A call a about the developments excited Lindloff, who plans to go to Hamilton County in December to review the case. “Baumeister was the right age. If we had substantial proof, Baumeister could be a possibility,” he said. There might be another tantalizing link: The last of the 12 victims dumped in rural areas, former Beavercreek resident Otto Becker, was found in 1991; Baumeister moved into the secluded, 18-acre estate near Westfield, in Hamilton County, Ind., in 1992.

“Before that, he didn’t have the acreage (to dispose of the bodies),” Lindloff speculated. If Baumeister had the answers, he took them to his grave. Now, Hamilton County investigators are left with precious little evidence: bones scattered among yard debris, a pair of handcuffs found in a grass pile and a coat found in Baumeister’s house. So far, only four of the bodies have been identified: Indianapolis residents Richard D. Hamilton, 20; Steven S. Hale, 26; Roger Alan Goodlet, 33; and Manuel M. Resendez, 31, of Lafayette. Three of the four had been arrested for prostitution. All disappeared when Baumeister’s wife and three children were out of town, but he was home, police said. Police believe the men died between 1993 and 1995, but they don’t know how they died.

The deaths have not even officially been ruled homicides. It doesn’t appear the corpses were dismembered. The bones were scattered, but Hamilton County sheriff’s Sgt. Kenneth Whisman believes that to be the work of foraging animals. “We’re not eliminating multiple suspects, but it appears the work of one person,” Whisman said.

Josh Thomas isn’t sure it’s victims were found dumped over bridges or in culverts in the rural county west of Dayton. “These files stay right here,” Lindloff said, indicating a bulging black briefcase sitting near his desk. “This is one of those things that you want to see some conclusion.’ During the years, he has followed many false leads. His hopes were raised earlier this year when he got a call from Mary Wilson, a missing persons detective with the Indianapolis Police Department. Her investigation into the disappearance of several young men had led her to Baumeister, a successful Indianapolis businessman, husband and father whom police say led a double life that included cruising the city’s gaybar district.

Some time ago, Baumeister’s 15- year-old son found a skull on their property and showed it to his mother, Juliana. “Baumeister explained that it was part of his deceased father’s medical practice,” said attorney Bill Wendling Jr., who later represented Juliana Baumeister when she decided to divorce her husband of 24 years. “That didn’t seem out of character for Baumeister. He was a pack rat. He collected and kept everything.” Later, the Indianapolis police asked Mrs. Baumeister if they could search the property because her husband was a suspect in the disappearance of several gay men, Wendling said. Baumeister told his wife he was being victimized by a disgruntled thrift store employee and to keep police off the estate. But, while Baumeister had never been abusive toward his wife and children, “his behavior became more bizarre, business-wise, over the next few months,” Wendling said. Mrs. Baumeister finally led police to the area where her son had found the skull.

During the search, a police officer and Wendling found more bones on the ground. At least seven bodies were found Richard D. Hamilton Steven S. ‘They’re not just gay men, they’re a particular type. They’re not middle-class professionals, they’re a notch above street people.’ JOSH THOMAS Former magazine publisher quite that simple.

The former Cincinnati resident first broke the story about the seemingly connected slayings in 1990, when he was publisher of the now defunct Gaybeat magazine. Since then, he’s been consumed by the case. “I’m the world’s expert on gay serial murders, all because I got a call from a stringer in Preble County,” he said, referring to the call he received when the decomposed body of Clay Boatman, 32, was found Aug. 14, 1990, southwest of Eaton. Boatman was the last of four bodies found in Preble County.

A month later, Thomas Clevenger’s body was found along an abandoned railroad bed near Greenville, in Darke County. “These are some of the toughest crimes to solve,” said Tho- on the grounds of the Baumeister Roger Alan Goodlet Manuel M. mas, now a novelist living in Indiana. “To understand these cases, we have to keep an open mind, to make sense of a senseless series of crimes: Who are 1 the victims? Why are they being picked? “They’re identified as vulnerable and marginal to society. They’re not just gay men, they’re a particular type.

They’re not middle-class professionals, they’re a notch above street people.” Boatman, for example, was from the “wrong side of the tracks” in Richmond, Ind. “He was an LPN who had a drinking problem,” Thomas said. His car was found in the parking lot of Our Place, a popular gay bar in Indianapolis. Maurice Taylor, 32, one of three men found dead in the early 1980s in Hamilton County, Ind., is one of the saddest stories, Thomas said. “He went unidentified for eight months because nobody reported him missing.

His mother cared about him, but she was in a mental hospital. When she was discharged, she went looking for him and filed a missing -person report.” Delvoyd Baker, 14– the youngest and the only black victim – was also found in Hamilton County. His body was found in a ditch within 24 hours of his death in October 1982. He is believed to have been a street prostitute. Because Baker differs from the profile of the other victims, some police question whether he should be considered part of the case.

Where the bodies were found in “gay slayings” investigation INDIANA WILLIAMS FUETON OHIO 1980 NOBLE DENALBI 42 (Bodies found from (Bodies found from – 1991) DEFIANCE 1985 – 1990) HENRY WOOD Hamilton County Map area Defiance PAULDING County : Michael Petree, Fort Wayne HANCOC found June 1980 PUTNAM Jean Paul Talbot, VAN WERT early 30s, found May Maurice Taylor, 1989 ALLEN 22, found July O H 1 O HARDIN Darke 1982 County Delvoyd Baker, N. D N ALIGLAIZE Thomas 14, found Oct. 1982 A MERCER LOGAN Clevenger, 19, Hancock County TIPTON SHELBY found Sept. 1990 a Michael Riley, Westfield HAMILTON RANDOLPH Preble County found June 1983 MIAMI CHAMPAIGNI DARKE Eric Allen HENRY WAYNE CUARK Roettger, 17, found Shelby County HANCOCK May 1985 James Robbins, PREBLE MONE Dayton Michael • found Oct.1987 GOMERY GREENE Indianapolis Allen FAYETTE Glenn, 29, found SHELBY Henry County BUTLER WARREN, CUNTON: Aug. 1986 I Steven L. Elliot, : Otto Becker, 42, BROWN found 89 found 1991 26, Aug. Aug. I Clay Russell Westfield, Indiana Richard D. Hamilton, 20 Boatman, 32, found Seven bodies found on an 18-acre estate owned by Steven S. Hale, 26 Aug. 1990 Indianapolis businessman Herbert R. Baumeister in Roger Alan Goodlet, 33 June 1996. Four bodies have been identified. Manuel M. Resendez, 31.

Thomas thinks the deaths may be the work of a network of sadistic killers. He wonders if there’s any connection with Larry Eyler, a convicted mass murderer from Indiana who would cruise for male victims after arguments with his gay lover. Eyler confessed to killing 21 men in Illinois and Indiana. Before Eyler died of AIDS in 1994, while on death row, he began naming others he claimed were involved, including Robert David Little, chairman of the library sciences department at Indiana State University. Eyler said he and Little took pictures while beating and stabbing Steven Agan, 23, of Terre Haute. Little was tried and acquitted in Vermillion County, Ind., in 1991. Eyler also met with Preble County investigator Lindloff and others trying to solve the deaths of the 12 victims found in rural Ohio and Indiana. Eyler was in prison during the time many of those victims died, but he provided authorities with the names the Indianapolis gay community. of three possible suspects. “He felt they might have something to do with the killings,” said Lindloff, who traveled as far as Florida checking out Eyler’s leads. None panned out. While Eyler may have been trying to cut a deal or buy some time to delay his death sentence, the implication that there are other killers on the loose is chilling. But, until more convincing evidence surfaces, most authorities suspect a single, serial killer is responsible for the unsolved gay homicides. The case is complicated because of the numerous law enforcement agencies involved; each jurisdiction where bodies have been found is conducting its own investigation.

Recently, there’s been little communication about these cases. And, strained relations between the police and gays haven’t helped. Police believe people in the gay community have information, but refuse to come forward. Thomas, who followed every development in the case in a series of articles before Gaybeat folded, thinks homophobia is a factor. “If somebody were killing cheerleaders at a suburban Dayton high school, nobody would rest until the killers were found,” said Thomas, who called for a single law enforcement agency to take the lead in the case and reactivate the investigation. Everybody agrees on one point: Somebody out there knows something that could crack the case. Sometimes that link seems. teasingly close. Whisman said the Hamilton County sheriff’s department has received several calls from people who say they have information about the Baumeister case and would like to speak with an investigator. “But, before we can get to the phone,” he said, “they hang up.”