A man dead by strangulation is found in a ditch In the autumn of 1982, the life of 14-year-old Delvoyd Lee Baker was tragically cut short, leaving a mystery that has lingered for decades. An African-American male, Delvoyd was last seen on the evening of October 2, 1982, in downtown Indianapolis. He had told his parents he was going to the movies and would be home late. Witnesses reported seeing him get into a blue van driven by a young white man with a bushy mustache near the downtown library.
The following day, on October 3, 1982,
Delvoyd's body was discovered in a drainage ditch along Lantern Road in Fishers, Indiana. An autopsy determined that the cause of his death was ligature strangulation. His death was one of a series of unsolved murders of young men and boys in the area, leading investigators to believe he may have been a victim of a serial killer sometimes referred to as the 'I-70 Strangler.'
During the investigation, authorities questioned a 47-year-old Florida man named Duncan V. Patterson. He admitted to having a sexual encounter with Delvoyd for money in a motel but claimed he dropped him off at the library afterward, where he saw Delvoyd get into another vehicle. Patterson passed a polygraph test and was not charged in connection with the murder. Another man, a former Carmel businessman named August F. 'Gus' Caito, was also brought before a grand jury. However, he refused to answer questions, even after being granted immunity, and was held in contempt of court. No charges were ever filed against him in relation to Delvoyd's death.
Years later, the case, along with others from that era, was linked by some investigators to Herb Baumeister, a suspected serial killer. It was theorized that the string of strangulation murders along the I-70 corridor ceased around the time Baumeister purchased a new property where he would later bury his victims. Despite these suspicions, no one has ever been arrested or convicted for the murder of Delvoyd Lee Baker, and his case remains officially unsolved.
