This is what happened at Fox Hollow Farm
On June 24, 1996, investigators found human bone fragments buried in the woods at Fox Hollow Farm in Westfield.
Natalia E. Contreras, Indianapolis Star
It’s been more than two decades, but Patti Barth hasn’t forgotten the song her loved ones sang at her cousin’s funeral.
“It was called ‘Mr. Sandman,'” Barth said. “We were always very close to Jeff. He was like our brother.”
Jeffrey A. Jones and Barth were born three days apart. Before Jones was murdered and his remains were found alongside an estimated 25 other victims of one of Indiana’s most gruesome crimes, he enjoyed sending letters to his family, sometimes with recipes on the back.
“He would call us from work, hold the phone up and have all his colleagues call out ‘hello’ to us,” Barth recalled. “He left funny notes all over the house that were found months later.”
Jones was reported missing from Indianapolis in August 1993, although he was living in Putnam County at the time. A few years later, in June 1996, Hamilton County law enforcement found burned and crushed human remains at Fox Hollow Farm, an 18-acre property at 156th Street and Monon Trail in Westfield.
At least 10,000 bones and bone fragments were found at Fox Hollow Farm. Sometime in the late 1990s, Jones was identified as one of the victims and some of his remains were released to his family.
“They brought out the paperwork, and it had my mother’s name on it with the DNA that said there was a match,” said John Jones, Jeffrey Jones’ older brother. “They brought out the boxes of bones and told my mother, ‘Here’s your son.'”
Previous reporting: Fox Hollow Farm murders: 20 people provide new DNA samples in hopes of finding their relatives
Investigators believe that Herbert Baumeister, owner of Fox Hollow Farm and a Westfield businessman, lured Jeffrey Jones and the other victims, most of whom were young gay men, to his property, where he killed them and dismembered their bodies.
Baumeister shot himself shortly after police began investigating his property.
The condition of the remains has delayed identification of the victims, but Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison has resumed his efforts in recent years.
The coroner’s office and its partners continue to test the bone fragments for DNA and nine men have been identified, including Jeffrey Jones.
From 2019: A serial killer buried bodies on his property in Westfield. Now part of the land is for sale.
Debbie Alamo, Jeffrey Jones’ aunt who reported him missing, remembers reading a poem and family members releasing balloons at her nephew’s funeral. The remains were then buried next to Jeffrey Jones’ mother at Brick Chapel Cemetery in Putnam County.
Earlier this year, DNA technology was used to identify additional remains from Fox Hollow Farm as those of Jeffrey Jones. The identification brought to the surface a question that has plagued investigators for years: What happens to the remains of victims once their loved ones have said their goodbyes?
“The remains were scattered across an 18-acre property,” Jellison said. “We expect that throughout this investigation we will continue to identify people who have already been identified, so we need to be sensitive to the families.”
Jellison and Linda Znachko, founder of the ministry “He Knows Your Name,” believe they have found a solution.
“A place to remember”
Sitting in the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office, Znachko, a local advocate for people whose remains are not collected after their death, couldn’t take her eyes off a painting.
“It said ‘never forget,'” Znachko said. “(Jeff Jellison) told me his wife painted it as a tribute to the victims of Fox Hollow.”
It hit Znachko hard when she discovered that some victims’ remains remained on the shelves of the forensic institute for years after they were identified and were not publicly commemorated.
“They have received few answers, but really no justice,” Znachko said of the victims’ relatives. “It is time for us as a community to shine the light of love where suffering, silence and deep grief reigned.”
More: Alone in death: Hundreds of bodies in Indiana that were not collected. The stories of those left behind
The coroner’s office and Znachko’s ministry are organizing a public event next week to inter the rest of Jeffrey Jones’ remains in an ossuary and unveil a memorial to the Fox Hollow Farm victims.
The names of the victims will be on the memorial, with space left for additional names if additional identifications are made.
“I know this funeral, this memorial and this dedication will never undo the horror of this crime, but we can change the narrative,” Znachko said. “Generations of families in this community need to tell a new story. We need honor, recognition and a place to remember.”
The ossuary will provide a free burial facility where relatives can bury the Fox Hollow Farm victims if they are identified or re-identified, Jellison said. The memorial service for Jeffrey Jones and the other victims will be held at 10 a.m. Aug. 29 at the Prairie Waters Event Center in Westfield.
Hamilton County Coroner asks public for help identifying additional Fox Hollow Farm victims
Jellison is asking family members of missing people to provide his office with a swab that can be used for DNA testing. The coroner’s office is particularly interested in obtaining DNA samples from family members of men who disappeared in the ’80s and ’90s.
“We are fortunate today to be able to do things that were not possible in the 1990s,” he said of the new DNA technology. “I hope that tomorrow we will be fortunate enough to be able to do things that are not possible today.”
The medical examiner’s office is close to making further identifications. Four DNA profiles have already been drawn that have not yet been matched to any person, Jellison said. These are the names of the victims identified so far and the age at which they were killed:
- Michael F. Keirn, 50
- Johnny Bayer, 26
- Jeffrey A. Jones, 31
- Allen Wayne Broussard, 32
- Richard Douglas Hamilton, Jr., 23
- Manuel M. Resendez, 31
- Roger Alan Goodlet, 33
- Steven Spurlin Hale, 28
- Allen Lee Livingston, 27
The coroner’s office can be reached at 317-770-4415.
“He wanted to be accepted”
From Jeffrey Jones’ disappearance to the discovery of his remains, it has been a painful process for his loved ones. Due to distance, illness and strained relationships stemming from the lack of acceptance of his sexuality, it is not clear if family members will be present at the ceremony in Westfield when more of his remains are interred.
“I am grateful to the coroner and the work they are still doing on this case,” said Marcia Jones, the man’s sister-in-law.
More: Who were the victims at Fox Hollow Farm? Here’s what we know about the serial murders
Marcia Jones remembers her brother-in-law as a carefree and loving guy. She said she may attend the ceremony in Westfield with her husband, John Jones, Jeffrey Jones’ older brother.
Looking back on his death, some of Jeffrey Jones’ family members believe that his life and the lives of other victims might have been spared if they had been allowed to more openly reveal their true selves.
“That was exactly what Jeff was looking for,” said Debbie Alamo, the man’s aunt. “He wanted to be accepted.”
Contact Jake Allen at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.
