United States has a variety of cases chilling that prove the irrational nature of the human being and each one of them reflects in some way the conflict that is latent in this society even in the current . With this we cannot say that it is a constant, but without a doubt the violence and aggression are established in the collective unconscious.Know the case of the teenager Sylvia Likens and the suffering she had to face.
The worst mistake of the Likens
Lebanon, Indiana, 1965 , the Likens family is going through a difficult situation economic , Lester and Betty , parents of young Sylvia 16 years old and Jennifer 15, make a decision that would change the lives of the four forever.In order to raise more money , decide to join a company circus and go on tour with it.The problem arises when they have to decide with whom they could leave their daughters.
The family was very devout , every Sunday they went to the Evangelical Church of Indianapolis. In this they meet Gertrude Baniszewski , single mother, and her seven children Paula, Stephanie, John, Marie, Shirley, James and Dennis.After a few moments of living together , the Likens girls make friendship with two of Baniszewski's youngest daughters, so Sylvia and Jennifer's parents begin to trust in these and their whole family.Time was running out and the Likens had to find someone to take care of your daughters, That's when Gertrude took advantage of the tension to make an offer that they couldn't refuse .The deal was that she would give shelter and food to the girls, as long as a check for 20 dollars he will arrive at his house every week.The proposal had fallen from the sky, the girls felt surrounded by that family and their relieved parents, so they left leaving his daughters with a woman they had known just a few days ago .
The suffering of Sylvia Likens begins prematurely
With only 7 days under Gertrude's tutelage , conflicts with the Likens girls began because the expected payment was delayed one day. Mrs.Baniszewski, frustrated and irrational, decides to punish the teenage girls in the basement of her house.Full of anger Gertrude demands that girls be strong> undress to hit them with a wooden board.Sylvia trying to defend her sister who suffered from polio , asked Gertrude to impose the cruel punishment only on her.The woman agreed.
From this moment on, the fear of the girls was day by day more strong, fearing for their lives and unable to run away anywhere.Parents, who visited sporadically to their daughters, had no idea what what was happening, because Gertrude had threatened to the girls stating that if they got to comment on what was happening to their parents, she would kill her as soon as she had the opportunity.
The friendship of the Likens with the daughters of Gertrude is was compromised in the same way and especially with Paula , the oldest, for conflicts apparently caused by a boy .From this disunion , Paula He decides to tell his mother that Sylvia was a prostitute and that she lay down with any man who crossed her path. Retaliation became daily causing Sylvia to remain in the basement receiving constants maltraints.
In a chilling discharge of anger, Gertrude introduced a bottle of glass soda into the Sylvia's vagina , she did it with such force that it ended up breaking in the inside causing deep tears .
Social pressure
On the cusp of Sylvia's bad condition , the vicissitudes continued to appear, when one of Gertrude's boys, John , started inviting friends from the neighborhood to observe the abuses and mistreatment of the girl, even some were participate in this morbid game of aggression. The young people put out cigarettes in the skin of Likens and it is said that they also violated the violated .
Coy Hubbard, Stephanie Baniszewski's boyfriend, got involved in the Illegal to throw the girl into the basement in a failed escape attempt, causing a brain hemorrhage. In turn the young Richard Hobbes, family friend, collaborated with the torture under the instruction of Gertrude recording in Sylvia's womb: “ I am a prostitute and proud to be ”
Without medical attention, cleanliness or care, Sylvia Likens was in critical conditions ; her sister Jennifer , who had been watching the persistent torture, went into a strong state of shock because she knew her sister could die and she didn't have the means to help her.threatened and intimidated by each of the members of that family, she had spent days without eating .
Calm and peace at last
On October 26, 1965 , dies Sylvia Likens due to the accumulation of infections in multiple wounds without caring in his body, malnutrition and the brain hemorrhage that had been unleashed days ago.
Gertrude Baniszewski called the police arguing that the young woman had fallen down the stairs to the basement without emb When arriving at the scene of the crime, the status of Likens's body was so deplorable and shocking that media attention was increased strongly, the authorities They declared that this had been the worst case of abuse and physical abuse in Indiana's history.Young Jennifer Likens being rescued quickly stated: “ Get me out of here and I'll tell you everything ”that way the trial against the Baniszewski family began.
The sentence
Gertrude was sentenced to life imprisonment , leaving in 1985 on parole, died of lung cancer at age 60.She Negotiated until the moment of his death each of the facts of which he was accused, said that vandalos and other boys in the neighborhood wounded the young woman without her being able to prevent it, because she was very sick and could not move.Her daughter Paula was convicted of second-degree murder and was imprisoned until 1973. John Baniszewski was imprisoned at 13 years old , being the youngest in the history of the Indiana State Reform , and on leaving he became clergy .Richard Hobbes and Coy Hubbard were found guilty for complicity and both were admitted to the State Reform; Hobbes died at 21 years of lung cancer, while Hubbard lived a criminal life after leaving the reformatory, visiting the prison frequently.
Some witnesses neighbors of the Baniszewski, said that the heartbreaking screams of young Sylvia were heard daily However, many decided not to intervene , since it was usual to hear shouting after the loud reprimands that Gertrude managed towards his own children.
The impact of this tortuous homicide reached the cinema with the movie “ An american crime ” starring Ellen Paige and Catherine Keener , which tells the story in a reliable way. In turn there is a book by the author Jack Ketchum, whose characters and plot are based in this case of Sylvia Likens.The adaptation of this book was taken to the big screen under the name " The girl next door " (not to be confused with the comedy of the same name).
Definitely one more proof of brutality that a human being may be able to do after following the delusions of an upset mind about an innocent one.
If you were interested in this article, you might want to know another creepy case demonstrating human misery, like Sylvia Likens: the worst cannibal case in history.
Images: Krista Grinberga, 401 (K) 2012, Andy Hares, Send me adrift.
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