Remains at suspected serial killer's estate identified as Indiana man missing since 1993

close

Video

Indiana police officers rescue family of 6 from fire

Officers relive the 'scary moment' they saved the trapped family of six, including a baby, from a fire.

• Remains recovered from the estate of presumed serial killer Herbert Baumeister in central Indiana have been identified as those of Manuel Resendez, a man reported missing in 1993.
• Approximately 10,000 charred bones and bone fragments were found at Baumeister’s 18-acre estate in Westfield.
• The suspected serial killer committed suicide in July 1996 as investigators sought to question him about the remains discovered at Fox Hollow Farm.

Remains recovered from the central Indiana estate of a presumed serial killer have been identified as those of a man reported missing in 1993, a coroner said Thursday.

The remains recovered in 1996 at the Fox Hollow Farm estate of Herbert Baumeister were found to match Manuel Resendez, who was 34 when he disappeared, Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison said.

Resendez was identified through a family reference sample provided in early 2023, Jellison said.

POLICE ID 2 DNA PROFILES ON PROPERTY OF LONG-DECEASED IN BUSINESSMAN, SUSPECTED SERIAL KILLER

Approximately 10,000 charred bones and bone fragments have been found at Baumeister’s 18-acre estate in Westfield, about 16 miles miles north of Indianapolis, Jellison has said.

The identification was made by Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison, who confirmed that the recovered remains matched Manuel Resendez.

Baumeister was 49 when he killed himself in Canada in July 1996 as investigators sought to question him about the remains discovered at Fox Hollow Farm.

HUMAN REMAINS FOUND IN INDIANA IN 1996 IDENTIFIED AS 9TH PRESUMED VICTIM OF MURDER SUSPECT

Investigators believed Baumeister, a married father of three who frequented gay bars, lured men to his home and killed them. By 1999, authorities had linked him to the disappearance of at least 16 men since 1980, including several whose bodies were found dumped in shallow streams in rural central Indiana and western Ohio.

Jellison announced a renewed effort in 2022 to identify the charred bones and fragments by asking relatives of young men who vanished between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s to submit DNA samples. He said investigators believe the bones and fragments could represent the remains of at least 25 people.