Sylvia Likens Autopsy provided evidence of the extensive abuse that Sylvia endured at the hands of her caregiver.
Sylvia Marie Likens was an American adolescent who was tortured and murdered, as well as several of Baniszewski’s children and neighborhood neighbors.
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Indiana residents commonly recognize the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens as the greatest crime ever perpetrated in their state. A senior detective with the Indianapolis Police Department called it the “most sadistic” case he had ever investigated in his 35 years with force.
Sylvia Likens Autopsy: Who Killed Her?
She was an American adolescent tortured and murdered by her caretaker, Gertrude Baniszewski, and several of Baniszewski’s children and neighborhood neighbors.
Likens’ autopsy found that she had sustained over 150 distinct wounds throughout her whole body and was very malnourished at the time of her death.
The wounds differed in location, type, severity, and state of healing. Her ailments included Burns, severe bruising, and substantial muscle and nerve damage. Her vaginal cavity was almost completely swollen shut.
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Moreover, Likens’ fingernails were broken entirely backward, and much of the skin on the child’s face, breasts, neck, and right knee had peeled or retreated.
Likens had bitten through her lips in her death struggles, partially ripping pieces of them from her face.
Coroner Dr. Arthur Kebel determined that Likens died due to a subdural hematoma caused by a violent hit to her right temple.
Both the shock she had undergone as a result of the extensive and sustained injury to her skin and subcutaneous tissues, as well as the extreme malnutrition, were recognized as contributing reasons to her death.
Rigor mortis had fully developed at the time her body was discovered, indicating Likens could have been dead for up to eight hours before she was discovered,
Dr. Kebel did note Likens had recently bathed—possibly after death—and that this act could have hastened the loss of body temperature, thus hastening the onset of rigor mortis.
Sylvia Likens Death Cause And Obituary
Coroner Dr. Arthur Kebel determined that Likens died due to a subdural hematoma caused by a violent hit to her right temple.
Baniszewski denied knowing about the abuse at her trial the following year, claiming the youngsters must have done it all. She submitted not guilty and not guilty because of insanity pleas.
A jury convicted Baniszewski of first-degree murder on May 19, 1966, and Paula Baniszewski was guilty of second-degree murder. Hobbs, Baniszewski’s son John, and another neighborhood child, Coy Hubbard, were all found guilty of manslaughter.
Gertrude and Paula Baniszewski received life sentences at Indiana Women’s Prison in Indianapolis. The lads were sentenced to two to twenty-one years at the Indiana State Reformatory in Pendleton.
Gertrude and Paula Baniszewski were given a second trial by the Indiana Supreme Court in 1971 owing to a “prejudicial environment,” but Gertrude was convicted of first-degree murder on Aug. 5, 1971.
On May 25, 1966, Gertrude and Paula Baniszewski were condemned to live in prison. Due to their ages, Richard Hobbs, Coy Hubbard, and John Baniszewski Jr. were sentenced to 2- 21 years at the Indiana Reformatory.
Paula was sentenced to two years in jail after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. After completing nearly two years of their sentences, the three lads were granted parole for good behavior in 1968.
Hobbs died of Cancer four years after being released from the reformatory at 21. Hubbard has had several run-ins with the law. Lester and Betty Likens split up.
Betty remarried and passed away in 1998 at the age of 71. Jenny Likens Wade passed away in 2004 at the age of 54.
