OAN’s Abril Elfi
11:22 AM – Sunday, June 2, 2024
An Indiana serial killer’s property was found to contain 10,000 “burnt and crashed” human remains.
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Serial killer Herb Baumeister is believed to have murdered at least 25 people from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.
According to reports, Baumeister mostly targeted gay men in Westfield, Indiana, where he lived.
Authorities have stated that for decades they have still been uncovering remains buried in his property.
The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office said that the latest victim they have identified is Jeffery A. Jones, who was reported missing in 1993.
Following Baumeister’s 1996 passing, thousands of human remains were found on his property, and Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison reopened the investigation.
Jellison stated that there are four more unidentified DNA profiles that the investigators are working with, making Baumeister’s body count now 12.
“Because many of the remains were found burned and crushed, this investigation is extremely challenging,” the county coroner said in a statement. “However, the team of law enforcement and forensic specialists working on the case remains committed.”
In December 2023, the coroner’s office identified victim Allen Livingston, who was 27-years-old when he went missing in August 1993.
Manuel Resendez was identified in January, and he was 34 years-old when he vanished in 1996.
Reports stated that Baumeister would use the farm that his family had moved to in 1988 to hide thousands of decomposed remains, charred bone fragments, and more.
The discovery of his crimes began when his teenage son discovered a skull buried in the trail adjacent to their home and showed it to his mom.
Baumeister’s wife ultimately divorced him as it became clearer he was a serial killer. However, she had initially blocked police from searching their property.
He fled to Ontario in 1996 after a warrant was issued for his arrest after police searched the property and dug up the remains of several victims.
He then ended up fatally shooting himself at age 49 while in hiding.
Baumeister was never charged with any of the murders, and he did not admit to any crimes on his suicide note.
According to a report from the FBI released in 2005, while Baumeister was alive, he was living a double life.
He was a working husband and father in one “life,” and in the other, he went by the fake name “Brian Smart” and targeted young gay men he met at bars.
“The majority of serial killers are not reclusive, social misfits who live alone,” a 2005 FBI report says. “They are not monsters and may not appear strange. Many serial killers hide in plain sight within their communities.”
“Serial murderers often have families and homes, are gainfully employed, and appear to be normal members of the community. Because many serial murderers can blend in so effortlessly, they are oftentimes overlooked by law enforcement and the public,” the report continued.
The Hamilton County coroner’s office is still digging through remains, and the FBI, Indiana State Police Laboratory, Dr. Krista Latham of the Biology and Anthropology Department at the University of Indianapolis, and DNA experts from the Texas-based Othram Lab are all helping to identify the remains.
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