In 1994, little Erich Baumeister was playing in a wooded area behind his home when he found something unusual: a human skull. The 13-year old boy went to his mother, Julie Baumeister. It appeared there was a human skeleton in the wooded grounds of their Tudor home in the Fox Hollow Farms section near Westfield in Hamilton County. Mrs. Baumeister alerted her husband, but, thankfully, he had a practical explanation. Herb Baumeister’s father was an anesthesiologist. Herb had stored one of his dad’s medical skeletons in the garage. Cleaning the garage, he’d simply thrown the skeleton in the woods. That explained everything, of course.

Born in 1947, one of four children, Herb attended North Central High School, worked as a copy messenger at The Indianapolis Star, got a job at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and, in 1971, married Julie, a high school journalism instructor. They had three kids and eventually opened two thrift stores. It was a Hoosier success story, but some people thought Herb had quirky habits. No one knew he’d been treated briefly for mental illness. Things like renting a hearse or urinating on his boss’ desk were just part of weird ways.

What were problems involved in solving this case?

In the summer of 1995, the informant spotted the same man at a gay bar and got the license number of his pickup truck. It was registered to Herb Baumeister. But there was no evidence against the presumably respectable husband, father and businessman. Privately, Baumeister’s life was unraveling. The businesses were losing money and heading towards bankruptcy. His marriage was foundering. When the couple split, police interviewed Julie Baumeister. In June 1996, she consented to a search of the grounds of her home. Almost immediately, police found bones. By the end, authorities found seven bodies, four of them identifiable as the remains of missing men.

What key pieces of evidence were involved and how were they discovered?

There were many problems during this investigation. One was the lack of physical evidence to connect Baumeister to the murders. The police never found any concrete evidence to charge Baumeister. Another problem was that the bodies were in very bad condition. Most have not been identified and probably never will. There also was a lack of cooperation between the Indianapolis Police Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department. This was the kind of crime that they had not seen before and were not prepared to deal with. The question of who should be in charge lead to the two departments not working together at all. This caused a lot of overlap in the work that was being done. Had the two departments worked together this case probably could have been solved a lot quicker. Probably the biggest problem was trying to search the land. The police had no evidence so they could not get a search warrant. And the Baumeister’s would not approve a search without a warrant. Finally when their marriage was coming to an end Julie Baumeister consented to a search. After their gruesome find police connected Baumeister to a series of killings known as The I-70 Strangler. Baumeister matched the description of the killer and an eye witness saw Baumeister with one of the victims. Police said they were 80% sure Baumeister was the killer. When police tried to question Herb he refused to answer. The police not having any solid evidence were forced to release Baumeister. This turned out to be their greatest mistake.

Some topics in this essay:
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