Herb Baumeister’s Indiana horror house was discovered to contain 10,000 “burnt and crushed” skeletal remains that concealed the identities of his countless victims for decades.
Herb Baumeister led a murderous double-life
The once a successful businessman and married father of three is suspected of killing at least 25 men from the late 1980s to the early 1990s in Indianapolis.
He primarily targeted gay men he picked up at bars in Indianapolis, close to where he lived in Fox Hollow Farm, his $1 million 18-acre estate.
Nearly four decades after the slayings, police continue to uncover additional bodies of men who went missing on the extensive property.
The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office recently identified Jeffrey A. Jones, who was reported missing in 1993, as Baumeister’s latest victim.
Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison reopened the investigation into the thousands of human remains found on Baumeister’s property.
According to Jellison, there are four more unidentified DNA profiles, bringing Baumeister’s known body count to 12.
Jones is the third victim identified by the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office in the last six months.
Late last year, the coroner’s office identified Allen Livingston, who was 27 when he disappeared in August 1993. Manuel Resendez, who disappeared in 1996, was identified by the coroner’s office in January.
Baumeister’s property, which was purchased in May 1988, was used to conceal thousands of decomposed remains, charred bone fragments, and a partially buried human skeleton discovered by his teenage son, who showed his mother in 1994.
When his child made the grisly discovery, Baumeister explained it away as one of his father’s dissecting skeletons.
He then stored the remains of what was actually his victim in the garage before re-burying it in the garden at a later date.
He was put on authorities radar the same year, when a man named Tony Harris contacted them to inform them that he had survived Baumeister’s attempt to kill him with a pool hose at his farm after meeting him at an Indianapolis gay bar.
Baumeister’s wife, who initially barred law enforcement from searching their property, ultimately conceded to the search after she divorced him when he behavior became more erratic as the walls were closing in around him.
Authorities searched the property while Baumeister was on vacation in June 1996 and exhumed the remains of multiple unfortunate victims.
Facing an arrest warrant, Baumeister fled to Ontario, where he shot himself at a park on Lake Huron at the age of 49.
He was never formally charged with the murders and did not confess to any crimes in the three-page suicide note he penned before his demise.
How Herb Baumeister hunted his victims
Baumeister allegedly carried out his crimes as his alter-ego, “Brian Smart,” for nearly two decades, going after young gay men he met in Indianapolis bars.
After the raid on his farm, Baumeister became the prime suspect in a series of twelve homicides between 1980 and 1991, with victims ranging in age from 14 to 42.
Known as the I-70 strangler, he would pick up boys and men from gay bars in a four-block radius in Indianapolis, later found strangled and dumped along the highway.
Although Baumeister was never charged with the murders, police believe he stopped dumping bodies along I-70 after purchasing Fox Hollow Farm.
Despite the new disposal site, Baumeister’s methods and hunting grounds remained consistent. He continued to pick up gay men at bars near his home, where he eventually strangled them and buried their bodies.
The Hamilton County coroner’s office is still hard at work identifying the victims years later.
“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,” Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison said in a statement.
The FBI, Indiana State Police Laboratory, Dr. Krista Latham from the University of Indianapolis, and DNA experts from Texas-based Othram Lab were all crucial in identifying the remains.
Othram, the largest forensic genetic genealogy lab in the country, partnered with the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office last year to bring closure to Baumeister’s victims.
“Othram scientists developed a comprehensive DNA profile for the unknown man using Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing.” Othram announced in a statement.
“After successfully completing the process, the DNA profile was delivered to the FBI’s forensic genetic genealogy team and the FBI team performed the necessary genealogical research to generate new investigative leads in the case.”
