Upamanyu Biswas
The 2007 film, ‘An American Crime,’ depicts the harrowing torture and murder of a sixteen-year-old girl, Sylvia Likens, at the hands of her caregiver, Gertrude Baniszewski. Director Tommy O’Haver presents the authentic true crime story that occurred in 1965 after the two Likens sisters – Sylvia and Jenny – moved in with the Baniszewski family of seven children, where they underwent brutal treatment at the hands of their hosts. However, a majority of the disturbing punishments are mostly handed out to the elder sister, Sylvia, who is subjected to maltreatment of the highest order by Gertrude, her children, and neighborhood kids, whose actions lead to the girl’s eventual death after she succumbs to her injuries. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Gertrude’s Obsession With Sylvia
As the mother of seven children, Gertrude Baniszewski’s life at the beginning of ‘An American Crime’ is a mess most of the time due to her inability to control or discipline her kids. As a single mother, she is constantly under duress to procure enough money to cater to the numerous mouths in the family and herself. Most of her income comes from babysitting or ironing clothes – meager work resulting in equally measly financial outcomes. So, by the time Sylvia and Jenny Likens start boarding at her house with a packed, stressful environment, Gertrude is in a dark place.
Enthused by the notion that she is being paid 20$ per week for letting the Likens sisters stay, she attaches a transactional sentiment to their presence at her home. However, the moment it is broken when Lester Likens misses the deadline on a few payments, Gertrude instantly latches on to the irregularity by handing out the first physical punishments to both sisters by hitting them across their bare buttocks. While the girls accept this as a fair penalty for their father’s inability to send the money on time, it also underlines the ease with which Gertrude descends into harsh beatings that are reserved only for the Likens and not for her own kids.
Things take a darker turn when Sylvia mentions Paula’s pregnancy to her boyfriend, resulting in Gertrude forcing the girl to apologize for telling lies, which, in fact, she hasn’t because Paula herself disclosed the truth to her. The harsh punishments that were initially meted out to both Likens sisters gradually ramp up in intensity for Sylvia as Gertrude zeroes in on her as a rogue element that needs to be dealt with properly. In a way, the adult woman’s fears around her daughter’s pregnancy rumors can be understood, considering the fact that she herself has undergone numerous pregnancies and miscarriages that have left her brittle, stressed out, and ashamed about her reputation.
Later, during a church event, Gertrude singles out Sylvia as a flirtatious girl who is sleeping around with boys all the time, a rumor that she has no clear evidence for except an inherent belief that she is bad-mouthing the Baniszewskis behind everybody’s back. As Gertrude has a clandestine relationship with Andy Gordon, a man who is much younger than her, jealousy takes root in her heart when she notices him talking with Sylvia. Consequently, Sylvia’s punishments grow more severe, and the neighborhood kids also join in. Gertrude takes it almost as a mission to fix the girl’s attitude despite having no real jurisdiction over making such adjustments in her behavior.
Sylvia’s Real Abuse and the Version Presented in the Movie
Although ‘An American Crime’ features an overall faithful recounting of Sylvia’s real-life murder, there are certain small omissions, including the brutality of the girl’s actual torture, which is softened in the film. There are also minor hints in the real accounts and testimonies presented regarding Gertrude’s motivation behind subjecting such horrifying punishments on Sylvia, albeit a complete reconstruction and answer to why she did what she did to the sixteen-year-old is challenging to obtain comprehensively. In his 2008 book ‘House of Evil: The Indiana Torture Slaying,’ John Dean revealed that both Sylvia and Lester’s parents did very little research into the household they were about to let their kids stay in.
According to Dean, had Lester and Betty Likens known that Gertrude lived in an impoverished house with seven children who were always getting on her nerves, they would have instantly decided not to let their children board there. One of the final things Lester Likens told Gertrude after paying her the first $ 20$ was, “You’ll have to take care of these girls with a firm hand because their mother has let them do as they please.” Although it is difficult to speculate with any degree of certainty, the father’s final words may have seeded a wrong first impression in Gertrude’s head, who immediately became firm toward her charges.
Gertrude was suspicious that Sylvia was a thief and prone to stealing. She constantly accused the girl of stealing things that she brought back home. Some of these claims were not unfounded, as Sylvia’s mother, Betty Likens, had gone to jail for shoplifting in 1965. However, most of these claims that were made against the girl were founded on fallow ground. She was also accused of being unhygienic and sexually promiscuous. In all three cases, Dean, who compiled his book from various trusted testimonies, explained that it was more likely that Gertrude was projecting her own personal fears. As she lived in squalor, the insecurities of her pregnancies, cleanliness in the seven children’s house, as well as lack of finances led her to make accusations toward Sylvia.
Forrest Bowman Jr., the attorney who represented sixteen-year-old Coy Hubbard and thirteen-year-old John Baniszewski in the torture and murder trial of Sylvia, said in a 2014 interview, “I don’t think [Gertrude Baniszewski] was guilty of murder because I don’t think that she intended to kill Sylvia. I think she was stunned when she died. … In no way does that excuse the God-awful things she did or caused to be done. She had a miserable life. What I think this was about was jealousy [of Sylvia Likens].” In numerous instances in Dean’s book, it is revealed that both Gertrude and her eldest daughter, Paula, were envious of Sylvia’s physical appearance and her youthfulness. It may have played a part in the senseless vitriol directed towards the girl who, other than one instance, never retaliated against her aggressors.
After her release from prison in 1985, 20 years after she was incarcerated for her hand in the sixteen-year-old girl’s death, Gertrude Baniszewski stated that she did not remember her role in the death of Sylvia nor why she did what she did, as cited by the Chicago Tribune. However, she added that she accepted all responsibility for Sylvia’s death. Thus, while it is impossible to know for sure what motivated the horrifying torture subjected to Sylvia Likens, specific cues can be narrowed down, like jealousy being the central driving force.
Read more: Jenny Likens: What Happened to Sylvia Likens’ Sister?
