The Torture and Murder of Sylvia Likens

 

I debated a bit on which case I wanted to feature first on what I call the re-launch of my blog. My goal is to work on getting several cases up in a fairly short time period so for the time being I want to do either simple cases that will not take a whole lot of research or do cases that I know fairly well already. I am still doing all the research as if I know nothing because no matter when the case took place you never know if more information or something interesting has surfaced since I last looked over the case.

So, this case fell into the category of one that I know I would like to say extremely well. It also came to mind because someone contacted me the other day and asked me if I knew about a case from Indy (Indianapolis), where I grew up and I am now back living, related to American Crime. Initially I thought they were talking about the limited series that has had a few seasons that have been dedicated to a specific high profile crime so I said “No.” My interest was piqued that there was a crime being featured from here on American Crime so I wanted to know which one. I felt rather foolish when I took the time to sit down and begin a search and realize that they were referring to the 2007 movie An American Crime that was about the Sylvia Likens case. Once I realized what they were talking about I messaged back that I absolutely did know this story and I knew it well. I knew it because of the research I had done over the years that also included being involved in forums that discussed the case but I remember the first time I heard about this case.

It was 1985 and I was thirteen years old. The news on the television and the newspapers were going “wild.” The people of Indianapolis were in an uproar. Petitions were going around and people were picketing in areas of town and I had no idea why or what was going on. I just knew that they were upset that a woman by the name of Gertrude Baniszewski was coming up for parole. My dad had grown up in Indianapolis and while he had moved away for a period of time had lived here in 1965, the year it happened and the year that it appeared the entire city remembered. He filled me in, but at thirteen I did not really get it even though the girl that had been murdered was only a few years older than I was at the time. Now, here we are nearly sixty years later and this crime is still considered to be the worse crime in the history of Indiana.

Let me set the stage for you before we dive deep into this crime. The year was 1965. The show Leave it to Beaver had still been on the air just a few short years before. While yes, it was a television show and we all know that it was not completely accurate on how things really were, it was for the most part how people either wanted things to be or at the very least wanted people to believe that they wanted things to be that way. Much of that idea came from upbringings and the idea that men were in charge in their homes and everyone else was expected to fall in line, including the wives. It was a wife's duty to care for the children, maintain the home and not only basically cater to their husband's every need but to all but “obey” him. Today we look back at Leave it to Beaver and laugh and snicker. Most women have no desire for things to be that way anymore and let's be honest, we cannot for the most part afford for them to be that way financially anyway.

But again, whether people wanted their lives to reflect what they were seeing on television or not, the real world was not rainbows and candy for everyone. In the 1960s divorce was not unheard of but it was also looked down upon. Well, at least the divorced women were often looked down upon. I believe that a lot of that came from upbringings also. Married men did not want their wives being friends with divorced women because they did not want them to “get ideas” in their heads and married women did not want their husbands being friends or even neighborly with them because they did not want them to “take their men.” Keep in mind two things, the first is that men could do whatever they wanted which often included being unfaithful and expect their women to just “take it” and girls had been raised to believe they needed a man so if that divorced lady next door does not have man she is surely looking for one. Women were not going to offer their husbands up for the taking.

Now I can tell you that not all women who were single parents, whether it was from a divorce or a death, because to some married women how they got that status did not matter, were looking for another man, let alone a married one. But, I am sure that some of those divorced women were exactly the type those married couples were worried about and scared they would influence their partner. I suspect that Gertrude Baniszewski fell somewhere in the middle of this. It does not seem that she liked being alone, but she also seemed to have bad taste when it came to men.

Aside from all of the issues surrounding if there was a divorced single parent on the block, the world was just a different place. Men often beat their women and sometimes their children and people knew it. Maybe they did the same; maybe they did not but the resounding thought was that it was none of their business. Today we have the saying “You do you” and that meant 1000% more back in 1965. You did not report your neighbor for things because you did not want them reporting you. You never imagined that anything sinister was going on because stuff like that did not happen, or so people thought. Odds are if you had a house in the neighborhood where maybe some “shady” things might be going on and you know that the occupants were financially strapped you just hope they do not last long there. My dad was raised by a single mother in the 1950s and 60s and I can tell you one of my earliest memories was driving down a road and hearing him say “We lived there; we lived there; we lived there. See where that KFC is? There used to be a house there and we lived there.”

Gertrude Baniszewski paid $55 a month for her house that sat on the corner of New York and Denny Streets on the southeast side of Indianapolis. She had seven children of her own to raise. Six were with her ex-husband, John Baniszewski Sr. and her youngest, Dennis Wright Jr. was born in May of 1964. John Baniszewski was a police officer and it was said that he did provide some food and some financial assistance to her but it was unclear just what that amounted to or meant. Gertrude had apparently sued her youngest sons father for support but it was said he did not honor anything. I am guessing that Baniszewski also was “ordered” to provide but whether he paid that amount, or some variation is unclear or even what that amount could be. It was said that Gertrude largely lived on the money John provided and that she sometimes did sewing and cleaning for others to supplement. It was never super clear just how much time and guidance John Baniszewski provided for his children or how much he knew about what not only was going on in Gertrude's home or the condition of the home. It was said she did not have a stove but a hot plate she used for cooking and there was only one fork in the home. It is unclear just how many beds were available for the children. It was later said that in one bedroom there was a mattress on the floor and that five to six children shared the room and alternated time on the mattress.

But, Gertrude was far from the only person suffering financially at that time. It was said that Lester and Betty Likens had moved nineteen different times between the years of 1949 and 1965. Lester worked a lot of odd jobs but the family also did a lot of “carnival work” where they ran a concession stand. They had five children, two sets of twins with sixteen year old Sylvia in between. The two older children were Daniel and Dianna and the two younger were Benny and Jenny. The two older children were eighteen by 1965 and the two younger were just a year younger than Sylvia at fifteen. The kids had been shuffled around often between family members while their parents were working the carnivals. But, in June of 1965 Lester and Betty were separated. It appears that at least Sylvia and Jenny lived with Betty close or near the neighborhood in which Gertrude lived with her children. In late June Betty was arrested on charges of shoplifting. It is not clear how long she was in jail but apparently Lester went to get the girl. They mentioned how they had met two girls at church, seventeen year old Paula Baniszewski and her fifteen year old sister Stephanie and that apparently they had spent time in the Baniszewski home.

I do not think it was ever made clear why Lester did not reach out to family members again to take charge of the girls but for whatever reason he decided to go talk to the mother of these two new friends the girls had made. It was said that Lester did not enter the home when he talked to Gertrude on that day in late June. It was also eluded to that while Lester and Betty would visit with their daughters at least three times over the next few months that they never went inside the home. Whether this is true or not is unclear. There were indications that it was maybe possible that as long as one did not go past the front room of the home little would be noticed. It has been said that if Lester and Betty knew the condition of the home such as the kitchen or the available beds the girls would have never remained there but in my opinion that is pure speculation.

At any rate Lester apparently tells Gertrude his issue. His wife is in jail and he is due to go back working for the carnival and he needs housing for his two daughters, Sylvia and Jenny, who suffered from polio and wore a brace on one of her legs. He offers Gertrude $20 a week to care for the girls. She accepts and Lester even pays her for the at least the first week but it is indicated that he may have paid her two weeks in advance. According to Jenny the first few weeks in the home were rather pleasant and fun. Everyone seemed to get along and there were always kids around. Of course there were now nine children living in the home full time but many of the neighborhood children and other friends of the Baniszewski children visited often. And then things changed.

Jenny would say that the first abuse that was given to her and her sister occurred a few weeks after their arrival when Gertrude did not receive money from Lester on the day she expected it to come. She took both girls to a room upstairs and beat them with a paddle, chastised them, and called them names complaining that she had cared for them for nothing since the money had not arrived. It was said that the following day the money did come but the flood gates had opened. Abuse now was out in the open and common place. Sylvia always her sisters protector tried to shield her sister in some ways but then it seemed to become a “game” of sorts. Before it was all over not only was Gertrude beating and abusing Sylvia but so were her children and many neighborhood children.

Now may be the appropriate time to give you a description of Gertrude. She was described as rather weak and frail looking. She was about five foot six but it was said she barely weighed 100 pounds. She was said to be asthmatic but also a chain smoker. It was said she took medications for her asthma but there have been indications and it was alleged that she may have been taking some other sorts of drugs also. Whether she was as weak as she would portray herself has always been a question. Some say that since most of the beatings she gave she used a belt or a paddle rather than her arms were due to her weaknesses. It was said, and we will get to some in a bit, that there were times during the beatings she would get weak and instruct someone else to take over. She would later claim in court that she was innocent and too sick and weak to have done anything at all to Sylvia. She would claim that much of her time at home was spent in bed. Years later at her parole hearing she would claim to take responsibility but still claim she remembered nothing due to the “drugs” she was taking at the time. In my opinion it sounds as if her “weaknesses” were convenient. She could get others to do things for her and also claim she was incapable or unaware. In 1965 Gertrude was thirty-seven years old. She had given birth to seven children but it was said she had been pregnant some sixteen times over the years, having many miscarriages. Whether it was her hard life, her illnesses or even her lifestyle, it was said that (and I have seen pictures) she did not look anywhere near thirty-seven but maybe decades older.

Many have speculated that her seemingly directed anger towards Sylvia was based on jealousy. Gertrude's own seventeen year old daughter, Paula was soon pregnant after having an affair with a married man. While Sylvia did not obviously have an easy life herself up to this point she was smart, she was 'free,' she was pretty and she had a whole life ahead of her. After that first beating many of the beatings and torture that Sylvia suffered at the hands of particularly Gertrude seemed to be sexual in itself or related to be punishment for perceived sexuality.

We might be here nearly sixty years later talking about a crime that was brought on by Gertrude's jealousy but we are not here still proclaiming it to be the worse case in Indiana history only because a near middle aged woman was jealous of a teenage girl and her looks. We are still here talking about this case because not only did Gertrude instruct, as well as allegedly threaten her own children to help in her abuse of Sylvia, she instructed and encouraged other children from the neighborhood to do the same. There were many children who may not have engaged in the abuse but knew about it and watched it happen. Some have argued that fear could have been what drove her own children to participate. Jenny herself admitted to hitting Sylvia on at least a few occasions because she was instructed to do so out of fear that she would be beaten if she did not. Gertrude's children obviously lived with her and they knew what she was capable of doing, they were watching it in real time. I am not saying that I completely buy into this idea, especially with the older children, but I admit that the Gertrude's three youngest, Marie, Shirley and James who were eleven, ten and eight at the time may have seen it that way. But, few seem to be able to argue how the neighborhood children, seven of which would initially be charged and involved in some way continued to go back to that home and engage in that behavior and never tell anyone.

But, I have done something you may often find me doing... getting ahead of myself. Some of you may be asking at this point why I would make a big deal about some hitting and beating. Well, that is because I am yet to reveal the worse of things. Maybe I have done that on purposely in a way because the things that were done to Sylvia were so horrible and so inhumane that if this were not completely true no one would believe it possible, probable or capable from a “frail” woman and a group of children.

As I said earlier, that first beating opened the floodgates to beatings. That first one was related to a supposed “late payment” coming in the mail. Others would be for her having candy that she had legitimately bought or because she found a bottle somewhere and returned it for “cash” (that was done back then) or she ate a sandwich that her older sister gave her when she saw her at a park. And when Gertrude could not come up with a good reason to punish Sylvia or to get her children to do it at her bidding she made them up.

At some point Sylvia indicated that when she and her family lived in California working with the carnival for a bit she had met a boy and considered him her boyfriend. She was asked if she had done “anything” with him and reports of her answer are not completely clear. Some say she did not really understand what she was being asked; some believe maybe she had not done anything but thought it would sound better if she said she had. I really just do not think anyone knows exactly what was said, what was true or what was perceived but in Gertrude's mind she has now decided that Sylvia is a “whore” and this seemed to be her excuse to kick and stomp Sylvia in the genital area often. It was also the excuse to punish her by not only having a room full of children present and have her strip naked but to make her insert a bottle into her vagina in front of everyone while they taunted her. It was also the excuse to beat her and then proclaim that she needed to bath in scalding hot water to “wash away her sins.” The scalding water often left blisters on her body.

When school started in September all the kids, including Sylvia returned and no one said a word. Jenny would later say that they were all threatened not to tell anyone and the fear of what would happen if they did kept them from saying anything. The next thing that Gertrude used as an excuse to beat Sylvia and have others also help her is shrouded in mystery a bit. Some say that the one and only time that Sylvia “retaliated” against the abuse was to start a rumor at school that both Paula and Stephanie were prostitutes. Many say that this did not happen and that Gertrude made it up, telling this to her daughters to get them angry with Sylvia also and participate more in the beatings. Stephanie's boyfriend was Coy Hubbard and it was indicated that he may have been involved in the abuse before this alleged rumor was started but even if he was not, at this point he became fully involved.

In one incident Gertrude either accused Sylvia of stealing some food, whether it was perceived or not. Or to be fair it could have been when Sylvia's sister gave her a sandwich and Gertrude accused her of in essence giving a sign to her sister things were not right at home. I say I am unsure because the beatings and the torture and reasons for them became so outrageous in a short period of time and then even more so quickly escalated. But in this or a similar incident John Jr., who was twelve and neighbor, Richard Hobbs force fed Sylvia a hot dog overflowing with condiments and when she vomited on the floor she was forced to eat that.

What we do know is that Lester and Betty came to the home on October 5^th and according to all reports no one said anything and they noticed nothing wrong. The following day was the last day that Sylvia would be in school. During the next few weeks at least a school nurse and a minister would come to the Baniszewski home inquiring about Sylvia. Allegedly the nurse came because she had received an anonymous call about Sylvia having open sores. At this point Sylvia had not been in school for a few days at least. The anonymous caller was allegedly the father of one of the neighborhood children who would later be taken into custody and charged with causing injury to a person. The nurse never saw Sylvia because Gertrude told her that Sylvia had run away. When asked about the alleged open sores Gertrude claimed they were really nothing and that they were caused by a lack of personal hygiene and that Sylvia refused to keep herself clean. In reality Sylvia had become the personal ashtray of Gertrude and all of the teenagers who would smoke in her home. They would literally put their cigarettes out on her body. And, many times after these incidents if she was not given the scalding bath alcohol was rubbed on the sore on the pretense of cleaning them.

Just how much the minister saw and knew was not completely clear either. Most reports indicated that just as she had told the school nurse, Gertrude also told the minister that Sylvia had run away. The reality of it was that she had been delegated at that point to spend most of her time not only in the basement, getting there by most of the time by being pushed, and tied up. The “reasoning” for this was because by now Sylvia's body had gone through so much trauma and she had been kicked and beaten so much her kidneys were not functioning properly and she became incontinent. Staying in the basement was the punishment for this. But, the minister would admit apparently in court that he knew that Sylvia was being abused in some way but that Gertrude had convinced him that it was okay because it was punishment for “soliciting.”

During one incident Paula Baniszewski punched Sylvia so hard she broke her wrist. But, all the more the better because she got a cast to beat her even more. Jenny would later say that the majority of the beatings and torture was carried out by Gertrude and Paula. Stephanie it appears had done some but also on at least a few occasions had attempted to stop others. Her other answer was to often not be at home.

By mid-October the abuse and torture had elevated to an extreme degree. Sylvia was almost exclusively held in the basement, often tied at her wrists to a point her feet barely touched the ground. Children would come home from school and bring their friends and all would go to the basement to “practice” kicks on her; she was being all but starved and given very little water. Beatings and kicks were not all she got. One Gertrude and John Jr. took a urine and feces filled diaper from the baby and rubbed it in her face and mouth. At some point a hose was brought in the house and through the basement and turned on to spray her now almost always naked body down.

On October 22^nd Gertrude ordered the children to bring Sylvia upstairs. She was going on and on with her talk about Sylvia being a “whore” and of course the kids chimed in. Then Gertrude decide to bump up the abuse to another level. She got a needle and heated it and decided to she was going to carve into Sylvia's stomach. She got as far as “I'M” and got tired so she handed the needle to Richard Hobbs and instructed him what to write and went off to the store, taking Jenny with her. Richard Hobbs finished Gertrude's bidding and when he was done “I'M A PROSTITUTE AND PROUD OF IT” was now etched into her stomach. She was taken back down to the basement where an anchor bolt was heated up in an attempt to brand her with an “S” under her breast. When it was done it looked more like a “3.”

It seems that within a few days Gertrude was starting to realize that Sylvia was not going to live and plans needed to be made. Gertrude dictated a letter for Sylvia to write to her parents. The letter talked how she was basically a horrible child and she had treated Gertrude and the family badly and that she had decided to run away with some boys. It has been said that the plan was that she was going to be blindfolded and let out into some woods that were not super far away and basically left there to die with the letter in her hand. It was believed that Sylvia heard this plan and attempted to escape but she was too wake to do so and Gertrude stopped her before she could get out. The following day would be her last.

Exactly what happened, when and how is somewhat speculation. What we do know is that around 6:30 on the evening of October 26, 1965 a call was made to the police to come to the home on New York Street. The call was made by Richard Hobbs from a payphone nearby. When police arrived Gertrude made sure to show them the letter and claimed that Sylvia had ran away, only to return that morning covered in injuries and that she had tried to nurse her back to health and failed. I can only imagine what the officers that went to that home that day thought. They found a young girl on a mattress, on a floor of a bedroom... dead. Her lips were “shredded;” every one of her fingernails had been broken back and off; she was COVERED in bruises and sores that even they could tell were in different stages of healing. Her vaginal area was nearly swollen shut; she had a “tattoo” on her stomach proclaiming to be a prostitute; she had branding of a “3” under her breast. They absolutely had to be appalled and wondering what the hell they had just walked in on. All of the children, including Jenny told the story Gertrude had said to say but then Jenny leaned over and whispered to the officer “Get me out of here and I will tell you everything.”

By the time the coroner arrived rigor mortis had already set in. He would later say that since it was alleged that almost immediately prior to her death Sylvia was given a bath that it could have accelerated rigor mortis, making the time of death questionable. That being said he speculated that she could have died several hours before the phone call was made. After conducting an autopsy on the body he determined her official cause of death was a subdural hematoma (likely caused by a head injury) and shock but all was exasperated by “extensive injuries” and malnourishment.

After hearing the story from Jenny authorities decided to arrest Gertrude, Paula, Stephanie and John Jr. All of the younger children residing in the home would be taken into custody also. They would go to foster homes for a short time before their father, who would ultimately change their last name to Blake likely due to all of the publicity and animosity of the case, regained custody of them. Later that same day authorities would arrest Coy Hubbard and Richard Hobbs. A few days later, on the 29^th, five more neighborhood children ranging from the ages of eleven to thirteen were taken into custody and charged. Those five would later be released to their parents and those charges would be dropped. An official indictment was not handed down until December 30, 1965. The prosecutor was asking for the death penalty.

I want to stop here for a second and discuss Stephanie's case. Most everything that you find will tell you that charges against Stephanie were dropped and she agreed to testify against the others. I have always known this to be the case. One of the best references, if for no other reason other than it was published shortly after the crime is John Dean's book Indiana Torture Slaying. John Dean was a reporter for the Indianapolis Star and covered the case at the time. However, there is a website called the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis that claims she had a separate trial in another area and was found not guilty. If you come across this information I will say I am almost completely certain that is incorrect.

So five people were going on trial for the torture and murder of Sylvia. The prosecutor wanted them all tried together believing that a jury would get a better picture of what happened when they saw all of the defendants together and he would be able to tell the story easier. Not only did at least Gertrude and Paula's lawyers want their cases severed from the others, they also asked for a change of venue. Both of these things were denied by the judge. As much as it pains me to say this not only do I believe that the judge made a mistake on the change of venue, an appeals court would say the same later. In fairness to the judge while I am sure there were cases before this one that had the “circus” mentality somewhere, it had not been the case here yet but the whole idea that publicity could taint a jury or that a defendant could not get a fair trial due to publicity was not something that was considered a lot back in 1965.

All of the defendants had pleaded not guilty but Gertrude had also pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. She had quickly turned on the children after her arrest. She made comments such as “Paula did most of the damage;” “Coy Hubbard did a lot of the beatings.” Despite their not guilty pleas at least a few of the kids admitted doing a few things but like so many defendants they minimized their roles. They would claim to have only hit her a few times and really not much more. All of the attorneys that represented the children would argue that Gertrude had pressured them to do it.

The trial began with jury selection on August 18, 1966. Jury selection took several days. If anyone said they could not impose the death penalty the prosecution wanted them gone. If they expressed they could not express sympathy towards the defendants, the defense wanted them gone. There were several “big” players on the witness stand. One of course was Jenny who told her side of things and what happened. Stephanie testified also which some of the attorneys pointed out was self serving for her and tried to discredit her. I could be wrong but it appears that the only defendant to testify was Gertrude herself. She claimed that she was completely innocent and that while she could not argue that things had apparently happened in her home, under her roof, while she was there, she would claim to be so sickly and in her bed so much that she had no idea what was going on. Of all of the defendants it was said that only Richard Hobbs appeared to show any kind of remorse to what happened.

I want to note a few things from the closing arguments. The prosecutor just basically told the jury that the death penalty for all, remember John Jr. was only twelve, was the only answer they could or should come to. Gertrude's lawyer actually stood up and called her a murderer but claimed she was insane. But, in my opinion the most outrageous comment was made by Richard Hobbs' attorney when he attacked Jenny Likens. He was quoted as say she was “a sister who could limp three and a half miles to a park but couldn't take two or three steps out into New York Street to beg for help.”

On May 25, 1966 a verdict was reached. They were all found guilty of at least something. Gertrude would be found guilty of first degree murder and given a life sentence. Paula, who had given birth in jail to a baby girl, that would later be adopted, and named her after Gertrude, was found guilty of second degree murder and also given a life sentence. It was less clear exactly what the charges the boys were officially found guilty of but they were each given sentences of 2-21 years. The three boys would all serve just a few more years and be released in February of 1968.

Both Gertrude and Paula would appeal their cases and in September of 1970 their convictions were reversed. The courts agreed with their attorneys that their cases should have been severed and that they never should have taken place in Indianapolis due to the publicity. They argued that a fair trial was not possible there. Before she could be tried again Paula would plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter. She was given a sentence of 2-20 years and despite attempting to escape twice she was released from prison in December of 1972.

I have never been able to find or determine exactly where Gertrude's second trial took place or really anything about it at all. Some things will tell you that the jury deliberated for eight hours but I must be fair in saying I am unsure if they were talking about the first or the second trial. Regardless she again was found guilty of first degree murder and given a life sentence. She would spend that time in the Indiana Women's Prison, which by the way was the first prison to solely house adult women in the country. In prison it was said she became somewhat of a “den mother” to other inmates and had no disciplinary problems.

Disciplinary problems or not when she came up for parole in 1985 the community had absolutely no intention of letting her walk out without a fight. There were picketting campaigns around the city and a petition was gathered with over forty thousand signatures protesting her release. At the hearing she was quoted as saying, “I'm not sure what role I had in Likens' death because I was on drugs. I never really knew her... I take full responsibility for whatever happened to Sylvia.” In my opinion it was very much a self serving statement and I do not believe for a second she took responsibility for any of her actions, but that is just me. It was said that her parole was granted “marginally in her favor” and she was released on December 4, 1985. Some reports say that prior to her release she had her name legally changed while others say it did not occur until after her release when she changed her name to Nadine Van Fossan which was a combination of her middle and maiden name. She moved to Iowa where her daughter Paula now lived and was isolated until her death from lung cancer on June 16, 1990 at the age of sixty-one. It has been widely reported that Jenny saw Gertrude's obituary in the paper, cut it out and mailed it to her mother proclaiming happiness that Gertrude was finally dead.

Richard Hobbs, seemingly the most remorseful of all of those involved only lived until 1972 when at the age of twenty-one he too died of lung cancer. Coy Hubbard never changed his name but apparently spent time in and out of jail for the rest of his life. He was accused of two murders in 1977 but he was acquitted. Some could argue he was an easy scapegoat; some could argue he was a 'bad seed,' or some could maybe argue that Sylvia's torture and death and the influence of Gertrude had awakened something in him and turned him into who he was. He was working in 2007 when the movie An American Crime was released. He was soon fired (I can only assume he possibly lied on an application) and a few months later died of a heart attack at the age of fifty-six.

John Blake (ie Baniszewski) Jr. became a lay minister and counseled for couples and children of divorce in Texas. He died in 2005 at the age of fifty-two from complications of diabetes. Before his death both he and his sister Stephanie did some sort of interview that I was privy to see at some point. My biggest memory of that was that while they both attempted or seemed to attempt to show remorse for their actions and the actions of other it felt very hollow because they refused to call Sylvia by her name. It was just very obvious they she was always “she” or “her.” Speaking of Stephanie it appears that she became a school teacher, married and had children and by all reports was last known to be living in Florida.

Paula just kind of disappeared. Indianapolis goes through periods where of course the case is not discussed and then something will happen or anniversary of some sort will come up and someone will start digging again. In 2012 it was discovered that Paula was married and living in Iowa. It was also discovered that she had been working as a school counselor (or was she a teachers aide? Reports are unclear) for fourteen years. Once again Indiana, Indianapolis in particular, was in an uproar. Eventually she was fired when it was discovered she had lied on her application when it came to her criminal history. It looks as if she is still alive and living in Iowa. She is in her mid 70's now.

One of the reasons I was surprised to hear from someone the other day who had not heard about this case was because from my perspective everyone who has lived in Indiana their whole life knew about this case. Obviously I was wrong and I attribute my knowledge to first living in Indianapolis at the time of Gertrude's parole but also my fascination with true crime. Indianapolis in particular tends to try to not forget Sylvia. The home on New York Street became somewhat of a symbol for a long time while it stood in disrepair. There were stories of “hauntings” and visions seen in windows. There were videos posted on the Internet of the inside (where it was trashed and looked as if squatters lived there) for a long time. At one point there was talk of the city buying the home and turning it into a woman's shelter in Sylvia's name. Those plans fell through and in April of 2009 the home was demolished and the land was turned into a parking lot for a nearby church. There is a plaque in the lot marking it as being where the home stood and Sylvia's name. In a nearby park where Sylvia would frequent there is a statue and memorial that was dedicated in 2001 that says “This memorial is in memory of a young child who died a tragic death. As a result, laws changed and awareness increased. This is a commitment to our children, that the Indianapolis Police Department is working to make this a safe city for our children.”

Sylvia is buried in Lebanon Indiana, just north of Indianapolis in Boone County. An advocacy center was opened in 2010 and in 2016 it was renamed Sylvia's Child Advocacy Center. It is a safe place for children to report abuse. They work with the local police and child protective services and offer things like a safe place and forensic testing.

Sylvia's story needs to be told over and over and over again. We do not stop telling her story just because it has been almost sixty years. We tell this story again and again a hundred years from now. We tell this story so that we remember what she went through and how so many people had the opportunity to save her and yet failed her over and over again. We tell her story so that this cannot happen again; we tell her story so a child knows they will be saved and they must tell what is going on. We tell the story so that “they” will tell.