Serial killer still haunts town as investigators aim to identify 10,000 bones

Herb Baumeister took many secrets to the grave.

One of them is the location of his trove of missing tapes, which some believe detail how his $1 million estate, the Fox Hollow Farm, became his personal killing field.

Baumeister, believed to be one of the most prolific serial killers in Indiana history, is the subject of a four-part true-crime documentary from ABC News Studios, “The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer.” 

The series is available to stream on Hulu.

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About 10,000 charred bones and bone fragments have been found at the 18-acre estate of the married father of three. Before Baumeister could be taken into custody in 1996, he was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a Canadian park. He was 49.

According to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, Baumeister’s wife Julie said a large collection of tapes had gone missing from their home. The outlet also shared that Canadian police had also spotted a box of tapes inside Baumeister’s vehicle days before his death.

The film details how investigators believed Baumeister may have filmed his victims with a secret camera hidden in an air vent in his basement.

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“It’s not uncommon for serial killers to keep mementos or trinkets from victims,” retired Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office Det. Cary Milligan said in the docuseries.

“Something to relive … the murders,” he shared. “We’re looking through the bottom of the entertainment area … and we noticed this vent. … I was suspicious that if Herb was videotaping any activity that might have been going on. … That may have been a way that Herb could’ve gained power over the individuals that he was killing.”

According to the film, the vent appeared as if someone had quickly tried to remove something from it.

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“Inside it was big enough that a video camera could have been placed up there,” said Milligan. “It was positioned so if you inserted a camera it would look directly down on a chaise lounge.”

Milligan said he asked Julie if Herb “did a lot of videotaping.” She said he did.

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“She led me into a storage room where there was a blank spot on the shelving,” Milligan recalled. “She said, ‘Well, he usually keeps them right there, and they’re gone. I don’t understand why they’re gone.’ It’s theorized that he was either recording sexual activity before the homicides or even maybe after the homicides.

“It’s possible, yes, that he was recording something illicit,” he shared. “That’s why he got rid of the tapes.”

Mark Goodyear, who was long believed to be Baumeister’s sole survivor, claimed he was forced to watch some of the tapes in 1994. Goodyear said in the film the footage was so “bad” it made him scream.

Goodyear didn’t specify what he saw in the video. It’s also noted that Goodyear’s story has changed multiple times.

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“It was like having a camera right up against something,” said Goodyear. “You’re not going to be able to tell what’s going on, but the minute you got a flash of what was going on, it made you scream.”

Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison, who participated in the docuseries, told Fox News Digital it’s unlikely those tapes will ever be recovered. The whereabouts of the tapes remain unknown.

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“All I know is what the police report says, that there were tapes in the back seat of his vehicle,” said Jellison. “Will we ever find those? I think the chances of that are probably slim. But I will say that because of the documentary, there is already information [coming] forward about potential victims … information about the murders. And, of course, we’re sifting through that now. It’s in the very early stages.

“So, where those tapes are at, I don’t know,” said Jellison. “Do I think we’ll ever find them? I would say it’d be a slim chance.”

Investigators believe Baumeister frequented gay bars in Indianapolis. When his family was away on trips, the thrift store owner would lure men to his home and kill them. He then buried the bodies around the sprawling property.

The murder spree came to an end in 1994 when his 13-year-old son found a human skull in the woods around Fox Hollow Farm.

Julie confronted her spouse about the ghoulish discovery. He claimed the skull was from a medical school skeleton once owned by his late father, an anesthesiologist. 

Days later, it vanished. When police investigated the home, Baumeister also disappeared. While he left a rambling suicide note, Baumeister didn’t mention the crimes.

By 1999, authorities had linked him to the disappearance of at least 16 men since 1980, including several whose bodies were found dumped in shallow streams in rural central Indiana and western Ohio.

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In 2022, Jellison announced a renewed effort to identify the bones found using modern DNA technology. He said investigators believe the bones and fragments could represent the remains of at least 25 people.

“First of all, we had 10,000 human remains in boxes sitting on a shelf at a university that we had not done anything with for nearly 30 years,” Jellison explained to Fox News Digital. “That’s not right. … They were forgotten in the ‘90s. We can’t let that go any longer.”

The remains have been held at the University of Indianapolis’ Human Identification Center, whose staff helped excavate the remains. 

In 2022, Eric Pranger sent Jellison a Facebook message. He believed his cousin, Allen Livingston, could have been one of Baumeister’s victims. The 27-year-old, who was bisexual, vanished in 1993.

“We believe, and we heard this from some sources, that [Baumeister] was taking the clothing of the men that he killed and then depositing it at the thrift stores that he owned and then selling that clothing,” the documentary’s director, Alex Jablonski, told Fox News Digital.

“It was like these guys just disappeared into thin air. Not even the clothes were left behind.”

Jellison said Livingston’s mother, who was ill, was yearning for closure before she died.

“How do you say no?” said Jellison. “How do you walk away? You can’t. Had the Livingston family not [reached out], those remains would probably still be sitting there forgotten.”

With the help of DNA testing, Jellison announced in 2023 that Livingston’s remains had been identified. Livingston’s mother died in November 2024.

There are many questions still unanswered. Jellison is adamant that Baumeister didn’t act alone.

“I’m a coroner. I move deceased individuals daily,” he said. “That’s not an easy task … When you look at everything, I think it points very strongly towards a potential accomplice or, at least, a helper.”

Jablonski agrees.

“There’s been a lot of chatter online of people being like, ‘He could have had a wheelbarrow.’ … But these woods were thick. They are still thick. You’re talking about fallen trees, roots, thick underbrush. You put 200 pounds in a wheelbarrow and try to move it a hundred feet through the woods like that.

“You’re going to lose your mind. You’re going to be exhausted and frustrated. And we know from forensics that if it was a wheelbarrow, you would’ve had to push it through logs you had to lift and mud for 300–500 feet. It does seem highly unlikely, especially in the volume in which he was killing.”

Jellison also noted that shotgun shells and handcuffs were found in the woods.

“One set of handcuffs that was found had a human arm in it,” said Jellison. “If he acted alone, did he somehow walk his victims out into the woods and shoot them? I don’t know.”

Today, Jellison is urging anyone who has a missing loved one to contact him. Since the documentary premiered, he’s received many emails, texts and Facebook messages from those who are still searching for someone who vanished decades ago.

“We need to get a DNA swab, and it’s very simple,” he said. “It just takes a few seconds, and it’s the most efficient way to identify the remains. Please don’t hesitate. … I don’t care where you’re at, what part of the country. 

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“I don’t care who it is that’s missing. What I care about is that you call me. I’ll get you the right authority to provide your DNA. That may lead to identification not just in the Fox Hollow case, but anywhere in our country.

“We’re here. That’s what we do for the living.”