House of Evil: The Indiana Torture Slaying (St. Martin's True Crime Library)($10.24Value)

Description

In the heart of Indianapolis in the mid 1960's, through a twist of fate and fortune, a pretty young girl came to live with a thirty-seven-year-old mother and her seven children. What began as a temporary childcare arrangement between Sylvia Likens's parents and Gertrude Baniszewski turned into a crime that would haunt cops, prosecutors, and a community for decades to come… When police found Sylvia's emaciated body, with a chilling message carved into her flesh, they knew that she had suffered tremendously before her death. Soon they would learn how many others―including some of Baniszewski's own children―participated in Sylvia's murder, and just how much torture had been inflicted in one HOUSE OF EVIL Death came knocking... In the heart of Indianapolis in the mid 1960's, through a twist of fate and fortune, a pretty young girl came to live with a thirty-seven-year-old mother and her seven children. What began as a temporary childcare arrangement between Sylvia Likens's parents and Gertrude Baniszewski turned into a crime that would haunt cops, prosecutors, and a community for decades to come... Behind closed doors... When police found Sylvia's emaciated body, with a chilling message carved into her flesh, they knew that she had suffered tremendously before her death. Soon they would learn how many others--including some of Baniszewski's own children--participated in Sylvia's murder, and just how much torture had been inflicted in one HOUSE OF EVIL *With 8 pages of startling photos! * Death came knocking… In the heart of Indianapolis in the mid 1960's, through a twist of fate and fortune, a pretty young girl came to live with a thirty-seven-year-old mother and her seven children. What began as a temporary childcare arrangement between Sylvia Likens's parents and Gertrude Baniszewski turned into a crime that would haunt cops, prosecutors, and a community for decades to come… Behind closed doors… When police found Sylvia's emaciated body, with a chilling message carved into her flesh, they knew that she had suffered tremendously before her death. Soon they would learn how many others―including some of Baniszewski's own children―participated in Sylvia's murder, and just how much torture had been inflicted in one HOUSE OF EVIL *With 8 pages of startling photos! * John Dean is a former newspaper reporter who has had articles published in Rolling Stone , Esquire , and the Chicago Journalism Review . His books include House of Evil: The Indiana Torture Slaying . House of Evil The Indiana Torture Slaying By Dean, John St. Martin's True Crime Copyright © 2008 Dean, John All right reserved. ISBN: 9780312946999 Chapter one " THE MOST TERRIBLE CRIME " TWO CHILDREN—A boy and a girl in their early teens—knelt over the motionless body of another teen age girl, trying to breathe life back into her mangled, emaciated form. They were trying to deny what was already, but for a few last, labored breaths, a fact. A deputy prosecutor was later to call this death "the most terrible crime ever committed in the state of Indiana." "She’s faking! She’s all right!" screeched the haggard, panic- stricken woman standing in the doorway. The boy, a gangly 14- year- old whose straight blond hair tended to slide over his black horn- rimmed glasses, rushed the woman back downstairs. "Someone better call a doctor or somebody," his companion told him when he regained the top of the stairs. Stephanie Baniszewski, 15 years old, had never looked more serious. A glint of reproach in her eyes told Richard Hobbs that she meant it. He started back down, taking the last three steps in one jump. Stephanie heard her mother, the woman who had been forced downstairs, tell Richard that the police were the ones to call. The Hobbs boy, joined by the woman’s husky 12- year- old son Johnny, headed for the nearest telephone—a pay phone at the Shell station across the corner. It was at twilight of what had been a brisk October day, but the boys knew they had no time to put on wraps before darting across the busy one- way street. Patrolman Melvin D. Dixon had been cruising the neighborhood about two hours when the radio crackled with his signal. He saw no reason to expect any particular trouble on this night. It was a Tuesday, and it was chilly. It had been quiet so far, except for the usual rush- hour headaches. The traffic had slacked off now, and since it was not quite dark yet, Dixon thought he would have things easy for a while. Lean, dark, and roughly handsome in his dark blue uniform, Dixon, 45 years old, had been on the force long enough to know you sometimes get trouble when you least expect it, however. It was 6:27 p.m., October 26, 1965, when the dispatcher called Dixon’s signal. "Go—to—3850 East New York," the dispatcher spaced out the words in his usual casual manner. "Investigate possible dead girl." You don’t get one like that every day. But then, more often than not, it turns out to be