Avril Elfi from OAN
Sunday, June 2, 2024 11:22 AM
10,000 burned or crashed human bones discovered on the property of a serial killer in Indiana.
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Serial killer Herb Baumeister is believed to have murdered at least 25 people between the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Baumeister reportedly targeted gay men primarily in the Westfield, Indiana area.
Authorities say exhumation of remains buried on his land continues for decades.
The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office said the latest victim was Jeffrey A. Jones, who was reported missing in 1993.
After Baumeister’s death in 1996, thousands of bodies were discovered on his property, and Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison reopened the investigation.
Jellison said investigators are currently looking at four unidentified DNA profiles, bringing Baumeister’s body count to now 12.
“Many of the bodies were found burned or crushed, making this investigation extremely challenging,” the county coroner said in a statement, “but the team of law enforcement and forensic experts working on this case remains committed to their efforts.”
In December 2023, the coroner’s office identified the victim, Allen Livingston, who was 27 years old at the time of his disappearance in August 1993.
Manuel Resendez, whose identity was confirmed in January, was 34 years old at the time of his disappearance in 1996.
Baumeister reportedly used the farm where his family moved in 1988 to hide thousands of decomposing bodies and charred bones.
His crimes came to light when his teenage son discovered the skull buried in a footpath adjacent to their home and showed it to his mother.
Baumeister’s wife eventually divorced him as it became clear he was a serial killer, but she initially prevented police from searching their home.
After police searched the property and exhumed the bodies of several of the victims, a warrant was issued for his arrest and he fled to Ontario in 1996.
He later committed suicide while in hiding at the age of 49.
Baumeister was not charged with any murders and did not admit to any guilt in his suicide note.
According to an FBI report released in 2005, Baumeister led a double life during his lifetime.
In one “life” he was a working husband and father, and in another he used the alias “Brian Smart” and targeted young gay men he met in bars.
“Most serial killers are not solitary social misfits,” a 2005 FBI report stated. “They may not seem monstrous or strange; many serial killers hide in plain sight within their communities.”
“Serial killers often appear to be normal members of the community, with families, homes and gainful employment. Many serial killers are able to blend into society so easily that they often go unnoticed by police and the public,” the report continues.
The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office is still working to exhume the body, and the FBI, the Indiana State Police Laboratory, Dr. Krista Latham of the University of Indianapolis Department of Biological Anthropology, and DNA experts from the Otram Laboratory in Texas are assisting in identifying the remains.
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