(1929-1990) One of the most disturbing murderers in Indiana history (and indeed history in general), a
demon disguised as a mother. A three times divorced borderline personality and sociopath who lead her seven children and several neighborhood children in the appalling two-month torture in 1965 of two sisters who she was boarding, Silvia and Jenny Likens (ages 16 and 15) and eventually murdered Silvia.
The stronger of the pair, Silvia took the brunt of Gertrude's fury; she called Silvia filthy (Gertrude's own house was a virmin-ridden hellhole), called her a
whore (Gertrude had
fucked another
man during one of her three marriages (resulting in a
child) and her own teenage daughter was a slut who was pregnant by a married
man) and subjected the girls (and Silvia in particular) to physical, verbal, and sexual tortures that are nightmares to even conceive of.
Neighbors had noticed the battered state of the Likens girls, but they did not report Gertrude.
Gertrude tried to pin the crimes on her children and the neighborhood children when Silvia's hideously mangled body was found.
In other
words, a demon
bitch and a good reason for
parents to do extensive background checks on caregivers before entrusting their loved ones to them.
Gertrude Baniszewski was sentenced to life in
prison in 1966, but was paroled in 1985 for "good behavior", despite the outrage of the Likens
family and the public at large. She died under a false name in 1990; it marks a huge injustice for
two innocent young women who were martyrs to a needless crime.
Her eldest daughter and the rest of her children and the other children involved were also sentenced, but their punishments seem more like a slap on the wrist.
She could be compared to Lori Drew for Drew'
s cyberbullying of Megan Meier (leading the
girl to suicide) for some perceived slight toward her own daughter.
