Remains found at Indiana estate of suspected serial killer identified as victim who has been missing since 1993

Remains found on the estate of a suspected Indiana serial killer have been identified as a man reported missing in 1993, according to the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office Thursday.

Forensic experts matched the human remains recovered in 1996 from Fox Hollow Farm, the former Westfield property of suspected serial killer Herb Baumeister, to then 34-year-old Manuel Resendez, Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison said in a press release.  

Resendez was reported missing in 1993. A family reference sample submitted early last year helped identify him from the nearly 10,000 other remains discovered at Baumeister’s estate. 

The coroner’s office renewed efforts to identify the bones at Fox Hollow Farm in 2022, asking relatives of young men who disappeared between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s to submit DNA samples.

Investigators believed Baumeister frequented gay bars to lure men to his home and kill them. He has been linked to the disappearance of at least 16 men since 1980. Baumeister killed himself in 1996 before authorities could question him about the remains discovered at the Westfield estate.

The renewed push to identify the remains led experts to name the first victim from Fox Hollow Farm. Allen Livington was identified in October, thanks to the sample his mother provided. Livingston was 27 years old when he vanished in 1993.

“Hearing about Allen was a little roller coaster of feelings,” said Eric Pranger, Livingston’s cousin, who requested that the case be reopened. “We’re happy because we got closure and we were able to identify him, but sad because we had to relive it a bit.”