front of your husband or anyone because that [writing] will be on your stomach!'

Jennie testified later that she was there when the branding occurred, and her sister was 'gritting her teeth and shaking her head.' But this was not the end of the branding. Sylvia was now dragged back down to her basement prison and attempts were made to brand the letter 'S' in her body. For 'Sylvia'; or for 'Slave'; or for 'Slut'? The hooked end of an anchor bolt was employed, heated for five minutes by Paula. John held down Sylvia's shoulders. Her hands were bound behind her back, probably John's handywork again. Her feet, with ankles bound, were held down, the gag, still in place, stopping the screams being heard. They botched the job this time and ended up with the numeral '3' appeared instead of the letter, branded on her chest.

During this last period there was one pathetic attempt made by Sylvia to escape, one rare moment when she showed some recognition of the danger she faced. She had dashed through the kitchen door onto the porch but Gertrude was too quick and too strong for the girl, now utterly weak from abuse and starvation, and dragged her back and beaten into unconsciousness.

Most telling of all, perhaps, was the discovery by those who entered the torture house that Sylvia's lips had been bitten through. This was not torture inflicted from without by her persecutors. This she did herself, in automatic response to the the agony she had experienced at the hands of her tormentors during the brandings.

LACERATED FLESH
The lacerated flesh was mute but telling testimony to the pain the girl had suffered. In court the words were horrifying: 'The lips were markedly torn and essentially in shreds, except the lip directly under where the right front tooth would be. This tooth was absent. That was the only place where the lips were not shredded . . . These tearings or lacerations of the lips extended from the outer surface to the inner surface, completely through it in areas.'

The end came after the branding. Sylvia was by now in what was later described as ' a state of profound apathy.' Later in court her sister said Sylvia had not cried much during the last two weeks or her torment. She was beyond that. She was now locked in the basement and during the early hours made a last pathetic attempt to get help, scraping on the floor with a shovel. A neighbour had heard the sounds but just as she was about to investigate they stopped. As Sylvia's last day dawned, she lay dying on a pile of filthy rags on the basement floor.

A final indignity was heaped on her near-dead body. Soap powder was sprinkled over her, then hot water poured on her and then she was hosed with cold water. But they still had not finished tormenting the girl. She was carried upstairs and dropped in a back bedroom, where she was hit about the face by Mrs Baniszewski with a book, accusing her of 'feigning illness'. It was, however, the end. Sylvia died there in the room, on October 26, 1965.

The police were called by Richard Hobbs, but not before the body was hastily dressed in pedal-pushers. Why the family made no attempt to conceal their crime is one of the many puzzles of this story. The sight the police met was of a young female human body that bore the marks of torture on almost every square cm. of its surface. 'In all my years of experience,' said a cop with 35 years' police work behind him, 'this is the most sadistic act I ever came across.'
But the criminals were ready with a fanciful tale they had concocted. Sylvia had, they claimed, run off with a gang of boys. Weeks later she had shown up again at the house, obviously badly beaten and ill-used. The kindly mother had given the girl some tea and a bath but then to her shock and horror discovered she had collapsed in the bath and was dead. This explained the wet hair, noted by the doctor. There was even a note produced, claimed to have been written by Sylvia, in which she confessed to having had sexual relations with the boys, and 'they all got what they wanted.'

JENNIE SPILLS THE BEANS
It was not long before the real truth came out, within an hour in fact. While people came and went in and out of the death house Jennie pulled a policeman aside and whispered, 'Get me out of here and I'll tell all.' Too late to help her sister, Jennie had at last acted. At least she could tell the real story to the world. She had lived with every day of Sylvia's enslavement.

While the immediate cause of Sylvia's death was a blow on the skull, investigators reported a total of about 150 burns, cuts, bruises and other lesions on the girl's body. There was barely a small area anywhere without some telltale mark or sign of torture. The coroner's statement ascribed death officially to 'shock and subdural hematoma'. There was, of course, much more in the report than that. In court the coroner said: 'One hardly knows where to begin' in describing the girl's bodily state. Marks like cuts and burns over the breasts, around the nipples, the branding, the letters cut in the flesh, more cuts, burns on arms and legs, on front of the body and on the back. Bruises on the back, lesions new and old. The details went on and on. And one more thing; the external vagina swollen. Not only from the Coke bottle but from being kicked, many times. 'A good swift kick between the legs,' as Gertrude put it.

Sylvia Marie Likens was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, East Lebanon, Indiana, on October 29, 1965. In the following weeks Mrs Baniszewski (protesting her innocence) was arraigned, along with the two neighbouring boys, Coy and Richard, and her three eldest children, Paula (now 18), Stephanie (15) and John (13). The younger children, Shirley and Marie, were placed in foster homes.

The trial was held in May 1966. In court the only one who tried to support Gertrude was her little daughter Marie. The others had all turned against her, especially Stephanie, who eventually went free, agreeing to testify for the prosecution against the others. Even Paula ratted. She had, among other things, seen her mother 'burn Sylvia Likens on the arms, back and leg with a cigarette about fifteen times during the past week.' And that was just one week! But others used cigarettes, too. Another female neighbour, Darlene McGuire, would visit and have a smoke, then stub out her cigarette on the girl, before beating her.

In the end John Baniszewski, Richard Hobbs and Coy Hubbard, tried as minors, received nominal lengthy sentences for manslaughter but were released after eighteen months. Paula was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. She escaped and was recaptured. Gertrude Baniszewski was granted a re-trial in another court five years later. Among the reasons: pre-trial publicity at her first trial. But she was convicted again for first-degree murder and was incarcerated in the Indiana Women's Prison. In September 1985 Gertrude was released on parole. She changed her name and moved to Iowa, where she died of lung cancer in June 1990. Paula could have had a retrial but instead entered a new plea of manslaughter, was sentenced, escaped custody again, was caught again and eventually released after serving two years.

 

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