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Evil in Plain Sight: The True Crime Story of Gertrude Baniszewski and Sylvia Likens
Paperback
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Nov 8 2025
Pages: 328
Weight: 0.97
Height: 0.69 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
In the summer of 1965, a quiet Indianapolis neighborhood hid one of the most horrifying crimes in American history. Sixteen-year-old Sylvia Likens was held captive, tortured, and murdered by Gertrude Baniszewski, a mother of seven who turned her home into a house of terror and no one stopped her.
Told with chilling clarity and compassion, Evil in Plain Sight uncovers how ordinary people became complicit in unthinkable cruelty. Through court transcripts, eyewitness accounts, and historical records, this book pieces together the shocking true story that stunned the nation and forever changed child protection laws in the United States.
Why did no one intervene? How could such horror exist in a normal Midwestern home? This haunting account explores psychological manipulation, bystander silence, and the fragility of human morality reminding readers that evil doesn't hide in the shadows; it thrives in plain sight.
Perfect for fans of true crime, psychological nonfiction, and real-life justice stories, this book will leave you questioning how far ordinary people can go when cruelty becomes routine.
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