The remains of a man found in the Indiana home of serial killer Herb Baumeister have been identified nearly 30 years later.
Another group of remains found at Fox Hollow Farm in Indiana has been identified, the West Hamilton County Coroner’s Office announced on Thursday.
According to NBC News, the coroner has identified the remains as those of Manuel Resendez, 34, who was reported missing in 1993.
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Detectives were able to identify the remains thanks to a sample provided by family members early last year.
Resendez’s remains are among about 10,000 human fragments found on Baumeister’s farm.
In 2022, the coroner’s office resumed efforts to identify the remains, asking relatives of young men who had disappeared during Baumeister’s active period to send DNA samples.
Baumeister is believed to have visited gay bars to lure men to his home and then murdered them there. Law enforcement authorities have linked Baumeister to at least 16 men who have disappeared since 1980.
Baumeister committed suicide after human remains were found on his land. The police were never able to question him about the remains.
Baumeister was framed by a man named Tony Harris, who told police he met him in a gay bar in 1993. He said at the time that he almost became Baumeister’s victim.
Harris told detectives at the time that he had met Baumeister, who introduced himself as “Brian Smart”, and that after spending the evening together they went home together.
After returning to the Fox Hollow property, the two men began having sex and Baumeister allegedly tried to drown Harris with a pool hose during intercourse. Harris said that pretending to pass out let Baumeister off the hook long enough for him to escape.
Harris’ friend Roger Goodlet disappeared around the same time. Harris believes Goodlet was one of Baumeister’s victims.
Renewed identification efforts came to fruition in October 2023 when a group of remains were identified as those of Allen Livingston. Livingston had disappeared in 1993 at the age of 27.
Livingston’s cousin Eric Pranger led the effort to reopen the investigation into his disappearance.
He told NBC News that learning about Livingston’s fate was a “roller coaster of emotions”.
“We are happy because we were able to find out what happened and identify him, but we are sad because we had to partially relive it,” Pranger said.
