Remains found at a central Indiana estate are those of a man who has been missing since 1993

WESTFIELD, Ind. (AP) — Remains recovered from the central Indiana estate of a presumed serial killer have been identified as those of a man reported missing in 1993, a coroner said Thursday.

The remains recovered in 1996 at the Fox Hollow Farm estate of Herbert Baumeister were found to match Manuel Resendez, who was 34 when he disappeared, Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison said.

Resendez was identified through a family reference sample provided in early 2023, Jellison said.

Approximately 10,000 charred bones and bone fragments have been found at Baumeister’s 18-acre (7.3-hectare) estate in Westfield, about 16 miles (25.75 kilometers) miles north of Indianapolis, Jellison has said.

Baumeister was 49 when he killed himself in Canada in July 1996 as investigators sought to question him about the remains discovered at Fox Hollow Farm.

Investigators believed Baumeister, a married father of three who frequented gay bars, lured men to his home and killed them. By 1999, authorities had linked him to the disappearance of at least 16 men since 1980, including several whose bodies were found dumped in shallow streams in rural central Indiana and western Ohio.

Jellison announced a renewed effort in 2022 to identify the charred bones and fragments by asking relatives of young men who vanished between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s to submit DNA samples. He said investigators believe the bones and fragments could represent the remains of at least 25 people.