Born
15 Feb 1968, Indiana, USA

Death
7 May 1985, Preble County, Ohio

Tragically, Eric Roettger was one of the victims of an unidentified American serial killer who killed at least eleven young boys and adult men in Indiana and Ohio between June 1980 and October 1991, dumping their bodies near Interstate 70. He was known as the “I-70 Strangler” who killed at least another 24 young men and boys. Though officially unsolved, Herb Baumeister was named the prime suspect in the case in April 1999 by law enforcement. According to investigators, bodies related to the “I-70 Strangler” case stopped being found in 1991 after Baumeister bought the Fox Hollow Farm, which he would use as a burial site for his subsequent victims.

On May 7, 1985, 17-year-old Eric Roettger vanished with his shirtless body found a few days later near a stream in rural Preble County, Ohio, east of Lewisburg. According to his parents, Roettger was planning to attend interviews for a summer job on the day of his disappearance, but did not attend any of them. His friends and relatives denied that he was gay, but later research indicated that Roettger had many acquaintances who were drug addicts or drug traffickers. Witnesses claimed that they had seen Eric at a bus stop in the early morning of March 7, but instead of waiting for the bus, he accepted a ride from a passing car. When found, he had an apparent burn mark on his left shoulder and had been strangled with a rope.