Can’t trust anybody

As Halloween approaches children become frightened of urban legends and old murder stories.  Kids could never imagine that an old murder story could have involved their teacher’s aide, but in a school in Conrad, Iowa, that is exactly the case.  Paula Pace, formerly known as Paula Baniszewski, has been fired from her teacher’s aide position after the school discovered she was directly involved in the beating and killing of Sylvia Likens, 47 years ago.  The death of Sylvia Likens is recognized as, “the most terrible crime committed in the state of Indiana,” and her story was also made a movie in 2007, “An American Crime.” Paula, her mother, her brother, and neighborhood children had beaten and tortured Sylvia, taking turns burning her and throwing her down the stairs.  Even going so far as to stick Coke bottles in her privates.  She was found dead in the basement of the Baniszewski home.  Paula was arrested alongside her mother, brother, and neighbor.  She was sentenced to only 7 years in prison and was released in 1972.  She eventually moved to Iowa and changed her last name to Pace where she started a new life working in a school.

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