The serial killer Herb Baumeister may have been responsible for the deaths of around 25 individuals during the ’80s and ’90s. However, he evaded facing justice for his horrendous acts as he passed away before being apprehended for his crimes.
The sickening story is examined in the new true crime docusereis The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer.
Who was serial killer Herb Baumeister?
Herb Richard Baumeister was a business owner from Indianapolis, Indiana, born on April 7, 1947.
He married Juliana Saiter in November 1971 and they had three children.
Baumeister was the founder of Save-a-Lot thrift stores in 1988, and had two shops in total.
As a teenager, Baumeister was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but did not receive any further treatment for this.
His father sent him to a psychiatric hospital in the 1970s, with Herb’s wife saying that he “needed help”. He spent two months there.
What crimes did Herb Baumeister commit?
There are 11 confirmed victims of Baumeister’s murders.
Despite this, he is suspected to have killed at least 25 men in total.
Baumeister was thought to have picked up his victims from local gay bars, and lured them to his estate, Fox Hollow Farm, where he killed them.
He used the pseudonym Brian Smart when committing his crimes.
This was discovered when a man named Tony Harris told police that “Smart” had killed his friend, and had attempted to kill him.
Harris finally saw him again, followed him and noted down the license plate number of the car he was driving.
Using the evidence provided, police were able to identify the man as Baumeister.
Baumeister buried the bodies on the 18 acre long farm where he lived.
In 1996, the disturbing truth about Baumeister came to light when his 15-year-old son stumbled upon approximately 10,000 burned bones and fragments just 60 yards away from their residence in Westfield, situated 16 miles north of Indianapolis.
In an attempt to justify the discovery, Baumeister claimed the remains were from his father’s medical practice.
The investigation began as the killer and his wife of 24 years were going through divorce proceedings.
Baumeister’s wife and kids were whisked away by authorities for their protection after the gruesome discovery.
Even more remains were found by the town’s firefighters three days later.
There are suspicions that Baumeister could have also been the infamous I-70 strangler, a series of murders that occurred in a nearby vicinity. Nevertheless, this assumption has never been substantiated with concrete evidence.
In Janaury 2024 the serial killer’s tenth victim was identified as 34-year-old Manuel Resendez, three decades after he was brutally killed.
His remains were discovered in a mass grave on an 18-acre estate next to Baumeister’s home in central Indiana, among 10,000 charred bones and fragments
Resendez was finally identified via a DNA sample provided by his family in early 2023, according to CBS affiliate WTTV.
“I would like to thank the entire team of law enforcement and forensic specialists that have come together to support this effort,” Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison said.
Resendez’s family got closure after new life was breathed into the case in 2022 by Jellison.
In an effort to identify Baumeister’s victims, he asked relatives of people who vanished between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s to submit DNA samples.
Just months earlier, Baumeister’s ninth victim, Allen Livingston, was identified from the charred remains found on the farm.
The Indianapolis native was believed to have gone missing in 1993.
Jellison said he believes at least 25 people are among the bones found on Baumeister’s property.
Where was Herb Baumeister found?
A warrant for Baumeister’s arrest led him to leave Indianapolis and move to Ontario, Canada.
Two weeks after the bodies were recovered from his property in 1996, Baumeister killed himself at Pinery Provincial Park on Lake Huron, leaving a three-page suicide note blaming his death on problems with his business and his marriage breaking down.
The note did not mention anything about the murders that he was being pursued for.
The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer
A four-part true crime docuseries about Baumeister’s heinous crimes has been produced by ABC News Studios.
The series delves into the life of Herb Baumeister, a businessman from Indiana who was revealed to be a serial killer targeting gay men in the ’80s and ’90s.
It follows Hamilton County coroner Jeff Jellison as he reopened the case decades after thousands of bone fragments were discovered on Baumeister’s Fox Hollow Farm property, utilizing new DNA technology to identify the remains and uncover new leads.
The docuseries features archival footage, interviews with investigators and victims’ families, and the first on-camera testimony from survivor Mark Goodyear.
The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer dropped on Hulu on February 18, 2025.
