In the summer of 1982, the body of 22-year-old Maurice Allen Taylor, a white male, was discovered in Weasel Creek in a rural area of Hamilton County, just outside of Atlanta, Indiana. The young man's death, which occurred around July 21, 1982, was not immediately ruled a homicide, though strangulation was suspected by the coroner. For eight months, his identity remained a mystery, as his mother, who was institutionalized at the time, was unable to file a missing person's report.
Taylor's
case is believed to be part of a string of unsolved murders attributed to a serial killer known as the 'I-70 Strangler'. This unidentified killer is thought to be responsible for the deaths of at least eleven young men and boys across Indiana and Ohio between 1980 and 1991. The victims, many of whom were connected to the gay community, were often found nude or partially clothed in remote, rural locations near Interstate 70, and strangulation was a common cause of death.
Years later, in April 1999, law enforcement identified a prime suspect in the 'I-70 Strangler' cases: a deceased businessman named Herb Baumeister. Investigators noted that the series of murders seemed to cease after Baumeister acquired Fox Hollow Farm in 1991, a property where he would later bury other victims. While Baumeister was a suspect in numerous homicides in Indiana, he was never formally charged in connection with Maurice Taylor's death or the other 'I-70 Strangler' murders. The case officially remains unsolved, a lingering mystery in the region's history.
