In a chilling development, a fresh investigation into the infamous serial killer Herbert Baumeister, notorious for his gruesome crimes in Indiana, has led to the identification of a twelfth victim.
Authorities have issued a warning that the total count of victims could potentially reach 25.
The grim saga began in 1996 when Baumeister's 15-year-old son stumbled upon a human skull near their family estate, Fox Hollow Farm. The property, now ominously referred to as 'The Killing Field,' yielded approximately 10,000 charred bone fragments during subsequent police excavations.
Baumeister, a married father of three and the proprietor of two Sav-A-Lot thrift stores, quickly emerged as the prime suspect. It was believed that he targeted his victims at gay bars. However, upon the issuance of an arrest warrant, the 49-year-old fled to Ontario and committed suicide in a park before he could be brought to trial.
Previously, nine victims had been identified. However, a renewed investigation initiated in 2022 led to the identification of two more victims - Allen Livingston, 27, and Manuel Resendez, 34. CBS News reported that a third new victim, Jeffrey Jones, 31, has now been identified.
Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison provided an update on the case, stating that the remains discovered on the property could potentially represent at least 25 individuals. "We know that we have at this point 13 victims found on the Fox Hollow Farm property," he said. "Because many of the remains were found burnt and crushed, this investigation is extremely challenging. However, the team of law enforcement and forensic specialists working the case remain committed."
Jellison added that the most recent victim identified, Jeffrey Jones, disappeared in 1993 in Indianapolis, a timeline that aligns with the young men who vanished between the mid-1980s and the mid-90s, already identified as Baumeister's victims.
More DNA samples are set to be analyzed, which, according to Jellison, remains "the most efficient way that we'll be able to identify these remains." This effort has so far led to the identification of three new victims, Jones, Livingston, and Resendez.
Other confirmed victims include John Lee 'Johnny' Bayer, 20; Richard Douglas Hamilton Jr., 20; Steven Spurlin Hale, 28; Allen Wayne Broussard, 28; Roger Allen Goodlet, 33; Michael Frederick 'Mike' Keirn, 45; and 34-year-old Jerry Williams-Comer. All were identified after DNA was extracted from bones found on Baumeister's expansive property.
The former home, suspected to be the scene of up to 25 murders, still stands today. Eerie images depict the initial crime scene search. Authorities have identified twenty additional locations within the currently vacant home that might yield more excavations, with three sets of remains still unidentified. All are believed to be male and victims of homicide.
The Hamilton County Coroner's office is urging the public to come forward if they had relatives who went missing during Baumeister's reign of terror across greater Indianapolis. They are encouraged to undergo a DNA test as the search effort continues.
Jones' remains were identified earlier this month through advances in forensic genetic genealogy, and analysis performed by the FBI and Jellison's office. Resendez's remains were identified using the same method in January, after he disappeared from the Indianapolis area in 1993. A few months earlier, more bone fragments were identified as belonging to Livingston, who also went missing in 1993, in Indianapolis. His remains were recovered in the initial search of the farm in 1996 but remained unidentified until October 2023.
The initial investigation saw police scour all eight acres of land on the estate. However, due to the sheer scale of the operation, there were some oversights. In 2011, a man named Joe LaBlanc found a bone while walking his dog on the former Baumeister property, after renting an apartment attached to the main house.
At the time, Baumeister attempted to dismiss the skull found by his son, claiming it was part of his late father's medical practice. Two weeks after the bones were discovered and a warrant was issued for Baumeister's arrest, he ended his life in Toronto, Canada.
Authorities believe Baumeister frequented gay bars, lured men to his home, and killed them. By 1999, he had been linked to the disappearance of at least 16 men missing since 1980. This included several whose bodies were dumped in shallow streams in rural central Indiana and western Ohio.
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