Authorities in Indiana have identified the remains of a man who disappeared in 1993 on property belonging to a suspected serial killer.
Allen Livingston was 27 years old when his family reported him missing in August 1993, CBS News reported. His family long suspected that he had been killed by Herbert Baumeister, a business and family man who frequented gay bars.
Eight bodies were found on Baumeister’s 18-acre estate, with many more remains that had not been identified. Now, a leg bone was matched to Livingston using his mother’s DNA for comparison, making him the suspected ninth victim.
Baumeister is believed to have lured gay men to his home in the 1980s and 90s before killing them and dumping their bodies around his estate, called Fox Hollow Farm. He killed himself while visiting Canada in July 1996 before investigators could question him about the remains that had been found on his property.
Remains were recovered in 1996, but DNA technology was not advanced enough to identify them all, NBC News reported. Large amounts of skeletal material were needed back then, but today, only a very small sample is needed to develop a DNA profile.
Eric Pranger, Livingston’s cousin, told NBC that “Hearing about Allen was a little roller coaster of feelings.”
“We’re happy because we got closure and we were able to identify him but sad because we had to relive it a bit,” he added.
Pranger has requested Livingston’s disappearance be reopened last year. Livingston’s mother, Sharon, provided a DNA sample and told WTHR that she really hoped the case would be solved, as she had just been diagnosed with cancer.
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“I do not have my son’s remains, and until I have that, it will be unfinished for me, and I hope I get them before I pass away,” Sharon told the outlet last year.
Livingston’s remains were returned to Sharon by the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office.
Livingston’s leg bone was just one part of 44 sets of remains submitted in the first batch for DNA testing.
“What are the odds that of our first identification from 10,000 pieces of bone would be to that family that made the initial call?” coroner Jeff Jellison asked, as reported by NBC.
It is unclear at this time how many sets of remains will be identified.
Four other DNA profiles were identified in the batch of remains that included Livingston’s, but so far they can’t be connected to a missing person without a reference sample from family members.