The Brutal Murder of Sylvia Likens The Scare Chamber


Nightmare Babysitter’s Abuse Ends In Tragedy For One American Family

July 6, 2021 by Juliane Cunha Sylvia Marie Likens was an American teenager tortured to death by her mother, siblings, and even other children in the neighborhood. Being in a troubled family, Sylvia Likens received very little attention from her parents.


Nightmare Babysitter’s Abuse Ends In Tragedy For One American Family

It has been the most enduring nightmare in Indianapolis True Crime history — the Oct. 26, 1965, torture-murder of 16-year-old Sylvia Likens.


Sylvia Likens The 1965 torture and murder of the 16yearold girl

The torture and murder of 16-year-old Sylvia Likens at the hands of the woman entrusted to care for her stands as one of the most harrowing and unthinkable atrocities in the annals of American crime. It is a nightmare come to life — and death — in 1965 Indianapolis.


The tragic story of Sylvia Likens The murder case that proves you

Remembering Sylvia Likens, a case that shocked Indy James Briggs Gertrude Baniszewski (left), in custody of a police matron, weeps after a jury delivered a guilty verdict against her and four teenagers in the torture slaying of 16-year-old Sylvia Liken on May 19, 1966. Photo: Bettmann/Contributor via Getty Images


Mundo de Helena REAL O caso de Sylvia Likens

But in 1965, prosecutors painted her as one of the ringleaders in the torture of Sylvia Maria Likens, a 16-year-old who moved in with the Baniszewskis while her mother was on the road as a.


When Sylvia Likens was killed, part of our childhoods died, too

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Sylvia Likens and “Indiana’s most terrible crime” Sylvia's CAC

In 1965, sixteen-year-old Sylvia Likens and her disabled fifteen-year-old sister, Jenny, are left in the care of an impoverished woman named Gertrude Baniszewski, a church acquaintance and mother to Paula, Johnny, Stephanie, and several younger children. Sylvia and Jenny's parents, Lester and Betty, work in the carnival circuit and leave on a tour.


Nightmare Babysitter’s Abuse Ends In Tragedy For One American Family

Sylvia Likens had been brutally abused by the woman who promised her parents she'd look after her, and she wasn't the only one who took part in the torture — there was an entire community of people behind the cruelty. Sylvia and her sister Jenny were sent to live with Gertrude Baniszewski in July 1965.


The last photo of Sylvia likens before she was abused and murdered by

Sylvia Foresaw Death, Sister Sobs. Indianapolis News, May 2, 1966. The sobbing sister of Sylvia Marie Likens today quoted her as saying, "Jenny, I know you don't want me to die.


The tragic story of Sylvia Likens The murder case that proves you

Apr 17, 2020. This is part three in a series honoring young Sylvia Likens and how her torture-murder represents both a failure of those around her to report, and a legacy of help and hope for.


Sylvia Likens Chilling Crimes

The crime, we would find out later, was the murder of a 16-year-old girl named Sylvia Marie Likens. Her body was found by a police officer at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 26, 1965, at a home on the 3800 block.


The tragic story of Sylvia Likens The murder case that proves you

An American Crime: Directed by Tommy O'Haver. With Elliot Page, Hayley McFarland, Nick Searcy, Romy Rosemont. The true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.


Sylvia Likens Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

Sylvia Likens, The 16-Year-Old Who Was Tortured And Murdered By Caretaker Gertrude Baniszewski By Mark Oliver | Edited By John Kuroski Published May 20, 2023 Updated June 7, 2023 In 1965, Sylvia Likens and her sister Jenny were left in the care of family friend Gertrude Baniszewski — who tortured Likens to death and got her own children to help.


SYLVIA LIKENS A HEARTBREAKING CASE ABOUT ABUSE AND MURDER by Miss

On October 26, 1965, police found Sylvia Likens's emaciated corpse—covered with more than 150 wounds ranging from burns to cuts—sprawled on a filthy mattress in the Indianapolis home of 37-year-old Gertrude Baniszewski, mother of seven and the architect of the girl's gruesome death.


The tragic story of Sylvia Likens The murder case that proves you

Sylvia Likens was not Anne Frank, a girl who hid with her threatened family in an attic, wrote brilliantly about her life, and died in a Nazi death camp, Bergen-Belsen, because she was a Jew and had been designated unfit to live by the authorities of the Reich.


The Brutal Murder of Sylvia Likens The Scare Chamber

In October 1965, 16-year-old Sylvia Likens 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.

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