Teacher's Aide Fired for 1965 Killing

Paula Baniszewski's current photo & 1965 mugshot

According to this article, Paula Baniszewski, who is now Paula Pace, a teacher's aide in Iowa was fired from her job due to the revelation that she was a member of an Indiana family notorious for torturing and killing 16 year old Sylvia Likens in 1965. "A week ago today we got an anonymous report that the now Paula Pace was the previous Paula Baniszewski involved in this 1965 murder case in Indiana and it was a real attention-seeker out there, a heinous crime," Grundy County Sheriff Rick Penning told ABCnews.com today. Paula was 17 years old in the summer of 1965, living in Indiana, when Likens and her sister came to stay with Paula and her family. Likens was beatened, burned, malnourished and branded for the few months she was living in the Baniszewski household. Her body was found in the following October of that year in the Baniszewski basement. Gertrude Baniszewski, Paula's mother, was charged with first degree murder and Paula was found guilty of second degree murder for her participation of the torture of Sylvia Likens. Other Baniszewski family members were also convicted of such crimes. Paula Baniszewski pleaded guilty to manslaughter. She received a sentence of 7 years in prison, and was released in 1972. She completed her parole and moved to Iowa. Paula, now 64, 47 years after the killing, changed her name to Paula Pace and has worked for the BCLUW school district in Conrad, Iowa, since 1998. She has done custodial work and has recently been working as a teacher's aide in the school for students with special needs. Recently, information about Paula's real identity had been revealed over Facebook. An anonymous person confronted the police to check her background. Police immediately notified the school and began doing background checks. Pace's background and birth date matched those of Baniszewski's, comparing a current photo to her 1965 mugshot. "The superintendent had called her in and she admitted to it, so she was suspended," Penning said. The school called for a board meeting, and the members agreed to fire Paula. "Paula Pace's employment was terminated at a board meeting yesterday," superintendent Ben Petty told ABCnews.com. "Her employment was terminated for providing false information on her application." Petty would not comment further on how she was able to lie on her application. Penning said that Baniszewski is not facing any criminal charges, she could not be reached for comment. An Iowa phone number listed for Pace had been disconnected. The 1965 killing of Sylvia Likens criminal case has become one of the most infamous crimes in Indiana and has been the subject of several books and movies.