School aide suspended after call about 1965 killing

DES MOINES, Iowa - A central Iowa teacher's aide has been suspended after officials learned she was part of an Indianapolis family who tortured and killed a girl in 1965.

Paula Pace has worked for the BCLUW school district based in Conrad since 1998. She is a teacher's aide at the district's high school.

Grundy County Sheriff Rick Penning told The Associated Press on Tuesday that an anonymous caller told him last week that Pace was Paula Baniszewski, (ban-is-SHEV-ski), formerly of Indianapolis, and a member of a family that tortured and murdered 16-year-old Sylvia Likens in 1965.

Baniszewski eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the case.

District officials say Pace has been suspended from her job for undisclosed reasons. The school board meets Tuesday.

Pace's listed telephone number has been disconnected.