Indiana coroner questions if serial killer acted alone as OVER 9,000 bones remain unexamined

An Indiana coroner is leading an effort to identify thousands of human bones and bone fragments as investigators revisit the case of suspected serial killer Herb Baumeister. 

Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison believes Baumeister may not have acted alone. He has argued that the large number of suspected victims and the placement of the remains suggest multiple people may have been involved.

Jellison was featured in a true crime documentary by ABC News Studios titled “Return to Fox Hollow: New Victims, Darker Secrets.” It was a follow-up to a 2025 docuseries and explains new theories about the possibility of potential accomplices and overlooked evidence in the case. Jellison raised questions about an individual named Mark Goodyear, who has described himself as Baumesiter’s only survivor, and whether he may have more information that could help investigators.

“I have had an opportunity to speak with Mark Goodyear a couple of times,” Jellison told Fox News. “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. 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.”

“If we move forward in that conversation, certainly I want to know any information I can gather to help identify these remains,” he added. “Were you familiar with anybody? Things that would focus more around identification and how these people died.”

Goodyear was featured in the first docuseries, describing himself as Baumeister’s only survivor. Goodyear has said he was forced to watch videotapes that Baumeister recorded of his victims with a secret hidden camera.

Roughly 10,000 bones and bone fragments have been recovered from an estate that belonged to Baumeister, who committed suicide in 1996. He is believed to have lured men to his home from gay bars in Indianapolis and would kill them on his property. Goodyear first encountered Baumeister at a gay bar in 1994 and went home with him.

More than 9,000 bone and bone fragments have yet to be examined, with investigators believing there are at least 25 victims.

“There are very strong indications there is another suspect, and it wasn’t Mark Goodyear,” Jellison noted in the film. 

“I was always convinced that there was more than one,” Jellison explained. “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.”