True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

(Gertrude Baniszewski during her second trial. Photo credit: murderpedia.org) 

When I read about this case the other day, it reminded me of a movie that I had watched years ago, back in 2007 which I thought was really disturbing. The film was called Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door and I thought it was just a horror movie but it turned out that the film was loosely based on the Sylvia Likens case.

The film was so disturbing that I thought at the time, nobody could be that evil but over the years I've learnt that there are some pretty sick people in the world that are capable of anything. In this series of posts, I will be covering one of the most shocking and horrendous murders that America and the world has ever seen. A sickening crime that involved a mother, her children and their neighbourhood. This case is from the 1960s but it still brings shock, fear, anger and disgust into the hearts of many to this day. 

Before I begin I have to warn you that the details in this case are very disturbing and involve child abuse, neglect, torture, violence and murder. There were points during my research when I had to stop and take a breath because I just couldn't believe what I was reading. 

Another note, before I start, If you enjoy my weekly true crime posts, please consider supporting my work

Let's begin...

Gertrude Nadine Baniszewski is a name that people who know about her would like to forget. She's had various nicknames over the years but the one that seems to have stuck the most is ''The Torture Mother''. Some people describe her as ''The Most Evil Woman Ever''. When I'd finished my research into the case these were the first words that popped into my head when thinking of a title. I added a question mark because I'm sure there are other female murderers out there who are just as worse and even more so than her but she is definitely evil. 

Gertrude Van Fossan was born in 1929 and was the third of six children. Not much is known about her childhood except that she was extremely close to her father but didn't bond so well with her mother. At the age of 11, Gertrude's beloved father had a heart attack and died in front of her. As anyone could imagine, this would be quite a traumatic thing to happen for a fully grown adult to witness let alone a child who wouldn't be psychologically capable to deal with the situation. Losing someone you love so suddenly in quite a shocking way right in front of you and feeling powerless to help must have been very traumatic for young Gertrude. Instead of her father's death bringing Gertrude and her mother together in their grief, they further drifted apart and arguments between the pair became a regular occurrence.

Gertrude went off the rails and dropped out of school at the age of 16. She married her 18 year old boyfriend, John Baniszewski and started a family. She would go on to have four children with him. The marriage was a violent one with Gertrude often starved of affection and during discussions, her husband would hit her if she dared to argue or disagree with him. John Baniszewski was a police officer who upheld the law in public but didn't seem to do so behind closed doors with his wife. 

Despite the rocky marriage, it lasted for 10 years before they divorced and Gertrude gained custody of all four children. Being an attractive woman at the time, it didn't take Gertrude that long to become involved in another relationship despite being a single mother of four children which was frowned upon by some people back in those days. She got together with a man called Edward Guthrie and after a brief romance, got married. The marriage was short lived and only lasted three months as Edward quickly grew tired of the family life and became fed up of being responsible for Gertrude's children. 

A short time after this, John Baniszewski came back on the scene again and Gertrude and John rekindled their romance. Despite their previous experience of being married to each other being a total disaster, they decided to try again and re-married. They managed to stay together for seven years before divorcing a second and final time in 1963. Gertrude won full custody of their children.

Gertrude began an affair around this time with a younger man called Dennis Lee Wright who was 23 years old. This was another relationship which proved to be violent with Dennis raising his hand regularly to Gertrude. She fell pregnant twice during the relationship with her suffering from a miscarriage with her first one to Dennis which was speculated to be due to his violent assaults. The second pregnancy lasted full term and she gave birth to her final child, Denny Lee Jr, in 1964.

she had 7 children and had suffered 6 miscarriages. Dennis Sr walked out on her and his newborn son leaving Gertrude struggling to make ends meet whilst trying to take care of her baby and 6 other children.

By the time 1965 rolled around, Gertrude's years of hardship, bad relationships and financial struggles were starting to take a toll on her health and appearance. She had lost a lot of weight and struggled with asthma as well as other ailments. Due to lack of proper nutrition, she had a receding hairline and her face looked tired and drawn. She also failed to wash regularly or keep her house clean and was a heavy chain smoker.

The family tried to get by on the sporadic child support payments from John Baniszewski. Gertrude would make the odd bit of money when she could, by doing a neighbours washing or babysitting their children.

Gertrude told people in the neighbourhood that she was married to Dennis Sr as a way of keeping some respectability as some people back then would frown upon having children out of wedlock. She changed her name to ''Mrs Gertrude Wright''.

Gertrude and her children, Paula (17), Stephanie (15), John (12), Marie (11), Shirley (10), James (8) and Dennis Jr (1),  lived in a big house at the corner of East New York and Denny Street. The address was 3850 East New York Street in Indianapolis, USA. The rent was $55 per month.


To add to the financial problems and Gertrude's worries, her 17 year old daughter, Paula, had fallen pregnant due to a fling with a middle-aged married man.

There's no disputing that Gertrude and her children had suffered a tough past and times were hard but what was to take place in that house on East New York Street was way beyond any nightmare anyone could have imagined.


Continued in part two...

Thank you for checking out this post x

(The mattress in the bedroom where the police found Sylvia's body. Photo credit: murderpedia.org) 

Continued from part three...

As I mentioned in parts one, two and three, please be aware that this post contains some disturbing content.

In one of her sick games, Gertrude told Sylvia that she could sleep upstairs again if she could learn to control her bladder during the night. She instructed John, Coy and Stephanie to tie her up so that she couldn't get up to go to the bathroom during the night. Gertrude said to her ''You can't go to the bathroom until you've learnt not to wet the bed.''

The poor girl had wet the bed during the night and the next morning she was dragged into the living room and forced to perform a strip tease in front of Gertrude's sons and some of the neighbourhood kids again. She was also forced to put a Cocoa Cola bottle up her vagina again. In the middle of all of this, Stephanie walked in and slapped Sylvia across the face.

Gertrude suddenly announced to Sylvia, ''You have branded my daughters so I will have to brand you.'' 

Sylvia was tied down and gagged and Hobbs was told to tattoo her. Gertrude heated a sewing needle till it was orange and carved ''I'' and part of an ''M'' into Sylvia's stomach. She ordered Ricky Hobbs to finish the job. He started carving but stopped and asked Gertrude how to spell ''Prostitute'' so she wrote it down for him and he continued. Sylvia now had ''I'm a prostitute and proud of it'' carved into her stomach. Ricky, Paula and 10 year old Shirley decided they wanted to put something on Sylvia's chest. They decided to go with an ''S'' and Rick carved the first half and told Jenny to do the rest to which she refused so Shirley took over. Shirley carved the wrong way and the 'S'' ended up looking like a ''3''.

Gertrude returned and began to mock Sylvia in front of her little gang, Randy Lepper, Shirley, Ricky, and Jenny.

 ''What are you going to do now Sylvia? You can't get married now. You can't undress in front of anyone. What are you going to do now?'' 

Sylvia responded to Gertrude and said ''I guess there's nothing I can do. It's on there.''

When they all left, Sylvia was left alone in the basement where she was kept for most of the time. Her sister visited her during the night and on this occasion she told Jenny, ''Jenny, I know you don't want me to die but I'm going to die, I can tell.''

Shortly after this, Gertrude brought Sylvia upstairs and allowed her to sleep in one of the bedrooms. Stephanie and Gertrude gave her a warm bath rather than the usual boiling hot one. After this, Gertrude told her that she was going to write a letter to her parents. As Gertrude dictated, Sylvia wrote down what she said onto the piece of paper.

To Mr and Mrs Likens.

I went off with a gang of boys in the middle of the night and they said that they would pay me if I gave them something. So I got in the car and they all got what they wanted and when they were finished, they beat me up and left sores on my face and all over my body.

And they also put on my stomach, I am a prostitute and proud of it.

I have done just about everything I could to make Gertie mad and cost Gertie more than she's got. I tore up a new mattress and peed on it. I have also cost Gertie doctor bills that she really can't pay and made Gertie a nervous wreck and all her kids.

For some reason, Gertrude didn't ask Sylvia to sign the letter but it was clear that she had a feeling that Sylvia was coming to the end of her life as she was growing even more weaker by the day.

Sylvia overheard Gertrude making plans to have her dumped in a waste lot to be left to die. She ordered John Jr and Jenny to carry this out. Sylvia panicked and tried to escape but being too weak and not having much energy, Gertrude got a hold of her. 

Sylvia was dragged to the kitchen where she was offered a piece of dry toast, when she refused and said that she couldn't swallow properly, Gertrude took down a curtain rod and beat her on the mouth with it. John Jr was ordered to take her back down to the basement and tie her up.

A short while later, Gertrude came down to the basement with some crackers. Sylvia refused them and said ''Give it to the dog, it's hungrier than I am.'' Gertrude then punched Sylvia several times in the stomach before leaving the basement. 

On the 24th of October, Gertrude and John Jr both beat Sylvia. Gertrude threw a chair at her but it broke against the wall so she tried to hit her with the paddle but ended up hitting herself in the face. Coy Hubbard then stepped in and beat Sylvia unconscious with a broomstick.

During the night up until 3 am, the neighbours later told the police that they heard a scrapping sound coming from the Baniszewski basement. It was Sylvia using the scoop end of a shovel in an attempt to attract attention from the neighbours. None of the neighbours contacted the police.

On the 26th of October, Sylvia was given a final non-torturous bath by Ricky and Stephanie. They noticed that she wasn't breathing in the bathtub. Stephanie attempted to give her CPR but Sylvia was gone. 

Gertrude told her children to strip Sylvia naked and ordered Ricky to go to the payphone (there wasn't a phone line in the house) and call the police. 

 (Sylvia Likens as she was and a police photograph from the crime scene at the Baniszewski house. Photo credit: imgur.com) 

When the police arrived, Gertrude came up with a ridiculous story that Sylvia had run away as a prostitute and that she had shown up on her doorstep out of the blue half naked with a note claiming that a gang of boys had attacked her. She said that she'd been doctoring Sylvia for about an hour when she passed away.

In the middle of all of this, Paula who was holding a bible, announced to everyone that Sylvia's death was meant to happen and told Jenny ''If you want to live with us Jenny, we'll treat you like our own sister.'' 

The police were not stupid, they could see that they were not dealing with people who were of sound body and mind and the poor girl's body was so emaciated and covered in sores, bruises and burns that they could tell that her injuries had come about over a period of time and not the result of a recent attack as Gertrude had claimed. They took a look at the note and during the commotion, Jenny whispered to one of the police officers ''Get me out of here and I'll tell you everything.''

The police didn't waste any time and arrested Gertrude, Paula, Stephanie, John, Ricky and Coy. The neighbourhood children who were present at the time, Mike Monroe, Randy Lepper, Judy Duke and Anna Siscoe were also arrested for ''Injury to a person.''

Gertrude, her children, Ricky and Coy were held without bail pending their trials.

Charges against Mike Monroe, Randy Lepper, Judy Duke and Anna Siscoe were dismissed.

Stephanie Baniszewski's lawyer got her a separate trial and before it was able to begin, the district attorney dropped the murder charges.

An autopsy performed on Sylvia Likens body concluded that she had suffered over 150 separate wounds across her entire body. Her injuries included burns, bruises, muscle and nerve damage. Her vaginal cavity was almost swollen shut. A further examination determined that Sylvia was still a virgin at the time of her death. All of her fingernails were broken backwards, layers of her skin were peeling off and she had bitten through her lips, partially severing sections of them from her face. Her official cause of death was severe swelling and hemorrhaging of the brain combined with shock and malnutrition. 

(seated, left to right: John Nedeff, Stephanie Baniszewski, Ricky Hobbs, Paula Baniszewski, John Baniszewski, Coy Hubbard, Gertrude Baniszewski and attorney William Erbecker. Photo credit: murderpedia.org) 

The trial began in May of 1966, the prosecution sought the death penalty for everyone involved, including John and Ricky who were 13 and 14 at the time. Paula went into labour during the trial and gave birth to a girl whom she named ''Gertrude'' after her mother. There were four different attorneys involved, one for Gertrude, one for Paula, one for John and Coy and one for Ricky, even though they were all being tried together. Each attorney tried to pass on the blame to the others involved in an attempt to get their client acquitted or a lesser sentence. 

Gertrude and her attorney tried to pull the wool over people's eyes by portraying her as a weak, mentally ill person and placed all of the blame onto the children. The children placed the blame on Gertrude and the other children involved. 

Some of the most damaging testimony came from Gertrude herself when she repeated her paranoid ramblings about Sylvia being a prostitute who had been seeing middle-aged married men and that she caused trouble in her house.

To corroborate Gertrude's story, her 11 year old daughter, Marie was called to the stand. At first the child repeated everything her mother had told her to say but under cross examination, she crumbled and told the truth about everything that happened.

Gertrude was found guilty of first degree murder but she did not receive the death penalty. She was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Paula was convicted of second degree murder, she appealed and was granted a a new trial but before it began she struck a plea bargain and plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter. She served just three years of her sentence and was paroled, despite trying to previously escape prison. 

John, Coy and Ricky were each convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in a Juvenile detention facility, By the time Ricky was released, the reality of what he had done, played heavily on his mind and he suffered a nervous breakdown. He became a heavy chain smoker and died of lung cancer at 21 years old. 

Gertrude appealed and was also given a new trial. She was found guilty again but sentenced to 18 years to life. She became a model prisoner behind bars and worked in a sewing shop. She became a shoulder to cry on to younger female prisoners and by the time she came up for parole in 1985, her nickname in prison was ''Mom''.

The public and the Likens family were outraged at hearing that Gertrude was being considered for parole. The Likens family made TV appearances and members of two anti-crime groups organised a sidewalk picket campaign. Over the course of two months, the groups collected 40,000 signatures from the public stating that Gertrude Baniszewski should remain behind bars.

At her parole hearing, Gertrude said, ''I'm not sure what role I had in it, because I was on drugs. I never really knew her. I take full responsibility for whatever happened to Sylvia.''

Despite efforts to keep her in prison, Gertrude walked out of the prison gates on the 4th of December, 1985. She changed her name to ''Nadine Van Fossen''. Her taste of freedom was to be short lived as she died in 1990 of lung cancer.

(Gertrude Baniszewski, picture taken in 1985, shortly before her release. Photo credit: murderpedia.org)

Another alarming fact is that both Stephanie and Paula managed to get jobs in schools working with children. After the trial, Stephanie was said to have moved in with her father, she later became a teacher and moved to Florida. She has claimed in the past that she didn't have anything to do with what happened to Sylvia but others disagree.

Paula, who was now calling herself, ''Paula Pace'', was working as a counsellors aid in a school and had been for quite some time when someone recognised her picture from facebook and tipped off the school in 2012. She was suspended then fired from the position. The baby girl that she had during the trial and had named ''Gertrude'' was given up for adoption. Her whereabouts in 2019 are unknown.

Shirley who was 10 years old at the time of the murder and Marie who was 11 had no charges brought against them. Marie was last heard to be living in Iowa and is close to Paula. Marie still lives in Indiana and has previously said that both herself and Shirley only took part in what happened to Sylvia because they were scared. She is said to be close to her sister Stephanie but not with her other sisters, Paula and Shirley.

John changed his surname to ''Blake'' and was released into the custody of his father where he continued school. He became a minister, got married and had three children. In 1998, he spoke publicly in the wake of the Johnsboro Massacre to say that he took full responsibility for his role in the murder and that a harsher sentence would have been more just. He died at the age of 52 after a long illness in 2005.

Coy Hubbard had run ins with the law as soon as he was released and this would continue throughout his life. He was acquitted of the murder of two men. He got married and had 6 children. He never moved away or changed his name but when An American Crime was released, he was fired from his job. He died at the age of 56 in 2007.

Judy Duke was initially arrested but the charges were dropped. She later got married and had three children. 

Darlene McGuire who was originally Sylvia's friend and introduced her to Paula, has never shown any remorse about her treatment of Sylvia. Darlene was one of the children who burnt Sylvia with cigarettes.

Randy Lepper had his charges dropped despite the fact he admitted that he hit Sylvia 30 - 40 times. Not much is known about his life other than he never married or had children and passed away in 2010.

Mike Monroe who was originally arrested and the charges were dropped, still lives in the same house he was living in when the murder happened. It is not known to what extent he was involved but he has never publicly apologised or said sorry for his involvement. 

Anna Sisco was also initially arrested but the charges were dropped. Not much is known about her life after the trial but she passed away in 1996.

Dennis Wright Jr. Dennis was a baby at the time of the murder and when the trial had ended he went into foster care. His foster parents were said to be abusive and he had a difficult life dealing with that and the knowledge about what his biological family did. He eventually got married and had a son. He passed away in 2012.

James Baniszewski who was 8 at the time of Sylvia's murder was involved at certain points in her torture but police said he was too young to be held accountable. He has never shown any remorse and has said that Sylvia died on purpose to piss his mom off.

Lester and Betty Likens divorced. Betty later remarried and passed away in 1999 at the age of 71. Lester Likens passed away in 2013.

 Jenny Fay Likens Wade was married with children and sadly passed away due to a heart attack at the age of 54 in 2004.

The house on East New York Street was eventually demolished on the 23rd of April 2009 and in it's place is now a church parking lot.

(Sylvia's grave. Photo credit: findagrave.com)

Sylvia's funeral took place in November of 1965 and was attended by over 100 people. The service took place at Russel and Hitch Funeral Home In Lebanon, She was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, her headstone is inscribed with the words ''Our Darling Daughter''.

(The Sylvia Likens Memorial. Photo credit: yelp.com)

In June 2001, a memorial was formally dedicated to Sylvia which was attended by several hundreds of people, including, Sylvia's family.

This was a really difficult case to research, the details were so disturbing and it just got worse and worse the more I looked into it. My heart broke for Sylvia and Jenny. I have a lot of questions about this case which I'm sure a lot of people do too but it's too late for them to be answered. I can't get my head around Lester leaving the girls with a woman he hardly knew and I don't think the visits to see the girls were regular especially in the last months of Sylvia's life. She was so emaciated and covered in sores, burns and bruises that a parent would have spotted this straight away.

The neighbours, Phyllis and Raymond annoyed me because they witnessed some horrific things and chose to do nothing. They claimed it was through fear but they'd not long just bought their house and probably didn't want to upset their lives having to move or maybe they thought they'd be targeted by the Baniszewski kids.

That house seemed to be a hot spot for all of the kids in the neighbourhood and Gertrude was like the Pied Piper. These kids who took part in the torture and humiliation of that poor girl basically got away with it. I suppose we can take some comfort knowing that Gertrude had just five years of freedom. Her daughter Paula was just as much a monster as she was.

What a horrific case! Thank you so much if you've stuck with me this far, I really appreciate it. If you know any more details about what happened to Paula or any of the other Baniszewski family after the trial, please leave some comments below or tweet me and we'll have a chat about the case.

RIP Sylvia, Jenny, Betty and Lester.

Further reading and sources:

Murder Of Sylvia Likens
Murderpedia: Gertrude Baniszewski
An American Crime
The Girl Next Door
Torture Mom by Ryan Green
House of Evil by John Dean
The Punishment Game by Lavinia Jewel
Sylvia: The Likens Trial by Forrest Bowman Jr

Thanks for checking out my latest true crime posts x

(The basement stairs in the Baniszewski house. Photo credit: indystar.com)

Continued from part two...

As with parts one and two, this post contains some disturbing descriptions of child abuse and torture, please be warned. 

 Jenny had to stand by and watch as her sister was bullied, beaten, harassed and starved with threats that if she tried to intervene or tell anyone, that she'd be next. There would be times where she'd be forced to join in and threatened that if she didn't she'd end up in the basement. Jenny later said that when she was forced to hit Sylvia, she would use her weak arm as to try and not hurt her as much. 

Gertrude was ready to pounce on any little thing that Sylvia said or did that she thought was wrong. She was looking for excuses to harm Sylvia and when she overheard a conversation about Sylvia once having a boyfriend who she made out with, Gertrude saw red.

Flying into a rage she confronted Sylvia and questioned her about this boy and called her a prostitute before telling all of the children that ''Sylvia is pregnant because she let a boy touch her vagina.'' 

Gertrude threw Sylvia on the floor and began kicking her really hard in the crotch area over and over again. When she grew tired as she often did with her asthma, Paula would take over. Sylvia, thinking the beating was over, tried to sit on a chair to which Paula threw her off and screamed ''You're not fit to sit in the chair.''

From that moment on, Sylvia was only allowed to sit down on a chair if she was given permission too. 

Encouraged by their mother, the children would beat Sylvia, hitting her with objects, pulling her hair, punching her, throwing her down the stairs. They treated her like a human rag doll. 

Surprisingly, Sylvia and Jenny still attended school with all of this going on and Gertrude had such a hold over them psychologically that they dare not tell a soul what was going on at the Baniszewski house. Gertrude was a master manipulator and knew how to play mind games with people and play on people's emotions to her own advantage. 

The day after Gertrude attacked Sylvia by kicking her in the crotch repeatedly, she attended school as normal whilst trying to put up a facade that all was ok. There was a lot of anger there, understandably and the girls wanted some sort of revenge. For some reason they thought it would be a good idea to tell people in the school that Paula and Stephanie were prostitutes. Word quickly got around and Stephanie's boyfriend, Coy Hubbard, went to the Baniszewski house to tell Gertrude what was happening. 

When Sylvia appeared, she was confronted by Coy and beaten. Gertrude then gave him permission to come round to the house whenever he felt like it to beat Sylvia up, which he did. 

Using her master manipulative skills, Gertrude told Sylvia's best friend, Anna Siscoe that Sylvia had been telling all the boys at school that Anna's mother was a whore. Anna, believing this to be true, followed Gertrude to where Sylvia was and was encouraged to beat Sylvia up. 

Gertrude then told another friend of Sylvia's called Judy Duke, that Sylvia had been spreading rumours around about her mother. Gertrude encouraged the two girls to fight whilst Jenny was stood in shock not knowing what to do. Gertrude ordered Jenny to punch her sister in the face. When Jenny refused, Gertrude began smacking her across the face until she finally agreed to punch her sister.

In August 1965, a middle-aged couple named Phyliss and Raymond Vermillion bought the house next door to the Baniszewski family. The couple had two children themselves and were looking for a babysitter whilst Phyliss attended work. 

The couple noticed that Gertrude, who seemed polite and friendly to them, was a single mother who had a number of children to care for. They took that as a sign that Gertrude must have been a very maternal person and very family oriented. They thought about Gertrude babysitting for them in return for some money. They thought the money would help Gertrude out a bit and they only lived next door so it was handy. 

In an effort to get to know Gertrude and her family a little bit more, they invited them all round to their barbecue. Whilst Phyliss and Gertrude were talking, she noticed a thin, shy girl with a black eye in the background. Noticing Phyliss looking at Sylvia, Paula walked up to Sylvia with a cup of hot water and threw it in her face, she also proudly told Phyliss that she was the one who was responsible for Sylvia's black eye.

Phyliss was shocked and told her husband that maybe it wasn't such a good idea for Gertrude to babysit their children. The couple didn't report the incident to the authorities. 

A couple of months later, Phyliss went over to visit Gertrude to borrow something and saw Sylvia walking around in a daze with swollen lips and a black eye which was swollen shut. As Phyliss sat waiting for Gertrude, Paula again told Phyliss that she was responsible for Sylvia's injuries and proceeded to beat her with a belt. Phyliss again, failed to report the incident to authorities, she later claimed that she was scared.

Paula once punched Sylvia so hard on her jaw that she broke her wrist. She had to wear a cast but this didn't stop her using the cast to beat Sylvia. 

A little while after this, Sylvia told Gertrude that she needed a sweat suit for school, Gertrude told her that she could not afford one. There's varied accounts of what happened next from various sources, some people believe that Sylvia stole a sweat suit from school and others believe that she was falsely accused by Gertrude as another excuse to beat her. Whatever the case with the sweat suit, Gertrude accused her of theft and threw her to the ground where she repeatedly kicked her in the crotch. To ''cure'' Sylvia of her ''sticky fingers'', Gertrude burned the tips of each of her fingers with a cigarette.

Afterwards, she made Sylvia bend over whilst she beat her with a leather police belt which was left over from her ex husband. As if the girl's suffering was not quite enough, Gertrude told the smokers of the household to burn their cigarettes into Sylvia's body to teach her a lesson not to steal.

Sometime later, Sylvia tried to find some empty Coca Cola bottles around the neighbourhood as a way of making some money. One wonders if she was desperate for some proper food as the eating situation at the Baniszewski household was a nightmare. Maybe she wanted to give Gertrude some money in hopes that she and the children would stop beating her? who knows. Sylvia returned to the house and Gertrude found the money and accused her of being a prostitute. 

Gertrude dragged Sylvia into the living room where she forced Sylvia to strip naked in front of her sons and several neighbourhood boys. She told her that if she didn't do as she ordered, she would beat her sister Jenny. Once she was fully naked, Gertrude forced her to put an empty Coca Cola bottle up her vagina in front of the boys.

Due to this incident, Sylvia developed bladder problems and accidentally wet the bed at night. Gertrude decided that she was no longer fit to live with humans and locked her in the filthy, cold and dusty basement. As Sylvia wasn't allowed to go upstairs to the toilet and there was no bucket, she had no choice but to urinate and defecate on the floor. When Gertrude saw this, she began a harsh bathing regime to ''Cleanse Sylvia'' who she nicknamed ''Dirty girl''. This harsh regime consisted of a bath full of boiling hot water, tying Sylvia's wrists and ankles together and dunking her in and out of the water till her skin was red raw. Once her skin was throbbing and peeling from the hot water, Paula would rub handfuls of salt all over her nude body. 

These hellish baths would sometimes take place several times a day, depending on what kind of mood Gertrude was in. There were times when Sylvia would faint from the hot temperatures of the baths and Gertrude would repeatedly bang her head against the bath in an attempt to revive her.

Gertrude became friendly with a neighbourhood boy called Ricky Hobbs who was 14 years old (this was later deemed to be an inappropriate relationship) who seemed to hang on her every word. Up until this point, Ricky was a well behaved boy, an honour student who came from a respectable family and had never been in trouble with the law. Under Gertrude's spell, he became her assistant and would help her torture Sylvia.

The Baniszewski family turned Sylvia into a money making opportunity. Kids from the neighbourhood would pay money to come and see her naked or have the opportunity to punch, kick or throw her down the stairs. By this time, Gertrude had forbade Sylvia from going to school or to be allowed out of the house. 

Sylvia was constantly naked and was was hardly ever fed. If she was allowed anything, it was mostly some dry crackers or a bowl of soup which she would have to eat with her fingers. The children would often tease her with the soup by pushing the bowl in front of her and then taking it away. Often, Gertrude and her 12 year old son John Jr would force Sylvia to ''clean'' the basement by ''allowing her'' to eat her own feces. She was given a container to collect her urine of which she would be forced to drink for John Jr and Gertrude's amusement.

Sylvia and Jenny had ran into their elder sister, Diana, a couple of times over the previous weeks when they were in the park and tried to tell her what had been going on but she thought that they were making up stories as an excuse to try and move in with her.

A local reverend had been visiting members of his congregation and he visited the Baniszewski house. The Reverend never saw Sylvia but Gertrude told him that she was a prostitute and that she was having difficulties with her. When Jenny appeared in the room and was asked about her sister, Jenny lied and told the reverend that her sister told lies as Gertrude was stood by keeping an eye on what she was saying. He returned a couple of weeks later and a similar situation happened with Gertrude complaining about Sylvia and saying a prayer.

The father of one of the neighbourhood boys had called the Arsenal Technical High school to anonymously report that there was a girl with sores all over her body at the Baniszewski house. As Sylvia had not been attending school, a nurse was sent out to investigate the situation. Gertrude told the nurse that Sylvia had been up to no good and she had thrown her out of the house. The nurse filed a report that no more visits were required at Gertrude's house.

One of the neighbourhood kids who'd been to the house and seen Sylvia, told her mother that she saw a girl being beaten up. Her mother replied in a non caring way that that's what happens when someone is being punished. 

In the beginning of October, Diana tried to visit her sisters and was told by Gertrude to stay away, she claimed that Betty and Lester had specifically told her to keep the girls away from Diana. A short time after this, Diana ran into Jenny and tried to talk to her and find out what was really going on. Jenny told her that she wasn't allowed to speak to her and ran away.

Continued in part four...

(The Baniszewski house. Photo credit: indystar.com) 

Continued from part one...

As previously mentioned, my posts on this case contain some very disturbing details so please be warned.

Sylvia Marie Jenkins was born on the 3rd of January, 1949 in Lebanon, Indiana to Betty and Lester Jenkins. She had two sisters, Diana and Jenny, and two brothers, called Benny and Daniel. Her family struggled financially and would move frequently as their father tried to find work. Sylvia's parents would often travel with carnivals selling food from concession stands to make ends meet. Her sister Diana who was the oldest sibling, later became estranged from the family and got married. Diana had started a family and had her own house. Benny and Daniel would often go to their grandparents whilst their parents worked away and there would always be difficulties trying to find somewhere for Sylvia and Jenny to stay. 

Jenny walked with a limp due to polio and had to wear a steel brace on one of her legs. Sylvia was very close to her sister Jenny and very over protective. They would go rollerskating together with Sylvia placing a skate onto Jenny's strong foot and holding onto her carefully as she skated around the roller rink. Sylvia was described by those that knew her as a kind and caring person who made friends easily. The constant moving around must have been hard for her but she had a confidence when meeting new people because she was used to it and would fit in wherever she was pretty quickly. Her nickname was ''Cookie'' and she was a big fan of The Beatles. She was a pretty girl with freckles and lovely long wavy brown hair. She would always smile with her mouth closed due to a missing tooth that was knocked out during an accident playing a game with one of her brothers.

Sylvia always seemed to have a little bit of an entrepreneur about her, she was always doing little jobs, such as ironing for people, sweeping up leaves from a neighbours lawn or collecting empty Coca Cola bottles for money.

 In July of 1965, Betty had suffered financial problems as she and her husband had just recently separated and she turned to shoplifting. Betty ended up getting caught and was put in jail which left Sylvia and Jenny to fend for themselves after their brothers went to their grandparents and due to the family estrangement, they couldn't go to their oldest sister Diana's house.

One day, Sylvia and Jenny were walking down the street with their friend, Darlene McGuire when Darlene came across her friend, Paula Baniszewski. Darlene introduced Sylvia and Jenny and all the girls seemed to get along just fine. Later, Paula suggested that they all go to her house for some soda and listen to some music. The girls went to the Baniszewski house and had a great time getting to know each other and Paula suggested that the girls stay over at her house that night. Darlene had to go home but Sylvia and Jenny stayed behind as they were staying at home themselves at this point with their mother being in Jail so they didn't have to ask for permission.

Lester Likens who was elsewhere, had found out about his estranged wife's incarceration and went to visit her. They discussed their financial problems and giving their marriage another chance. They decided that their best chance of making any money was to carry on working together travelling with the carnivals. Their only problem was finding somewhere suitable for the girls to stay, where they could continue attending school. The boys were settled at their grandparents house so Lester set off to find Sylvia and Jenny and to see what arrangements could be made for them.

When he got to the house, the girls were missing and he began to worry. Lester asked around the neighbourhood if the girls had been seen and came across Darlene who told him that they were staying at Paula's house.

When Lester arrived at the Baniszewski house that evening, he was exhausted but relieved to see the girls and had gotten on really well with Gertrude. He could see that Gertrude or ''Gertie'' as the girl's had nicknamed her, had a lot of children to look after and that she had a ''young old'' look about her. As it was getting late, Gertrude offered Lester her sofa for the night and he accepted.

The next morning, Lester and Gertrude spoke over coffee about Lester and Betty's plans to get some money together working in the carnivals but they didn't know what to do with the girls as they would be worried for their safety. As the conversation continued, Gertrude and Lester came to the idea that the girls should stay at Gertrude's house where they could continue attending school and Lester would send her $20 a week.

The girl's seemed to be happy with this idea and were looking forward to spending more time with their friends without the constant moving around, they could stay at one place for once. Lester said goodbye to the girls and that he and Betty would be visiting soon and to behave. He told Gertrude to keep the girls on the straight and narrow as their mother had let them do what they wanted.

Despite staying in the house overnight and entrusting his daughters to Gertrude's care, a woman he had barely known. Lester failed to check out the house or notice the thick layers of dust, mould and dirt around the place. There was also a lack of plates, utensils and no stove or microwave. The only food that was on offer was bread, crackers and soup.

The first couple of weeks went well for the girls, they attended school and church with the Baniszewski family and went to the park with the children, all seemed well.

Things took a sudden turn when the $20 payment didn't come through on the day that Gertrude was expecting it. She flew into a rage and grabbed Sylvia and Jenny. She dragged the girls into a bedroom where she pulled down their pants and pushed them face first onto the bed. She yelled ''I took care of you two b*tches for two weeks for nothing,'' and proceeded to spank the girls very hard on the buttocks.

The payment arrived the next day and nothing more was said about it. There was no apology to the girls from Gertrude and when their parents came to visit them a short while later, nothing was said about the incident.

A short time after this the girls decided to go looking around the neighbourhood for empty Coca Cola bottles to get some money for candy. When they brought the candy back to share out with the other children, Gertrude flew into another rage and accused them of stealing. Sylvia tried to explain but Gertrude dragged her into a bedroom and hit her continuously on the backside with a paddle.

Things began to turn even sour between Gertrude's daughter Paula and Sylvia. Paula seemed to have a jealously towards Sylvia and when the children had come back from a dinner at their local church. Paula and some of the children told Gertrude that they had seen Sylvia stuff her face with lots of food.

Gertrude confronted Sylvia and told her that she was angry that she would do something that could ruin her appearance and sat her down at the kitchen table. The children had a collection of spices, mustard, ketchup, salt, etc and Gertrude made them pass around a hot dog whilst piling it up with condiments. Once the hot dog reached Sylvia, it was piled high with various sauces, she was forced to eat it. Sylvia vomited and Gertrude forced her to eat her own vomit whilst the children stood around taunting her.

Betty and Lester visited the girls at the house again and nothing was said about this incident either. After they had left, Gertrude taunted Sylvia, ''What are you going to do now, Sylvia? Now that they're gone?''

 One can only think that the girls were living in fear and had no idea how to get out of their situation. They didn't think they had anywhere else to go.

Continued in part three...

(Marvin Gaye's parent's house. Photo credit: iamnotastalker.com)

Continued from part three....

Marvin never specified who he thought was trying to kill him but some people thought that he had good reason to worry and that it wasn't all just down to paranoia. Some suggested that he may have owed money to drug dealers, had affairs with people's wives and the husbands had found out or that he'd upset people in the industry.

''It wasn't a delusion, there were management companies after him, people wanted to make money out of him and when he said no, they got mad.'' - Gordon Banks, a musician who had played on the final tour.

Back home at his parent's house which Marvin had bought for them, things began to get worse. Marvin and his father had not lived in the same house since 1957 and his father had become fed up with the constant stream of people coming to the house to see Marvin. There was 20 to 30 people coming at all hours of the day and night and a lot of them were unsavoury characters who were either selling Marvin drugs or taking them with him.

Marvin rarely left his room and would refuse to wash for days on end, preferring to stay in his maroon coloured dressing gown which always had one of his guns in the pocket. He was convinced that someone would do a drive by shooting so tried to stay away from the windows as much as possible.

When Marvin was going through depression he often spoke of suicide although he thought that suicide was an unforgivable sin.

''He felt that everyone was using him. He felt that a lot of people loved him only for what he could do for them or what they could get out of him. During the tour he told me that he didn't feel that people loved him for what he was and that his mother was the only person who really loved him. He always longed for the love of his father but never got it.'' - Andrew White, Marvin's bodyguard on his final tour.

Marvin's mother would often read the bible with him in an effort to lift his spirits. She asked the minister Shelton West, of the local House of God for guidance. Marvin and his mother fasted and prayed for three days.

''We prayed that he would be healed of that suicidal mind. He felt condemned because he had diverted from God. He would even tell us never to do what he did, never to go the way he had gone.'' - Shelton West.

Marvin Sr began to suspect that his wife was having secret affairs with Marvin's friends and even tried to suggest that Marvin and his mother were having an incestuous relationship. He would often see them laid side by side reading the bible and it would make him jealous to see the close bond between his wife and their son. Marvin's father had spent the past 10 years battling an alcohol addiction.

His father always disliked the fact that Marvin was the family breadwinner. He resented the fact that Marvin had bought their house and that everything had to run through him. Marvin Sr considered himself to be the man of the family and they could never agree on anything. Marvin was said to enjoy some of the later arguments with his father, there seemed to be no love lost between the two of them and Marvin had grown tired of his father's coldness towards him.

Marvin had spent his early years in fear of his father and craved his love and praise but that had now turned to anger and hatred. He must have been in such confliction about how to feel about his father because it never mattered what success he achieved, his father was always there in the background, never approving and no matter what he did, it was never good enough.

''I remember once or twice Marvin Sr showing me his gun that he kept under his pillow and sometimes I even became afraid to go over there because he'd be so upset with Marvin and he'd say, 'I'm going to kill him, I'm going to kill him'. I would try to talk him down but he was a hard person to calm,'' - Shelton West.

Marvin had asked his bodyguard, Andre, who he referred to as ''Dre'' to record their conversations on the phone.

''He would like me to tape our conversations. He would sometimes say things then later claim that he had never said them and so we started recording everything as a kind of protection.'' - Andre, Marvin's bodyguard.

In a final recorded conversation which lasted three hours, Marvin spoke about his father's threats to kill him one day and Andre tried to convince him that somewhere deep down that his father loved him.

Marvin arranged for surveillance cameras to be placed around the outside of the house for added protection as he became paranoid about noises outside. 

His brother Frankie was struggling to find ways to get Marvin out of his depression and off of the cocaine. He contacted Marvin's close friend Dave Simmons and they decided that the only way to help Marvin was to take him by force out of the house. They knew it wouldn't be easy but something had to be done. Previously, in a rare occasion outside of the house, Marvin had tried to jump out of a moving vehicle in an attempt to commit suicide but surprisingly only suffered minor cuts and bruises. They had a feeling that he would make an attempt on his life again so they decided that they would take Marvin to an Addiction Unit on the 1st of April.

The day before the 1st of April 1984, Marvin Sr was frantically looking through documents trying to find a life insurance policy. He was heard shouting throughout the house, as usual there were arguments between Marvin's parents with Marvin trying to intervene and tell his father to stop shouting at his mother.

Th argument soon calmed down and everyone went to their own rooms. The next morning, Marvin Sr was still looking for the insurance document.

At 12:20 pm, Marvin had been lying on his bed dressed in his maroon bathrobe and talking to his mother. His father appeared at the doorway and began harassing his wife about the insurance document, he wanted her to look for it. Marvin asked him to come into the room and talk about it rather than shout at his mother.

Marvin said to his father, ''If you don't come into my room now, then don't you ever come into my room again.''

Marvin Sr carried on shouting which prompted Marvin to jump off of his bed and walk over to his father where he tried to push him out of the door and said ''You can't talk to my mother that way.''

His father turned around and went to his bedroom and sat down at his desk but Marvin followed him shouting ''I'll beat you up'' and ''M*therf**ker! You want some more?''

His father later claimed that Marvin pulled him off of his chair and proceeded to kick and punch him whilst he was lying on the floor. Alberta ran to her husband's room where she found him lying on the floor, Marvin was stood a few feet away from him. Alberta took Marvin back to his room to try and calm him down. He sat at the foot of the bed and said ''Mother, I'm going to get my things and get out of this house. Father hates me and I'm never coming back.''

Alberta was stood about eight feet away from Marvin when she noticed her husband stood at the door, holding the gun which Marvin had originally given him for protection and without saying a word, he aimed at Marvin and shot him. Marvin screamed and slid off the bed and slumped forward in a sitting position. Alberta screamed and ran out of the room. The bullet had perforated his lung, heart, diaphragm, liver, stomach and left kidney.

His father moved closer towards him and shot him again at point blank range. The bullet went into his left shoulder and exited out of his back. His father then turned around, went back to his room and placed the gun back under his pillow before sitting down on the bed.

Marvin's brother Frankie, who was planning to meet Dave Simmons that day so they could take Marvin to an addiction unit, along with his wife had heard gunshots. They both rushed to the house, Frankie found Marvin on the bedroom floor losing a lot of blood but still conscious. His wife, Irene went to Marvin Sr's room where she found him sat on the bed, staring into space. She was scared that he would carry on shooting so she asked him where the gun was. After she got no response she carefully looked around the room and found the gun under his pillow. She threw the gun out of the window and called the police and Dave Simmons.

''On the Sunday I got up and began getting dressed. I was getting ready to leave when the phone rang. It was Irene, Frankie's wife and she was saying 'Frankie needs you, get over here right away. Father has shot Marvin.'' - Dave Simmons.

Back in Marvin's bedroom Frankie was in tears as he held his brother in his arms. He said that Marvin's last words to him where ''I got what I wanted...I couldn't do it myself, so I had him do it...it's good, I ran my race. There's no more left in me.''

The emergency services waited 20 minutes to get to Marvin because they didn't know at the time if Marvin Sr was still armed. When the police arrived, Marvin Sr was found sitting on the front porch outside the house where he was arrested.

Marvin's body was rushed to the California Hospital Medical Centre. At approximately 1:01 pm he was pronounced dead on arrival. Marvin was just hours away from his 45th birthday.

As soon as word had spread that Marvin was dead, members of the public who were in shock and grief, began to crowd around the house and some would leave flowers and tributes.

When Marvin Sr was arrested and informed that his son had died, his reaction had shocked the police.

''What shocked me, was that he seemed more concerned about what was going to happen to him than the fact his son was dead.'' - Detective McCahn.

(Marvin Gay Sr with a police officer. Photo credit: yahoo.com)

At the police station, Marvin Sr pleaded that he had killed his son in self defence as he was scared that something was going to happen to him. He claimed that he did not know that the gun was fully loaded and believed that it contained pellets. 

Later, when he was placed in a jail cell he complained that his family had not been to visit him and wanted someone to bring him his favourite bathrobe as his cell was too cold. When asked if he loved Marvin he said ''Let's say I didn't dislike him.''

Alberta told a friend years earlier, ''My husband never wanted Marvin, and he never liked him. He used to say that he didn't think he was really his child. I told him that was nonsense. He knew Marvin was his, but for some reason he didn't love Marvin, and what's worse, he didn't want me to love Marvin either. Marvin wasn't very old before he understood that.''

During a medical examination and further tests, doctors discovered that Marvin Sr had a benign tumour in his pituitary gland. His lawyers would later use this information in court and claim that the tumour may have affected his actions when he killed his son. The judge overseeing the case ruled that Marvin Sr was competent to stand trial and that he was fully aware of what he had done. 

Details of Marvin's autopsy were presented to the court and examiners found that he had traces of PCP and cocaine in his system that would have been taken days before his death but were not active in his system on the day that he died. Pictures of Marvin Sr's bruises where his son had kicked and punched him were presented and the judge agreed to let Marvin Sr enter a plea bargain. On the 20th of September, 1984, he pleaded no contest to a charge of voluntary manslaughter. 

During the sentencing hearing two months later, Marvin Sr said: ''If I could bring him back, I would. I was afraid of him. I thought I was going to get hurt. I didn't know what was going to happen. I'm really sorry for everything that happened. I loved him. I wish he could step through this door right now. I'm paying the price now.''

Marvin Sr was given a six year suspended sentence and five years of probation for the murder of his son. Alberta divorced him after 49 years of marriage. He returned back to the house but was forced to leave due to health issues and took residence in a nursing home.

Four days after Marvin's death his funeral took place at the Hall of Liberty Chapel in the Forest lawn Memorial Park by which time, between 8,000 and 10,000 fans had paid their respects at his open casket. Alberta kissed Marvin's forehead and said a gentle prayer. Marvin was dressed in a gold and white military uniform, one of his favourite costumes from his final tour. Dick Gregory and Smokey Robinson spoke at his funeral, Stevie Wonder gave a musical tribute and his mother, ex wives and three children were all in attendance.

His mother pulled Gerard White aside during the service (Gerard was one of the bodyguard's on Marvin's final tour) and whispered to him ''That's one gun I wish you had never given to my son.''

(Marvin Gaye. Photo credit: michigandaily.com) 

Marvin was cremated and some of his ashes were scattered by his children and Anna Gordy in the Pacific Ocean. The rest of his ashes were then kept by Anna and their adopted son Marvin III.

Due to Marvin not leaving a will, all of his estate went to his adopted son, Marvin III who was just 17 years old at the time. Marvin had various debts but these were soon sorted out over the next few years as royalties from his songs covered the debts.

Alberta passed away from bone cancer just three years after Marvin's death. Before she died, she founded the Marvin P. Gaye, Jr Memorial Foundation in dedication to her son to help people with drug and alcohol problems. She never got the chance to see the memorial opened.

In the final years of Marvin Sr's life he was moved to another nursing home in California. He later died of pneumonia, nine days before his 84th birthday.

Since Marvin's death he has continued to be a major influence and his music lives on decades later. He has posthumously been awarded Grammy Awards and been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The list of awards and honours is too many to mention but his contribution and mark that's been left on music has been legendary. People of all ages, all around the world know who Marvin Gaye is. Even to this day, up and coming artists will name-check him in their songs or sample his work.

Various attempts have been made to create a biographical film of Marvin's life but so far none have followed through. Recently, in 2018 it was announced that the rapper Dr. Dre was in talks to produce a biopic about Marvin but nothing else has been reported since.

It would be good to see a proper, respectful film made about Marvin as we've seen with the recent films based on Freddie Mercury and Elton John.

I never knew these four posts were going to be so long but there is just so much to cover about Marvin Gaye that I think I've only covered the half of it. I think I've managed to cover a lot about Marvin's career, what he went through and what happened after his death. His struggle for his father's love and acceptance was heartbreaking and it was clear that it had affected him his whole life. No matter what he achieved he knew that in the back of his mind his father was always there to put a dampener on his achievements. His father was a very narcissistic and hypocritical person who had no problems living off of Marvin's earnings despite frowning on his son's amazing achievements. Marvin has gone down as one of the greatest artists of all time and his father should have been proud. Even if Marvin only had one hit single, his father should have been proud.

I was told in the past that your relationships with your parents are the most important ones you will ever have and they reflect how you see the world. Marvin didn't realise how much people loved him, because of the rejection of his father who still took his money and negative experiences in the record industry, he thought that people didn't like him for him, that all they wanted was money from him. There's people in the world who listen to his music to this day and it helps them through hard times or lifts them up when they're down. His music has done what he set out for it to do, it moves people.

He wasn't an angel but he had a lot to deal with growing up and made some bad choices. One can only wonder what would have happened had Frankie and Dave Simmons had the opportunity to take Marvin to the addiction unit. He could have returned to Belgium again and recorded more music or tried his hand at acting? who knows what could have been.


His brother Frankie was the spitting image of him and he wrote about his brother in a book titled 'Marvin Gaye: My Brother'. Frankie sadly passed away in 2001 at the age of 60 due to complications following a heart attack. You can find Frankie's book here

Thank you as always if you've made it this far. I hope that you've learnt a bit more about Marvin and enjoyed reading my posts.

Here's some of Marvin's classics (some also feature Tammi Terrell & Kim Weston):

Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Marvin Gaye - Let's Get it On
Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing
Marvin Gaye - I Want You
Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me
Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston - It Takes two
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - Ain't No Mountain High Enough
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - You're All I Need To Get By
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing


Further reading & sources:

Marvin Gaye: Biography & History
Marvin Gaye, Shot & Killed
Marvin Gaye: Wikipedia
Marvin Gay Sr: Wikipedia
Alberta Gay: Wikipedia
Sins Of The Father: The Independent
Marvin Gaye: Find A Grave Memorial
Marvin Gaye: The Grammys
Marvin Gaye: The Final 24
Tammi Terrell: Wikipedia


See you in the next post x