Investigators hope to finally positively identify the victims of a notorious Indiana serial killer who police believe lured gay men to his home, killed them, and buried them in his yard.
Thousands of human bones and bone fragments have been unearthed on what was once Herbert Baumeister's 18-acre property, the Associated Press reported. Now, a team is working to use DNA to identify who Baumeister's victims might have been.
Police have believed that the remains are those of men who disappeared between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s and that there are at least 13 victims. CBS News reported that more than 10,000 bones and bone fragments have been found on the property since 1996 and that officials believe the true number of victims could be as high as 25.
Baumeister was 49 when he killed himself in Canada. Police had not gotten to question him regarding the disappearances of numerous men and his connection to them. The AP also disclosed that among the remains, police found shotgun shells and handcuffs. Eventually, police used dental records to ID 8 men, but 17 remained unidentified.
The AP reported that authorities want to bring closure to families whose loved ones have been missing for decades. They are cutting out sections of bone, freezing them with liquid nitrogen, and then pulverizing them into a fine powder. After this, the AP reported that they used heat and chemicals to extract the DNA.
One additional victim has thus far been identified, and the state has been able to extract DNA profiles of eight other victims, giving authorities hope that they'll be able to eventually ID them, the AP further revealed.
