The True Horror Behind An American Crime: The Sylvia Likens Case That Still Haunts America

-In 1965, behind the closed doors of a seemingly normal home in Indianapolis, Indiana, a slow and monstrous horror unfolded—one so disturbing that decades later, it still defies comprehension. That horror was the torture and murder of 16-year-old Sylvia Likens, a case so deeply unsettling that the 2007 film *An American Crime* could only partially convey the trauma and terror.

Sylvia was a typical teenage girl—sweet, shy, and full of life. Her parents, carnival workers, left Sylvia and her younger sister Jenny in the care of a local woman named Gertrude Baniszewski. On the surface, Gertrude was a struggling single mother doing the best she could. But underneath, she was a volatile, unstable woman with a terrifying ability to manipulate and control.

What began as verbal abuse quickly turned into a daily ritual of physical torture. Gertrude, her children, and even neighborhood kids participated in Sylvia’s slow destruction. Sylvia was starved, beaten, burned, and humiliated in ways so depraved, the autopsy would later describe over 150 wounds on her body. She was kept in a basement, denied basic human dignity, and stripped of all hope—by people she should have been able to trust.

The film An American Crime,  starring Catherine Keener as Gertrude and Ellen Page as Sylvia, tried to do the impossible: retell a horror so real and gut-wrenching that courtroom transcripts read like a horror novel. The most terrifying part? Much of the movie is verbatim from trial documents. The film didn’t need to exaggerate. Reality had already gone too far.

Sylvia's last words before she died were heartbreaking: “I’m not going to make it.”

What followed was a trial that stunned the nation. Gertrude was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life, but was shockingly released on parole in 1985. Her children and some of the neighbor kids were also found guilty—but many served light sentences. Sylvia’s death wasn’t just a failure of one woman, but a failure of a whole community that looked away.

The Likens case remains one of the most disturbing examples of unchecked abuse in American history. It exposed the dangers of turning a blind eye, of trusting appearances, and of failing to speak up.

An American Crime* gave Sylvia a voice in death, but the real story—the one still whispered about in true crime circles—is more than a film. It’s a horrifying reminder that evil doesn’t always wear a mask. Sometimes, it lives next door and smiles at you from the porch.

Sylvia Likens never got justice in the way she deserved—but her story, raw and tragic, continues to echo across generations. And it demands one thi

ng: that we never, ever forget.