The Abuse, Torture, and Murder of Sylvia Likens (Part I)

The murder of Sylvia Likens was a child murder which occurred in Indianapolis, Indiana in October 1965. Likens, a 16-year-old girl, was held captive and subjected to increasing levels of child abuse and torture, committed over a period of almost three months by her caregiver, Gertrude Baniszewski, many of Baniszewski's children, and several other neighborhood children, before ultimately succumbing to her injuries on October 26.

Baniszewski; her oldest daughter, Paula; her son, John; and two neighborhood youths, Coy Hubbard and Richard Hobbs, were all tried and convicted in May 1966 of neglecting, torturing, and murdering Likens, with counsels at the defendants' trial describing the case as the "most diabolical" ever to be presented before a court or jury and Likens having been subjected to acts of "degradation that you wouldn't commit on a dog" prior to her death.

The torture and murder of Sylvia Likens is widely regarded by Indiana citizens as the worst crime ever committed in their state 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.

Backgrounds

Gertrude Baniszewski

Gertrude Nadine Baniszewski (née Van Fossan; September 19, 1928—June 16, 1990) was born in Indianapolis, Indiana to Mollie Myrtle (née Oakley) and Hugh Marcus Van Fossan Sr., both of whom were originally from Illinois and were of American and Dutch descent. Baniszewski was the third of six children, and her family was working class. On October 5, 1939, Baniszewski saw her 50-year-old father die from a sudden heart attack. Six years later, she dropped out of high school at age 16 to marry 18-year-old John Stephan Baniszewski (1926–2007), who was originally from Youngsville, Pennsylvania, and to whom she bore four children. Although John Baniszewski had a volatile temper and occasionally beat his wife, the two would remain together for ten years prior to their first divorce.

Following her divorce, Baniszewski married a man named Edward Guthrie.  This marriage lasted just three months before the couple divorced. Shortly thereafter, Baniszewski remarried her first husband, bearing him two more children. The couple divorced for a second time in 1963.

Weeks after her third divorce, Baniszewski began a relationship with a 22-year-old named Dennis Lee Wright, who also physically abused her. She had one child with Wright, Dennis Lee Wright Jr. Shortly after the birth of his son, Wright abandoned Baniszewski.  Shortly thereafter, Baniszewski filed a paternity suit against Wright for financial support of their child, although Wright was seldom able to pay for the upkeep of their son.

By 1965, Baniszewski lived alone with her seven children: Paula (17), Stephanie (15), John (12), Marie (11), Shirley (10), James (8), and Dennis Lee Wright Jr. (1). Although 36 years old and 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm) in height, she weighed only 100 pounds (45 kg) and has been described as a "haggard, underweight asthmatic" chain smoker suffering from depression due to the stress of three failed marriages, a failed relationship, and a recent miscarriage.  In addition to the sporadic checks she received from her first husband—a former Indianapolis policeman—which she primarily relied upon to financially support her children, Baniszewski occasionally performed odd jobs for neighbors and acquaintances, such as sewing or cleaning in order to earn money.  Baniszewski resided in Indianapolis at 3850 East New York Street, where the monthly rent was $55.

Sylvia Likens

Sylvia Marie Likens (January 3, 1949—October 26, 1965) was the third of five children born to carnival workers Lester Cecil Likens (1926–2013) and his wife, Elizabeth Frances "Betty" (née Grimes, 1927–1998). She was born between two sets of fraternal twins: Dianna and Daniel (two years older than her), and Jenny and Benny (one year younger). Jenny Likens suffered from polio, causing one of her legs to be weaker than the other. She was afflicted with a notable limp and had to wear a steel brace on one leg.

Lester and Elizabeth's marriage was unstable; they often sold candy, beer, and soda at carnival stands around Indiana throughout the summer, moving frequently and regularly experiencing severe financial difficulties. The Likens' sons regularly helped their parents when they traveled, although due to concerns for their younger daughters' safety and education, Lester and Elizabeth did not particularly like Sylvia and Jenny traveling with them in this employment.  Both girls frequently resided with relatives—often their grandmother—so their schoolwork would not suffer while their parents and brothers traveled with the carnival.

In her teenage years, Likens occasionally earned spending money by babysitting, running errands, or performing ironing chores for friends and neighbors—often giving her mother part of her earnings.  She has been described as a friendly, confident and lively girl with long, wavy, light brown hair extending below her shoulders, and was known as "Cookie" to her friends.

Although exuberant, Likens always kept her mouth closed when smiling, due to having lost a front tooth in a collision with one of her brothers during a childhood game.  She also had a fondness for music—in particular the Beatles—and was notably protective of her markedly more timid and insecure younger sister.  On several occasions, the sisters would visit a local skating rink, with Jenny fastening a single roller skate to her strong foot and Sylvia holding her by the hand as the sisters skated around the rink.

Summer 1965

By June of 1965, Sylvia and Jenny Likens resided with their parents in Indianapolis. On July 3, their mother was arrested and subsequently jailed for shoplifting. Shortly thereafter, Lester Likens arranged for his daughters to board with Gertrude Baniszewski, the mother of two girls with whom the sisters had recently become acquainted while studying at Arsenal Technical High School: Paula and Stephanie Baniszewski. At the time of this boarding agreement, Gertrude assured Lester she would care for his daughters until his return as if they were her own children.

Shortly after the July 4 holiday, the sisters moved into 3850 East New York Street in order that their father and, later, their mother could travel to the East Coast with the carnival, with the understanding that Gertrude would receive weekly boarding fees of $20 to care for their daughters until they returned to collect Sylvia and Jenny in November that year.

During the initial weeks Sylvia and Jenny resided at the Baniszewski household, the sisters were subjected to very little discipline or abuse. Likens regularly sang along to pop records with Stephanie,  and she willingly participated in housework at the Baniszewski residence.  Both girls also regularly attended Sunday school with the Baniszewski children.

Abuse

Although Lester Likens had agreed to pay Gertrude Baniszewski $20 a week in exchange for the care of his daughters, these weekly payments gradually failed to arrive upon the prearranged dates (the payments occasionally arriving one or two days late). In response, Gertrude began venting her frustration at this fact upon the sisters by beating their bare buttocks with various instruments, such as a one-quarter-inch-thick (6.4 mm) paddle, making statements such as: "Well, I took care of you two little bitches for a week for nothing!"  On one occasion in late August, both girls were beaten approximately 15 times on the back with the aforementioned paddle after Paula accused the sisters of eating too much food at a church supper all the household children had attended.

By mid-August of 1965, Gertrude Baniszewski had begun to focus her abuse almost exclusively upon Sylvia, with her primary motivation likely being jealousy of her physical appearance.  According to subsequent trial testimony, this abuse was initially inflicted upon Sylvia after she and Jenny had returned to the Baniszewski residence from Arsenal Technical High School, and on weekends. This initial abuse included subjecting Likens to beatings and the refusal of sufficient food (which would gradually lead to Likens eating leftovers or spoiled food out of garbage cans).  On one occasion, Likens was accused of stealing candy she had actually purchased; on another occasion, she was subjected to humiliation when she admitted that she once had a boyfriend. Upon hearing this, Gertrude Baniszewski's oldest daughter, Paula (herself three months pregnant at the time and also jealous of Likens' slender appearance), kicked Likens in the genitals and accused her of being pregnant.  On one occasion as the family ate supper, Gertrude, Paula, and a neighborhood boy named Randy Gordon Lepper force-fed Likens a hot dog overloaded with condiments including mustard and spices. Likens vomited as a result, and was later forced to consume what she had regurgitated.

Likens was later falsely accused of spreading rumors at Arsenal Technical High School that both Paula and Stephanie Baniszewski were prostitutes. This provoked Stephanie's boyfriend, 15-year-old Coy Hubbard, to physically attack Likens while Stephanie simply watched and giggled.  On another occasion, Paula beat Likens about the face with such force that she broke her own wrist, having primarily focused her blows upon Likens' teeth and eyes.  Later, Paula used the cast on her wrist to further beat Likens.  In addition, Gertrude repeatedly falsely accused Likens of promiscuity and of engaging in prostitution; delivering misogynistic sermons to Likens regarding the filthiness of prostitution and of women in general. Gertrude would later occasionally force Jenny to strike her own sister, beating Jenny if she did not comply.

Coy Hubbard and several of his classmates frequently visited the Baniszewski residence to both physically and verbally torment Likens, often collaborating with Baniszewski's children and Gertrude herself.  With the active encouragement of Gertrude, these neighborhood children routinely beat Likens, sometimes using her as a practice dummy in violent judo sessions, lacerating her body, burning her skin with lit cigarettes in excess of 100 times, and severely injuring her genitals.  To entertain Gertrude and her teenage accomplices, Likens was forced at one point to strip naked in the family living room and insert an empty Coca-Cola bottle into her own vagina in their presence, with Gertrude stating to all present this act of humiliation being for Sylvia to "prove to Jenny what kind of a girl you are."

Gertrude Baniszewski eventually forbade Likens from attending school after she confessed to having stolen a gym suit from the school, after Gertrude had refused to purchase the clothing for her.  For this act of theft, Gertrude whipped Likens with a three-inch-wide (7.6 cm) police belt. Gertrude then switched her conversation to the "evils" of premarital sex before repeatedly kicking Likens in the genitals as Stephanie rallied to Likens' defense, shouting, "She didn't do anything!"  Gertrude then burned Likens' fingertips with matches before further whipping her.  A few days later, Gertrude repeatedly whipped Jenny with the police belt after she reportedly stole a single tennis shoe from the school to wear on her strong foot.

Turmoil

The Likens sisters were fearful of notifying either family members or adults at their school of the increasing incidents of abuse and neglect they were enduring, as both were afraid that doing so would only worsen their predicament.  Jenny in particular struggled against the urge to notify family members, as she had been threatened by Gertrude that she would herself be abused and tortured to the same degree as her sister if she did so. Jenny was also subjected to bullying by girls in her neighborhood, in addition to occasionally being ridiculed or beaten, whenever she alluded to Sylvia's situation.

In July and August, both Lester and Elizabeth Likens would occasionally return to Indianapolis to visit their daughters whenever their travel schedule afforded them the opportunity. The last occasion Lester and Elizabeth visited their daughters was in late August. On this occasion, neither girl exhibited any visible sign of distress as to their mistreatment to their parents—likely because both were in the presence of Gertrude and her children. Almost immediately after Lester and Elizabeth had left the Baniszewski household on their final visit, Gertrude turned to face Likens and stated: "What are you going to do now, Sylvia? Now they're gone?"

On one occasion in September, the girls encountered their older sister, Dianna Shoemaker, at a local park. Both Jenny and Sylvia informed Dianna as to the abuse they were enduring at the hands of their caregiver on this occasion, adding that Sylvia was being specifically targeted for physical abuse—almost always for things she had neither said nor done. Neither sister mentioned the actual address where they resided and initially, Dianna believed her sisters must be exaggerating their claims regarding the scope of their mistreatment.

Several weeks prior to this occasion, Sylvia and Jenny had encountered Dianna in the same park while in the company of 11-year-old Marie Baniszewski and Sylvia had been given a sandwich to eat when she had mentioned to her sister she was hungry.  Likens remained silent about the matter, although Marie revealed this fact to her family in late September. In response, Gertrude accused Likens of engaging in gluttony before she and Paula choked and bludgeoned her. The pair then subjected Likens to a scalding bath to "cleanse her of sin," with Gertrude grabbing Likens' hair and repeatedly banging her head against the bath to revive her when she fainted.

Shortly after this incident, the father of a neighborhood boy named Michael John Monroe phoned Arsenal Technical High School to anonymously report that a girl with open sores across her entire body was living at the Baniszewski household. As Likens had not attended school for several days, a school nurse visited 3850 East New York Street to investigate these claims, although Gertrude claimed to the nurse that Likens had run away from her home the previous week and that she was unaware of her actual whereabouts, adding that Likens was "out of control" and that her open sores were a result of Likens' refusal to maintain decent personal hygiene.  Gertrude further exclaimed that Likens was a bad influence on both her own children and her sister.  The school made no further investigations in relation to Likens' welfare.

The immediate neighbors of the Baniszewski family were a middle-aged couple named Raymond and Phyllis Vermillion. Both initially viewed Gertrude as an ideal caregiver for the Likens sisters and both had visited the Baniszewski residence on two occasions when the girls had been under Gertrude's care. On both occasions, the Vermillions witnessed Paula physically abusing the Likens—who on both occasions had a black eye—and openly boasting about her mistreatment of the child to them.  Upon their second visit to the Baniszewski household, both observed Likens to appear extremely meek and somewhat "zombified" in nature.  Nonetheless, the Vermillions never reported Likens' evident mistreatment to the authorities.

On or about October 1, Dianna Shoemaker discovered that her sisters were temporarily residing at the Baniszewski residence. She visited the property in an attempt to initiate regular contact, although Gertrude Baniszewski refused Dianna entrance to her property, stating that she had "[received] permission" from their parents not to allow either girl to see her. She then ordered Dianna off her property.  Approximately two weeks later, Dianna encountered Jenny by chance close to 3850 East New York Street and inquired as to Likens' welfare, to be brusquely informed: "I can't tell you or I'll get into trouble."

Escalation

Due to the increase in the frequency and brutality of the torture and mistreatment she was subjected to, Likens gradually became incontinent.  She was denied any access to the bathroom, being forced to wet herself. As a form of punishment for her incontinence, on October 6, Gertrude simply threw Likens into the basement and tied her up. Here, Likens was often kept naked, rarely fed, and frequently deprived of water.  Occasionally, she would be tied to the railing of the basement stairs in a torture rack fashion, with her feet scarcely touching the ground.

In the weeks prior to locking Likens in the family basement, Gertrude had increasingly made the habit of abusing and tormenting the child something of a pastime. She would occasionally falsely claim to the children in her household that either she herself or one of them had been the recipient of direct insults from Likens in the hope this would goad them into belittling or attacking her.  On one occasion, Gertrude held a knife aloft and challenged the Likens to "fight me back", to which Likens replied she did not know how to fight.  In response, Gertrude inflicted a light scour wound to Likens' leg. Physical and mental torment such as this was occasionally ceased by the Baniszewskis to watch their favorite television shows.  Neighborhood children were also occasionally charged five cents apiece to see the "display" of Likens' body and to humiliate, beat, scald, burn, and—ultimately—mutilate her. Throughout the period of Likens' captivity in the basement, Gertrude frequently—with the assistance of her children and/or their friends—restrained Likens before placing her in a bathtub filled with scalding water before proceeding to rub salt into her wounds.  In order to muffle Likens' screams and pleas for mercy, her tormentors would regularly place a cloth gag in her mouth as they tortured her.

On one occasion, Gertrude and her twelve-year-old son, John Jr., rubbed urine and feces from Gertrude's one-year-old son's diaper into Likens' mouth before giving her a cup half filled with water and stating the water was all she would receive for the remainder of the day.

On October 22, John Baniszewski Jr. tormented Likens by offering to allow her to eat a bowl of soup with her fingers and then quickly taking away the bowl when Likens—by this stage suffering from extreme malnourishment—attempted to eat the food. Gertrude Baniszewski eventually allowed Likens to sleep upstairs, on the condition that she learned not to wet herself. That night, Sylvia whispered to Jenny to secretly give her a glass of water before falling asleep.

The following morning, Gertrude discovered that Likens had urinated herself. As a punishment, Likens was forced to masturbate with an empty glass Coca-Cola bottle in the presence of the Baniszewski children before Gertrude ordered her into the basement.

"Gertrude called [Sylvia] upstairs to the kitchen. Somehow, the conversation got around to tattooing. Gertrude asked Sylvia whether she knew what a tattoo was ... she said: 'You branded my children so now I'm going to brand you.' "--Richard Hobbs, testifying as to Gertrude Baniszewski's decision to carve an insult into Likens' abdomen on October 23, 1965.

Shortly thereafter, Gertrude shouted for Likens to return to the kitchen, then ordered her to strip naked before proclaiming to her: "You have branded my daughters; now I am going to brand you." She began carving the words "I'M A PROSTITUTE AND PROUD OF IT" onto Likens' abdomen with a heated needle.  When Gertrude was unable to finish the branding, she instructed one of the neighborhood children present, 14-year-old Richard Hobbs, to finish etching the words into Likens' flesh as she took Jenny to a nearby grocery store. In what Hobbs would later insist were "short, light" etchings, he continued to brand the text into Likens' abdomen as she clenched her teeth and moaned.  Both Hobbs and 10-year-old Shirley Baniszewski then led Likens into the basement where each proceeded to use an anchor bolt in an attempt to burn the letter "S" beneath Likens' left breast, although they applied one section of the loop backwards, and this deep burn scar would resemble the numeral "3".  Gertrude later taunted Likens by claiming she would never be able to marry due to the words carved on her stomach, stating: "Sylvia, what are you going to do now? You can't get married now. What are you going to do?"  Weeping, Likens replied, "I guess there's nothing I can do."  She was then carried back to the basement by Coy Hubbard. Later that day, Likens was forced to display the carving to neighborhood children, with Gertrude claiming she had received the inscription at a sex party.

That night, Sylvia confided to her sister: "Jenny, I know you don't want me to die, but I'm going to die. I can tell it."

The following day, Gertrude Baniszewski woke Likens, and then forced her to write a letter as she dictated the contents, which were intended to mislead her parents into believing their daughter had run away from the Baniszewski residence. The content of this letter was intended to frame a group of anonymous local boys for extensively abusing and mutilating Likens after she had initially agreed to engage in sexual relations with them before they inflicted the extreme abuse and torture upon her body.  After Likens had written this letter, Gertrude finished formulating her plan to have John Jr. and Jenny blindfold Sylvia, then take her to a nearby wooded area known as Jimmy's Forest and simply leave her there to die.

After she had finished writing the letter, Likens was then again tied to the stair railing and offered crackers to eat, although she refused them, saying: "Give it to the dog, I don't want it." In response, Gertrude forced the crackers into Likens' mouth before she and John Baniszewski beat her—particularly about the stomach.

October 25–26

On October 25, Likens attempted to escape from the basement after overhearing conversation pertaining to Gertrude Baniszewski's plan to simply abandon her to die. She attempted to flee to the front door, although due to her extensive injuries and general weakness, Gertrude caught her before she could escape the property. Likens was then given toast to eat but was unable to consume the food due to her extreme state of dehydration. Gertrude forced the toast into her mouth before repeatedly striking her face with a curtain rod until sections of the instrument were bent into right angles. Coy Hubbard then took the curtain rod from Gertrude and struck Likens one further time, rendering her unconscious. Gertrude then dragged Likens into the basement.

That evening, Likens desperately attempted to alert neighbors by screaming for help and hitting the walls of the basement with a spade. One immediate neighbor of the Baniszewskis would later inform police she had heard the desperate commotion and that she had identified the source as emanating from the basement of 3850 East New York Street, but that as the noise had suddenly ceased at approximately 3:00 a.m., she decided not to inform police about the disturbance.

Death

By the morning of October 26, Likens was unable to either speak intelligibly or to correctly coordinate the movement of her limbs. Gertrude did move Likens into the kitchen and—having propped her back against a wall—attempt to feed her a doughnut and a glass of milk, although she threw Likens to the floor in frustration when Likens was unable to correctly move the glass of milk to her lips. She was then returned to the basement.

Shortly thereafter, Likens became delirious, repeatedly moaning and mumbling. When Paula asked her to recite the English alphabet, Likens was unable to recite anything beyond the first four letters, or to raise herself off the ground. In response, Paula verbally threatened her to stand up or she would herself inflict a long jump upon her. Gertrude then ordered Likens—who had defecated—to clean herself.

That afternoon, several of Likens' other tormentors gathered in the basement. Likens jerkingly moved her arms in an apparent attempt to point at the faces of the tormentors she could recognize, making statements such as, "You're... Ricky" and "You're Gertie" before Gertrude tersely shouted, "Shut up! You know who I am!" Minutes later, Likens unsuccessfully attempted to bite into a rotten pear she had been given to eat, stating she could feel the looseness in her teeth.  Upon hearing this, Jenny replied: "Don't you remember, Sylvia? Your front tooth was knocked out when you were seven." Jenny then left Sylvia in the basement to perform gardening chores for neighbors in the hope of earning spending money.

In an attempt to wash Likens, a laughing John Baniszewski Jr. sprayed her with a garden hose brought to the house that afternoon by Randy Lepper at Gertrude's request.  Likens again desperately attempted to exit the basement but collapsed before she could reach the stairs. In response to this effort, Gertrude stamped upon Likens' head before standing and staring at her for several moments. Stephanie then decided to give Likens a warm, soapy bath, although Likens ceased breathing before she could be carried out of the basement.  She was 16 years old.  When Stephanie realized that Likens was not breathing, she attempted to apply mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as Gertrude repeatedly shouted her belief to the children and teenagers present in her house that Likens was simply faking her death.

Shortly after 5:30 p.m., Richard Hobbs returned to the Baniszewski residence and immediately proceeded to the basement. He slipped on the wet basement stairs and fell heavily to the floor of the basement to be confronted with the sight of Stephanie crying and cuddling Likens' emaciated and lacerated body.

Arrest

When Gertrude Baniszewski finally accepted that efforts made to revive Likens by bathing her and her own efforts of twice striking Likens' face with a book to revive her were unsuccessful, she instructed Richard Hobbs to call the police from a nearby payphone. When police arrived at her address at approximately 6:30 p.m., Gertrude led the officers to Likens' emaciated, extensively bludgeoned, and mutilated body lying upon a soiled mattress in one of the bedrooms before handing them the letter she had forced Likens to previously write to her dictation, also claiming she had been "doctoring" the child for an hour or more prior to her death, having applied rubbing alcohol to Likens' wounds in a futile attempt at first aid before she had died. She added that Likens had earlier run away from her home with several teenage boys before returning to her house earlier that afternoon, bare-breasted and clutching the note.

Clutching a Bible, Paula Baniszewski—having stated to all present in the household that Likens' death was "meant to happen"— then glanced in Jenny's direction and calmly stated: "If you want to live with us, Jenny, we'll treat you like our own sister."

As previously instructed by Gertrude, Jenny Likens recited the rehearsed version of events leading to Likens' death shortly after 5:30 p.m. that afternoon to police, before whispering to the officers: "You get me out of here and I'll tell you everything."

The formal statement provided by Jenny Likens prompted officers to arrest Gertrude, Paula, Stephanie, and John Baniszewski Jr. on suspicion of Likens' murder within hours of the discovery of her body. The same day, Coy Hubbard and Richard Hobbs were also arrested and charged with the same offenses.  The three eldest Baniszewski children, plus Coy Hubbard, were placed in the custody of a nearby juvenile detention center; the younger Baniszewski children and Richard Hobbs were detained at the Indianapolis Children's Guardians Home. All were held without bail pending trial.

Initially, Gertrude denied any involvement in Likens' death, although by October 27 she had confessed to having known "the kids"—particularly her daughter Paula and Coy Hubbard—had physically and emotionally abused Likens. Gertrude further admitted to having forced the girl to sleep in the basement on approximately three occasions when she had wet the bed. She became evasive when one officer stated the likely reasons Likens had become incontinent were her mental distress and injury to her kidneys.

Five other neighborhood children who had participated in Likens' abuse—Michael Monroe, Randy Lepper, Darlene McGuire, Judy Duke, and Anna Siscoe—had also been arrested by October 29.  All were charged with causing injury to person and each was subsequently released into the custody of their parents under subpoena to appear as witnesses at the upcoming trial.

Autopsy

The autopsy of Likens' body revealed she had suffered in excess of 150 separate wounds across her entire body in addition to being extremely emaciated at the time of her death.  The wounds themselves varied in location, nature, severity, and the actual stage of healing. Her injuries included burns, severe bruising, and extensive muscle and nerve damage. Her vaginal cavity was almost swollen shut, although an examination of the canal determined that her hymen was still intact, proving Likens was still a virgin and thus discrediting Gertrude's assertions Likens had been three months pregnant, a prostitute, and promiscuous. Moreover, all of Likens' fingernails were broken backwards and most of the external layers of skin upon the child's face, breasts, neck, and right knee had peeled or receded. In her death throes, Likens had evidently bitten through her lips, partially severing sections of them from her face.

The official cause of Likens' death was listed by coroner Dr. Arthur Kebel as a subdural hematoma due to her receiving a severe blow to her right temple.  Both the shock she had primarily suffered due to the severe and prolonged damage inflicted to her skin and subcutaneous tissues, plus the severe malnutrition, were listed as contributory factors to her death. Rigor mortis had fully developed at the time of the discovery of her body, indicating Likens may have been deceased for up to eight hours before she was found, although Dr. Kebel did note Likens had been recently bathed—possibly after death—and that this act could have hastened the loss of body temperature and thus speeding the onset of rigor mortis.

Funeral

The funeral service for Sylvia Likens was conducted at the Russell & Hitch Funeral Home in Lebanon on the afternoon of October 29. The service was officiated by the Reverend Louis Gibson, with more than 100 mourners in attendance. Likens' gray casket remained open throughout the ceremony, with a portrait of her taken prior to July 1965 adorning her coffin.

In his eulogy, the Reverend Gibson stated: "We all have our time (of passing), but we won't suffer like our little sister suffered during the last days of her life."  The Reverend Gibson then strode towards Likens' casket before adding, "She has gone to eternity."

Following this service, Likens' casket was placed by pallbearers in a hearse and driven to the Oak Hill Cemetery to be interred. This hearse was one of a 14-vehicle procession to drive to the cemetery for Likens' burial.  Her headstone is inscribed with the words: "Our Darling Daughter."