Midwest

'I-70 Strangler' remains mysterious Midwest boogeyman, but private investigator has theory

Published

2 years ago

June 19, 2024

'I-70 Strangler' remains mysterious Midwest boogeyman, but private investigator has theory

The “I-70 Strangler” has become a ghost story about a faceless boogeyman who hunted boys and men in the 1980s and 1990s.

At least 12 bodies were found partially nude and strangled and dumped in streams, gullies and trenches along Interstate 70 in Indiana and Ohio.

Over the years, investigators looked at two notorious serial killers – Larry William Eyler and Herb Baumeister – as the “I-70 Strangler,” but the theories never materialized into definitive proof.

Baumeister, whose property was littered with 10,000 “burnt and crushed” skeletal remains of his victims, is more commonly associated with the shadowy Midwest monster since a local retired, highly respected sheriff turned private investigator tied him to the killings.

‘I HAD A BRUSH WITH THE DEVIL’

About 10,000 remains of Herb Baumeister’s victims were dug up throughout his 18-acre Indiana property. (Google Street View/Indianapolis Police Department)

After Virgil Vandagriff retired as the sheriff of Marion County, Indiana, he received a pair of calls in the mid-1990s from families concerned about suspicious disappearances of loved ones.

Seemingly isolated missing persons cases became a hunt for a serial killer.

Both missing men were gay with similar heights, weights and appearances. They vanished on the way to bars, and that’s where he distributed flyers.

WATCH: KILLER EXPLAINS IN PRISON VIDEO ABOUT ‘WARPED LOGIC’ HOW SHE WASN’T RESPONSIBLE FOR HUSBAND’S DEATH

During his investigation, a publisher of a magazine focused on issues concerning the gay population alerted Vandagriff about a rash of missing men in the Indianapolis area that seemed to fit the same profile.

“It became obvious there was a serial killer,” Vandagriff told WTHR in a December 2022 interview. “Just had to figure out who, where and how to bring it to an end.”

The “Interstate 70 Strangler,” whose identity is still unknown, killed at least 12 boys and young men and dumped their bodies along the interstate in Indiana and Ohio. (Google Maps)

Interstate 70 from Indiana to Ohio has many different terrains, including water, gullies and wooded areas, where the bodies were dumped in the 1980s and early 1990s. (Google Street View)

Vandagriff took his findings to the police, but gay victims were considered a low priority for law enforcement at the time.

“It was shocking to me the number of gay people that were missing that no one would pay attention to,” Vandagriff told WTHR during the 2022 interview.

WATCH: HAUNTING FOOTAGE OF COP SHOOT-OUT WITH MAN SUSPECTED OF SLAUGHTERING FAMILY BEFORE HE VANISHED

Instead of waiting, the investigator took the case into his own hands and created a profile of the killer.

During the investigation, an informant who used a fake name said he had met a man named “Brian Smart,” a nickname used by Baumeister when he frequented local watering holes.

Interstate 70 from Indiana to Ohio has various terrain, including water, gullies and wooded areas, where the bodies were dumped in the 1980s and very early 1990s. (Google Street View)

The informant survived a confrontation with Baumeister and saw him again in a bar and reportedly yelled, “This guy’s a serial killer. Somebody get his license plate number,” Vandagriff told WTHR.

Not surprisingly, that license plate came back to Baumeister, which led law enforcement to his secluded, 18-acre property at Fox Hollow Farm in Westfield, Indiana.

WATCH: TYLENOL MURDERS SUSPECT RELAXES AS HE CALLS COPS ‘STUPID’ FOR MISSING ‘BIG BLUNDER’

Law enforcement ultimately dug up 10,000 “burnt and crushed” skeletal remains around Baumeister’s home in the 1990s, including those of Vandagriff’s two missing persons.

Before he bought the vast property in 1991, investigators believe Baumeister had dumped his victims along I-70, but he died by suicide after fleeing to Canada as his life spiraled into a tailspin.

His marriage crumbled, his businesses went bankrupt, and there was a warrant for his arrest.

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About 10,000 remains of Indiana serial killer Herb Baumeister were found on the 18-acre Westfield, Indiana, property. (Google Street View)

He shot himself in July 1996 and took all his secrets to the grave.

The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office teamed up with Othram, one of the country’s leading forensic genetic genealogy labs, to identify Baumeister’s victims three decades after his death.

So far, the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office has identified eight victims, and investigators have four more DNA profiles that have not been identified yet, which brings the body count up to 12, according to Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison.

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Jeffrey A. Jones, who was reported missing from Fillmore, Indiana, in 1993, was identified as the latest victim of serial killer Herb Baumeister. (Hamilton County Coroner’s Office)

Manuel Resendez, who was 34 when he seemingly vanished in 1996, was identified as one of Herb Baumeister’s victims in January 2024. (Hamilton County Coroner’s Office)

Investigators have tied Baumeister to at least 25 victims, but he was never definitively named as the “I-70 Strangler,” and neither was the other prime suspect, Eyler, who is believed to have murdered at least 21 victims around the same time.

His victims were also boys and young men in the gay community from the same area. Eyler was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

The “I-70 Strangler” and “I-70 Killer” are two different – but still unknown – serial killers who murdered their victims in the same area.

But the “Strangler’s” killings appeared to be sexually motivated, and the victims were male, while the “I-70 Killer’s” victims didn’t have evidence of sexual assault and were typically young women.

Chris Eberhart is a crime and US news reporter for Fox News Digital. Email tips to chris.eberhart@fox.com or on Twitter @ChrisEberhart48.

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Illinois

Pounds, Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles take on the Western Illinois Leathernecks

Published

1 hour ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Pounds, Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles take on the Western Illinois Leathernecks

Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (6-10, 1-4 OVC) at Western Illinois Leathernecks (4-12, 0-5 OVC)

Macomb, Illinois; Saturday, 4:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Tennessee Tech faces Western Illinois in OVC action Saturday.

The Leathernecks have gone 3-4 at home. Western Illinois is 3-8 in games decided by 10 or more points.

The Golden Eagles have gone 1-4 against OVC opponents. Tennessee Tech has a 3-8 record against teams over .500.

Western Illinois is shooting 41.2% from the field this season, 2.7 percentage points lower than the 43.9% Tennessee Tech allows to opponents. Tennessee Tech has shot at a 45.6% clip from the field this season, 0.8 percentage points fewer than the 46.4% shooting opponents of Western Illinois have averaged.

The Leathernecks and Golden Eagles match up Saturday for the first time in OVC play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Lucas Lorenzen is averaging 14.9 points for the Leathernecks. Isaiah Griffin is averaging 1.3 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Mekhi Cameron is scoring 11.3 points per game with 3.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists for the Golden Eagles. Dani Pounds is averaging 10.7 points and 4.0 rebounds while shooting 49.3% over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Leathernecks: 3-7, averaging 67.7 points, 32.5 rebounds, 9.4 assists, 6.4 steals and 2.0 blocks per game while shooting 40.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 76.0 points per game.

Golden Eagles: 3-7, averaging 74.5 points, 30.5 rebounds, 13.3 assists, 7.0 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 43.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 83.4 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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Indiana

Rematch history in CFP and BCS favors Oregon vs. Indiana in Peach Bowl

Published

1 hour ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Rematch history in CFP and BCS favors Oregon vs. Indiana in Peach Bowl

The College Football Playoff national semifinal at the Peach Bowl marks a rematch of No. 1 seed Indiana’s 30-20 win against No. 5 Oregon in October, the first of several results this year that have left the Hoosiers knocking on the door of a historic and unbeaten season.

With two more wins, Indiana would become the first 16-0 national champion since Yale in 1894. But in order to make history, the Hoosiers will need to reverse some recent history.

Since the 1996 season, there have been seven regular-season rematches in the College Football Playoff and in national championship games played under the two previous postseason formats, the Bowl Championship Series and the Bowl Alliance. Four of these pairings have occurred since the playoff expanded last season.

Surprisingly, all but one of these games have seen the loser from the regular season rebound to win the rematch. This could be a coincidence. At a minimum, though, this trend shows the difficulties in defeating an elite opponent twice in under a four-month span.

The Hoosiers look to buck that recent history. Here’s a look back at these rematches and what they might suggest about the Peach Bowl:

Ole Miss vs. Georgia, 2025

Results: Georgia 43-35, Ole Miss 39-34.

Ole Miss led Georgia in the second half when the two met in October but coughed up a lead for its one and only loss on the year. The two SEC rivals met again in the Sugar Bowl earlier this month, with the Rebels pulling out the win on a late field goal. Unlike during the regular season, Ole Miss landed a big game from Trinidad Chambliss and did much better running the ball, indicating how teams can strategize by looking back and evaluating the previous matchup.

Ole Miss vs. Tulane, 2025

Results: Ole Miss 45-10, Ole Miss 41-10.

Here’s the one outlier. The Rebels stampeded over Tulane at home in September and then did the same in the opening round. The one difference: Lane Kiffin was the head coach for the first game and Pete Golding for the second. In this case, a significant edge in talent was the biggest factor in helping Ole Miss defy recent history.

Oklahoma vs. Alabama, 2025

Results: Oklahoma 23-21, Alabama 34-24.

Again, an SEC rematch that reversed the regular-season result. Oklahoma’s win in November sparked its run to the playoff. That seemed to carry over to the opening round, when the Sooners stormed out to a 17-0 lead. But the Tide crawled back to tie for the biggest comeback in playoff history.

Oregon vs. Ohio State, 2024

Results: Oregon 32-31, Ohio State 41-21.

Oregon narrowly pulled out the win in Autzen Stadium and then went on to post a perfect regular season, earning the top seed in the debut of the expanded playoff. But in the Rose Bowl the Ducks ran into a buzzsaw in the Buckeyes, who stormed out to a 34-0 late in the second quarter and won going away. A year later, Oregon hopes to follow Ohio State’s blueprint and score the upset against the unbeaten Big Ten champs.

Alabama vs. Georgia, 2021

Results: Alabama 42-24, Georgia 33-18.

The Tide knocked off then-unbeaten Georgia in the SEC championship game behind 421 yards and three touchdowns from quarterback Bryce Young. That landed Alabama in the four-team playoff as the No. 1 seed, while Georgia slotted in at No. 3. The pair met in the championship game after beating Cincinnati and Michigan, respectively, and the Bulldogs would hold Young to 6.5 yards per throw and make two picks to take the first of back-to-back titles.

LSU vs. Alabama, 2011

Results: LSU 9-6, Alabama 21-0

The Tigers’ overtime win during the regular season was about as ugly as the score suggests with five field goals being the only scores. The rematch in the title game about two months later wasn’t any better. Alabama’s defense barely allowed LSU to cross midfield in this second meeting to win the second of Nick Saban’s six titles in Tuscaloosa.

Results: Florida State 24-21, Florida 52-20.

No other rematch has come within such a short time frame. FSU topped Florida on Nov. 30 to end the regular season and drew the immediate rematch in the Sugar Bowl, which was designated as the championship game in the Bowl Alliance format, because then-No. 2 Arizona State was obligated to face No. 4 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. This time, Steve Spurrier’s Gators bombarded the Seminoles to capture the first national title in program history with the Sun Devils falling to the Buckeyes.

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Iowa

Iowa Great Lakes businessman Butch Parks dies at 81

Published

1 hour ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Iowa Great Lakes businessman Butch Parks dies at 81

SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa (KTIV) – The Iowa Great Lakes community is remembering Leo “Butch” Parks, a longtime lakes-area businessman and founder of Parks Marina.

He died Tuesday, Jan. 6, at the age of 81.

Parks established the marina on East Lake Okoboji in 1983, growing it from a small fishing boat operation into a business with marinas, sales, service, rentals, storage, and popular destinations like the Barefoot Bar.

Parks and his wife, Debbie, also owned Okoboji Boat Works for 23 years.

Funeral services are set for Friday, Jan. 16, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Spirit Lake. It will be followed by a celebration of life at Snapper’s restaurant in Okoboji that evening.

Want to get the latest news and weather from Siouxland’s News Source? Follow these links to download our KTIV News app and our First Alert Weather app.

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