Sylvia Likens: 54 years later

[Music] hey guys what's up and welcome back to my channel so today we're gonna be talking about another crime now if you've been following me for a while you know that crimes against children get me particularly irate mainly because children are defenseless typically quite pure and why am i explaining myself crimes against children are terrible Indiana's most infamous crime fifty years later the details of her demise revealed at the 1966 trial defied belief here a peek at the lives of the participants of the murder of Sylvia likens 50 years later buckle up guys this one's rough it was called the most terrible crime ever committed in Indiana and half a century later the title still holds on October 26th 1965 police found Sylvia lichens and Maisie a dead corpse covered with more than 150 wounds ranging from burns to cuts sprawled on a filthy mattress in the Indianapolis home of 37 year old Gertrude baniszewski mother of seven and the architect of the girls gruesome death one thing that drives me absolutely up the wall is when people who are trusted to take care of a child end up being the child's worst nightmare I genuinely have no empathy for people like that the details of her demise revealed that the 1966 trial defied belief Sylvia's carnival worker parents boarded her era and her sister Jenny with Ben uzuki for $20 a week but when one of their checks arrived late baniszewski took out her frustration by beating the girls weeks of escalating horror followed the attacks focused almost exclusively on Sylvia grew ever more violent and sadistic several of Ben azuki's children and a gaggle of neighborhood kids some as young as 10 watched or joined in none reported what they saw I have to say what has me even more [ __ ] up is that Ben uzuki got kids to join in first of all kids can be cruel to other kids I say as someone who was bullied so I'd know you're getting kids to join in on something especially the younger children the ones that are older teens I don't really know how to even contextualize that but the younger children from the neighborhood I think it's really [ __ ] up to involve any kid in the first place but especially the younger ones who don't understand the consequences of what they're doing because it's like you're egging them on to do something that you as an adult know is not okay but that they're gonna maybe hate themself or their whole lives for doing a lot of people have compared this to The Lord of the Flies says attorney Nattie bumpo a former Indianapolis Star reporter who covered the case but that was just a bunch of control children in this case they had an adult supervising what they were doing it wasn't children going wild it was children doing what they were told what's even more mind-boggling is that the crimes perpetrators all eventually walked free some after absurdly short prison sentences here's what's happened to those tragedies principal players it stuns me it truly stuns me how ineffective laws can be in terms of actually charging people who are guilty of crimes I've seen so many cases that are open and shut even for me meanwhile people who had a [ __ ] ounce of weed on them are been locked up for 20 years but anyway let me not go off about that Gertrude baniszewski time served at 20 years originally found guilty of first-degree murder Gertrude or gertie as she was sometimes called nobody cares was sentenced to life in prison a judgement confirmed by 1971 trial during her years at the Indiana woman's prison she was considered a model prisoner and earned the nickname of mom in spite of widespread public outcry she was paroled in 1985 she moved to Iowa changed her name to Nadine van Fossen and died of lung cancer on June 16th 1990 she never took responsibility for her crimes claiming she couldn't remember her actions I never thought she was insane bumpa says I thought she was a downtrodden mean woman it's particularly frustrating to me that she was a model prisoner and they called her mom like I thought in prison people are hated for crimes against children are you calling her mom like if anything she's the evil distant mom who actually tortured a child what makes that okay let me just move on Paula Bennett Sookie when Gertrude sickly asthmatic didn't feel up to disciplining Silvia she relied on her oldest child Paula to help out what she did enthusiastically she was 17 at the time and it was rumored that she and Silvia disliked each other from the start in 1966 Paula was convicted of second-degree murder but when her conviction was overturned in 1971 on a technicality she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter or rather than face a trial she got to 221 years but in despite of attempting a prison break she was paroled in March 1972 and released completely in March 1974 she changed her name to Paula pace and wasn't heard from again until 2012 when she was discovered living in the small Iowa hamlet of Marshalltown and working for the school system in the neighboring town of Conrad paste / Ben uzuki the mother of two grown sons wasn't charged with any additional crime but was fired from her job for providing false information on her employee application since then she has once more slipped off the grid okay I'm glad she got fired because I would not want someone like that working around children absolutely not I mean realistically I wouldn't want someone like that working anywhere close to anyone ever you know drop her off on some remote island and labor to me the fact that both the quote/unquote mother and the sister changed their names is an admission of guilt and of course you know in a certain way it's a strategic choice because you don't want people to keep contacting you or finding out who you are and stuff like that but at the same time it's also like if I was so sure that I wasn't guilty of something would I give in and change my name probably not and that's just my interpretation they might see themselves as the most innocent people on earth it's interesting that that's a common thread between the perpetrators at this crime Stephani Bennis key time served none the second oldest of the baniszewski children stephanie was 15 at the time of the crime though she admitted to participating to some degree in Sylvia's abuse she was granted a special trial and all the charges against her were dropped likely because she agreed to turn state's evidence against her family she reportedly changed her name Mary had children worked as a teacher and now lives in Florida see the thing is it becomes more complicated as there are younger and younger people involved because I have difficulty discerning what is actually them you know potentially having weird tendencies towards violence and what's them doing what an adult is telling them to do does that make sense if you're 17 I have less empathy because it's like you're one year away from adulthood like I think you can understand the consequences if you're 15 and you're potentially being manipulated by an adult then it's harder for me to tell how aware you are of what you're doing John been uzuki time served two years the third oldest of the Bennis disky children an active participant in Sylvia's torture John was 12 when she died a convicted of manslaughter he became the Indiana State Reformatory youngest inmate serving just two years before being released he changed his name to John Blake and drifted aimlessly before experiencing a religious epiphany that he said helped him see the error of his ways allegedly the only member of the baniszewski clan to show public remorse for his deeds he made no attempt to hide his past and even spoke about it publicly on occasion reportedly a lay minister and real estate agent with a wife and three children he died of cancer in 2005 at age 52 in a masterpiece of an understatement he once told a reporter my mom was a very selfish self-centered a woman it's also strange to me that out of what four people two got cancer that is alarming but I am glad to hear that at least he showed remorse and didn't run away from it like I think this is probably the best reaction out of all of them because it seems like everyone else was kind of pretending that it didn't happen or like they weren't guilty but for him to show remorse publicly I think is I mean the best thing you can do it's not like you can never really fully atoned but at least if you make sure to be clear that you don't feel good about it that's important plus he was 12 so I can't really imagine him fully understanding what he was doing Murray Ben uzuki time served none fourth of the eldest baniszewski children Murray was 11 when the torture took place no charges were brought against her she testified during the trial the sole member of the Bennis key family to crown the stander in questioning she still reportedly lives in honestly I'm kind of wondering how traumatized especially the younger children who didn't really understand what was going on or what they were doing I can't imagine the trauma of seeing your sister essentially being murdered and beat up by a gang of other children Shirley Ben uzuki time served nun v OB Ben uzuki children Shirley was the youngest of the family to actively participate in Sylvia's torture although the ten-year-old heated a needle that was used to burn the victim she was never charged with any crime her whereabouts today are unknown any of the young children who were being actively violent like heating up a needle that would never even occur to me but I think they should have not necessarily gone to jail but I've gotten some kind of mental treatment because first of all like I mentioned before the trauma but aside from that what kind of tendencies are you showing by doing this at that young of an age it could be you showing that there's something wrong with you mentally or that you're strangely aggressive just generally speaking I would have them go to intensive therapy because you can't be okay after something like that there's no way even if you're a good intentioned little kid James Benazir ski time served none because he was only eight at the time James was not arrested and were called to testify although some reports suggest that he played a role in the crime of all the Ben asougi offspring the least is known about him Dennis Lee Wright junior the youngest of the bad news of ski children Dennis was a newborn and once Sylvia my her fate he was the son of Gertrude's lover Dennis Lee right senior who abandoned the family shortly after his namesakes birth supposedly he was placed in foster care and was later adopted by the white family who changed his name to Denny Lee white he died in 2012 in California koi Hubbert times served two years a neighborhood kid and Stephanie Bennett Sookie's boyfriend Hubbard was a full participant and Sylvia's torturer his contributions include using her as a practice dummy for judo flips and punching and shoving her down the basement stairs convicted of manslaughter he served only two years before being released his attorney Forrest Bauman jr. remembers running into him in the early 1970s when he stopped at a near downtown gas station where Hubbard happened to work he was very effusive and said come inside I want to introduce you to my boss about manner occurs I said sure that was the last contact I had with ugly Hubbard never changed his name or Lee in the Indianapolis area most of his adult life he was tried for another murder in 1982 but acquitted he also reportedly lost his job in 2007 won the movie an American crime about Sylvia like in this case debuted he died in June that year in Shelbyville frankly this might be the second person I have the biggest issue with after the mother figure because first of all he was her boyfriend Sylvia's boyfriend that is that is disgusting and I have to say it makes me shiver the whole thing of using her as a practice dummy for judo flips you guys know I don't like diagnosing anyone with anything but the fact that he did that and then was acquitted for another murder I don't think that's a coincidence like I think something's wrong there who doesn't hear alarm bells when someone does that when they're a teen and then later are acquitted from a murder don't you think maybe huh this person has been in a lot of weird violent crimes why might that be Richard Hobbs time served two years another neighborhood kid who tortured Sylvia Hobbs performed the infamous act of helping carve the words I am a prostitute and proud of it into her stomach with a large needle the macabre task was begun by Gertrude but when she became too fatigued to finish Hobbs stepped in convicted of manslaughter he served a short sentence and died of cancer in 1972 at age 21 what is with all these people dying of cancer is that a weird form of Karma I'm just kind of surprised at the amount there aren't that many people and I know cancer isn't the rarest thing in the world but nonetheless it surprises me lester c likens listen there's never any good news with someone called Lester Sylvie's father was a carnival worker who decided to leave his kids with a third party while he and his wife Betty were on the road his only crime was that he didn't vet the baniszewski 'he's home more thoroughly before leaving two of his daughters and Gertrude's custody we he and Gertrude got to talking and she said she would take care of the children and treat them like her own he recalled at the trial Lester apparently believed her because during several subsequent trips to the house the last October 5th just weeks before his daughter's death he noticed nothing out of order now that there was much to see considering the only portions of the baniszewski Zab OD ever entered with living room and once the kitchen he report we died in February 2013 at the age of 86 in Fontana California I can't conceptualize of just leaving your kids with someone you haven't thoroughly vetted mind you would he have known that the mother Gertrude was a bad person maybe not because some people are very good at hiding it but nonetheless it's irresponsible Betty likens visibly devastated Sylvia's mother gave only short responses on the witness stand at the trial she divorced Lester in 1967 remarried and died on May 29 1980 aged 71 she was buried in Crown Hills Cemetery or she shares a headstone with her brother diana likens in the midst of the ordeal Sylvia's sister Jenny who was also born at the baniszewski z-- reportedly called their older sister Diana for help believing that girls were simply grumbling Diana and Ashley ignored the plea but her suspicions were raised when Gertrude wouldn't let her in the house for a visit she then spotted Jenny who wasn't allowed to talk to her and ran away diana contacted social services but when a worker showed up at the penisu ski residence Jenny told her on threat of punishment from Gertrude that Sylvia had run away no further action was taken Diana made headlines recently when she and her husband sessile Paul Knutson both diabetics got lost in the California backcountry and were stranded in their car for two weeks with nothing to sustain them but rain water of Pi and some oranges Knutson didn't survive the ordeal dying of a heart attack after the first week diana near-death was discovered and rescued by off-roaders listen at least diana called the services at least she tried to do something I think that's probably one of the most admirable things people have done so far but it is really shitty that the services didn't pick up on anything wrong because you think that they look a little bit deeper than just be like oh yeah she right away okay bye Jenny likens perhaps because she was crippled by polio Jenny didn't suffered nearly as much abuse as her sister Sylvia did from the beginning she had opportunities to tell neighbors what was going on but she didn't because she feared she would make things worse indeed one of the enduring mysteries of the case is why neither she nor Sylvia sought for help before things escalated I speculate there was never any experience in Sylvia's life up to the time she went into Gertrude's house when she learned people would come to her aid says Baumann Hubbard's attorney she wasn't conditioned to that anyone would help her Silvia finally succumbed to her injuries after months of torture Hobbs the neighborhood kid contacted the police to report the death when the police arrived to collect her sister's body jenny reportedly told them you get me out of here and i'll tell you everything the beach borough resident she died in 2004 at the age of 54 i feel like reading this just drained my energies just because of how absolutely [ __ ] disgusting this is I can't imagine what Silvia went through and I think of course the violence is terrible does that have to be said no but the idea that people around you and worse people close to you would do that to you is so absolutely disgusting for your last moments of life your boyfriend you're essentially mother figure your siblings participating in something like that especially the older ones who know full well what they're doing it's nauseating and it makes me really mad that some of these people got barely any time considering the crime and it scares me that some of these people are still out and about because I don't think anyone could be mentally stable after a being traumatized by seeing it and or be by taking part these guys I'm very curious to know if you hold the younger children accountable or how do you feel about the younger kids of course an eight-year-old I don't necessarily hold accountable but I'm more thinking about the fifteen-year-old and the ones that are older but not necessarily adults yet because I think they have a better grasp yet maybe not a full grasp of what they were doing so let me know we think in the comments down below thank you guys so much for watching and thank you to my patrons as always let's get right into the fan art [Music]

Channel: READY TO GLARE

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Id: 9DLQyUR9uR8

Length: 17min 52sec (1072 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 20 2019