In Memory Of
Sylvia Marie Likens:
Presented By
Bonnie M. Wells
Indianapolis, Indiana 1965
During the summer of 1965, the father of Sylvia Likens left her and her younger sister Jenny, in the care of a single mother by the name of Gertrude Baniszewski.
It would prove to be the worst thing he could have ever done for Sylvia.
Within four months, the police would be summouned to the household, and find the body of Sylvia, emaciated, bruised and burned with over 100 cigarette and match burns.
Burned by a heated sewing needle onto her stomach were the words,
"I'M A PROSTITUTE AND PROUD OF IT."
Gertrude and her family, as well as neighborhood children, encouraged by Gertrude beat, humiliated, tortured, burned and starved Sylvia until her body could withstand no more. They murdered her.
On October 26th, 1965, in a shabby rundown house in a poor section of Indianapolis, Sylvia Likens died unheard, in silent agony, surrounded by evil. She was 16 years old.
Sylvia
The Sylvia Likens Memorial
On June 22, 2001, The Sylvia Likens Memorial was unveiled in Willard Park, Indinapolis, Indiana, located at the intersection of S. State Ave and E. Washington St.
The plaque on the memorial contains the following poem by Ivan Rodgers:
I see a light; hope.
I feel a breeze; strength.
I hear a song; relief.
Let them through,
For they are the welcome ones.
Sylvia rests in Oak Hill Cemetery,
Lebanon, (Boone County) Indiana.
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