Teenage Son Finds Skull in Yard, Turns Into Gruesome Discovery

In 1996, forensic experts uncovered 10,000 bone fragments at Fox Hollow Farm, the $1 million estate of Herb Baumeister in the wealthy Indianapolis suburb of Westfield. For the next three decades, police struggled to identify the victims behind the bone fragments, but with limited technology at the time, most of the victims remained unnamed — until now.

The Break That Led Police to a Killer

In 1994, after several gay men disappeared from Indianapolis bars the previous summer, police had no leads. The case gained traction when Mark Anthony Goodyear shared a disturbing encounter with a man who introduced himself as "Brian." He described being invited to Brian's home, where an indoor pool was eerily lined with mannequins, as if they were having a party.

Goodyear recalled that Brian pressured him to drink a cocktail, which he discreetly discarded in the bathroom sink. Their encounter escalated into autoerotic asphyxiation, during which Goodyear noticed Brian's fixation on strangulation. Sensing danger, he escaped unharmed and later warned others to avoid the man.

Though Goodyear couldn't recall the exact location of the house, his description spread. Eventually, a friend spotted someone matching Brian's description and noted his license plate. This key detail led Detective Mary Wilson to trace the car back to Herbert Baumeister — a businessman, church-goer, and family man with a wife and three children. Until then, he had never been a suspect.

A Chilling Discovery at Fox Hollow Farm (1996)

With growing suspicions surrounding Baumeister, authorities sought to search his home for evidence. However, they soon learned that he hadn't been living there — his wife, Julie Baumeister, had filed for divorce, and he had moved out. Detectives spoke with Julie, who revealed that her husband had been acting increasingly erratic.

She also disclosed a disturbing incident: Two years earlier, their teenage son had once stumbled upon a human skull and a pile of bones in the woods near their property. Baumeister had explained it away at the time, saying his late father — who was an anesthesiologist — had obtained a human skeleton when he was in medical school.

Julie agreed to let police search the sprawling 18-acre Fox Hollow Farm estate. Investigators initially noticed what appeared to be burned bone fragments scattered across the wooded area. As they continued their search, the findings became even more gruesome.

Former detective Cary Milligan recalled spotting what looked like the bones of an intact human foot lying on the ground. Additional evidence, including shotgun shells and a pair of hinged handcuffs, further suggested that horrific crimes had taken place on the property.

Uncovering a Mass Grave and a Disturbing Pattern

Forensic teams spent weeks meticulously excavating the site, ultimately uncovering more than 10,000 human bone fragments. Investigators noted eerie similarities among the victims — they were all young men of similar height and build. Many of them were last seen at gay bars concentrated within a small, two-mile radius in Indianapolis.

This pattern suggested that the killer targeted a specific demographic, luring his victims from these establishments before taking them to Fox Hollow Farm, where their remains would later be buried in a mass grave.

The sheer scale of the discovery solidified Baumeister as the prime suspect in what became one of Indiana's most notorious serial murder cases. However, before Baumeister could face justice, he fled to Canada, where he died by suicide at age 49.

New DNA Technology Sheds Light on Victims

Despite the staggering number of remains, authorities were only able to positively identify eight victims by 1999.

However, advancements in forensic science, including genetic genealogy, are now helping investigators identify more of Baumeister's victims. Since 2022, authorities have been able to identify three more victims and have collected around 40 DNA samples from families of men who disappeared between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s.

These breakthroughs allow experts to extract DNA from even the smallest bone fragments, leading to the identification of several victims once considered missing. Investigators are continuing to work with families to provide long-awaited answers.

The Ongoing Investigation

The discovery of 10,000 bone fragments underscores the scale of Baumeister's crimes and the horrifying reality of what took place at Fox Hollow Farm. With the second-largest number of unidentified human remains ever found in the United States, the case remains one of the most chilling in the country's history. While forensic experts continue to analyze the remains, investigators remain hopeful that more victims will be identified, ensuring that the lives lost are finally acknowledged.

Even though he was never convicted, Herb Baumeister is believed to be one of Indiana's most prolific serial killers. His crimes are now the focus of "The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer," a four-part Hulu^® series.

References: New DNA technology and witness revelations expose dark secrets in Fox Hollow Farm case | Serial Killer's Secret: 10,000 Bone Fragments Found on Property, Spree Ended with Son's Chilling Discovery