When my son dug up bones in the garden, he said it was a “scientific aid.” The truth came to light 2 years later

Herbert Baumeister was born in 1947 in Indianapolis into a family with German roots. He didn’t cause any major problems as a child. This changed as he began to grow up. As a teenager, he began to behave aggressively and brought dead animals found on the road to his home and school. Finally, his parents, concerned about his fascination with death, corpses and violence, took him to a doctor. There he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. It is not known whether the parents started treatment, but most likely they refused for fear of stigmatizing the patients and their families. However, it is known that Herb managed to finish school.

Herb Baumeister hid the truth for years. Why did he start killing?

While still a student, he met Juliana Saiter. When he was 24, he decided to get married. They had common interests and views, but Herb avoided closeness like the plague. Six months after the wedding, in 1971, Herbert’s father took him to a psychiatric hospital. Two months later he returned home. Why? It is unknown. Despite his reluctance to contact his wife, the couple had three children. The first child was born in 1979, the next ones in 1981 and 1984. In the late 1980s, Baumeister finally began to achieve professional success. It was then that he opened clothing and second-hand stores. However, he was hiding the truth about himself all the time.

After years of financial difficulties, the family finally became rich. In 1991, they bought an 18-acre farm outside Indianapolis. On the surface, Baumeister was a respectable businessman. In fact, he had been hiding his orientation for years. Eventually, he began cheating on his wife by using male sex workers. However, it did not give him the satisfaction he expected. Eventually, long fascinated by violence and death, he began hunting men in gay bars in Indianapolis and near I-70. At the time, the family thought they were taking care of business matters.

He murdered at least a dozen men. He did not have time to answer for his crimes

The police never determined when Herbert committed his first crime. It most likely took place in May 1993. A year later, Baumeister’s son unearthed human remains in the garden behind the house. Juliana wanted to call the police, but Herb tried to convince her not to. She believed that it was just “research assistance” from his father, an anesthesiologist who had been dead for several years. Meanwhile, officers were investigating the “I-70 Strangler.” They found Baumeister’s trail, but they did not have enough evidence to search his property. This was achieved only in 1996, when Juliana, torn by doubts and suspicions about her husband, filed for divorce and contacted . Herb was away from home when investigators arrived at the farm on June 24, 1996. After just a few minutes, they noticed bone fragments in the place where the murderer’s children regularly played.

A thorough search revealed the gruesome truth. Several thousand remains were found, mainly bone fragments. The services suspect that they were among a dozen or so victims, although there could have been many more. Herbert did not have time to answer for his crimes or reveal the identities of the murdered. After the police entered the farm, it sank into the ground. He fled to Canada, where he committed suicide. He left a letter in which he began to explain his decision by “marriage and business problems.” He didn’t say a word about the murders. Recently, American services reported that during subsequent thorough searches at the farm, over 10,000 remains, including bone fragments, were discovered. However, identifying the victims is still difficult. So far, the identities of 9 victims have been confirmed, the last one in January 2024.