You Think You Know Me: The True Story of Herb Baumeister and the Horror at Fox Hollow Farm

by Ryan Green

In the fall of 1994, Erich Baumeister (13), was playing in a wooded area of his family’s estate, when he stumbled across a partially buried human skeleton. He presented the disturbing finding to his mother, Julie, who inquired about the skull to her husband, Herb. He told her that the skeleton belonged to his late father, an anaesthesiologist, who used it for his research. He said he didn’t know what to do with it, so he buried it in the back garden. Julie believed him. Over the course of eighteen-months, Julie became increasingly concerned and frightened by her husband's mood swings and erratic behaviour. In June 1996, whilst Herb was on vacation, she granted police full access to her family’s eighteen-acre home. Within ten days of the search, investigators uncovered the remains of eleven bodies. Once news of the findings at Fox Hollow Farm was broadcast, Herb disappeared. Herb Baumeister would later be alleged to have killed at least nine more men along the Interstate 70 between Indiana and Ohio, and coined the “I-70 Strangler”. It is entirely possible that he was one of the most prolific serial killers in history. You Think You Know Me is a chilling account of Herb Baumeister and one of the most mysterious true crime stories in American history. Ryan Green’s riveting narrative draws the reader into the real-live horror experienced by the victims and has all the elements of a classic thriller. This book contains descriptive accounts of torture, abuse and violence. If you are especially sensitive to this material, it might be advisable not to read any further.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Crime, Mystery, Horror, Short Stories

124 pages, Paperback

Published April 12, 2018

About the author

Ryan Green is a true crime author in his late thirties. He lives in Herefordshire, England with his wife, three children, and two dogs. Outside of writing and spending time with his family, Ryan enjoys walking, reading and windsurfing.

Ryan is fascinated with History, Psychology and True Crime. In 2015, he finally started researching and writing his own work and at the end of the year, he released his first book on Britain's most notorious serial killer, Harold Shipman.

He has since written several books on lesser-known subjects, and taken the unique approach of writing from the killer's perspective. He narrates some of the most chilling scenes you'll encounter in the True Crime genre.

"Ryan Green is an incredible storyteller...he doesn’t just tell the story, he allows you to be part of it." ~Blackbird

Reviews

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a fan of true crime and hadn't heard of Herb Baumeister. As far as serial killers go this guy the typical sociopath. You Think You Know Me could easily have been 100's of more pages but no need. It's all there in a tidy 158 pages.

Herb is from a well to do family and could potentially have a successful future, but he is socially inept and let go or fired from jobs. He couldn't keep his dark and morbid commentary to himself on the job. He and his wife eventually do have a very successful chain of thrift stores. He's also a gay man living what appears to others as a straight life which brings on a lot of angst. He frequents gay bars and lures men into his car and drives them to his house. "He wasn't doing it because he liked it. He was doing it because it kept people safe. He was a hero really."

Thanks to the persistant efforts of Private Detective Vergil Vandagriff and Detective Mary Wilson, Herb Baumeister was exposed. How many people died in the hands of Herb is unknown. He took the total number of his victims to his grave.

[Mckenzie Roberts · Rating 1 out of 5]

I felt really conflicted about this book. Green is a wonderful story teller and writes beautifully- however, I hated the fact that he basically put words into the mouths of victims. There is no way to know what was actually said in the exchanges between Baumeister and the victims (aside from tony, the only survivor) so it felt wrong that Green basically made up interactions. Baumeister never even admitted to his crimes so we can’t even be sure of what his true perspective was! I think that Green would be a wonderful fiction author but he should maybe stay away from true crime writing if he wants to “imagine” what happened between victims and their attackers- it just feels disrespectful to assume what someone said or did in their final moments, especially when their final moments are as terrible as those that these victims had to endure.

[Miriam still reading! HIATUS from GR · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 stars audio
3 sick psycho stars story

[Aellirenn Czyta · Rating 1 out of 5]

Przysięgam, że to ostatni raz, kiedy czytałam Greena. Słabe to cholernie. A już mistrzostwem jest to, że 20% (sic!) książki to trzy długie fragmenty innych książek autora. Skok na kasę i tyle.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting take on the Herb Baumeister story. The author paints Herb as a wealthier Jeff Dahmer with a mere whiff of Dennis Rader. The book needed a good scrub with the text-editing brush to make subject and verb agree and stop the verb tenses from changing in mid-paragraph or, often, in mid-sentence. The scenarios the author describes are all very plausible, but because all the parties involved are dead and crucial evidence destroyed, we can't really know.

[Kayla Krantz · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s always the one you least suspect.

As always, this was a chilling piece by Ryan Green. The prose made it easier to imagine why Herb did the things that he did. There is lots of gore and hard to digest scenes (that comes with a book about a prolific serial killer) but that allowed us readers to really get into the mind of this psychopath though the end of Herb’s story was definitely disappointing to me. (Not a fault of the author’s, just reality!)

Narration was spot on!

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

[Osama · Rating 4 out of 5]

قصة حقيقة مرعبة لشخص مولع باختطاف الشباب من الطرق السريعة.

[Daniel Kupres · Rating 5 out of 5]

​
Ryan brings to us the tale of Herb Baumeister, a serial killer from Indiana. Herb's killing spree spanned almost 20 years into the mid 90's. I searched his name and when I saw his picture after reading Ryan's book, I was very shocked that this was the face of a serial killer and the founder of Sav-A-Lot which is still in business today.
I have read most of Ryan's work short a couple and over that time, his style has truly evolved. This one in particular reads more like a novel with a very quick ending but not so much do his style more so the choice on how Herb decides to end this story.
What I really enjoy, is that Ryan picks stories that are not widely publicized, at least I have not seen much on this story but I do believe it stems from the fact that there are so many unknowns or loose ends that remain to be open. Truly how many victims did Herb have?
What remains a constant with Ryan's work is that he brings to the reader the first person account of the killer, in this case Herb Baumeister. As with most crimes of this nature, especially with Herb's decision to destroy evidence and take the easy way out, we close this book with so many questions that will never be answered.

[Katy Haas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel torn about this book. Billing it as a "true story" rubs me the wrong way, when it seems like little of this book was based on fact, instead relying heavily on speculation. There are pages and pages of imagined actions and dialogue between two humans who died before they could tell anyone what actually happened, so...where is this information coming from? Maybe it can be/has been proved, but when everything else is loosey-goosey, I'm not sure what to believe as fact and what to dismiss as the author's imagination. Where does truth end and imagination begin? I'd feel a lot better if this said "Inspired by the true story of Herb Baumeister" because that's way more accurate.

That being said, I enjoyed the book. It entertained me, and I liked the length for what it was, finishing the book in one sitting. It introduced me to a serial killer I'd only briefly heard of and I'm going to do some of my own research now after reading to fill in the gaps that Green's writing style left me with. I would recommend this to someone who maybe is just starting to get into true crime books and isn't ready for the dry, more detail-oriented titles.

[za_pomniane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

[♥ Marlene♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

To my surprise I had not heard anything about this killer. That being said I assume this is because there are not many facts or proof so it is more assuming. That was obvious while reading the killings and the author telling us what was said, what was not, what the victims thought. When the first man was killed and the author told us what the dialog was between the two I thought he must have escaped but that was not the case so it was more fiction being presented as non fiction and I have to remove a star for that.

I don't think the book is badly written but for one. The Dialogs!! Terrible.
That being said it is not bad if you do not mind a little bit of fiction.

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this book was well written, and the story was interesting to follow, it is very difficult to rate. Herb Baumeister committed suicide before he was ever able to confess, or be tried for his crimes, and therefore very little is known about Herb and what actually happened to his victims. So much of this book has to be based on absolute conjecture because there were no witnesses other than the victims and Herb himself, yet Ryan Green goes into extreme detail during the interactions between Herb and his victims. There are direct quotes and a very specific story line that is just impossible to believe to be true. It was so fictional, that I truly believe this book cannot be considered true crime. As other readers have mentioned, it seems almost unfair to speak for the victims and speculate this much when it comes to the last moments of their lives. The subject matter was interesting, but the delivery felt all wrong. What happened to these men was bad enough, Mr. Green did not need to exaggerate the dialogue in order to get readers to see Herb as the monster he truly was.

[Bettye McKee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sex, drugs and murder

This book comes with its own warning label.

Herb Baumeister developed his morbid activities and fantasies as a child. Although he was diagnosed with schizophrenia (the catch-all diagnosis of the time), he never received treatment. Families did not admit to mental illness in those days.

It's hardly surprising then that Baumeister became a serial killer of gay men. Homosexuality was even more taboo than mental illness. It can never be known the number of his victims. Some were reported missing, but the police made no effort to investigate the disappearance of gay men, and many were never reported as missing.

11

[kaśka · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5⭐️

[Amy Tickle · Rating 1 out of 5]

best thing about it was quick read. the author wrote a fictional tale from the killer's viewpoint. no sources sited. not true crime.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't an especially interesting case, partly because there are so few facts known about what really happened. Also, some of the detail presented in this book must be purely speculation. Furthermore, Ryan Green neglected to include many dates, making it almost impossible to comprehend the timeline of events. At under 4 hours, it's a quick listen, though.

Steve White's performance is Satisfyingly competent.

NOTE: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

[Emilija · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

I think what Green did really well with this novel was portray how normal serial killers could be. Baumeister could have continued killing for years more if he'd been able to maintain his mask of normalcy. What I found quite interesting in this book was the author's idea that Baumeister was able to separate his personality so he had light and dark which is how he managed to maintain his normalcy for such a long period.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched and we'll written

This book kept me completely fascinated from beginning to end. It's a great read. I highly recommend it. I look forward to reading more books by this author.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read several books by this author; he's clearly a gifted writer, but I think true crime is the wrong genre for him. It's pretty obvious that he's taking kernels of fact and embellishing them with imagined dialogue, speculated actions, assumed thoughts, etc.

[Megan Burge · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not what I was expecting; unfortunately, I don’t mean this in a good way. The author’s subject, Herb Baumeister, has the potential to inspire a horrifying true crime book. However, the author glosses over Herb’s past and instead focuses on his atrocities, graphically describing the sexually motivated murders with imagined dialogue. It felt icky to me, and too speculative to call itself true crime. Not a fan.

[martynaok · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 - książka na 3 godzinki czytania i o ile nie lubię wydań kieszonkowych, te wydanie jest bardzo funkcjonalne. Autor bardzo kluczy, chwilami czytelnik nie wie o kim mowa przez bardzo zagmatwany styl pisarski. O ile historia bardzo ciekawa, o tyle autor powinien nauczyć się pisać tak, by tekst miał ręce i nogi.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Green's dialed in style is to present a killer's thoughts and dialogue with victims to a degree of detail not really possible. This makes basically a novelization of the crimes described. That makes for engaging reading while not typically my style of true crime. I appreciate Green here mostly for making me aware of the serial killer career of Herb Baumeister and its possible scope, probably impossible to know of for certain.

[Suzanne Lopes · Rating 2 out of 5]

By far one of the worst books I have read. I felt that the author skipped a lot of what this true crime was about.

[☆ Iga ☆]

Historia przerażająca, ale czy ta konkretna książka jest dobra? raczej nie. Słuchałxm w tle do sprzątania.

[Jessie Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gross AF

I would not recommend this book because of the colorful details of each murder. It’s just too disgusting. It is well written and compelling enough to keep you reading to find out how it all ends.

[Julkano · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, troche ciezka ale chętnie wroce do tej serii

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly scary look at a little known serial killer. Herb Baumeister could have gone undiscovered for years more than he did if he had been just a little more careful. Great job of portraying exactly how normal some of these monsters can seem.

[Judith Sentyz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despicable

I had never heard of this serial killer before. This book is very well researched and written. Just be ready to be disgusted. I can't even imagine what it was like for his victims. Very readable.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a terrific accounting of the sordid and, frankly bizarre, series of murders by Herb Baumeister in the Indianapolis area in the 1980s & 90s. Ryan Green, the author, takes reasonable license in imagining the various interactions Herb has in his encounters and describes in excellent detail the increasingly bizarre and manic behavior described by those who knew Herb in his personal and professional lives. It's also intriguing how Green connects Baumeister to several other series of crimes, including the I-70 Strangler and possibly murders of women by gun. It's so unusual for one serial killer to have such different MOs, and Green lets it unfold as naturally as possible. I also enjoyed the narration by Steve White.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review

[John Towle · Rating 3 out of 5]

[3.5]

Full transparency: I grew up across the street from Fox Hollow Farm... One of Baumeister's children is just a couple of years older than me. I cannot recall how many times I had driven past the sign colored with yellow paint, but I do recall seeing the sheriff's signs indicating something was amiss. It was fascinating reading about how Westfield & Indianapolis are portrayed during the time of the murders (early to mid-90s) compared to how the cities are now. Many things are the same, some are vastly different... Ultimately, and unfortunately for the families & friends of the victims, we will never know the true extent of Herb's crimes. So much is based on speculation, and the scariest part is not knowing whether this serial killer's body count could rival the most heinous in modern history.

And it all happened in our backyard.