One thing in this life is for sure: sometimes, people do evil things that simply cannot be explained or understood. Some people do absolutely terrible things and later show remorse – but often, they don’t show any emotions at all. Indiana is not immune to the phenomenon – the Hoosier State has been home to its fair share of human monsters, and here are our picks for some of the downright creepiest Indiana serial killers on the books.
1. David Maust
Maust was born in 1954 in Pennsylvania, but he would die in 2006 in Indiana. A long-time violent sufferer of severe mental health issues, he was institutionalized for the first time at nine years old. He went on to sexually abuse and murder at least five known victims, all between the ages of 13-19. He was given 35 years in 1994, was released in 1999 after just four years, killed more victims, and then was again arrested and re-sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. He died by suicide in an Indiana prison in 2006 when he hanged himself with a bedsheet.
2. Orville Majors
Orville Majors is a walking nightmare in human skin. Born in 1941, he was a licensed nurse; however, when he began working for a rural Indiana hospital, the death rate of their patients skyrocketed. It went from about 20 deaths per year to over 100; this was alarming to the rest of the staff, who made the connection between Majors' joining their team and the sudden and unusual deaths. It is widely thought that he was injecting elderly victims who gave him a "hard time" with potassium chloride, which caused ailments like sudden respiratory or cardiac arrest. He was formally charged with seven murders, found guilty of six, and sentenced to 360 years in prison in October 1999. It is strongly believed that he had well over 100 victims, with numbers as high as 135-145 according to some sources. In terms of Indiana serial killers, this guy might be as creepy as it gets.
3. Eugene Britt
Born in 1957, Eugene Britt was an intimidating and large man. He was severely mentally ill and considered to be developmentally and emotionally disabled, however, he admitted to the murders of anywhere from seven to up to 11 murders in the 1990s. Due to his mental state, he was ineligible for death row. Instead, he was sentenced to 245 years in prison for the rapes and murders of several young women and girls. As of the time of this writing, he is still alive at an Indiana prison.
4. Alton Coleman and Debra Brown
This one's a two-for-one: murderous couple Alton Coleman and Debra Brown were convicted in the 1990s of several brutal rapes and murders, a spree which began in 1984 in Wisconsin. The pair murdered women in several Midwest states, including Indiana, and eventually they were apprehended in the Hoosier State as well. Coleman received the death penalty for his vicious role in the murders and was executed by lethal injection in 2002 in Ohio. Debra, considered to be mentally under-developed, had her death sentence commuted to life in prison instead.
5. Herbert Baumeister
Perhaps the most infamous entry on this list is serial killer Herbert Baumeister, who murdered at least 27 men he met at gay bars in the 1980s and 1990s. Some of his victims were buried at his home right under his frightened and somewhat suspicious wife's nose. We can only imagine the horror she felt in 1996 when she allowed police to search their property upon her filing for divorce from Baumeister.
On the property, they found the remains of 11 men. Only eight of them were ever identified. Baumeister, knowing full-well about the warrant out for his arrest, fled to Canada and committed suicide. In his suicide note, he never mentioned his victims - just that his divorce and failing business were the reasons for his death.
So, what do you think? Are there any Indiana serial killers that we missed? Tell us some of the scariest stories about them you know in the comments.
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