Published: April 29, 2008 10:10 am      

Body exhumed Monday in New Albany could be the victim of serial killer

White handling cold case

One of the first cases Floyd County Sheriff’s Department Officer Joel White will work as the new evidence technician involves a man who may have died at the hands of a serial killer 13 years ago, officials say.

In September 1995, hunters discovered the remains of a man, likely in his 40s, in Floyds Knobs, said Floyd County Sheriff’s Department Detective Capt. Jeff Topping in a Monday news conference. The remains — which were estimated to have been there for between four and 12 weeks — were never identified.

In 2003, Floyd County placed that case and cases of other unidentified and missing people into The Doe Network. That is a national Internet database of both “cold” and “hot” cases involving missing people.

Recent information has led Floyd County officials to believe the remains could belong to Jerry Williams-Comer, a then 34-year-old man who disappeared from the Indianapolis area.

In addition, the way the body was disposed near an interstate led authorities to believe whoever the victim is could have died at the hands of deceased serial killer Herb Baumeister, Topping said.

Baumeister targeted dozens of men, mostly homosexual, through local bars, Topping said. Though Topping would not state whether Williams-Comer was a homosexual, he said many elements of his life fit Baumeister’s victim profile.

Seventeen bodies were found on Baumeister’s Carmel farm, in addition to bodies dumped near interstates. Baumeister committed suicide before he could be tried in any of the murders.

The Floyd County remains were exhumed Monday, and will be X-rayed at Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services. Authorities will compare those X-rays to a set belonging to Williams-Comer, and also are taking DNA samples from his mother at her request.

Those samples will be compared to DNA extracted from the body’s bones. The remains will then be reburied, Topping said.

At that point, the evidence will be sent to the University of North Texas, which has volunteered to test everything, Topping said. A result could be issued within a few weeks.

If the body is not that of Williams-Comer, it will then be compared to other cases in the Doe Network and other national databases.

“This certainly is an interesting case,” White said. “The bottom line is this person had a mother. The important thing is that she get some closure.”