Where are they now? Updates on the Perpetrators

Gertrude Nadine Baniszewski:
(September 19, 1929 – June 16, 1990) was convicted of 1st degree murder and sentenced to life in prison on May 19, 1966.  She appealed her case and was granted a new trial in 1971, because The Indiana Supreme court declared that there was "prejudicial atmosphere" surrounding the case. On Aug. 5, 1971 Gertrude was convicted of first degree murder again. It is said that during Gertrude’s time in prison she was a “model prisoner” and a “den mother” to the other prisoners, and came up for parole in 1985.  The following article is about Gertrude's prison life before her 1971 trial.  It is sad that after what she did to Sylvia, her life was better in prison that it was before hand.http://forsylvialikensx.yuku.com/topic/140/master/1/?page=1.  Her 1971 trial information is detailed on the timeline of this page.    Many people were against her parole; in fact, there was a petition with 40,000 signatures.  A judge even tried to vacate the parole board's decision to no avail, because the parole board upheld the decision. People were outraged that Gertrude did not even take responsibility for the crime, she is quoted as saying, "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 I wish i could undo it but, I can't and i'm sorry I'm just asking for mercy and nothing else.”  The publicity of Gertrude’s parole has been credited, by some, with Indiana changing its parole policy to include more input from the public.  Gertrude changed her name to Nadine van Fossan and moved to Iowa with her daughter Paula.  Details about this time are largely unknown.  Gertrude died five years later of lung cancer, without ever publically taking responsibility or apologizing for this crime.

Paula Pace/ Baniszewski: Paula was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison as well as Gertrude.  Paula also gave birth to a baby girl she name Gertrude during the trial. The location and identity of this child is relatively unknown, but a fairly reliable source claims that the child was treated well and became a doctor.   Paula was also granted a new trial where she plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter.  In the grand tradition of stupidity with the Indiana parole board, and despite the fact that she tried to escape twice, Paula was paroled after serving only two years in 1972.  Paula moved to Iowa where her mother eventually joined her.  Thankfully Paula’s story has a little karmic justice.  In  October of 2012 Paula was exposed, because of her facebook account.  An anonymous tipster reported her to the school board, because she was working as a teachers aid.  Paula was suspended then fired. To this date Paula has never accepted responsibility for this crime publicly or to Sylvia’s surviving family members.

Stephanie Serikstad/ Blake/ Baniszewski:   Stephanie was not indicted  by the Grand Jury, because she testified against her family. She was initially arrested due to injury of person, but the charges were later dropped.  It is widely speculated, but not confirmed that Stephanie made a deal with Leroy New to avoid being prosecuted. There are several documented instances where she participated in the torture as much as the other children, but she was able to dodge punishment unlike her other teenage siblings.  Gertrude even claimed while she was in prison, that Coy Hubbard, Stephanie’s boyfriend took the blame for stuff Stephanie had done because he loved her.  I have a copy of this document on my forum, but I don't take it too seriously because it Gertrude saying it, but the document, although hard to read, is interesting.  http://forsylvialikensx.yuku.com/topic/141/Gertrude-talks-bad-about-Stephanie-in-parole-document?page=-1   After the trial, Stephanie went to live with her father.  Her first words after the crime to her father were, “I don’t want anyone to think I had anything to do with this”.  Apparently she still does not want them to think that. Stephanie is the member of the Baniszewski clan that has made the most statements about the crime.  She has even posted on some forums claiming her innocence.  Most of her claims have later been found to be lies. The following is a link to evidence against Stephanie's innocence.  Was Stephanie Guilty?   Stephanie became a teacher and is living in Florida. To this day Stephanie has never made public acknowledgement of her involvement in the crime.

John Blake/ Baniszewski:
John, to this day was the only one who ever admitted responsibility for this crime.  He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 21 years in prison, but he ended up only serving two years.  He was released to his father’s custody and finished school.  It seems that he did actually suffer guilt from this crime, because he turned his life around.  He also volunteered information for a newspaper article talking about troubled youth.   John became a church deacon and was very active in his church.  John died on May 19, 2005 at age 52 of complications from diabetes.  It is not known if he had a relationship with his mother or siblings as an adult.  You can read an article about him on my forum.http://forsylvialikensx.yuku.com/topic/34/John-BaniszewskiBlake-interview 

Coy Hubbard:
Coy was convicted of manslaughter and served two years of his 21 year sentence for manslaughter.  Coy remained a criminal and had legal trouble throughout his life.  He was also charged with another murder, but he was acquitted.  You can read the article on this link: http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/angela_curry1/CoyHubbardarrestedphoto_zps31dc7f19.jpg  
Coy, by all accounts, had an extremely difficult life.  It is wondered why he did not change his name and move away. Coy was another one that was exposed as an adult, as he was fired from his job when the movie An American Crime came out.  It is widely reported by different sources that Coy suffered humiliation and ridicule for his role in the crime.  The following is a quote from his daughter: What gave you right to plaster my fathers name {Coy Hubbard} over the internet? I guess people like you don't really care who's lives you are destroying, after all Sylvia Likens was 40+ years ago. I wasn't even born yet and you've destroyed mine. Thank You, Sincerely, Dealing with it.  In our opinion, being that this girl is making light of Sylvia’s crime, it is unlikely that Coy Hubbard ever acknowledged his role in this crime.

Ricky Hobbs:
Along with Coy and John, Ricky was convicted of manslaughter and served about two years in prison.  Ricky Hobbs has a tendency to draw sympathy from people because he was losing his mother at the time of Sylvia’s death, but there is a radio interview  that will cure anyone of this available on my forum.  http://forsylvialikensx.yuku.com/reply/96/Ricky-Hobbs-radio-interview-Super-Creepy#reply-96 Also when Richard Hobbs was asked if he felt bad about what he did to Sylvia, he said what does it matter.  He actually got a tremendous amount of sympathy from John Dean Author of the book House of Evil.  I will have a link to that article under the John Dean section of this page.  Ricky hobbs died January 2, 1972 of lung cancer at age 21.

Marie Blake/ Baniszewski:
Marie was 11 at the time of the crime and no charges were brought against her.  Marie has been quoted as saying that her and Shirley were terrified during the abuse and they thought they would get the same if they spoke up.  Marie is still living in Indiana.  She is not close with her sisters Paula or Shirley, but she is close to Stephanie.  Marie has never claimed personal responsibility for the crime, but she was the only child to break down on the stand at the trial.

Shirley/ Blake Baniszewski:  
Shirley was 10 at the time of the crime.  No charges were brought against her.  She is currently living in Iowa and is close with her sister Paula.  There was a woman who claimed on a message board that Shirley stayed with her off and on with a lesbian friend of hers. This woman called her self Anna.  Well the story goes that Anna got a call from the women's correctional center.  When confronted, she admitted that she was Gertrude’s daughter and disappeared.  For some reason I have a tendency to believe this story.  There has never been any public statement of remorse for her part in the crime.

Judy Duke:
Judy was arrested for injury to person and the charges were later dropped.  Judy’s involvement in the torture was relatively low,  but she admitted to slapping and trying to kick her, because Gertrude said she called her mother a name.  Judy also tried to tell her mother what was going on.  Judy’s mother dismissed it and did not contact anyone.  Judy Duke gave a very strange interview where it appears she may have made some things up.  You can read it here.   Judy is still alive.  She is married and has three kids.  The interviewer of this article has said that Judy showed remorse for her part, but the way she referred to Sylvia in the article makes this unlikely. You can read the article on my forum.
http://forsylvialikensx.yuku.com/topic/36

Anna Sisco:
Anna was another arrested for injury to person, but the charges were later dropped. Gertrude convinced Anna that Sylvia called her mother a name and Anna attacked Sylvia.  Anna died Oct. 23, 1996.  I will update this as I come across more information.  There has never been any public statement of remorse for her part in the crime.

Darlene MacGuire:  
Was the one who was responsible for bringing the Baniszewski’s and the Likens’ together. She was supposed to be friends with Sylvia, but by all accounts she burned her with cigarettes.  There has never been any public statement of remorse for her part in the crime.

Mike Monroe:  
Mike was arrested for injury to person, but the charges were later dropped and he was not called to testify at trial.  It is widely speculated that Mike told his mom about the abuse and that she was the one that called the nurse that came to the house.  I am not sure what Mike’s level of involvement was, because he did not testify, but he did have some involvement.  Jenny did mention him as someone involved.  Mike Monroe still resides in the house that he did when the murder happened.  There has never been any public statement of remorse for his part in the crime.

Randy Lepper:
Randy was charged with injury to person, but the charges were dropped.  He admitted to hitting Sylvia 30 or 40 times. Randy never married or had children.  There is a rumor that he may have been a cross dresser and or gay.  Gertrude herself said that he came to the house dressed like a girl.  He died in November 2010.  There has never been any public statement of remorse for his part in the crime.

James Baniszewski:  
James was eight at the time of the crime.  He was neither arrested or called to testify.  It has been documented that he participated in the torture, but he was to young to be held accountable.  James also known as Jimmy is the Baniszewski with the least known about him. It is known that he has lived with his sister Stephanie and her children at times, and that he has spent time living in New York.  Jimmy is not  remorseful  about his involvement in the crime.  He is quoted as saying that Sylvia died on purpose to piss his mom off.  Jimmy has also the only B sibling that chose not to speak to his brother Denny.  It was speculated that he might have been jealous of him.

Leroy K New:  Leroy was the prosecutor in the Sylvia Likens trial.  He was known to be a soft hearted guy, and he took Jenny in after the trial, so she could finish school.  Leroy K. New did a wonderful job prosecuting the Baniszewski’s.  You can read his closing arguments in the case from John Dean’s book House of evil here. Leroy died September 18, 2005 at age 85.  

Dennis Wright Jr: Dennis was a baby when Sylvia was being tortured.  After his family was arrested, he was placed in foster care and eventually adopted.  He had a really rough life, because his adoptive parents were abusive.  He got married and was a wonderful father to his son.  Unfortunately, Dennis died in February 2012.  Dennis was haunted by what his family did to Sylvia, and he often cried as a baby when she was being abused.  He is greatly missed by his wife and son.

John Baniszewski/ Blake SR:  John eventually gained custody of all of his children.  There is  not much known about the time he spent with them, but John JR said he remarried and was fond of his new stepmother.  He is quoted as saying that, “she is the kind of woman his mother should have been”.  It seems he was an ok father.  John Blake died October, 31 2007

John Dean (Natty Bumpo):  John was a journalist who attended the trial every day and wrote several articles about the case.  He wrote a book called House of evil: The Indiana Torture Slaying.  There are about three different editions of this book.  John seems to have a lot of sympathy for Sylvia in this book, but he kind of jumped shark in an article about this case. In the following link he is having a discussion with Denise Noe http://borf_books.tripod.com/skelter.htm Many people are offended in the way that he speaks about Sylvia and shows so much sympathy for Ricky Hobbs.  John apparently changed his name because John Dean was so common that he was getting mixed up with someone who was disbarred.

Kate Millet: Kate is a feminist who wrote the book The Basement: Meditations on a Human Sacrifice.  This book has received mix reviews.  Many people like its informative section, but Kate attempts to put herself in Gertrude and Sylvia’s head for a feminist perspective on the crime.  Kate also did an art display on the crime.

Jack Ketchum: Jack is an author who has brought attention to the Sylvia likens case through his book and movie The Girl Next Door.  It is a completely different take with a darker twist that An American Crime, but it is loosely based on the Sylvia Likens Case.  Many people like the interpretation he takes of the character loosely based on Gertrude Baniszewski.