logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2018
1h 21m

Gertrude Baniszewski

Emash Digital / Wondery
About this episode

In 1965, Gertrude Baniszewski was a 37 year old divorced mother of seven children. Lester and Betty Likens were a couple who worked the carnival circuit and they needed someone to watch their 15 and 16 year old daughters. In a chance meeting they would meet Gertrude and make the decision to allow her to watch their girls in exchange for $20 a week. What would ensue over the next several months to Jenny and Sylvia Likens would be considered as one of the most terrible crimes in Indiana history.

Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss this case that involves the torture of both girls and the eventual death of 16 year old Sylvia Likens. The details of her death are horrible, but what would come out after the fact about who was involved in the torture and death of Sylvia would shock the nation. Gertrude was the ringleader, but it would turn out that her children and various neighborhood kids were involved as well.

You can help support the show by going to patreon.com/truecrimeallthetime

Visit our website at truecrimeallthetime.com for paypal donation, contact, and merchandise information

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Up next
Oct 6
The Night Stalker
For 17 years, an unknown suspect called the Night Stalker carried out a series of burglaries and sexual attacks against the elderly in South London, Kent, and Surrey, England. In 2009, a massive surveillance operation resulted in an arrest and identification. The Night Stalker wa ... Show More
1h 5m
Sep 29
Rodney Alcala Part 3
Rodney Alcala was an American serial killer and sex offender who was sentenced to death in California for multiple murders. Alcala has been conclusively linked to eight murders, but authorities suspect he could have killed over 100 people during his travels around the country. Jo ... Show More
54m 39s
Sep 22
Rodney Alcala Part 2
Rodney Alcala was an American serial killer and sex offender who was sentenced to death in California for multiple murders. Alcala has been conclusively linked to eight murders, but authorities suspect he could have killed over 100 people during his travels around the country. Jo ... Show More
1 h
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2018
MURDERED: Sylvia Likens
Sylvia was a happy, beautiful 16-year-old when her parents left her and her sister in the care of Gertrude Baniszewski while they went on the road for work. But, within a few short months, Sylvia was beaten, humiliated, and ultimately left to die from neglect and severe abuse, in ... Show More
27m 55s
Oct 2023
Theresa Hartley
Theresa Hartley, a Florida native living in St. Augustine, was learning how to live life on her own after her husband passed away several years earlier. On March 11, 2023, she vanished, supposedly while in the company of a friend looking for firewood in the Ocala National Forest. ... Show More
1h 14m
Sep 2022
S2 Ep94: Connie Dabate: The Other Woman (Part 2)
It was December 23rd, 2015, the morning before Christmas Eve, and most residents of Ellington Connecticut were getting their last minute holiday tasks completed before the season went into full swing. Richard and Connie Dabate got their two young sons on the school bus and then g ... Show More
1h 52m
Sep 2022
S2 Ep93: Connie Dabate: "The Masked Intruder" (Part 1)
It was December 23rd, 2015, the morning before Christmas Eve, and most residents of Ellington Connecticut were getting their last minute holiday tasks completed before the season went into full swing. Richard and Connie Dabate got their two young sons on the school bus and then g ... Show More
1h 36m
Jun 2022
Woman charged with killing stepfather-turned-husband; Waitress rescues abused boy with secret notes
This Week on True Crime Daily The Podcast: After 17 years of marriage, when she couldn’t end their relationship, police say she ended his life. Plus, A waitress who saw something, said something, and saved a young boy’s life in the process. Luis Bolaños joins host Ana Garcia. UPD ... Show More
1h 4m
Jun 2023
Ruth Egnoski
Sometime between the summer of 1964 and 1966, a young woman named Ruth Egnoski disappeared from Delavan, Wisconsin. No one can remember precisely when for sure. Depending on the year, she would have been between the ages of 18 and 20. Her family said that they reported Ruth missi ... Show More
59m 23s
May 2022
10-year-old girl killed by teen cousin; husband kills pregnant wife in argument about his affair
This Week on True Crime Daily The Podcast: After an unspeakable act, 10-year-old Lily Peters is left dead. The suspected killer? Her 14-year-old cousin. In one act of violence, two families and an entire community are left broken. Plus, an affair ends a marriage and a young mothe ... Show More
56m 26s
Nov 2023
200: The Murders of Jennifer Corbin & Dolly Hearn
27-year-old Dorothy “Dolly” Hearn and 33-year-old Jennifer Corbin never met—but the two women had a lot in common. Both were intelligent young women in Georgia who had their whole lives ahead of them, and both of them died under mysterious circumstances that were shockingly simil ... Show More
50m 21s