The Indiana serial killer’s compound was littered with 10,000 “burned and crushed” skeletal remains, with the faces of many of his victims remaining unrecognized for decades.
Herb Baumeister, a successful businessman, married father of three, is believed to have murdered at least 25 victims between the late 1980s and early 1990s.
He hunted primarily gay men in Westfield, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis, and lived on an 18-acre estate known as Fox Hollow Farm.
Forty years later, authorities are still unraveling the secrets buried beneath the sprawling property. Jeffrey A. Jones, who was reported missing in 1993, is the latest victim identified by the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office.
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Jeffrey A. Jones, who was reported missing from Fillmore, Indiana in 1993, has been identified as the latest victim of serial killer Herb Baumeister. (Hamilton County Coroner’s Office)
Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison has reopened an investigation into the thousands of remains that law enforcement recovered from Baumeister’s property after his death in 1996.
Jellison said investigators have four DNA profiles that have yet to be identified, bringing Baumeister’s body count to 12.
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“The investigation has been extremely challenging as many of the bodies were found burned or crushed,” the county coroner said in a statement, “however, the team of law enforcement and forensic experts assigned to this case remains fully committed.”
Jones is Baumeister’s third victim identified by the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office in the past six months.
Herb Baumeister is suspected of murdering at least 25 victims, 12 of whom have been linked to Baumeister so far. (Indianapolis Police Department)
In December 2023, the coroner’s office identified Allen Livingston, who was 27 when he went missing in August 1993, and Manuel Resendez, who went missing in January. Resendez was 34 when he disappeared in 1996.
Baumeister and his family moved to their now infamous $1 million home in Indiana in May 1988.
The unsolved case, with the cause of death constantly changing, has torn a family apart and led to the suicide of the victim’s sister. “I want answers.”
He used the vast area and adjacent roads to hide thousands of decomposing bodies, charred bone fragments, and a human skull that Baumeister’s teenage son unearthed and showed to his mother, Baumeister’s wife.
It was the beginning of the end of Baumeister’s reign of terror.
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Manuel Resendez, who was 34 years old when he was thought to have disappeared in 1996, was identified in January 2024 as one of Herb Baumeister’s victims. (Hamilton County Coroner’s Office)
Baumeister’s wife, who initially prevented police from searching the house, eventually divorced him after it became clear that Herb was a wanted murderer.
Authorities searched the property while Baumeister was away and exhumed the bodies of several of the victims.
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By 1996, with a warrant out for his arrest, he fled to Ontario, where he committed suicide. He was 49 years old at the time of his death.
He was never charged with murder and did not admit to any guilt in his suicide note.
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Approximately 10,000 bodies belonging to Indiana serial killer Herb Baumeister were discovered on an 18-acre property in Westfield, Indiana. (Google Street View)
According to a 2005 FBI report, Baumeister led a double life during his lifetime, a common trait among serial killers.
At one point, he was a seemingly normal husband and father: going to work and coming home.
Police say Baumeister used the alias “Brian Smart” in his secret life and targeted young gay men he met primarily in bars.
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“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 easily into society and therefore often go unnoticed by police and the public,” the report continues.
Approximately 10,000 bodies belonging to Indiana serial killer Herb Baumeister were discovered on an 18-acre property in Westfield, Indiana. (Google Street View)
The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office is still investigating the body.
DNA experts from the FBI, the Indiana State Police Laboratory, Dr. Krista Latham of the University of Indianapolis Department of Biology and Anthropology, and the Otram Laboratory in Texas worked to identify the remains.
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Otram, the nation’s largest forensic genetic genealogy laboratory, partnered with the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office last year to help bring closure to the cases of Baumeister’s victims.
“Otram scientists used forensic-grade genomic sequencing technology to develop a comprehensive DNA profile of the unidentified male,” Otram said in a statement. “Following the successful completion of this process, the DNA profile was sent to the FBI’s Forensic Genetic Genealogy Team, who conducted the necessary genealogy research to provide additional investigative leads for the case.”
