marriage was unstable; they often sold candy, beer, and soda at carnival stands around Indiana throughout the summer, moving frequently, and regularly experiencing severe financial difficulties. The Likenses' sons regularly traveled with them in order to assist with their job, but Sylvia and Jenny were discouraged from doing the same, out of concern for their safety and education. As a result, both sisters frequently stayed with their relatives, often their grandmother. In her teenage years, Sylvia Likens occasionally earned spending money by babysitting, running errands, or performing ironing chores for friends and neighbors, often giving her mother part of her earnings. She has been described as a friendly, confident and lively girl, with long, wavy, light brown hair extending below her shoulders, and was known as "Cookie" to her friends. Although exuberant, Likens always kept her mouth closed when smiling due to a missing front tooth, which she had lost while roughhousing with one of her brothers during a childhood game. She was also fond of music, particularly The Beatles, and was notably protective of her markedly more timid and insecure younger sister. On several occasions, the two sisters would visit a local skating rink, where Sylvia would help Jenny skate by holding her hand, while Jenny skated on her unaffected foot. July 1965 By June 1965, Sylvia and Jenny Likens resided with their parents in Indianapolis. On July 3, their mother was arrested and subsequently jailed for shoplifting. Shortly thereafter, Lester Likens arranged for his daughters to board with Gertrude Baniszewski, the mother of two girls with whom the sisters had recently become acquainted while studying at Arsenal Technical High School, Paula and Stephanie Baniszewski. At the time of this boarding agreement, Gertrude assured Lester she would care for his daughters until his return as if they were her own children. Shortly after the July 4th holiday, the sisters moved into 3850 East New York Street in order for their father and, later, their mother to travel to the East Coast with the carnival, with the understanding that Gertrude would receive weekly boarding fees of $20 to care for their daughters until they returned to collect Sylvia and Jenny in November of that year. During the initial weeks in which Sylvia and Jenny resided at the Baniszewski household, the sisters were subjected to very little discipline or abuse. Likens regularly sang along to pop records with Stephanie, and she