
After enduring such inhumane torture for several months, Sylvia died on October 26, 1965. This was likely because Gertrude was with them at the time. When Lester and Betty came to visit in late August, the girls reportedly didn’t indicate to them anything about their conditions. Gertrude not only allowed her children to torture Sylvia but also neighborhood youths, such as Coy Hubbard and Richard Hobbs, to join them. As time went on, the abuse only became more and more sadistic. Her actions were reportedly driven by jealousy, primarily due to her inferiority complex over her physical appearance and lack of prospects. At first, both girls were subjected to torture and humiliation, but Gertrude started exclusively focusing on Sylvia by mid-August that year.

But when their parents started missing the weekly boarding fee by a day or two, the abuse began. Initially, Sylvia and Jenny’s stay with Baniszewskis was peaceful. Sylvia and Jenny subsequently moved in at the Baniszewski household at 3850 East New York Street. So, he left Sylvia and Jenny with Gertrude, promising her that he would send $20 per week for the girls’ upkeep. Lester had to go to the East Coast for work, and his wife was supposed to join him later. In July 1965, the Likens family was struggling as Betty had been incarcerated for shoplifting. Through them, they became acquainted with their single mother, Gertrude Baniszewski (the inspiration for Ruth). Sylvia and her younger sister Jenny (the inspiration for Susan) met sisters Paula and Stephanie Baniszewski at Arsenal Technical High School, where they all studied. Her parents, Lester Cecil Likens and Elizabeth “Betty” Frances (née Grimes), were carnival workers, living with their children in Indianapolis, Indiana. Sylvia, born on January 3, 1949, was the middle child between two sets of fraternal twins. The film is dedicated to Sylvia Likens, who was the inspiration for Meg Loughlin. So, while David, Meg, Ruth, and the others are fictional characters, some of them are modeled after real people. It’s the cinematic adaptation of the 1989 namesake novel by Jack Ketchum, who drew inspiration from circumstances surrounding the 1965 murder of Sylvia Likens to write the novel. Yes, ‘The Girl Next Door’ is based on a true story. Is The Girl Next Door Based on a True Story?

If you are wondering whether ‘The Girl Next Door’ is inspired by real-life events, this is what you need to know. Instead, it uses them to make the audience understand the profound despair and pain the victims feel. Unlike many other horror films with similar themes, it doesn’t glorify violence and cruelty.

‘The Girl Next Door’ is an unbridled exploration of the darkest depths of human nature.
