on 7th April 1947, car manufacturer Henry Ford died at his estate in Dearborn, Michigan, on that same day anaesthesiologist Dr Herbert Baumesiter senior and his wife Elizabeth had their first child of four, a son named Herbert Richard Baumeister in Indiana.
Little is really known about young Herbert, known as Herb and his childhood, but all seemed to be relatively normal and uneventful until he reached adolescence when there seems to be a few stories of bizarre behaviour.
Reports suggest his school friends talked of his having a fascination with dead animals and even that he even brought one to school. He showed destructive tendencies, would disrupt classes, and once reportedly urinated on a teacher's desk although little more is known about the reasons for this incident. Although there is a reported interview with an ex-classmate who claimed that Herb asked him "what it would be like to taste human urine"
Due to these strange behaviours in his teens, the school reached out to his parents and Herbert senior took Herb to hospital where he underwent a series of psychiatric evaluations and was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia. Psychiatrists also advised that he was possibly suffering from multiple personality disorder. however despite this mental illness diagnosis Herb received no further treatment. This is obviously very strange bearing in mind people suffering from schizophrenia have a distorted image of reality. It is common for them to have delusions and hallucinations as well as disorganized behaviour. Schizophrenics require lifelong treatment to manage symptoms.
He spent the final years of high school distant from classmates, an outcast from peers who avoided him.
In 1965 Herb attended Indiana University. again he found himself a social outcast due to his erratic behaviour dropped out in his first semester.
in 1967 following influence from his father Herb returned to Indiana University to study anatomy but again he had dropped out before the semester ended, but not before he met his wife Juliana Saiter known as Julie who was a part time student at the University whilst working as a high school journalism teacher. Both Juliana and Herb had dreams of owning their won business and shared extremely conservative political leanings and due to their common interests they began dating.
In 1971 the couple married, it is unclear what life was like for Julie and Herb in the early months of their marriage but just six months into it Herbert Senior had his son committed to a mental institution, where he stayed for two months. Julie had described her husband as hurting and needing help, she stuck by her husband and he returned to her following his release and she seemed to love him very much.
for the next 9 years of their marriage Julie and Herb were childless and he went from a low level copy boy job at the Indianapolis Star newspaper, which his father had pulled strings to get him, onto a job at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles "The BMV"
At the BMV colleagues described him as an oddball, he was haughty and pushy and was known to lash out at other members of staff for no good reason. again he seemed to have no filter, sending colleagues a Christmas card one year which depicted him and another man in drag, not seen as amusing or appropriate to the recipients in a public sector workplace and certainly not in the 1970's.
During his time at the BMV someone had urinated on a managers desk and rumours had circulated that it was Herb, but these were unsubstantiated. his colleagues whispered behind his back that he was a "nutcase" and a "closet homosexual" but despite all the office gossip Herb was promoted to Programme Director a position he craved as it gave him the status and kudos he craved. Yet despite him finally being promoted his illness meant he could not control himself and less than a year after taking p his new position he was sacked after he urinated on a letter addressed to then-Indiana Governor. Robert D. Orr. Of course this just resulted in former workmates confirming between themselves what they suspected about him to be true.
By the time Herb was sacked from the BMV in 1985 he was the father of three young children. Marie was born in 1979, Erich in 1981, and Emily in 1984. Julie was no longer working and was now a full time stay at home Mum but once he lost his job he found it hard to find work so Julie returned to work instead and Herb took over looking after the home and children,
there is no indication that Herb was anything less than a caring father to the children but he was far from a perfect stay at home Dad. In fact in September 1985 he was caught driving under the influence and received a slap on the wrist and six months after that he was charged with stealing a friend's car and conspiracy to commit theft but somehow he did not seem to be punished for those either. Meanwhile his drinking continued and he began hanging out at Gay bars in the area, obviously Julie was oblivious to this behaviour.
For a while Herb bounced between jobs until he got a job at a Thrift store. In the UK we have charity shops, mainly run by volunteers where donations of clothes, shoes, bric-a brac, furniture, books and other items are made by the public and sold on with all profits going to the charity running the shop. Thrift stores work in a similar way.
Herb found the concept of working at a thrift store, beneath him at first, but soon realised their potential to make a lot of money and turned his attention to learning the trade. son in 1988 following the death of his Father, Herb opened his own thrift store called Sav-a-Lot using a $4,000 loan from his Mother, and a percentage of profit went to local charity The Children's Bureau of Indianapolis.
Herb and Julie made so much money from Sav-a-Lot in their first year that they quickly opened a 2nd branch and within 3 years of trading their fortunes had turned around and they found themselves to be very wealthy.
Using their new found wealth the Baumeister's bought an 18 acre horse ranch called Fox Hollow Farms in 1991. It was a large house, almost a mansion and had an indoor swimming pool. and was located in an upscale neighbourhood on the outskirts of Indianapolis known as Westfield , Herb was now known as a successful local businessman he was linked to charities and was a happily married family man with two daughters and a son, so to the outside world life was good.
Meanwhile, behind closed doors Herb was still showing signs of mental illness. he would treat Julie like an employee and began to show signs like he had in previous jobs, of being bossy and inappropriate. at home the house quickly fell into disrepair and was untidy and poorly maintained, the large grounds became overgrown and all the while Herb spent a lot of his free time in the pool house. This part of the house he treated differently to the rest of the house. It was meticulously maintained, lavishly decorated and he also began to buy mannequins, which he would set up around the pool in various poses dressed, holding glasses as though they were his friends, come to visit for a pool party.
Julie no longer had her Father in law to turn to about her husbands erratic behaviour so instead she spent more and more time away from Fox Hollow Farm and would visit with her parents, taking their children with her and leaving Herb alone to his fantasy world.
Meanwhile a murder investigation had been undertaken by the local Police since 1980 some 11 years by the time the Baumeister's bought Fox Hollow Farm. The Police were looking into the discovery of several bodies in rural parts of Hamilton County and the killer seemed to have a victim type of young boys and adolescents whom he picked up within a four block radius in Indianapolis, all victims seemed to have been picked up in Gay bars.
All of the victims were found naked or partially clothed near the I-70, in water and were strangled to death.
On June 16, 1980 the naked body of 15 year old Michael Petree was discovered in rural Hamilton County, Indiana, nine days after he had been reported missing. cause of death was established as strangulation, he was known locally as being a "child prostitute" a sad indication of the times.
Two years later the topless body of Maurice Taylor aged 23 was discovered outside Atlanta.
Maurice was homeless and sheltered in the boiler room of an Indiana apartment complex. Maurice had not been reported missing as his mother was in hospital due to mental health issues when he disappeared so his body remained unidentified for 8 months after being found.
Cause of death was suspected and like Michael it was believed that he was selling sex.
The next victim was discovered to be Delvoyd Lee Baker who was only 14 years old an 8th grader, at secondary school if he was in the UK he would be starting his GCSE's the following year and would be 2 years form taking those exams .
Delvoyd was found semi-nude near a river in Hamilton County. While investigating his death, police located witnesses who stated that he was last seen on the evening of October 2 in downtown Indianapolis, boarding a blue van driven by a young white man with a bushy moustache
Delvoyd's parents told police that he had been riding his bike to the city centre on the evening of his disappearance, and he called home at 10:30 PM to inform them that he was going to be late because he wanted to go to the cinema.
This statement concerned his parents, who knew that he had no pocket money on him. It was later established that Delvoyd and a 16-year-old friend had been cruising the Indianapolis gay bars for the last three months, and according to his friend, he and Delvoyd prostituted themselves for $20-23 per night
Due to several differences in comparison with other victims (being the youngest and only black victim), Delvoyd's murder was considered to be unconnected to the other cases by some policemen.
Next came Michael Andrew Riley he was aged 22 and disappeared on May 28, 1983 after visiting 'The Vogue Theater' which was, a gay movie house in Indianapolis.
He was last seen with an unfamiliar man, with whom he later left Michael's nude body was later found in a ditch in Hancock County, southeast of Greenfield, on June 5. The autopsy determined that he had been strangled, with the perpetrator likely using a towel.
Then on 7th of March 1986 17 year old Eric Allen Roettger vanished on May 7, 1985, with his shirtless body found a few days later near a stream in rural Preble County, Ohio, east of Lewisburg
Eric was not gay according to his parents, they told police that on the day he went missing he was planning to attend interviews for a summer job but didn't attend any of them. Witnesses saw him waiting at a bus stop and then accepting a lift from a car who stopped and offered him a lift.
When found, he had an apparent burn mark on his left shoulder, and had been strangled with a rope.
Another Michael was next to be found, Michael Allen Glenn was 29 and his discarded body, wearing only underwear, was found in a ditch near Eaton, Ohio in August 1986. his body was identified 3 years after its discovery using fingerprint evidence.
Michael lived alone in a trailer park located on the outskirts of Indianapolis and worked as a handyman, so it could not be established when he was last seen alive. Strangulation marks, possibly from a rope, were found on his neck.
Then it was on to 15th October 1987 when 21 year old James Robbins went missing and was last seen at around 10 PM, when he left his Mother's home to walk to the southern part of Indianapolis
His naked body was found 2 days later, in a ditch in rural Shelby County, near the I-70 south of Gwynneville.
While investigating his murder, police located two witnesses who gave conflicting information: one claimed that they had seen a red Jeep Renegade near where the body was discovered whilst another said they saw a Chevrolet Blazer.
almost 2 years passed before another body was discovered dumped near a stream in Defiance County, Ohio. in May 1989 this time it was Jean Paul Talbot, like the previous victims, Jean Paul was found strangled to death .
Then only 3 months later in August 1989 the underwear clad body of 26 year old Steven L. Elliot in rural Preble County, Ohio, again, near the I-70.He had been strangled, presumably with a rope. Stephen was openly gay and suffered from an alcohol addiction as was known to be a sex worker.
three years passed without any known victims then in August 1990 Clay Russell Boatman aged 32, a nurse, disappeared after leaving his Richmond apartment to visit Our Place, a local gay bar. His body, was found by children in a ditch near Eaton, Ohio showing signs of strangulation, Clay's family refused to accept that he was homosexual.
Only days later 19 year old Thomas Clevenger Jr. vanished. Thomas had a difficult childhood, he grew up in a poor neighbourhood in Indianapolis and was known as a petty criminal and addicted to alcohol as a youngster. Thomas struggled to learn to read and write at school and was diagnosed as having learning difficulties, although his family refused to accept the police's findings they ascertained he had been working as a sex worker his partially clothed body was unceremoniously dumped near an abandoned railway near Greenville Ohio.
then a little over a year later in October 1991 42 year old Otto Gary Becker was found in a ditch in rural Henry County, Indiana
Witnesses came forward claiming they had seen Otto with 2 men in a car on the I-70. According to witnesses one of the men was holding Otto down while the other was driving. The witnesses were taken to the police station and shown photographs of various criminals convicted of kidnapping and murder charges in the state, but none of them was matched to the alleged abductors
So by the time the Baumeister's bought an 18 acre Fox Hollow Farms in 1991. the police were investigating the death of 11 men in and around the Indianapolis area.
However, Herb Baumeister's long hidden mental issues began to resurface to his family and the wider public not long after he and his long suffering wife opened their second store, and very quickly the business began to lose money. Baumeister started drinking during the day and acting rudely towards customers and staff alike. The stores soon began to fall into the same state as his large home.
At night, unbeknown to Juliana, Baumeister was cruising the Indianapolis gay bars and then hiding in his pool house with his mannequins, where he spent hours talking to them and sobbing about his failing business enterprise.. Juliana was facing the issues alone of a failing business and a husband who was quite clearly on the edge of a complete breakdown from reality, she was exhausted from worry. Bills were piling up, and her husband acted stranger every day.
In 1994, the Baumeister's' 13-year-old son, Erich, was playing in a wooded area behind their home when he found a partially buried human skeleton. He showed the grisly find to his mother, who showed it to Herbert. Her husband told her that his father had used skeletons in his research and that, after finding one while cleaning out the garage, he had not known what to do with it so had buried it on their land, Juliana believed this story which may seem incredible given her husband's behaviour and mental state, but what was the alternative? that he had killed someone and buried them in the garden?
In 1994 a private investigator known as Virgil Vandagriff entered into the strange world of Herbert Baumeister.
Virgil had retired in 1977 , as a well respected Marion County Sheriff, and then had opened Vandagriff & Associates Inc, a private investigation firm in Indianapolis specializing in missing person cases.
In June 1994, the mother of openly gay 28 year old Alan Broussard, contacted Virgil and asked him to look into the disappearance of her son. this was completely out of character. Alan had a partner and was close to his family and lived with his Mother. He had left the house to meet his partner at a gay bar called Brothers and ever came home . she was utterly distraught.
Almost a week later, Virgil got another client who was asking him to find her son again, openly gay, close to his family, lived with his parents, Roger Goodlet was 32, had left his parents' home to go to a gay bar in downtown Indianapolis but never arrived.
Virgil weighed up the similarities, in age, looks, lifestyle and the way they had gone missing, this was not a co-incidence.
he worked these two cases together, speaking to all family, friends, work colleagues, acquaintances, people who frequented the same social scene and distributed flyers and posters featuring their pictures. Through this he found a witness who saw Roger getting into a blue car with Ohio registration plates. he also roused the attention of others in the area who were interested in the missing gay men who had been killed over the last 20 years and a publisher of a local gay magazine contacted him and told him of the police investigation into the 11 bodies that had been found in and around the I-70.
Virgil tried to get the Indianapolis Police Department to take the disappearances of Alan and Roger seriously, but these were gay men, adults, they were seen as low priority or other police believed they had just gone off on their own volition. Virgil meanwhile was convinced there was a serial killer in their midst.
Then Virgil was contacted through one of his flyers by one of Roger's friends, and met with him. The man wanted to remain anonymous and Virgil gave the man the pseudonym Tony and we will use this name when referring to him who told him a strange story of a man he had met and who he was convinced was the killer of Roger, he told Virgil he had been to the Police and FBI who treated him like a fantasist.
Tony had met a man at a gay club one night and Tony said said he was drawn to this stranger as he seemed totally mesmerised by one of Virgil's missing posters of his friend Roger which was stuck up on the wall at the club.
Tony believed there was something about this man and the way that he was looking at the poster that made him feel he was somehow connected to Roger's disappearance so he went over and introduced himself and struck up a conversation hoping to glean something from this man which may help in locating his missing friend. The strange man introduced himself as Brian Smart and told Tony he was a gardener and was landscaping the gardens of a large house in the area. Tony asked him if he knew Roger but Brian denied it.
As they continued to get acquainted Brian explained that the house he was landscaping was huge and had a pool. he was staying there as the owners were away and he offered to take tony there saying they could use the pool. Tony went to the house with Brian and was driven there by Brian in his Buick car, which Tony said had Ohio plates. Tony explained he really did not know the area well enough to say where the house was but did describe the place in detail, it was Tudor style and in an area where there seemed to be lots of houses wide apart which seemed almost ranch style and that the entrance to the long drive had a sign which had a house name and that the name included the word Farm in it.
Tony went through a side door with Brian onto a house filled with junk and when they reached the pool area it was decorated with lots of mannequins set up around the pool as though having a party. Tony was offered a drink, but declined and Brian he believed took some drugs, possibly coke as he suddenly became animated and started making sexual advances and suggesting they engage in autoerotic asphyxiation. Tony then put a hose around Brian's neck and strangled him whilst Brian masturbated which was what Brain wanted, The Brian suggested he do the same to Tony, but things seemed to escalate out of hand from that point, Tony said it was clear that Brian wanted to kill him, he refused to stop choking him, so Tony had to pretend to pass out
when Tony awoke Brian seemed panicked and claimed he had not meant to make him pass out. Brian drove Tony back to the city and they agreed to meet the following week and Tony explained to Virgil that that rendezvous was coming up and he was afraid.
Virgil surmised that due to Tony's large size and the fact he had not taken a drink from Brian he had probably survived and perhaps others had been drugged prior to the little game of "you choke me and I'll choke you" and had not been so lucky. Tony was pleased to finally be believed and Virgil asked him to keep his date and that he would ensure he had some members of his team nearby as protection. However, Brian never turned up for their 2nd date.
At this point the trial had gone cold again and Virgil again turned to the local police for help however this time rather than try murder detectives he spoke to Mary Wilson, a detective who worked in missing persons. Virgil knew Mary well and trusted her judgement and she his, so she picked up Tony and drove him around the areas he had described whilst they tried to locate the Tudor mansion with the word Farm in its name.
a whole year passed and Virgil was no closer to finding out what happened to his client's sons Alan and Roger. Then Tony bumped into Brian Smart again. This time Tony made sure he got Brian's license plate number from his car and passed the information along. Mary checked the database and found the license was registered to local businessman Herbert Baumeister.
Mary began to dig into Baumeister and kept Virgil appraised of her findings, this strange man was, she was convinced, a killer and furthermore she believed that Virgil was right, Tony and a narrow escape.
Eventually having gathered enough to confront Baumeister, Mary went to the thrift store and confronted him. she asked him for permission to search his home, he refused and told her to speak to his lawyer. she also spoke to his wife, Juliana who stood by her husband and refused Mary access to their property or to believe her husband capable of anything the police detective was suggesting.
Mary then tried to get a warrant, again this was met with a brick wall, no one believed Mary, her evidence was just not conclusive enough to justify her allegations against this man. So Mary kept digging and the pressure on Baumeister began to show, his mental health declined rapidly his behaviour became even more erratic and this resulted in the charity pulling their association with the save a lot stores meaning financial ruin was on the horizon for Herb and Juliana and his loyal wife began to reach breaking point.
It was 2 years since Erich had found that skeleton in the garden and Juliana began to put off the pieces of the jigsaw together, she waited until Herb and her son were out of town for a few days visiting Herb's mum and made preparations with a lawyer to file for divorce and called Mary and told of of her son's grizzly find and gave her consent for the police to come to the property and search.
On June 24, 1996, Mary Wilson attended the house at Fox Hollow Farm and with the owner Juliana's permission she and three Hamilton County police officers walked the garden and to the area where Erich had found a skeleton. in an area of grass area next to the Baumeister's' patio they located what looked like white pebbles but their trained eye could see they were not rocks they were bones.
Once it was established forensically they were human bones a full scale forensic examination of the area began, through the Baumesiter's gardens and into the neighbouring land, where the team found over 5,000 fragments of teeth and bone. It was estimated they had found the broken remains of 11 victims.
of course at this point Juliana was faced with the absolute horror of her situation and her husband was away visiting his Mother and had their son with him, she feared for Erich and for the grim discovery getting to the press and in the public domain before she had her son safely with her. so using the divorce as a cover the authorities served Herbert with custody papers for Erich and he handed his son over without any issues, then the graveyard at his house hit the news.
At this point, Herb Baumeister completely disappeared and on July 3, just over a week after Juliana had allowed Mary to enter the property to search, Baumeister was found having committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. His body was discovered inside his car at Pinery Park, Ontario, Canada alongside a 3 page suicide note which explained he had killed himself as his marriage and business was failing.
Juliana then began to assist the Police in gathering evidence into her late husbands crimes and this eventually identified him as the I-70 strangler who had killed 11 men unceremoniously dumping their naked or semi naked bodies along the interstate right up until not long after they moved into Fox Hollow Farm, from that point other gay men had gone missing but their bodies had been conveniently buried on his property so their disappearances were never linked to the earlier murders.
Even though it was suspected the human remains found in the grounds of their home accounted for 11 more victims, the police were unable to identify them all and eventually 4 victims were positively identified as Roger Goodlet aged 34; Steven Hale aged 26; Richard Hamilton aged 20; and Manuel Resendez aged 31.
So Herb Baumeister is a serial killer who killed anywhere between 14 and 22 victims, that is known of the oldest known victim being 42, the youngest just 14. but even in his suicide note he did not mention the killings and it is unlikely the full story will every truly be known.
This is dedicated to the memories of the victims, they were all young men who were loved, had friends and should be remembered for who they were as people:
Delvoyd Lee Baker Aged 14 Michael Petree Aged 15
Eric Allen Roettgee Aged 17 Thomas Clevenger Jr. Aged 19
Richard Hamilton Aged 20 James Robbins Aged 21
Michael Andrew Riley Aged 22 Maurice Taylor Aged 23
Steven L. Elliot Aged 26 Steven Hale Aged 26
Alan Broussard Aged 28 Michael Allen Glenn Aged 29
Manuel Resendez Aged 31 Clay Russell Boatman Aged 32
Roger Goodlet Aged 34 Otto Gary Becker Aged 42
Jean Paul Talbot Age unknown
to the determination of Virgil Vandagriff of Vandagriff & Associates Inc, & Mary Wilson Detective of missing persons Virgil has written a book on this tale called where the bodies are buried (link below and to his website)
and last but not least to the bravery of the man known as Tony
Vandagriff & Associates Inc, website is About Us (allinvestigations.com)
Montaldo, Charles. "Herbert Richard Baumeister, Serial Killer." ThoughtCo, Jul. 30, 2021, thoughtco.com/herbert-richard-baumeister-973121.
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