Nearly three decades after thousands of human bones were discovered at the rural estate of suspected serial killer Herb Baumeister, the Hamilton County Coroner has raised new questions about the investigation into Fox Hollow Farm.
Coroner Jeff Jellison stated that Mark Goodyear, who has previously identified himself as Baumeister's only known survivor, has not been fully forthcoming with investigators. Jellison expressed that in his conversations with Goodyear, he has not been truthful.
"The first question I would ask him is, ‘Are you ready to be honest with me?’ Because in the conversations we’ve had, he’s not been honest. I’ve asked him questions that I knew the answer to, and he didn’t pass that test," Jellison told Fox News Digital. "So for me to sit down with Mark Goodyear, he’s going to have to be willing to be honest in this conversation. I don’t have time to sit down with somebody that tells lies, untruths."
Jellison, who appears in the ABC News Studios documentary “Return to Fox Hollow: New Victims, Darker Secrets,” aims to determine if Goodyear possesses information that could help identify the remaining victims and clarify their cause of death. Baumeister is suspected of killing at least 25 men, primarily targeting gay men in the Indianapolis suburb of Westfield, Indiana, where he owned an 18-acre property known as Fox Hollow Farm.
Goodyear has never been charged in connection with the case and has consistently denied any involvement in the disappearances.
"If we move forward in that conversation, certainly I want to know any information I can gather to help identify these remains," Jellison said. "Were you familiar with anybody? Things that would focus more around identification and how these people died."
Goodyear, who participated in the first docuseries, previously stated that Baumeister may have filmed his victims using a hidden camera in his basement. Goodyear alleged he was forced to watch some of the tapes in 1994, describing them as so disturbing they made him scream.
The previous documentary noted that Goodyear's accounts of his relationship with Baumeister have evolved over time. At that time, Jellison indicated that recovering any such tapes, if they exist, would be unlikely. Goodyear initially agreed to an interview for the follow-up documentary but did not attend, according to the film.
Approximately 10,000 burned and broken human bones and bone fragments were recovered from Baumeister's former estate. Baumeister died by suicide in Ontario, Canada, in 1996, before investigators could arrest him. He was 49.
Investigators believe Baumeister lured men from gay bars in Indianapolis to his home while his family was absent, murdered them there, and disposed of their remains on the property. In 1994, Baumeister's son discovered a human skull on the farm, but the property was not searched by investigators until June 1996.
Goodyear first met Baumeister at an Indianapolis gay bar in 1994, where Baumeister used the name "Brian." Goodyear later told investigators he experienced a disturbing sexual encounter at Baumeister's home. Goodyear's cooperation eventually aided the investigation, helping authorities identify Baumeister after a subsequent encounter the following year.
While questioning Goodyear's statements, Jellison has emphasized that Goodyear is not considered a suspect. "There are very strong indications there is another suspect, and it wasn’t Mark Goodyear," Jellison said in the documentary.
More than 9,000 bones and bone fragments from the site remain unexamined, with investigators believing at least 25 individuals fell victim to Baumeister. Jellison raised questions about whether Baumeister could have acted alone, citing the sheer volume and placement of the remains.
"I was always convinced that there was more than one," Jellison said. "There were a lot of people that lost their lives in this incident, and just the placement of the evidence alone. How does one man pull this crime off? And how does one man get … deceased individuals from his residence to potentially 200 yards through very dense woods? I think it would’ve been a very difficult task."
Jellison is committed to identifying the unknown victims, suggesting that some families may be unaware their loved ones went missing or that their remains could be at Fox Hollow Farm. He noted the challenge in identifying individuals who may have lacked close family connections or were otherwise marginalized.
"Thirty years have passed since these remains have been recovered," Jellison reflected. "So potentially, mom and dad could be deceased, and maybe they had no brother or sister. So we’re reaching out further down the lineage to cousins. And a cousin may not even know that they had a family member that even went missing."
Jellison urged anyone with information that might connect a missing loved one to the case to contact his office. Following the original documentary's airing, his office received hundreds of messages, and Jellison encouraged potential contacts to reach out directly.