A man seen being restrained in a car is later found murdered In the late summer of 1991, the body of Otto Gary Becker, a 41-year-old Caucasian male, was discovered discarded in a ditch alongside a quiet, gravel road in rural south-western Henry County, Indiana. His death, which occurred on or around August 7, 1991, would become a piece of a much larger and more sinister puzzle that haunted the Interstate 70 corridor across Indiana and Ohio.
Becker was known to frequent homeless shelters and missions on the east side of Indianapolis.
The investigation into his murder revealed a chilling final sighting. Witnesses reported seeing Becker in his own vehicle, a brown 1982 Honda Accord, traveling northbound on I-465 near Shadeland Avenue in Indianapolis. He was not alone. Two other white males were in the car with him; one was driving while the other was actively restraining Becker, suggesting a violent abduction was in progress. This lead, however, did not immediately result in the identification of any suspects. The grim discovery of Becker's car, abandoned in Columbus, Ohio, only deepened the mystery surrounding his final hours.
As investigators delved into the case, they began to see unsettling parallels between Becker's murder and a string of other slayings that occurred throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. These unsolved homicides, involving at least 11 young men and boys found along the I-70, were attributed to a shadowy figure dubbed the 'I-70 Strangler.' While no definitive link was immediately established in Becker's case, the circumstances bore a haunting resemblance to the serial killer's pattern.
Years later, a potential, though unconfirmed, suspect emerged in the form of Herbert Baumeister, a man who would become infamous for the discovery of human remains on his Fox Hollow Farm property in 1996. Authorities came to suspect Baumeister might be responsible for the I-70 Strangler killings, and by extension, the murder of Otto Gary Becker. However, Baumeister was never formally charged in connection with Becker's death. Before he could be fully investigated for the string of murders, he fled and took his own life. To this day, the murder of Otto Gary Becker remains officially unsolved, leaving behind a cold case and the enduring question of who was responsible for his violent end.
