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Mom’s Mysteries
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!!!!WARNING MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN!!!!

 

Welcome to Mom’s Mysteries. This is the blog post where we investigate true crimes, mysteries and weird things the happen to people. This will be a monthly post. If you are easily bothered by these things I recommend you not read any further. I am trying to keep the unsolved in the peoples eye and the solved for informative purposes. If you post any comments please be kind because we may or may not have friends and family of the victims read this and you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Thank you and now to the case.

This week we are looking into the case of The Torture and Murder of Sylvia Likens and the movies An American Crime and The Girl Next Door.

!!!Warning this case is very very Graphic it talks about brutal torture, molestation, and murder of a young girl and children are involved!!!

The Torture and Murder of Sylvia Likens

 

Sylvia Likens

 

This case took place in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States in October of 1965. The 16 year old Sylvia was held captive, abused, and tortured to death over a period of three months according to Gertrude Baniszewski, Baniszewski’s Children, and other neighborhood children. Likens’ parents had left her and her sister Jenny in the care of

Jenny Likens

Gertrude while they worked for the carnival. They paid Gertrude $20 a week to take care other the girls.

Gertrude her daughter Paula, her son John, and two neighborhood youths, Coy Hubbard and Richard Hobbs, were tried and convicted of torturing and murdering Sylvia. The case was described by the prosecutor in the case as “ the most terrible crime ever committed in the state of Indiana”.

Gertrude age 39, was American and Dutch descent, she had 7 children by this time. She was always in abusive relationships and that is what she new, but this is no excuse.

Sylvia Marie Likens was born January 3, 1949 she was the third child of carnival workers Lester Cecil Likens and Elizabeth Frances “Betty” Likens. She was born between two sets of fraternal twins: Diana and Danny (two years older), and Jenny and Benny (one year younger, Jenny being disabled by polio).

In July 1965, Sylvia and Jenny were living with their mother, Betty, in Indianapolis, Indiana. During that time, Betty was arrested and jailed for shoplifting. Lester, their father, who was recently separated from their mother, arranged for the girls to board with Gertrude, the mother of the girls’ new friend Paula (17) and Paula’s six siblings Stephanie (15), John (12),Marie (11), Shirley (10), James (8), and few months old Dennis Jr. During her early time with the Baniszewski family, she would sing with Gertrude’s daughter, Stephanie.

Although the Baniszewskis were poor, Lester “didn’t pry”
into the condition of the house (as he reported at the trial), and he encouraged Gertrude to “straghten his daughters out”.

Lester Likens agreed to pay $20 a week in exchange for the girls care. Gertrude was described by the Indianapolis Star as a “haggard, underwight asthmatic”, was suffering from depression and the stress of several failed marriages. When his payment arrived late, Gertrude beat the Likens girls on their bare buttocks with paddles.

Gertrude soon focused her abuse exclusively on Sylvia. She accused her of stealing candy that she had bought, and humiliated her when she admitted that she once had a boyfriend. Gertrude’s daughter, Paula, who was pregnant at thee time, kicked Sylvia in the genitals and accused her of being pregnant. Later medical examination proved that Sylvia was not pregnant and could not have been. Gertrude began allowing her older children to beat Sylvia and repeated push her down stairs for entertainment. During a church function, Gertrude force-fed Sylvia a hot dog overloaded with condiments. Sylvia vomited afterwards, which she was later forced to consume. Gertrude also accused Sylvia of prostitution and delivered misogynistic sermons about the filthiness of prostitutes and women in general.

Sylvia was later accused of spreading rumors within Arsenal Technical High School that Paula and Stephanie were prostitutes. This supposedly provoked Stephanie’s boyfriend, Coy Hubbard, to physically attack Sylvia. Afterwards, Hubbard, and several other classmates and local boys visited the Baniszewski residence to assist Gertrude in abusing Sylvia. Gertrude encouraged Hubbard, her children, and neighborhood children to torment Sylvia, including, among other things:

• beating her
• starving her
• tying her up
• forcing her to eat feces and drink urine
• clubbing her with objects such as hair spray cans, dishes and bottles
• using her as a practice dummy during violent Judo sessions
• clawing here
• lacerating her
• burning her body with lit cigarettes over 100 times
• burning her with scalding water
• injuring her genitals
• rubbing salt into her wounds
• forcing her to strip naked and insert an empty glass Coca-Cola bottle into her vagina

Paula once beat Sylvia in the face with such force that she broke her own wrist. She later had to wear a cast, which she used to further beat Sylvia.

Gertrude later forced Jenny to hit her sister, beating her if she did not comply.

Meanwhile, Raymond and Phyllis Vermillion, the middle-aged couple who moved in next door saw Gertrude to be an ideal caretaker for their two children. They visited the Banszewski residence on two occasions, where they witnessed Paula, with Gertrude’s appoval, abusing Sylvia and boasting about it in front of them. The Vermillions refused to report the abuse to the authorities out of fear on both occasions.

Gertrude eventually forbade Sylvia from attending school after Sylvia confessed to having stolen a gym suit from the school when Gertrude would not buy a gym suit for her. She brutally beat and whipped Sylvia and did the same for Jenny after remembering that she supposedly stole a tennis shoe. Gertrude then switched the topic to the “evils” of premarital sex and brutally kicked Sylvia multiple times in her vagina. She also burned all her fingers with matches and further whipped her.

Sylvia eventually became incontinent due to the severity of the torture. She was denied access to the bathroom and thus, was forced to urinate herself. As punishment for her incontinence, Gertrude threw and locked her in the basement. Throughout her captivity, Gertrude frequently, with the assistance of her children an their friends, restrained Sylvia in a bathtub filled with scalding water and rubbed salt onto her burns. She was often kept naked and rarely fed. At times, Gertrude and her 12 year old son John Jr. would make Sylvia eat her own feces, as well as urine and feces from the diaper of the baby son (1) by this time. She also made abusing Sylvia a pastime, charging the neighborhood children five cents to see the “display” of Sylvia’s naked body and tie, beat, burn and mutilate her. Sylvia attempted to alert the neighbors for help by screaming and hitting the walls of the basement with a spade, ultimately to no avail.

The Likens sisters had no way to contact other family members to inform them of the abuse. Jenny, especially, struggled to do this since she was constantly threatened by Gertrude that she would be abused and tortured next like her sister. She was also bullied by the neighborhood girls and beaten whenever she alluded to Sylvia’s situation. Early that summer, they saw their older sister, Diana, a couple of times at the local park. Diana was 18 years old, married, and estranged from the rest of her family. Their parents had forbidden contact between the two. When her sisters finally had the chance to tell Diana about the punishments they were receiving, she assumed that seeing her was the reason why. They wished they could all live together, but at the time, they didn’t know they lived less then a mile and a half apart. Diana eventually learrned that Sylvia and Jenny were staying at a home which was not their partents’, and she attempted to visit them. She did not know the woman who answered the door, but later learned it was Gertrude. She told Diana that the girls were not allowed to see her, and ordered Diana off her property. At one point, Diana secretly gave a starving Sylvia a sandwich. Sylvia remained silent about the matter but after Marie revealed it, Paula and Gertrude choked and paddled her before subjecting her to another scalding bath. Shorty thereafter, a neighbor made an anonymous report, which prompted an in-home visit by a public health nurse. The nurse entered the home and made inquiries, but hd no choice but to leave without further inestigation. She told Gertrude the report was about Silvia; Gertrude replied she had kicked Sylvia out of her house, and that her whereabouts were unknown. The nurse had no way of knowing that the subject of her inquiry was right below her in the basement.

Sylvia was often deprived of water. Jenny later speculated, during her court testimony, that Sylvia was unable to produce tears due to dehydration.

On October 22, Sylvia was forced by john to eat a bowl of soup with her fingers. John quickly took away the bowl when Sylvia attempted to eat it. Gertrude eventually allowed her to sleep upstairs, under the condition that she learned not to wet herself. That night, Sylvia whispered to Jenny to give her a glass of water before falling asleep. On October 23, Gertrude discovered that Sylvia had urinated herself. As punishment, Sylvia was forced to masturbate with an empty glass Coca-Cola bottle in front of Gertrude’s children. After that, she stripped Sylvia naked and carved the words “I’M A PROSTITUTE AND PROUD OF IT” onto Sylvia’s abdomen with a heated needle. When Gertrude was unable to finish the branding, she had Richard Hobbs finish. Hobbs and 10 year old Shirley Then used an iron poker in an attempt to burn the letter “S” into Sylvia’s chest; the burn scar ended up looking like the number “3”. Gertrude later taunted Sylvia about how she would never be able to marry a man due to the words carved onto her stomach. Sylvia was taken back to the basement, where Coy Hubbard arrived to tie her up and slam her body against the walls six to seven times. That night, Sylvia confided to her sister, “I’m going to die. I can tell”. The next day, Gertrude woke Sylvia, then dictated a letter to her, intending to mislead her parents into believing that she had run away. The letter also tried to frame a group of anonymous boys for the abusing and mutilating Sylvia after she supposedly agreed to have sexual relations with them. After Sylvia finished the letter, Gertrude formulated a plan to have John Jr. and Jenny take Sylvia to a nearby forested area and leave her there to die.

On October 25, Sylvia tried to escape after overhearing Gertrude plan to blindfold her and dump her body in Jimmy’s Forest, a wooded area nearby. Sylvia fled to the front door but due to her extensive injuries, Gertrude caught her in time. Sylvia was provided with toast but was unable to eat it due to her severe dehydration. Gertrude shoved the toast into her mouth and struck her face several times with a curtain rod. She violently threw Sylvia into the basement and with the assistance of Hubbard, she tied and bludgeoned her until she was unconscious. Sylvia managed to recover but was unable to speak intelligibly and move her limbs properly. Sylvia tried to exit the basement but collapsed before she could make it to the stairs. Gertrude crushed her head with her feet and stood there for several moments.

On October 26, after multiple beatings, burnings, and scalding baths, Sylvia died of a brain hemorrhage, shock, and malnutrition. She was 16 years old.

When Stephanie Banszewski and Richard Hobbs realized that Sylvia was not breathing, Steephanie tried to give her mouth to mouth resuscitation. Gertrude, however, shouted at them that Sylvia was “faking it”.

When Gertrude finally realized that Sylvia was dead, she sent Hobbs to call the police from a nearby pay phone. When poplice arrived, Gertrude handed them the letter she had forced Sylvia to write a few days previously. Before the police officers left the house, however, Jenny Liken approached them and said, “Get me out of here and I’ll tell you everything.” Her statement, combined with the discovery of Sylvia’s body, prompted the officers to arrest Gertrude, Paula, Stephanie and John Banszewski, Ricard Hobbs,, and Coy Hubbard for murder. Other neighborhood children present at the time- Mike Monroe, Randy Lepper, Drlene McGuire, Judy Duke, and Anna Siscoe- were arrested for “injury to person”.

In the arrignment the Gertrude Banszewski, her children, Hobbss, and Hubbard were held without bail pending the trial.

An examination and autopsy of Sylvia’s body revealed numerous burns, bruising, muscle and nerve damage. All of her fingernails were also broken backwards and most of the skin’s outer layer peeled off. Her severely mutilated body led authorities to initially believe that it was the work of an “anonymous madman.” In her death throes, Sylvia bit through her lips, partially severing each of them. Her vaginal cavity was nearly swollen shut, although an examination of the canal determined that her hymen was still intact, which meant it was possible she was still a virgin, discrediting Gertrude’s assertions that Sylvia was a prostitute and her insistence that she was pregnant. The official cause of death was brain swelling, internal hemorrhaging of the brain, and shock from severe and prolonged damage to her skin.

During a highly publicized trail, Gertrude denied being responsible for Sylvia’s death. She pleaded “not guilty by reason of insanity”. She claimed that she was too distracted by her ill health and depression to control her children.

Four minors who took part in the abuse of Sylvia were also put on trial. They were:

• Paula Banszewski, age 17
• John Banszewski, age 13
• Richard Hobbs, age 15
• Coy Hubbard, age 15

The attorneys for the minors claimed that they had been pressured by Gertrude Banszewski.

When Gertrude’s 11 year old daughter, Marie, was called to the stand as a witness for the defense, she broke down and admitted that she had been forced to heat the needle with which Hobbs had carved Sylvia’s skin. She also testified that she had seen her mother beating Sylvia and forcing her into the basement.

In his closing statement, Banszewski’s lawyer said: “I condemn her for being a murderess… but I say she’s not responsible because she’s not all here!” He tapped his head to make his point about her state of mind..

On May 19, 1966, Gertrude Banszewski was convicted of first degree murder. She was spared the death penalty and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Gertrude Banszewski during her arrest.

Paula Banszewski, who had given birth to a daughter during the trial, was convicted of second degree murder. She was also sentenced to life imprisonment.

Richard Hobbs, Coy Hubbard,, and John Banszewski Jr. were all convicted of manslaughter and given two 2-to-21-year prison sentences.

Aftermath

Hobbs, Hubbard, and John Jr. each served two years in a reformatory before being paroled in 1968/

In 1971,, Gertrude and Paula were granted another trial by the Indiana Supreme Court, largely for reasons of a prejudicial atmosphere due to heavy news media publicity before and during the trial. Paula pleaded guilty to volutary manslaughter and was released from prison one year later. Gertrude, however, was again convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Over the course of the next 14 years, Gertrud became a model prisoner at the Indiana Women’s Prison, working in the sewing shop and becoming a “den mother” to younger female inmates. By the time she came up for parole in 1985, she was known by the prison nickname “Mom”.

The news of Gertrude’s parole hearing sent a shockwave through the Indiana community. Jenny Likens and her family appeared on television to speak out against Gertrude; the members of two anticrime groups, Protect the Innocent and Society’s League Against Molestation, travelled to Indiana to oppose her parole and support the Likens family, beginning a sidewalk picket campaign. Over the course of two months, the groups collected over 40,000 signature from the citizens of Indiana, including those who were too young to remember the case, demanding that Gertrude be kept behind bars. Despite the efforts, Gertrude was granted parole. During the hearing, she stated: “I’m not sure what role I had in it…because I was on drugs. I never really knew her… I take full responsibility for whatever happened to Sylvia”. The parole board, taking her good behavior in prison into account, voted in favor of granting Gertrude her freedom 3-2, and she was released at age 56.

Gertrude was released from prison on December 4, 1985, and traveled to Iowa, where she called hersself Nadine Van Fossan, using her middle name and maiden name. She lived in obscurity until her death in Laurel, Iowa, from lung cancer, on June 16, 1990, aged 60.

When Jenny Liken, who was then married and living in Beech Grove, Indiana, saw Gertrude Banszewski’s obituary in a newspaper, she clipped it and mailed it to her mother with the note: “Some good news. Damn old Gertrude died. Ha ha ha! I am happy about that.” Jenny Liken Wade died of a heart attack on June 23, 2004, at the age of 54.

Richard Hobbs died of cancer on January 2, 1972, at the age of 21, four years after being released from the reformatory.

After the Westside Middle School massacre, John Banszewski Jr., by then calling himself John Blake, made aa statement claiming that young criminals are not beyond help and describing how he had turned his life around. He died of diabetes at General Hospital in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on May 19, 2005, at the age of 52.

Coy Hubbard was in and out of prison after his release. He was later charged with the murder of two men but was aquitted. He died of a heart attack on June 23, 2007,, at the age of 56 in Shelbyville, Imdiana. He had a wife and five children.

Paula Banszewski, the eldest of Gertrude’s seven children, received a prison sentence of twenty years to life for her part in Sylvia’s death. Her baby daughter, Gertrude, whom she gave birth to while incarcerated, was later adopted. In 1971, she twice tried unsuccessfully to escape from prison. In 1972, she was paroled and assumed a new identity. She eventually married, has two children, and reportedly lives in a small town in Iowa today. She worked as an aide to a school counselor for 14 years at the Beaman Conrad Liscomb Union Whitten (BCLUW) school district in Iowa, having changed her name to Paula Pace and lied to the school district when applying for the job. She was fired in 2012 when the school discovered her deception.

The murder charge against Stephanie Banszewski (15) was dropped when she turned state’s evidence against the other defendants. She assumed a new name and became a school teacher. She married and has several children.

The injury to person charges against the younger juveniles, Anna Ruth Siscoe, Judy Darlene Duke, Michael John (Mike) Monroe, Darlene McGuire, and Randy Gordon Lepper, were dropped. Siscoe married and had children and grandchildren. She died on October 23, 1996 at the age of 44. Lepper died on November 14, 2010 in Indianapolis at the age of 56.

On May 10, 2015 Sylvia’s sister Diana and her husband, Cecil Knutson, were reported missing by their son, Robert Acosta. Diana and Cecil had been gambling at Valley View Casino in Valley Center, California. Surveillance showed the couple leaving the casino at about 2 pm by car, but they did not show up at their son’s house in La Quinta. Acosta contacted the police and appeared on television, asking the public’s help in finding his parents. On May 25,2015, the couple was found in a mountainous area of an Indian reservation by members of a volunteer jeep patrol. Cecil was dead and Diana was severely dehydrated after surviving on just rainwater and some food. Diana was airlifted to a hospital in serious condition. She told investigators they were looking for a shortcut when they got lost and became stuck on a rugged road.

The house at 3850 East New York Street in which Sylvia was tortured and murdered stood vacant and rundown for many years after the murder. Although there was some discussion of purchasing it for renovation and using it as a women’s shelter, the necessary funds were never raised. The house was demolished on April 23, 2009. The property is now church parking lot.

A six-foot tall block of granite was dedicated in June 2001 as a memorial to Sylvia Likens in Willard Park, 1700 E. Washington Street. The dedication was attended by several hundred people.

Memorial 1

Memorial 2

There have been many books, movies and television shows done on the case. The following are just 2 of the movies.

I found this information at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sylvia_Likens

If you want to see more about the memorial they created in her memory go to https://www.yelp.com/biz/sylvia-likens-memorial-willard-park-indianapolis

The Movie An American Crime

 

 

An American Crime is a 2007 American crime drama film starring Ellen Page and Catherine Keener. The film is based on the true story of the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens by Indianapolis housewife Gertrude Baniszewski. It premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
Because of internal problems with the film’s original distributor, First Look International, the film was not released theatrically. The Showtime television network officially premiered An American Crime on May 10, 2008.
The film was nominated for a Golden Globe, a Primetime Emmy (both for Keener’s performance), and a Writers Guild of America Award.

Plot

In 1965, sixteen-year-old Sylvia Likens (Ellen Page) and her 15-year-old sister, Jenny (Hayley McFarland) enjoy themselves at a carnival circuit. Their parents, Lester (Nick Searcy) and Betty (Romy Rosemont), who work at the carnival circuit, reconcile their previously estranged relationship and agree to go on a tour together. To cope with these changes, they decide to leave the Likens sisters in the care of an impoverished single mother named Gertrude Baniszewski (Catherine Keener), since they have befriended her children at church.
Gertrude agrees to this since the parents have promised to pay her $20 per week to take care of the Likens sisters. Their stay is initially pleasant, until Lester’s weekly payment fails to arrive. Infuriated, Gertrude whips the sisters with a belt in the basement. The payment, along with a letter from the parents, nevertheless arrives but Gertrude intentionally discards the letter and says nothing to the Likens girls. Her daughter, Paula (Ari Graynor), is later upset when Sylvia informs her abusive boyfriend about her secret pregnancy. Gertrude forces Sylvia to apologize for “spreading lies” and has her son Johnny (Tristan Jarred) restrain Sylvia so that Paula could beat her.
The rumors surrounding Paula’s pregnancy soon circulate around their school. Meanwhile, Jenny discovers the letter in the trash, prompting Sylvia to call them. The Baniszewski children notice her calling her parents and inform their mother. Gertrude believes that they stole the money from her to make the call (in reality, they traded empty Coke bottles in for money) and burns Sylvia’s hand with a cigarette. The abuse escalates as Gertrude accuses Sylvia of flirting with Andy, the father of Gertrude infant son, and starting more rumors. then forces Sylvia to insert an empty glass Coke bottle up her skirt in front of her children and orders Johnny and Stephanie’s (Scout Taylor-Compton) boyfriend Coy Hubbard (Jeremy Sumpter) to push her down the basement stairs and lock her in.
Gertrude assures a fearful Jenny that Sylvia will stay in the basement “until she learns her lesson”. To cover up the situation, she instructs her children to maintain the fiction that Sylvia was sent to juvenile for her bad influence. With Gertrude’s knowledge and approval, Johnny regularly invites the neighborhood children to the basement to beat and burn Sylvia for fun. Paula soon feels guilty and tells her mother that she believes that Sylvia has been punished enough. Gertrude ignores her, but the local Reverend (Michael O’Keefe) arrives, hinting that Paula has confessed to him about her pregnancy and Sylvia’s ongoing abuse. Gertrude tells him that Sylvia was sent to juvenile. Once the Reverend leaves, Gertrude orders everyone into the basement.
In the basement, Gertrude restrains Sylvia on the floor and begins branding the words “I’M A PROSTITUTE AND PROUD OF IT!” on her abdomen with a heated needle. When Gertrude is unable to finish, she forces her teenage neighbor Ricky Hobbs (Evan Peters) to continue the branding. That night, Paula quietly helps Sylvia escape from the basement. Gertrude is awakened by Shirley and tries to prevent Sylvia’s escape, but Paula stops her. Ricky finds her and drives her to her parents, who are horrified at Sylvia’s condition as she lifts her shirt up and shows them her branded wound in her stomach. Sylvia tells them that the only reason why Jenny lied about them being fine was because she was afraid of Gertrude. They drive back to the Baniszewski household to make sure Jenny is okay. Sylvia walks inside the house and oversees a distraught and crying Stephanie leaning over her dead body, begging her to breathe, Ricky trying to help bring her back, Shirley and Marie watching them while hugging each other crying, and a depressed Jenny, revealing that the escape was just a hallucination . Ricky runs to the telephone booth to call 911. Gertrude believes that Sylvia is faking it until Stephanie announces to the cops that Sylvia is dead as soon as they show up. Marie and Shirley, devastated, run upstairs.
When the police arrive, one of the officers ask Ricky what happened. Jenny approaches and replies for Ricky, telling the officer to get her out of the house and she’ll explain. At a murder trial, Jenny reveals to the prosecutor that Sylvia did not do anything to hurt Gertrude or anyone else and that Gertrude threatened her with the same treatment if she told anyone the truth. Gertrude denies any wrongdoing and blames her children and their friends for Sylvia’s death. Despite this, she is declared guilty of first-degree murder and is sentenced to life in prison. Sylvia’s voice-over also narrates the fates of her other murderers. In her prison cell, Gertrude sees Sylvia’s ghost but before she attempts to apologize, the ghost disappears. It is also revealed that Gertrude was released on parole in 1985 but died five years later. The ghost of Sylvia visits her parents’ carnival circuit, where she states that it was the only place she ever felt safe. The film ends with ghost Sylvia riding one of the horses on the carousel in her parents’ carnival.

Cast

Ellen Page as Sylvia Likens
Catherine Keener as Gertrude Baniszewski
Hayley McFarland as Jennifer Faye “Jenny” Likens
Ari Graynor as Paula Baniszewski
Nick Searcy as Lester Likens
Romy Rosemont as Betty Likens
Evan Peters as Ricky Hobbs
James Franco as Andy Gordon
Brian Geraghty as Bradley
Michael Welch as Teddy Lewis
Jeremy Sumpter as Coy Hubbard
Scout Taylor-Compton as Stephanie Baniszewski
Tristan Jarred as Johnny Baniszewski
Hannah Leigh Dworkin as Shirley Baniszewski
Carlie Westerman as Marie Baniszewski
Bradley Whitford as Prosecutor Leroy K. New
Michael O’Keefe as Reverend Bill Collier

Production

Principal photography took place in 2006. Most of the cast were completely unaware of the real Likens murder until after they read the script, which was based largely on actual court transcripts from the case. Catherine Keener originally turned down the role of Gertrude Baniszewski; however, after she could not get the story out of her head, she met with director Tommy O’Haver and agreed to do the film. Ellen Page was the only choice to play Sylvia Likens.

Critical reception

The film received negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 23%, based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 4/10. Ginia Bellafante of The New York Times called the film, “…one of the best television movies to appear in years” and praised Catherine Keener’s portrayal of Gertrude Baniszewski.
This information came from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_American_Crime

 

The Movie The Girl Next Door

 

The Girl Next Door (also known as Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door and, in Germany, Jack Ketchum’s Evil) is a 2007 American horror film adaptation of Jack Ketchum’s 1989 novel of the same name. The film is loosely based on true events surrounding the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens by Gertrude Baniszewski during the summer of 1965.

Plot

In 2007, David Moran (William Atherton), a Wall Street player, witnesses a hit and run by a car. He responds to the situation and tries to resuscitate the victim. That evening, he reflects on his past to the summer of 1958, when he meets his first teenage crush Meg Loughlin (Blythe Auffarth). Meg and her disabled sister Susan (Madeline Taylor) have lost their parents in a car accident and because of this, they are sent to live with their reclusive aunt, Ruth Chandler (Blanche Baker), and her sons, Willie, Ralphie, and Donny (Graham Patrick Martin, Austin Williams and Benjamin Ross Kaplan).
Living next door to the Chandlers, David is aware of the charisma Ruth has, since she freely allows her sons and their neighborhood friends to her house, where she entertains them and offers them beer and cigarettes. Meanwhile, Ruth starves Meg, accuses her of being a whore and subjects her to misogynistic lectures, whilst her children listen. One day, David visits the Chandler residence, where he sees the Chandler sons tickling Meg. Ralphie inappropriately tickles Meg’s breasts, prompting her to fend him off as she runs from the room. His brothers humiliate Susan and when Ralphie brings Ruth to the situation, Ruth reprimands her for forgiving Meg’s actions. Ruth beats Susan’s bare buttocks as the Chandler sons restrain a horrified Meg, who came back to the room to save Susan. Ruth then takes the ring that Meg wears around her neck, which belonged to her mother.
A few days later, Meg stops a policeman, Officer Jennings (Kevin Chamberlin) and reports the ongoing child abuse at the Chandler residence. As punishment, Ruth and her sons bind Meg in the basement with her hands tied to the rafters. They play a bizarre game of “confession”, and when Meg has nothing to confess, she is stripped naked. They blindfold her, gag her and leave her there. That night, the boys sneak back downstairs, giving her water. They agree to loosen her bindings, but only if she lets them touch her. She refuses, but David loosens them anyway, promising to free her into the woods.
Eventually, Meg is untied but is unable to eat the food Ruth gives her since she is severely dehydrated, to the extent of choking if she did. Ruth again beats Susan’s bare buttocks for Meg’s disobedience. With Ruth’s approval, the neighborhood children visit the Chandler residence to tie, beat, burn and cut Meg for fun. Even sticking a switchblade into her belly button. Ruth cauterizes the wounds Meg receives with cigarettes. David tries to tell his parents but is unable to do so. Soon, the Chandler sons hear Officer Jennings arriving at their house, after having had his suspicions raised after a local boy reports a girl being beaten and used as a “plaything”. Before answering the door, Ruth threatens to kill Meg and David if they make a noise in the basement. Ruth and her sons then mislead Jennings and assures him that no wrongdoing has occurred. Back in the basement, David secretly loosens her bindings and tells her that it is time for her to escape. He also leaves money in the woods for Meg to run away with it. The next day, David still sees the money there, realizing that his plan had failed.
David quickly returns to the basement. There, Meg is raped by Willie, as punishment for trying to escape. David tells Ruth to stop but is harshly ignored. Donny steps forward, wanting to rape Meg as well, but Ruth does not want him to, considering it to be incest to have sex whilst his brother’s “scum” is still inside Meg. Ruth instead offers Eddie or David to take a turn with her. When David declines, Ralphie requests Ruth to brand Meg so that she’ll be known as a whore. She happily agrees as she starts carving into Meg’s belly and past her belly button the words “I F**K, F**K ME” with a heated sewing pin. Ruth taunts Meg about how she will never have relations with a man due to the branding. However, she fears that Meg may still have feelings, especially for David, and decides to perform a clitorectomy. David tries to flee and tell somebody but the children, under Ruth’s command, tie him up. Bound on the floor, David helplessly watches Ruth mutilate Meg’s vagina with a blowtorch.
The next morning, David awakes still on the basement floor. He frees himself from his bindings and finds Susan sitting with an unconscious Meg. Susan tells David that Meg did not escape the night that he secretly untied her because she was caught trying to take Susan with her. Although David’s plan was to come back for Susan after Meg escaped, Susan had told Meg that Ruth had molested her on a regular basis to extent of making her bleed, which made Meg want to escape, along with her sister, the house as soon as possible. Susan then tearfully insists that Meg should have just gone without her and saved herself while she could, but David tells Susan everything was going to be all right.
David is afraid that Meg won’t survive much longer without help, so he tries to get everyone else’s attention by lighting a fire in the basement. Ruth notices the smoke from the fire and enters the basement. As she enters, David quickly bludgeons Ruth to death with Susan’s crutches. Willie attacks David and vengefully attempts to stab him as Donny mourns his mother’s death. Jennings and another policeman arrest Willie and Donny (and presumably Ralphie) in time. Jennings checks Ruth’s pulse and questions David but after he tells him about her crimes, he leaves Ruth for dead. After Susan is taken from the basement by the authorities, David retrieves Meg’s ring from Ruth’s corpse and gives it to Meg as she succumbs to her wounds.
Years later, David, now an adult, reflects on how his past still haunts him to his present day, though as Meg taught him, “It’s what you do last that really counts.”

Cast

Daniel Manche as David Moran
William Atherton as adult David Moran
Blythe Auffarth as Meg Loughlin
Blanche Baker as Ruth Chandler
Madeline Taylor as Susan Loughlin
Benjamin Ross Kaplan as Donny Chandler
Graham Patrick Martin as Willie Chandler, Jr.
Austin Williams as Ralphie Chandler
Michael Nardella as Tony
Kevin Chamberlin as Officer Lyle Jennings
Dean Faulkenberry as Kenny
Gabrielle Howarth as Cheryl Robinson
Spenser Leigh as Denise Crocker
Grant Show as Mr. Moran
Catherine Mary Stewart as Mrs. Moran
Peter Stickles as EMT
Michael Zegen as Eddie
Jennifer Alexander as Girl at concession stand
Jack Ketchum as Carnival worker
Mark Margolis as Hit and run victim

Reception

The film had a polarizing effect on film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it currently holds a 67% “Fresh” rating. In contrast, Metacritic assigns it a 29.
Stephen King said about the film, “The first authentically shocking American film I’ve seen since Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer over 20 years ago. If you are easily disturbed, you should not watch this movie. If, on the other hand, you are prepared for a long look into hell, suburban style, The Girl Next Door will not disappoint. This is the dark-side-of-the-moon version of Stand by Me.”

This information came from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_Next_Door_(2007_film)
This is part of a new mini series that will be doing for the months of August and September. The mini series is called True Crime of the Big Screen and it will be about true crime that has been turned into movies but it does exclude serial killer movies because we will be doing a mini series on serial killers in October and November. Now on to the case.