Teachers Aid with a Dark Past fired in Conrad - anyone know her? (Grant: crime)

[sheena12]

Paula Pace, AKA Baniszewski was a teacher's aid for over fifteen years employed by a school district near Conrad Iowa. When she was hired, she was asked if she had ever been convicted of a crime and Pace answered no.

She lied.

At seventeen, she her mother Gertrude Baniszewski, sister Stephanie brother John along with several of their friends tortured, beat and starved 16 year old Sylvia Likens to death in their Indianapolis home. This was in 1965.

By today's standards the murderous family and their accomplices "got off easy" - Gertrude the ring leader only served 20 years.

He chief assistant in torture, her daughter Paula was one of the most sadistic of the bunch, administering scalding baths to Sylvia.

Has anyone met this woman or had any contact with this woman? I am curious how this woman behaved in society and what folks in Iowa think about this monster.

[Stavemaster]

I'm a BCLUW alum, although I graduated a few years before she came on board and never knew her. Just about everyone I know says that she was easy to work with, a decent member of the community, etc. I was just back for a visit last week and most of the people I talked with or overheard seemed to be of the opinion that she'd put that part of their life behind her and was just trying to move on. However most folks also seemed to agreed with the school board's decision to let her go, if for no other reason than that she falsified information when she applied.

My opinion on her is that calling her a monster is harsh. What she did was obviously horrible, but she served her time and appears to have stayed out of trouble in the almost 50 years since.

[Dale Cooper]

Originally Posted by Stavemaster

I'm a BCLUW alum, although I graduated a few years before she came on board and never knew her. Just about everyone I know says that she was easy to work with, a decent member of the community, etc. I was just back for a visit last week and most of the people I talked with or overheard seemed to be of the opinion that she'd put that part of their life behind her and was just trying to move on. However most folks also seemed to agreed with the school board's decision to let her go, if for no other reason than that she falsified information when she applied.

My opinion on her is that calling her a monster is harsh. What she did was obviously horrible, but she served her time and appears to have stayed out of trouble in the almost 50 years since.

Ah, but Sylvia was never able to put that part of her life behind her and move on.

Paula and the entire bunch of psychos should have fried.

[Dport7674]

There's a movie about this story called 'An American Crime'. Brutal movie. Hard to watch.

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by Dport7674

There's a movie about this story called 'An American Crime'. Brutal movie. Hard to watch.

The movie, staring Ellen Page as Sylvia, and Katherine Keener as Gertrude, was well acting and very hard to watch.

It was not nearly as graphic in depicting the brutality that Sylvia actually endured.

If I were a parent of a child in that district, I'd be enraged. If I were the district, I'd feel tricked and manipulated. There were specific questions on the job application that Paula Baniszewki Pace lied about that would have prevented her from obtaining the job.

It seems that the leopard doesn't change it's spots. Paula wanted the power of working with children. She could have been a cashier, a waitress, a salesperson, or a bank teller. There are any number of sub-professional jobs for which she could have applied that did not involve children.

I would feel equally outraged if she had applied as an aid in a nursing home. Any position where an abuse inquiry would be unsuitable for Paula.
I am not the one do have decided this - every state in the country has rules that protect the vulnerable from been cared for or assisted by a convicted felon.

She knew exactly what she was doing. Had she ever tried to obtain a professional license of any sort - even a vocational license - anything working with people, or that would give her the opportunity to handle or touch people - a Certified Nursing Assistant, a Hair Dresser - whatever, a criminal background check would have been done and she would have been fingerprinted.

End of Story.

But Baniszewski had a compulsion to be in charge and she knew the way around the rules. She didn't want to work in Walmart or Mc Donald's - she wanted to work with kids.
Just as her mother did.

She is a deviant sociopath.

[Dale Cooper]

I watched An American Crime last night. Having read the Jack Ketchum book, it gave me perspective. Had I not read the book first, I think I might have thought the movie was lacking. Granted, the Ketchum book is fiction, but it gave insight into how a group of children could fall under the evil influence of Gertie. They were so impressionable, and an adult who smoked, drank, and pretty much allowed her own children to run wild must have been something the neighborhood kids wanted to be included in, and yet still be able to walk away to their own homes and be somewhat sane and normal. It was the ultimate 'I've got a secret' life. Gertie made them feel like adults.

The movie painted Paula as a person who tried to help Sylvia. I don't believe she ever tried to help. She was as evil as her mother.

[Stavemaster]

Originally Posted by sheena12

It seems that the leopard doesn't change it's spots. Paula wanted the power of working with children. She could have been a cashier, a waitress, a salesperson, or a bank teller. There are any number of sub-professional jobs for which she could have applied that did not involve children.

You claim that a leopard never changes its spots, and yet in the time she worked for the district there were no incidents or complaints about her. Nobody suspected anything amiss until an anonymous tipster called the sheriff. If she still had abusive tendencies, wouldn't they have manifested somehow by now?

Originally Posted by sheena12

I would feel equally outraged if she had applied as an aid in a nursing home. Any position where an abuse inquiry would be unsuitable for Paula.
I am not the one do have decided this - every state in the country has rules that protect the vulnerable from been cared for or assisted by a convicted felon.

She knew exactly what she was doing. Had she ever tried to obtain a professional license of any sort - even a vocational license - anything working with people, or that would give her the opportunity to handle or touch people - a Certified Nursing Assistant, a Hair Dresser - whatever, a criminal background check would have been done and she would have been fingerprinted.

End of Story.

No argument there. The school board dropped the ball on the background check.

Originally Posted by sheena12

But Baniszewski had a compulsion to be in charge and she knew the way around the rules. She didn't want to work in Walmart or Mc Donald's - she wanted to work with kids.
Just as her mother did.

She is a deviant sociopath.

Wanting to work for kids =/= wanting to abuse them. Maybe she felt that working with kids in a positive way would somehow help make amends for her past actions? As I said above, if she truly was a sociopath, I don't think she could have gone 14 years without incident. Something would have happened to bring all this out before then.

But as I said in my previous post, I've never met her and I'm not a criminal psychologist, so all this is just speculation on my part. I do think the school board did the right thing by letting her go. Hopefully they do a better job with their background checks in the future.

[Sylvialikensvoice]

I cant believe you are deffending Paula, if anyone needs your deffence its Sylvia...Oh but she not here anymore is she? Its people like you part of the reason she died you look the other way.

[Sylvialikensvoice]

but if you sit and think about it there was a incendent she lied! I think we got in at the right time before something more might have come out.