Who is Herb Baumeister and what did he do? Details explored ahead of Unknown Serial Killers of America on Oxygen
Herb Baumeister's name became associated with one of Indiana's most horrific murder cases. During the 1990s, police unearthed thousands of human bones at his Fox Hollow Farm estate in Westfield, a suburb of Indianapolis.
Baumeister was an Indiana businessman who was suspected by investigators to have enticed gay bar patrons to his house and murdered them when his family was not at home.
At least 13 sets of human remains were discovered, but the number of victims may be far higher than that, according to authorities. As per a CBS News report, more than 10,000 bones and bone pieces were found on the property in 1996. Baumeister committed suicide before he was arrested, leaving behind unanswered questions.
Now, new forensic work and television shows, such as Unknown Serial Killers of America on Oxygen, are shedding new light on the case and assisting in the identification of new victims using new DNA technology. Season 1, episode 6 of Unknown Serial Killers of America on Oxygen covers the Herb Baumeister case. The airing date for this episode is June 22, 2025.
Herb Baumeister's early life and background
Herbert Richard Baumeister was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 7, 1947. He was the oldest of four children. Baumeister's childhood life seemed normal on the surface, but he showed troubled behavior in his teenage years. Accounts reported that he was intrigued by dead creatures and experienced strange events in school, including urinating on a teacher's desk, as per the details on the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis website.
His doctor father scheduled psychiatric tests, and Herb Baumeister was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and antisocial personality disorder, although he did not receive regular treatment. According to the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis website, Baumeister studied at Indiana University and Butler University but never graduated.
Baumeister had several jobs before opening the Sav-A-Lot discount store chain in 1988, which he made profitable. In 1971, Baumeister married Juliana Saiter, with whom he had three children. The family later resided in a big estate, Fox Hollow Farm.
Discovery of Herb Baumeister's crimes
Between 1993 and 1995, several young men disappeared in the Indianapolis area. According to CBS News reports, most were spotted last at gay bars in the area. In 1996, police raided Baumeister's estate and unearthed human remains in a wide area of the estate. Bones, clothing, handcuffs, and other items that indicated the victims were restrained and buried in shallow graves were found by investigators.
Authorities suspect Herb Baumeister committed the killings when he was at home and his wife and children were out. He is said to have invited men home, whom he then murdered. ABC News reported that at least eight of the victims were identified using dental records and the DNA technology that existed in the late 1990s.
Nonetheless, the remains of a minimum of 17 individuals went unidentified for years when there were not enough forensic tools to identify them. In an interview quoted by FOX59 and News @ UIndy, forensic experts approximated that the remains of a maximum of 25 people could be buried at Fox Hollow Farm. Some of the remains were combined, hence identification proved to be complicated.
Investigation, death, and ongoing efforts
When the police were prepared to arrest Herb Baumeister in June 1996, he went into hiding in Canada. According to the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis website, he was discovered dead by suicide in July 1996 in Ontario. He left behind a note citing personal problems but did not include anything about the victims or the remains discovered at his residence.
Although he was dead, investigators persisted in the case. Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison spearheaded new attempts to identify the last of the victims through the use of current DNA technology. CBS News has reported that officials have requested families of missing men during the 1980s and 1990s to provide DNA samples to be compared to the unidentified remains.
ABC News has confirmed that a few of the new DNA profiles have already been created from the bone fragments recovered. These new developments renewed interest in the case and gave hope to those families who were still seeking answers.
Crime Junkie and other podcasts, as well as docuseries like Unknown Serial Killers of America, have also covered the case, exposing it to new listeners and discussing the use of forensic science in solving unsolved murders.
For more information regarding the Herb Baumeister case, watch Unknown Serial Killers of America on Oxygen.
