My friend left a bar with a stranger... they found 10,000 bones under his Indiana mansion

At fashionable LGBT paper The Word, determination was lone 1 terrifying communicative successful town: young cheery men vanishing without a trace. 

Edition aft edition, it was ever the aforesaid narrative. The men were cheery oregon bisexual, aged astir 18 to 35 and had disappeared aft visiting cheery bars successful downtown Indianapolis.

Often it was successful these bars that they were past seen alive, earlier leaving with a enigma antheral oregon getting into a suspicious vehicle.

It was the aboriginal 1990s, and fears were increasing that these disappearances were each connected. Was a serial slayer astatine large preying connected the cheery community?

Missing persons posters were plastered crossed the walls of fashionable haunts specified arsenic Our Place, Metro and The Unicorn Club on Massachusetts Avenue.

Ted Fleischaker, a well-known fig successful the LGBT assemblage and the founder, proprietor and steadfast of The Word, was utilizing his paper to pass radical astir the dangers of leaving bars and clubs with strangers.

But not everyone could beryllium saved. 

In August 1995, 1 of Fleischaker’s ain friends became the latest suspected victim to vanish.

Jerry Williams-Comer, 34, ran rival work The Sarj Guide - focused connected happenings, events and bars successful the LGBT assemblage - with his semipermanent spouse Ray Comer.

'He was a rival and a friend,' Fleischaker tells the Daily Mail. 'I would spot him retired often. And determination was a spot of affable contention betwixt our publications.'

Williams-Comer, who had a lad from a erstwhile marriage, was past seen live successful downtown Indianapolis connected August 8, 1995.

'Jerry and Ray had an unfastened narration truthful the concern was that Jerry went location with radical rather often from bars,' Fleischaker recalls. 'Then helium went missing.'

Comer filed a missing persons study to police.

Not agelong later, Williams-Comer's conveyance was recovered abandoned successful the parking batch of the Castleton Square Mall. But determination was nary motion of him.

'He wasn't the benignant of idiosyncratic to conscionable vanish,' Fleischaker says.

Three decades later, nary 1 has seen oregon heard from him since.

Comer continued publishing The Sarj Guide aft Williams-Comer's disappearance. He died successful 2013, ne'er learning the information astir what happened to his partner.

Fleischaker, present 74, says friends reported seeing Williams-Comer leaving a barroom with a antheral who they would aboriginal travel to larn was notorious serial slayer Herb Baumeister.

'He was seen leaving Metro with Mr. Baumeister, truthful they said,' helium recalls. 'I mean gossip is gossip, but helium was supposedly seen leaving with him and past was ne'er seen again.'

Williams-Comer is inactive listed arsenic a missing idiosyncratic by the Indiana State Police and the FBI. 

But helium is wide presumed to beryllium among Baumeister's victims.

The serial slayer had spent years masquerading successful the assemblage arsenic a household antheral and palmy concern owner, with 2 section Sav-A-Lot thrift stores.

But erstwhile his woman and children were retired of town, helium would predominant Indianapolis cheery bars and lure victims backmost to his 18-acre Fox Hollow Farm successful the elite suburb of Westfield. There, helium would execution them and dispose of their burned remains astir the immense estate.

His chilling secrets came to airy successful the summertime of 1996, erstwhile a hunt of Fox Hollow Farm uncovered a immense graveyard of quality bones and charred remains, on with chilling tools including handcuffs and shotgun shells.

While Baumeister escaped justness by fleeing to Ontario wherever helium died by suicide, authorities were capable to place 8 victims among the remains - Williams-Comer was not among them. 

But, arsenic a young cheery man, helium acceptable the profile.

The circumstances of his disappearance besides matched those of Baumeister's confirmed victims, who were past seen leaving a barroom successful the bosom of Indianapolis's queer nightlife scene.

The promenade wherever his car was recovered is located astir halfway on the driving way betwixt the Metro barroom and Fox Hollow Farm successful the suburbs.

But 30 years later, Williams-Comer's remains person yet to beryllium found.

In 1998, the blimpish enclave of Hamilton County stopped investigating the lawsuit oregon moving to place immoderate much victims - leaving 10,000 still-unidentified quality bones and bony fragments to beryllium connected a support astatine the University of Indianapolis.

A caller probe launched by Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison successful 2022 has present taken connected the mammoth task of identifying the remainder of the remains and naming each of Baumeister's victims.

A ninth unfortunate - Allen Livingston - was identified successful 2023. Jellison tells the Daily Mail that 2 different DNA profiles person been found, meaning 2 much victims should soon person names.

It is unclear however galore much victims are yet to beryllium identified among the thousands of bones and bony fragments - oregon if each of the remains were adjacent recovered successful the '90s. 

Fleischaker is doubtful that the afloat grade of Baumeister's sidesplitting spree volition ever beryllium genuinely known.

'We're ne'er going to cognize 1 thing: We're ne'er going to cognize however galore radical were killed,' helium says. 

'We don't truly person immoderate thought however galore radical died. We conscionable don't know.'

When young men archetypal began disappearing successful the aboriginal '90s, the LGBT assemblage was already successful the grips of different crisis.

It was the tallness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic successful the US, truthful it wasn't uncommon for friends and assemblage members to suffer their lives.

'I was going to 3 oregon 4 funerals a week astatine the time,' Fleischaker says.

But soon it became evident wrong the assemblage that idiosyncratic was preying connected its members.

Between the summers of 1993 and 1994, astatine slightest 10 young men were reported missing aft they were past seen successful downtown bars.

'Lots of men disappeared without a trace… determination would beryllium radical you'd spot each the clip - and then, 1 day, you didn't spot them astatine each anymore,' Fleischaker recalls.

'And erstwhile we would inquire questions and inquire around, which a batch of america did, we would find retired that they had conscionable vanished.'

With a slayer connected the loose, the assemblage worked unneurotic to effort to support each different safe.

People would hunt for their friends and chap assemblage members.

Bars would enactment up missing idiosyncratic posters.

Local LGBT papers and publications similar The Word tried to dispersed consciousness and promote radical to enactment harmless connected nights out.

'Our extremity was to say, "You don't privation to permission a barroom with idiosyncratic you don't cognize and don't privation to get into a intersexual concern with idiosyncratic you don’t know,"' Fleischaker remembers.

'People were told to treble their defender and to instrumentality attraction and spell retired together, truthful if you were going to spell retired connected Saturday night, alternatively than spell by yourself, instrumentality a person oregon astatine the precise slightest you'd archer your roommate oregon somebody, "Hey, I'm going to Metro." So if you didn't travel back, they would spell to look for you.'

When radical did spell missing, the assemblage rallied unneurotic to hunt for them.

But for a agelong time, Fleischaker says, the queer assemblage was precise overmuch connected its own.

Beyond the LGBT press, quality of a serial slayer connected the escaped didn't scope the remainder of Indianapolis. Mainstream TV channels and newspapers hardly reported connected the drawstring of suspicious disappearances.

Fleischaker claims instrumentality enforcement besides failed to instrumentality the concern seriously.

While the LGBT assemblage 'figured it retired on the way' that determination was a serial slayer successful their midst, Fleischaker says the 'police were precise precocious to the table.'

At that time, same-sex intersexual enactment was inactive a transgression successful immoderate US states and same-sex matrimony was banned crossed the country. 

As a Republican-led, blimpish state, Indiana was not considered progressive.

'It wasn't an mishap that cipher paid attraction to what was going on,' helium adds.

'Indiana is highly close helping and highly blimpish and a batch of these men were fundamentally non-people to the bulk of folks and to the police.

'Who truly cares astir a clump of cheery guys?'

But determination was 1 investigator, detective Mary Wilson of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, who did attraction and was moving with the LGBT community, including Fleischaker, to lick the case.

'She was 1 of the lone ones who would wage attraction and cared astir what was happening,' helium says.

The hunt for missing men was besides analyzable by the information that galore of those who disappeared were estranged from their families due to the fact that of their sexuality oregon they had not told their loved ones wherever they had gone, which meant they didn't adjacent cognize to look.

'A batch of kids vanished. These were young radical who came to Indianapolis from tiny towns retired successful the authorities of Indiana. They would enactment their butts disconnected each night, past aft that they mightiness spell location with someone,' Fleischaker says.

'Some of these were radical who cipher knew wherever they were… his ma and dada astir apt didn't cognize wherever they went. So if they disappeared, nary 1 would truly question wherever they were oregon wherever they had gone.'

'And Baumeister knew that - helium was a smarter feline than helium was fixed recognition for,' helium adds.

It's a chilling thought that the missing idiosyncratic reports whitethorn lone correspond a fraction of the young men who disappeared and met a horrific extremity astatine Baumeister's hands.

The 9 confirmed victims - Johnny Bayer, Jeff Jones, Richard Hamilton Jr., Allen Livingston, Steven Hale, Allen Broussard, Roger Goodlet, Mike Keirn and Manuel Resendez - were identified by household members submitting their ain DNA samples for comparison.

But immoderate victims whitethorn ne'er person adjacent been reported missing - or, astatine least, not successful Indianapolis.

Williams-Comer's disappearance was 1 that did acceptable disconnected alarm bells successful the assemblage astatine the time.

Fleischaker says it was retired of quality for the 34-year-old to vanish.

He had a semipermanent partner, helium was a doting begetter and helium was a salient subordinate of the LGBT community.

Williams-Comer's son, Adam Williams, said successful the ABC News Studios docuseries, The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer, that his household instantly knew thing atrocious indispensable person happened.

'It was precise antithetic for my dada to vanish mysteriously,' helium said.

'So the chiseled anticipation helium was murdered was determination from the get-go.'

Adam recalled the past moments helium had with his dada connected his day successful 1995.

He said some helium and his ma were 'mad' due to the fact that Williams-Comer had been moving that time truthful helium couldn't walk clip with his birthday-boy son. He said his ma took him to spot Williams-Comer aboriginal successful the day.

'I gave him a hug and helium gave maine 20 bucks and said, "I'll spot you adjacent weekend,"' helium recalled.

That was the past clip helium saw his father.

Fleischaker doesn't retrieve ever personally coming face-to-face with Baumeister.

But aft helium was unmasked arsenic a serial slayer prowling the community, galore of his friends realized they had.

'Several of my friends had interactions with him,' helium says. 'He utilized to beryllium astatine the barroom astatine Metro and bent out.

It was reasonably communal for radical to permission the barroom with idiosyncratic they didn't needfully know, helium adds. 

'Back past you didn't person cellphones to telephone radical oregon way them oregon Facebook oregon Twitter oregon TikTok oregon station astir it.'

Ultimately, it was the queer assemblage that led constabulary to their ain killer.

A antheral named Mark Goodyear told Detective Wilson helium met a antheral successful a barroom successful August 1994 who took him retired to a immense workplace successful the suburbs and tried to strangle him.

Around 2 years later, Goodyear spotted the antheral again successful a barroom and his person took down his licence plate, according to a 1996 constabulary interrogation transcript. 

Police traced the car to Baumeister - culminating successful the summertime 1996 hunt of Fox Hollow Farm. Goodyear, meanwhile, has changed his story respective times since and claimed successful the ABC docuseries that helium had not been attacked.

Fleischaker feels that adjacent erstwhile Baumeister's depraved crimes yet came to light, determination was inactive a the deficiency of involvement successful the lawsuit from authorities.

In 1998 - 2 years aft Baumeister's sidesplitting tract was uncovered - the lawsuit was efficaciously closed with thousands of quality remains inactive unidentified.

In a bombshell property conference, investigators from respective section counties got unneurotic to denote they believed Baumeister was besides liable for a bid of different unsolved murders of cheery men - which efficaciously ended each progressive investigations into those cases, too.

Between 1980 and 1991, aggregate young men and boys were strangled and their bodies dumped on Interstate 70 betwixt Indiana and Ohio. Many of them had besides been known to predominant Indianapolis' cheery bars.

The slayer became known arsenic the I-70 Strangler, but victims mysteriously stopped appearing on the interstate astir the clip Baumeister bought Fox Hollow Farm successful 1991, presumably uncovering a caller dumping ground. 

After Baumeister's acheronian secrets came to airy successful 1996, an eyewitness told constabulary that helium was the antheral helium saw permission an Indianapolis nightclub with unfortunate Michael Riley connected the nighttime Riley was past seen alive. 

Riley was recovered successful a ditch days later.

But determination was nary factual grounds tying Baumeister to these killings.

At the clip of the 1998 property conference, Fleischaker publically slammed authorities for rapidly concluding Baumeister was the I-70 Strangler, alternatively than being unfastened to the anticipation that determination could beryllium much than 1 murderer targeting the LGBT community.

He stands by that disapproval contiguous and inactive firmly believes the highway-side strangling is the enactment of a antithetic killer.

'Some [of the murders] happened astatine excessively overmuch the aforesaid clip and, nary substance however miraculous you are, you can't beryllium successful 2 places astatine once,' Fleischaker said. 'You can't beryllium astatine Fox Hollow Farm and besides Dayton, Ohio, astatine the aforesaid time.

'And the MO was precise different: Baumeister was known to beryllium precise cautious and had it each situated astatine his spot Fox Hollow Farm, whereas the I-70 murderer was throwing bodies retired on the highway.'

This each came astatine a clip erstwhile determination was a bid of different serial killers targeting LGBT communities crossed the US, from Jeffrey Dahmer to John Wayne Gacy.

And successful Indiana specifically, different notorious serial slayer was connected the loose.

The infamous 'Highway Killer' Larry Eyler picked up men astatine bars, antheral enactment workers and hitchhikers from Indiana and different Midwestern states successful the 1980s, sidesplitting them and dumping their bodies on highways and agrarian stretches.

Eyler was convicted of kidnapping and murdering a 16-year-old lad and has been tied to astatine slightest 21 murders.

He was sentenced to death, but died portion awaiting execution. Eyler has besides agelong been eyed arsenic the I-70 Strangler.

Fleischaker believes authorities astatine the clip conscionable wanted to beryllium capable to unopen down some cases successful 1 fell swoop.

'What I ever got from the region sheriff's offices was that they wanted to adjacent the cases and that it was a nuisance to them to person a clump of cheery guys missing and it was a nuisance to them to person a clump of unsolved murders of cheery guys,' helium says.

'No 1 wanted to woody with it.'

The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office told Daily Mail that authorities person not definitively concluded that Baumeister was the I-70 Strangler. However, neither Hamilton County nor immoderate different jurisdiction wherever helium struck are actively investigating the case.

Jellison, the Hamilton County coroner, agrees with Fleischaker that authorities wanted to simply unopen the doorway connected the murders of cheery men.

'In the archetypal investigation, they had identified 8 men. They knew each 8 of these men were gay,' helium says.

'They were from Indianapolis and this is Hamilton County, it is simply a precise blimpish county. So fundamentally the fishy was dead, they had 8 cheery men from Indianapolis, they weren't going to look for more.'

Jellison explained that the coroner astatine the clip decided to halt backing immoderate efforts to place the recovered remains. 

'They enactment that load connected the families,' helium explained. 'They said, "We're not going to bash it for you truthful if you privation to place your household subordinate from the remains, past you wage for DNA investigating and bash it yourself."'

It was lone successful 2022 that the lawsuit got renewed attraction - erstwhile Eric Pranger, the relative of unfortunate Allen Livingston, reached retired and asked Jellison to assistance him find the information astir what happened.

Livingston was past seen live successful August 1993 getting into an chartless individual's conveyance successful Indianapolis. He was reported missing by his household astatine the time.

He - similar Williams-Comer - wasn't among those identified connected Baumeister's property successful the '90s.

When Jellison launched a caller probe to place each the remains, Livingston was the archetypal unfortunate to yet get a name.

Pranger tells the Daily Mail that his aunt, Sharon Livingston, had ever known her lad indispensable person been a unfortunate of the heinous serial killer. She had begged for closure earlier her decease from terminal crab successful November 2024.

He says 'it meant the satellite to her' to yet beryllium capable to find her lad and bring his ashes location to her.

'Thirty years is simply a truly agelong clip to not person her kid location and for her to ever wonderment if helium was inactive live oregon was determination else. She nary longer had to wonderment astir that anymore,' helium says.

Jellison is committed to getting answers for different families and friends whose loved ones vanished each those years ago.

But Fleischaker isn't hopeful that the LGBT assemblage volition ever get existent closure from the depraved serial killer's reign of terror.

'There's truthful galore names retired determination that disappeared,' helium says.

'But the happening is with this, it's 30 years later. It's getting truthful aged that truthful galore radical progressive successful this communicative successful the archetypal spot are present dead.

'To maine it's an aged look and a atrocious expression, but tons of worldly conscionable fell done the cracks and I don’t deliberation it's going to ever travel retired of the cracks.'