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The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer is a four-part docuseries that premiered on Hulu on February 18, 2025. The series focuses on coroner Jeff Jellison’s renewed investigation, which utilizes advanced DNA technology to identify the remains of Herbert Baumeister’s victims and uncover new leads in the case.
The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer features Herbert Baumeister, the alleged serial killer who lured gay men to his house and strangled them to death. The synopsis of this four-part docuseries reads:
“An Indianapolis coroner reopens a series of murders from the 1990s. The suburban serial killer investigation, utilizing new DNA technology to investigate thousands of bones found in the woods behind Fox Hollow Farms”.
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5 important revelations from The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer
1) More on Herbert Baumeister's dual life
As recounted in The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer, Herbert Baumeister was a husband and a father of three children. According to his wife Julie, he was a calm and gentle man, who would never raise his voice or hands on his kids. In 1980, Herbert opened a successful business, Sav-A-Lot thrift stores, which operated in two locations in Indianapolis.
Baumeister supposedly maintained a double life, being a successful businessman while engaging in criminal activities. His crimes, which have been recounted in The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer, allegedly included picking up gay men from bars, inviting them to his house, and strangling them to death.
2) Eyewitness accounts
The state of Indianapolis paid little to no attention to the missing homosexual men in the 1990s, supposing that they had relocated to larger cities in search of a better life. Mark Anthony Goodyear, an alleged victim, who escaped Baumeister, possessed important information that led authorities to him.
During an interview with authorities, Mark Anthony Goodyear told them about his encounter with a mysterious man named Brian in a gay bar. Goodyear said Brian encouraged him to join him at his home, and they proceeded down to the basement, where a pool was located. As per ABC News, Goodyear recalled seeing mannequins surrounding the pool and behind the bar, creating a club-like atmosphere.
As shown in The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer, they went swimming together and had consensual s*x. They engaged in autoerotic asphyxiation, which involved depriving a s*xual partner of breath by choking them, causing them to become exhilarated before passing out. Goodyear couldn't recall many specifics about where Brian brought him.
According to ABC News, Goodyear was of great help during the investigation, leading authorities on the right path. Goodyear encountered the strange man Brian once again at the bar, this time he told his friend to note down his license plate number.
Detective Mary Wilson from the Indianapolis Police Department ran a check of the license plate number through the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and discovered that the vehicle belonged to Herbert Baumeister.
3) The horrific discovery made at Baumeister’s property
According to ABC News, Herbert Baumeister was identified as one of the primary suspects in the investigation. When authorities arrived to interview Baumeister, they learned that he had escaped. It was only possible to learn more about this situation by speaking with his wife Julie.
During the interview, Julie informed detectives that Herbert had been acting oddly, and she also stated that one of their children discovered a human skull on the property in December 1994. Upon questioning, Baumeister told Julie that the skull was a medical specimen from his late father, who was an anesthesiologist.
Julie permitted authorities to search the Fox Hollow property as shown in The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer. During the search, police uncovered burned bone bits. The broken pieces resembled human bones, necessitating the involvement of forensic anthropologists, who spent weeks excavating the property. They discovered around 10,000 human remains on Baumeister's property and were able to identify 13 victims.
As reported by the Indianapolis Star, before Baumeister's arrest and trial for the alleged murders, he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in Pinery Provincial Park in Canada on July 3, 1996. A suicide note was later found in which he apologized for his broken marriage and failed business. His suicide letter mentioned nothing regarding the missing victims, which eliminated the chance to solve the case.
4) The use of new forensic techniques identifies the remains of Baumeister’s victims
As shown in The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer, the new advances made in forensic science, particularly DNA analysis, played an important role in linking Baumeister to the murders. In 2022, Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison opened a new investigation that involved the use of advanced DNA technology to identify the remains of victims who went missing on Baumeister's property.
Jellison requested residents of Indiana and surrounding states to give DNA samples for male relatives who went missing in the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. Almost 40 DNA samples were matched to the samples collected from the remains that were discovered on Baumeister's property, resulting in the identification of more than 13 bodies.
As shown in The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer, Jellison and his associates are still trying to identify the rest of the missing victims, as many of the remains were found charred and shattered. Although the task is exceedingly difficult, law enforcement and forensic professionals continue to work on it.
5) Did Herbert Baumeister act alone?
The key question raised by authorities was whether Baumeister acted alone or with others. Mark Anthony Goodyear, the one who led the authorities to Herbert Baumeister, became a suspect over time because he knew far too much about the events.
However, he continued to deny any role in Baumeister’s alleged misdeeds. Another important cause that led authorities to suspect him was that he had altered several parts of his story multiple times. He even said that Herbert never tried to hurt him.
According to Goodyear and as shown in The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer, the reason he initially went to the police with his story was to encourage them to investigate Baumeister and his property. Although he came under police suspicion multiple times, he has never been charged with any crimes, leading authorities to believe that Herbert Baumeister acted alone.
The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer is now streaming on Hulu.
