Coroner Seeks DNA to Identify Victims – Fox Hollow Farm Case Resulted in 25 Bodies

by Rachel Fradette

More than two decades after the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office began a search on the grounds of Fox Hollow Farm in Westfield, the coroner’s office is seeking DNA from descendants of possible victims to identify more remains in the case. In the summer of 1996, the office found more than 25 bodies reduced to charred and decomposing remains on the 18-acre site off 156th Street in Westfield. The landowner, Herbert “Herb” Baumeister, was believed responsible for the deaths of the victims who were mostly young, gay men that he lured to his property, according to the coroner.

When authorities sought to interview Baumeister, no one could find him, IndyStar reported in 1996. He had crossed the Canada-U.S. border and killed himself following the start of the investigation. From the remains, police only identified eight people. The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office and its task force, including members from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Missing Persons Division, Indiana State Police biology unit, the University of Indianapolis Archeology and Forensic Lab, are pushing to identify all of the remains. Baumeister and his killings are often featured on true crime podcasts and televisions shows. In addition to bodies found on the Westfield property, police believed Baumeister also dumped bodies of young boys and men into streams along I-70 across Central Indiana and western Ohio in the mid-1980s.

More than 10,000 bones and bone fragments were discovered on the farm’s land, according to the coroner’s office. In a statement, Hamilton County’s Chief Deputy Coroner Jeff Jellison, said family members of young men who went missing from the mid-1980’s to mid-1990’s should submit a DNA sample, a quick cheek swab. “DNA was a relatively new tool for law enforcement twenty-six years ago. It was very expensive and often took months to complete,” Jellison, the county’s coroner-elect, said in a re- lease. “Now, DNA profiling has become faster and more user-friendly.” There’s more to be done in this case to fulfill obligations as the county’s coroner, and DNA advancements will make that possible, Jellison said.

“I don’t believe we have met our obligation,” Jellison said. “Just because we couldn’t do something 26 years ago doesn’t mean we should just give up and walk away.” Here’s what to do if you believe you are a relative of a missing person connected to the Fox Hollow Farm Case. If you believe you are a relative of a missing person possibly connected to this case, contact the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office at 317-770-4415. IndyStar archives contributed to this report. Rachel Fradette is a general assignment reporter at IndyStar. Contact her at rfradette@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter at @Rachel_Fradette.