The torture and murder of Sylvia Likens is widely regarded as one of the worst crimes in Indiana history and has been described by a senior investigator in the Indianapolis Police Department as the "most sadistic" case he had ever investigated in the 35 years he served with the Indianapolis Police. [2][3]
SylviaLikens was a teen who was tortured and murdered in Indianapolis in the 1960s. Her murderer, Gertrude Baniszewski, was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
In October 1965, 16-year-old SylviaLikens died after being held captive for nearly three months. Her death sparked action across police departments, prosecution, and the halls of the Indiana General Assembly, plus movies and books.
It has been the most enduring nightmare in Indianapolis True Crime history — the , torture-murder of 16-year-old SylviaLikens.
Gertrude Baniszewski, also known as The Torture Mother, was an Indiana divorcee who oversaw and facilitated the prolonged torture, mutilation, and murder of SylviaLikens, a teenage girl she had taken into her home in 1965.
SylviaLikens is shown in a file photograph from 1965, the year she was tortured to death in Indianapolis by neighbor Gertrude Baniszewski. TRACES
SylviaLikens, 16, was found murdered with 'I'm a prostitute and proud of it' burned onto her stomach. The perpetrators of her slow, tortured death turned out to be the family that was caring for her and several neighborhood children.
