Authorities have identified the remains of a man found on a suspected serial killer's Indiana farm nearly 30 years ago. The remains were among more than 10,000 found in 1996, authorities say.
Some of the remains were identified as those of Jeffrey A. Jones, who last lived in Fillmore, Indiana and was reported missing in August 1993, the Hamilton County Coroner's Office announced on Facebook May 21.
Jones is the third person to be identified from the office’s “renewed” investigation into the remains found on Fox Hollow Farm, located in Westfield, about 30 miles north of Indianapolis. The farm was once home to suspected serial killer Herb Baumeister, the coroner's office said.
The first two victims identified in the renewed probe were 27-year-old Allen Livingston and 34-year-old Manuel Resendez. The most recently-identified remains belonging to Jones were found in 1996.
The coroner’s office and the FBI conducted an “extensive forensic genetic genealogy investigation” to identify the remains, the release said.
The office still has four more DNA profiles to identify, bringing the total number of victims to 12, the coroner’s office said. Those four DNA profiles will also be sent to the FBI for a genetic genealogy investigation.
“Because many of the remains were found burnt and crushed, this investigation is extremely challenging,” said Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison in the news release. “However, the team of law enforcement and forensic specialists working the case remain committed.”
Suspected serial killer was businessman who owned thrift stores
Baumeister, the man who owned the farm, was active from the 1980s to 1996, the year he died. That’s also the same year investigators found thousands of human remains on the property, according to the Louisville Courier Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Authorities believe he strangled more than a dozen teenage boys and men he met at bars in Indianapolis. He owned Sav-A-Lot thrift stores and his property was worth more than $2 million, the Courier Journal reported.
Nearly a week after the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department began its investigation into the human remains found on his property, Baumeister fled to Canada and shot himself dead. He was 49 years old.
Two years after he died, police said they suspected he killed nine additional people whose bodies had been dumped into streams along Interstate 70 in central Indiana and western Ohio during the 1980s, the Courier Journal reported.
Fox Hollow Farm victim was last seen in downtown Indianapolis in August 1993
After renewing the investigation, the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office first identified the remains of one of the victims in October last year.
Allen Livingston was just 27 years old when he was reported missing in August 1993. He was identified with DNA samples at the Indiana State Police lab, reported the Indianapolis Star, part of the USA TODAY Network, in October.
According to Jellison, the county coroner, the office sent 44 samples to state police and Livingston’s family was the first to submit samples to help with the investigation.
Livingston was last seen in downtown Indianapolis. His remains were buried at Fox Hollow Farm and found in June 1996.
Livingston's cousin, Eric Pranger, submitted a DNA sample from Livingston's mother to the coroner because he thought his cousin could be a victim. He was 6 years old when his cousin went missing and didn’t know him well but wanted to look into it because Livingston’s mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
“I am a ball of emotion right now,” he said at the time. “I am happy and sad. Happy he was identified and sad that it happened.”
Livingston’s mother was often sad during the holidays and losing her son devastated her, the Indy Star reported.
The second victim authorities identified is Manuel Resendez, who was 34 years old when he went missing in 1996, the Indy Star reported in January.
He was identified through dental records.
Jellison, from the Hamilton County Coroner's Office, thanked multiple agencies for the most recent identification, including the FBI, Indiana State Police Laboratory, Krista Latham from the biology and anthropology department at the University of Indianapolis and DNA experts from the Texas-based Othram Lab.
Contributing: Krista Johnson, Louisville Courier Journal; John Tuohy, Indy Star
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Follow her on Twitter at@SaleenMartin or email her atsdmartin@usatoday.com.
