Who Was Herb Baumeister? Revisiting the Serial Killer's Crimes and Horrifying Post-Murder Rituals 29 Years After His Death

The victims of Herb Baumeister are still being identified nearly three decades after the serial killer’s death on July 3, 1996.

The Indiana native, a husband and father of three, led a double life. In the 1990s, he was suspected of frequenting LGBTQ+ bars and targeting gay men, whom he lured back to his home, killed and buried there.

Baumeister and his wife, Julie, owned thrift stores and, despite financial troubles and marital strain, bought the 18-acre property called Fox Hollow Farm in the Indianapolis suburb of Westfield in 1991, per ABC.

Baumeister is believed to be the most prolific serial killer in Indiana history, with at least 25 victims thought to be buried at Fox Hollow. His murder spree ended in 1994, when his son found a human skull and a pile of bones in the woods near their home.

An investigation was then launched in 1996, after Julie told police about the skull, and an estimated 10,000 bones and bone fragments, some burned and crushed, were eventually found on the property, per Oxygen. Before he could be taken into custody, Baumeister died in July 1996 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 49.

“Our biggest question now is how he could have loved us and done this,” Julie told PEOPLE in 1996 about her husband’s crimes. “Happiness as we knew it is never going to return.”

Here’s everything to know about Herb Baumeister’s crimes and post-murder rituals.

Who was Herb Baumeister?

Baumeister was a husband and father of three. He and his wife, Julie, raised their three children in Indianapolis before moving in 1991 to an 18-acre, $1 million estate called Fox Hollow Farm, located in the nearby suburb of Westfield.

Before his crime spree began, Baumeister attended Indiana University for one semester in 1965, then worked as a copy boy for the Indianapolis Star, where he was known as a hardworking but eccentric guy who co-owned a used hearse with a friend. Baumeister returned to the university in 1967. There he met Julie, a fellow student and Young Republican, and the two wed in 1971.

In the 1970s, Baumeister, who was then working at the State Bureau of Motor Vehicles, became so depressed that his father committed him to a psychiatric hospital for a month. Baumeister left his job in 1985 and began working at a local thrift store, later opening the first of three Sav-A-Lots in 1989 after borrowing $350,000 in seed money from his mother.

After some initial success, the business fell apart, as did the Baumeisters’ marriage. He moved out of the family home in February 1991 and filed for divorce. Months later, he and Julie reconciled and, despite financial troubles, bought Fox Hollow Farm.

What was Herb Baumeister accused of?

Baumeister is believed to be one of the most prolific serial killers in Indiana history.

In the 1990s, he targeted young gay men at LGBTQ+ nightclubs and lured them back to Fox Hollow Farm, where investigators believe he killed and buried them around his estate.

The murder spree ended in 1994, when Baumeister’s son discovered a human skull and a pile of bones in the woods around Fox Hollow. Julie confronted her husband, who told her they were from a medical school skeleton given to him by his late father, an anesthesiologist, PEOPLE reported in 1996.

At the time, the explanation seemed reasonable to Julie, but her biggest fears came to fruition when, two years later, hundreds of bones were found on the farm.

Baumeister is also suspected of being the I-70 Strangler, who in the 1980s and 1990s met his victims at clubs along interstates in Indiana and Ohio, murdering at least 11 boys and men, according to NBC 5 Chicago. Those victims were discovered dumped in ditches and remote areas in the two Midwest states, with the youngest being 15-year-old Michael Petrie, per the Indianapolis Star.

According to the newspaper, the I-70 murderers were believed to have stopped once Baumeister purchased Fox Hollow.

Baumeister’s life and prolific crimes and Hamilton County coroner Jeff Jellison’s mission to identify the remains from Fox Hollow were the subject of a four-part series, The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer, which premiered on Hulu in February 2025.

What was found on Herb Baumeister’s property?

Police first attempted to get onto Baumeister’s property in 1996, according to The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer. A suspicious Julie had begun divorce proceedings and, after sharing concerning incidents from her marriage with her attorney, told investigators about the skull her son had found two years prior.

With permission from Julie, Indiana officials and a forensic anthropologist from a local university began searching the property. Horrific discoveries were made, including burnt bone fragments. Police eventually found more than 10,000 human bones and bone fragments belonging to many missing men.

Most of the bones were found in two wooded areas and a section to the west of the property, with the bones in the first two areas mostly burned, according to the docuseries. During the two-week-long search, investigators also found objects like shotgun shells and handcuffs.

By 1999, authorities had linked Baumeister to the disappearance of at least 16 men since 1980. As of 2025, there are at least 25 victims suspected to have been buried at Fox Hollow.

More victims were identified in 2023 and 2024, thanks to renewed efforts by coroner Jellison, who was using new DNA technology to identify the thousands of human bones and bone fragments found on Baumeister’s property.

When did Herb Baumeister die?

Though a search warrant was obtained, before Baumeister could be taken into custody or charged with any of the slayings, he fled the country.

After being missing for about a week, Baumeister was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at Pinery Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, on July 3, 1996.

“The police came to me and said, ‘We are investigating your husband in relation to homosexual homicide,’ ” Julie told PEOPLE of her first contact with detectives. “I remember saying to them, ‘Can you tell me what homosexual homicide is?’ ”

How many of Herb Baumeister’s victims were identified?

As of June 2024, nine victims have been publicly identified, and Jellison shared in the 2025 docuseries that an additional four victims had been identified with new technology. While the total number of victims is unknown, at least 25 are believed to have been buried on Baumeister’s property.

In 2023, Allen Livingston, who went missing in August 1993, became the ninth identified presumed victim. Livingston’s family, led by his cousin, Eric Pranger, had been the ones to prompt the renewed efforts.

“We identified a person who had been missing for 30 years. That person is likely a murder victim,” Jellison told the Associated Press. “So our first reaction was to celebrate the success of what we had done, but we very quickly turned to the stark reality that we’ve got another murder victim.”

In January 2024, Manuel Resendez, who went missing in 1993, was identified through the new DNA testing. That May, Jeffrey Allan Jones, who also went missing in 1993, was identified, according to the AP.

The previously identified victims were Roger Alan Goodlet, Michael Frederick Keirn, Steven Spurlin Hale, Richard Douglas Hamilton Jr., Johnny Bayer and Allen Wayne Broussard, per the Indy Star.

Victims of the Fox Hollow murders were honored for the first time in August 2024 at a public dedication ceremony in Westfield, where the victims’ names were read and two of the men were laid to rest, Fox59 reported.

Were there any survivors?

For years, Goodyear claimed to be Baumeister’s sole survivor. In 1996, he was questioned extensively by Hamilton County police, and some of the footage was shown in the Fox Hollow docuseries.

Goodyear told police that in 1994, he met a man named Brian at a downtown Indianapolis gay bar, which is where Baumeister cruised for his victims, and went back to his home. Goodyear claimed he and “Brian” had consensual sex, including performing autoerotic asphyxiation.

According to Goodyear’s police recordings shared in the Fox Hollow docuseries, when Goodyear said he did not want the asphyxiation reciprocated, “Brian” tried to choke him to death from behind with a pool hose. Goodyear claimed to have stopped it but noted there were other strangulation attempts, including with a tie and a belt. He stayed the night, with “Brian” taking him back to Indianapolis the next day. (The exact details differ in some of Goodyear’s retellings over the years, including other times when he claims to have escaped from the killer).

One year later, a friend of Goodyear’s spotted the man who said his name was Brian and took down his license plate number, which was then linked to Baumeister.

Filmmaker Jane Gerlach claimed that Goodyear told her that while he was not involved and did not witness the murders, Baumeister told him about what he did to the victims. Goodyear was interviewed for the docuseries and, at one point, asked a producer directly if they think he was involved and an “accomplice.”

Goodyear has denied any involvement and has never been charged with or convicted of any crimes relating to Baumeister.

What were Herb Baumeister’s post-murder rituals?

According to the Fox Hollow docuseries, police believe Baumeister killed his victims in his home’s pool area. There, he allegedly told the men that he was into autoerotic asphyxiation before killing them and dragging them into the woods behind the house.

After Baumeister murdered his victims, he was suspected of dismembering them, the Indy Star reported in 2024. Many bone fragments were found burned.

In the 2025 docuseries, Gerlach discussed some of Baumeister’s alleged rituals, which she claimed to learn through Goodyear. She claimed that Baumeister used a specific tool to remove his victim’s teeth and tossed them down the hall “like Tic Tacs.”

Through text, Goodyear told Gerlach that Baumeister always smelled of burnt hair.

“Because many of the remains were found burnt and crushed, this investigation is extremely challenging,” Jellison said in a statement. “The team of law enforcement and forensic specialists working the case remain committed.”

The homicide investigation at Fox Hollow Farm was still open as of December 2024.