This Terrifying Indiana Serial Killer Might Just Be One Of The Creepiest In US History
By Tori Jane|Published December 02, 2020
×
Tori Jane
Author
Tori Jane is a storm chaser, writer, photographer, and the village idiot - in that order. When she's not out and about dancing with the meanest storms on planet Earth for funsies she can be found wandering, shooting landscapes, writing, editing photos, and otherwise up to no good. Legend has it that she can also be occasionally spotted typing up short bios in the third person, but those rumors are unsubstantiated.
On April 7th, 1947, a man by the name of Herbert “Herb” Baumeister was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. All things considered, he led a fairly average childhood; there were no notable instances of questionable circumstances during his upbringing. However, in his early teen years, he began to show signs of aggressive and antisocial behavior, and he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He would not, however, seek treatment, and his mental health declined until subsequently he began a possibly decades-long rampage that would claim the lives of up to 26 men.
Baumeister eventually settled in Westfield, Indiana, where he married and had children.
It was never marital bliss- from the start, there were serious issues. Baumeister's wife would eventually file for divorce after well over a decade of his increasingly strange behavior, which would ultimately lead to the discovery of 11 bodies on the property she shared with her husband.
During the early-to-mid 1980s, a wave of homicides occurred along Interstate 70. The killer responsible was nicknamed "The I-170 Strangler," leaving bodies along the highway stretch in Ohio.
The M.O. was the same every time: a gay male, younger, strangled to death. Concerned mothers reported their sons missing, but they were never found alive.
Advertisement
By this time, Baumeister and his young family had moved into a gorgeous farmhouse, made wealthy from profits from the family business: a successful local thrift store. They called the place Foxhollow Farms.
Meanwhile, men in the area known to frequent gay bars continued to disappear. Unbeknownst to his wife, Baumeister had begun cruising the gay scenes in Indiana and Ohio, often bringing men home with him right under her nose. Unfortunately, they didn't usually get to leave alive.
In 1992, a young man named Tony Harris filed a police report stating that a man by the name of Brian Smart had killed a friend of his, and tried to kill him.
Unfortunately, police were unable to make the connection between Baumeister and his apparent alter-ego. For four more years, he would stalk the LGBT communities, choosing and picking off young men as if they were an animal's prey.
As the killings continued, the Marion County Sheriff's Department began investigating the ever-increasing number of bodies found along the I-70, and now in several local rivers as well.
They were aware that they likely had a serial killer on their hands, however, they were no closer to catching even a break, let alone the guy they were looking for.
This changed in 1995, when Tony Harris, still diligently searching for the man who tried to end his life, spotted Baumeister's car lurking around local gay bars close to the one where they had met.
He collected the license plate number and sent the information along to the police. From there, Herb Baumeister was identified as the owner of the vehicle.
A detective confronted Baumeister at his store, asking him pointed questions about the disappearances of several young men in Indiana and Ohio.
Baumeister was undaunted, however, and suggested that she go through his lawyers next time. Now determined to bring this likely killer to justice, the detective then contacted Mrs. Baumeister who, after some coaxing, granted permission for investigators to search Fox Hollow Farms shortly after she filed for divorce. She recounted an incident in 1994 in which one of her sons had found a human skeleton partially buried in the dirt on the property. Baumeister had told her it was a science-class model from his father. She believed him at the time, but even still, it had never sat right with her. Her hunch was accurate: the bones of approximately 11 men were found scattered all over the property- some bones had even made their way onto neighboring properties.
Upon hearing that the bodies on his property had been unearthed, Baumeister fled to Canada. He was found deceased in his vehicle at a park in Ontario on July third of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. His several-page suicide note discussed his failed marriage, his failing business, and his struggles with mental illness. They made absolutely no mention of the bodies found on his land.
Mrs. Baumeister assisted the investigation as best she could, and in the end, they identified only a handful of her husband’s victims. They discovered that the bodies had stopped appearing along the I-70 right around when they began piling up at Fox Hollow Farms, indicating that Baumeister had stopped leaving them there once he realized he could simply dispose of them on his own land.
Due to his suicide, he never went to trial; however, his legacy of terror across Indiana and Ohio left scars that don’t ever quite heal. The community of Westfield has since moved on from the tragedies, though the memories of victims past will likely always walk among the living there, like a shadow that doesn’t go away when there’s a light shined upon it. One can’t exactly erase such a dark history, but one can learn from it.
OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
