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Morning Cup of Murder

139: The most sadistic case of abuse and murder - September 19 2019 - Today in True Crime History

Morning Cup of Murder

Morning Cup of Murder

Society & Culture, History, Documentary, True Crime

4.7723 Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2019

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Keep up with current episodes of Morning Cup of Murder at morningcupofmurder.com The torture and murder of a child will, undoubtly, send chills down our spine and chill your heart. On September 19th 1929 a woman was born who would later commit, what is described as one of the most sadistic cases of abuse and murder Indianapolis has ever seen. Gertrude Baniszewski Born (1929) Become a supporter of this podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/morningcupofmurder Follow Morning Cup of Murder on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cupofmurder @cupofmurder Follow MCOM on Instagram: @morningcupofmurder Have a Murder or strange true crime story you want to share, email the show here: [email protected] Morning Cup of Murder is researched, written and performed by Korina Biemesderfer. Follow Korina on Instagram: @kbiemesderfer * ** *** Information for this podcast was collected from the following source(s) https://murderpedia.org/female.B/b/baniszewski.htm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:30.2

There were two more murders. 15 miles when we survived by telephone and electricity

0:35.1

by one investigator is reminiscent of a weird religion. The torture and electricity lines described by one investigator as reminiscent of a weird religion.

0:39.5

The torture and murder of a child will undoubtedly send chills down your spine and chill your heart.

0:47.5

On September 19, 1929, a woman was born who would later commit what is described as one of the most sadistic cases of abuse and murder the Indianapolis has ever seen.

0:59.0

So, if you like your coffee hot but your bones chilled, sit back and start your day with a morning cup of murder.

1:07.9

Gertrude Van Fawson was born on September 19th, 1929.

1:13.2

She, at age 16, dropped out of high school to marry 18-year-old John Benazuski and bore him four children.

1:21.6

The marriage lasted 10 years despite John's volatile temper and violence towards his wife.

1:27.7

The two divorced, Gertrude remarried for just three months, and then remarried John and had two more children.

1:34.8

They divorced the second time in 1963, and she had another child with a man who abandoned her,

1:40.5

and she was left as a single mother with seven children, ranging from ages 17 to 1.

1:47.6

Gertrude was described as a haggard, underweight, asthmatic chain smoker, and suffered from depression.

1:54.9

During the summer of 1965, Gertrude's older daughters became friends with sisters Sylvia and Jenny Likens.

2:02.6

The girls' parents were carnival workers who were constantly on the road.

2:06.6

Shortly after his wife was arrested for shoplifting, Lester Likens arranged for his daughters to live with Gertrude and her family.

2:13.6

Sometime after the 4th of July holiday, the girls moved in and their father promised to pay

2:19.4

Gertrude $20 a week to keep his daughters and to come and collect them in November. It seemed like

...

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