Herb Baumeister

Also known as: Fox Hollow Farm murders

Active: 1993–1995
Region: Westfield and Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
State: IN
Kind: Serial
Status: Identified, never tried
Victims: 10

Herb Baumeister, the founder of a chain of Indianapolis thrift stores, is believed to have killed young men he met at gay bars in Indianapolis in the mid-1990s and buried their remains on Fox Hollow Farm, his estate in Westfield. After a man who survived an encounter with him helped police trace him, his estranged wife allowed a search in June 1996, and investigators found thousands of human bones and fragments. Baumeister fled to Canada and died by suicide in Ontario on July 3, 1996, before he could be arrested, so he was never charged. Since reopening the case in 2022, the Hamilton County Coroner's Office has used DNA to identify more of the men; ten have now been identified, and work on the remaining profiles continues.

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Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

John Lee "Johnny" Bayer, 20 · May 28, 1993
Jeffrey Allen "Jeff" Jones, 31 · July 6, 1993
His remains were identified by the coroner's office in May 2024.
Richard Douglas Hamilton Jr., 20 · July 31, 1993
Allen Lee Livingston, 27 · August 6, 1993
From Indianapolis. His remains were identified by DNA in October 2023.
Manuel Resendez, 34 · August 1993
Identified in January 2024 from a DNA sample his family provided.
Daniel Thomas Halloran · 1994
From Indianapolis. Identified in April 2025 through genetic genealogy.
Steven Spurlin Hale, 28 · April 1, 1994
Allen Wayne Broussard, 28 · June 6, 1994
Roger Allen Goodlet, 33 · July 22, 1994
Michael Frederick "Mike" Keirn, 45 · March 31, 1995

Timeline of locations

1988
Indianapolis (Workplace, approximate area)
Baumeister founded the Sav-A-Lot thrift store chain in Indianapolis in 1988. The men he is believed to have killed were last seen in Indianapolis, many of them at the city's gay bars.
May 1988
Baumeister's home (Fox Hollow Farm) (Killer's residence, approximate area)
Baumeister lived on the estate with his wife and children from 1988 until he fled in 1996.
June 24, 1996
Fox Hollow Farm, Westfield (Recovery site, approximate area)
Baumeister bought the 18-acre estate near 156th Street and the Monon Trail in 1988 and lived there with his family. Searchers in June 1996 recovered more than 10,000 bones and bone fragments from the grounds; the remains of all ten identified men came from here.
July 3, 1996
Pinery Provincial Park, Ontario (Other, approximate area)
After the remains were found, Baumeister fled to Canada and died by suicide in Pinery Provincial Park on July 3, 1996.

Watch, listen, read

Watch

The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer (series, 2025, ABC News Studios (Hulu))

Sources

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.