Decades after remains discovered, new initiative could identify all of serial killer’s victims

WESTFIELD, Ind. — Decades after investigators discovered thousands of human bones and bone fragments on the property of a suspected serial killer in Indiana, a new quest is taking place in the labs to solve a long-standing mystery: who were they?

A new team working to identify the unknown dead says the key to their success will be convincing relatives of men who disappeared between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s to provide samples of their own DNA.

These samples can then be compared to the DNA profiles that scientists extract from the remains, which were discovered beginning in 1996 on Herbert Baumeister’s sprawling property in suburban Indianapolis.

Initial investigators believed at least 25 people were buried at Baumeister’s 18-acre Fox Hollow Farm in Westfield, based on evidence that included 10,000 bones and bone fragments, as well as handcuffs and cartridges shotgun.

Baumeister, a 49-year-old thrift store owner and father of three, committed suicide in Canada in July 1996 before police could question him, taking with him many secrets, including the names of his alleged victims.

Investigators believed that while his family was traveling, Baumeister, who frequented gay bars in Indianapolis, lured men to his home, where he killed and buried them.

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PHOTOS: Their remains were found decades ago. New approach could identify all victims of serial killer

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By the late 1990s, authorities had identified eight men using their dental records and available DNA technology. But those efforts then stopped, although the remains of at least 17 people may not yet have been identified.

Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison said the new identification efforts revealed that county officials then decided not to fund additional DNA testing, which “essentially stopped further efforts to identify victims and shifted the cost of a homicide investigation to the family members of missing persons. »

“I can’t speak for those investigators, but it was just game over,” Mr. Jellison said.

Over the decades, the bones and fragments ended up in boxes at the University of Indianapolis Human Identification Center, whose staff helped excavate the remains.

That changed after Eric Pranger sent Mr. Jellison a message on Facebook in late 2022. The Indianapolis man’s family had long believed that his older cousin, Allen Livingston, was among Baumeister’s victims.

Livingston was 27 when he disappeared in August 1993 after getting into someone else’s car in downtown Indianapolis. After hearing about Baumeister three years later, his mother, Sharon Livingston, and other relatives began to suspect that Allen, who was bisexual, was among the dead.

Mr Jellison was about to take up his post when Mr Pranger asked if he could help get answers for his aunt, who had serious health problems.

“How can I say no to that? It’s our job as coroners, by law, to identify the deceased,” Mr Jellison said.

In late 2022, police took DNA samples from Sharon Livingston and one of her daughters. Mr. Jellison began working with a team that included the Indiana State Police, the FBI, the Human Identification Center, local law enforcement and a private company specializing in forensic genetic genealogy. legal.

Staff at the Human Identification Center, where remains are stored in a temperature- and humidity-controlled space, have selected some of the most promising bones for DNA analysis.

At the Indiana State Police laboratory, scientists cut sections of bone, froze them with liquid nitrogen and pulverized them into a fine powder. They then used heat and chemicals to break down the bone cells in the first step toward extracting a complete DNA profile.

Nearly a year after hearing from Mr. Pranger, Mr. Jellison announced in October 2023 that a ninth Baumeister victim had been identified: Allen Livingston.

Sharon Livingston finally got some form of closure. She died in November 2024.

“It made me happy to be able to do this for my aunt,” Mr. Pranger, 34, said. “I was the one who started the ball rolling to bring his son home after 30 years and I felt privileged.”

“After Allen was identified, I was so excited and afterwards I was like, ‘What now?’ I got answers, but what about all the other families?’ », added Mr. Pranger.

Mr Jellison said about 40 DNA samples had been submitted by people who believed a missing relative might have been killed by Baumeister. He said these are entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, but are used only to identify missing people.

The coroner and his partners hope to obtain more DNA samples from relatives of men who went missing in the United States between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. They noted that the men may have been traveling and had stopped in Indianapolis to visit friends or sample its nightlife.

To date, scientists have extracted eight unique DNA profiles – all male – from more than 70 of the 100 bones sent to the Indiana State Police laboratory by Dr. Krista Latham, director of the Human Identification Center .

One matched DNA samples provided by Livingston’s mother and sister. Four matched four of the eight men first identified in the 1990s: Jeffrey Jones, Manuel Resendez, Johnny Bayer and Richard Hamilton.

The other three DNA profiles remain unidentified and two are still being tested. These three bring the number of Baumeister’s alleged victims to 12.