The Fox Hollow Farm Murders: The Double Life of Herb Baumeister

To the outside world, Herb Baumeister appeared to be living the American dream.

He was a husband, a father of three, and the successful owner of a growing chain of thrift stores in Indiana. He lived with his family on a beautiful 18-acre estate known as Fox Hollow Farm, located just outside Indianapolis. Neighbors described him as intelligent, quiet, and perhaps a little eccentric—but certainly not dangerous.

Behind that carefully crafted image, however, investigators believe Baumeister was living a deadly double life.

Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, young men began disappearing from the Indianapolis area. Many were last seen at local gay bars and nightclubs. Some were estranged from their families. Others struggled with addiction, homelessness, or worked as sex workers. Tragically, many of these disappearances received little attention at the time.

As bodies began appearing in rural areas throughout Indiana and Ohio, investigators noticed disturbing similarities. The victims were often found partially clothed or nude, and many had been strangled. Eventually, authorities began to suspect they were dealing with a serial killer, later nicknamed the I-70 Strangler.

For years, however, the killer remained unidentified.

That changed in 1994 when a man named Tony Harris contacted police. Harris claimed that a man calling himself “Brian Smart” had attempted to strangle him during a sexual encounter after the two met at an Indianapolis gay bar. Harris later identified the man as Herb Baumeister and reported his suspicions to investigators.

Initially, police were unable to search Baumeister’s property.

But in June 1996, after Baumeister’s wife Juliana filed for divorce and became increasingly concerned about his behavior, she gave investigators permission to search Fox Hollow Farm while Herb was away.

What they discovered would shock the nation.

Hidden throughout the wooded areas of the property were human remains belonging to at least eleven individuals. Investigators recovered thousands of bone fragments scattered across the estate, exposing what would become one of Indiana’s most infamous serial murder cases.

Even more chilling, investigators later learned that Baumeister’s own son had discovered a human skull on the property years earlier. Herb reportedly dismissed it as a medical skeleton belonging to his father and reburied it.

Before authorities could arrest him, Baumeister fled to Ontario, Canada. On July 3, 1996, he died by suicide in Pinery Provincial Park. Although he left behind a three-page suicide note, he never mentioned the victims, never confessed to any murders, and never explained his actions.

As a result, many questions remain unanswered.

One of the biggest mysteries surrounding the case is whether Baumeister was also responsible for the unsolved I-70 Strangler murders. Investigators have noted striking similarities between the victims found along Interstate 70 and those recovered from Fox Hollow Farm. Additionally, the bodies associated with the I-70 Strangler appeared to stop surfacing after Baumeister purchased Fox Hollow Farm in 1991.

Despite decades passing since Baumeister’s death, the case remains active.

In 2022, investigators returned to Fox Hollow Farm and identified additional locations where human remains may still be buried. Advances in forensic science, DNA analysis, and forensic genetic genealogy have also allowed investigators to identify victims who remained unknown for decades.

As of 2024, experts were still working to identify nearly 10,000 human bone fragments recovered from the property.

The challenge facing forensic anthropologists has been enormous. Many of the remains were burned, crushed, scattered, and commingled, making it difficult to determine how many victims were present and which bones belonged to whom. Modern DNA testing has helped provide answers, but several victims remain unidentified.

For the families of those victims, the work continues.

While Herb Baumeister has been dead for nearly thirty years, investigators are still trying to return names to the men whose lives were stolen. And until every victim is identified, the story of Fox Hollow Farm remains unfinished.

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