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New information indicates the skull pulled from Lake Wawasee last month may have been from the victim of a Indianapolis-area homicide.
Debra A. Thomas of East Hatchery Road found the skull about 10 feet from shore while looking for rocks in the lake. After digging up the skull, Thomas put it on the shore and called authorities.
Preliminary investigations noted that the skull might have been that of a primitive human or an Indian.
However, Dr. Stephen Nawrocki, a forensic anthropologist with the University of Indianapolis, estimated that the skull belonged to a white male 35 to 50 years old and that it may have been in the water for only five to six years.
The Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department is exploring the possibility that the skull may be that of a victim of a serial killer, Herb Baumeister, who reportedly murdered several homosexual males between 1993 and 1996 in the Indianapolis. Baumeister committed suicide reportedly when investigators were closing in on him.
Detective Sgt. Tom Brindle of the KCSD assisted the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department in that case in 1996 and recalled that although several thousand human bones were found on the farm where Baumeister and his family had lived, no skulls were ever located. The Fox Hollow Farm is in Westfield, a suburb of Indianapolis. Brindle said Baumeister apparently told an intended victim that he murdered 50 to 60 men.
The case can be linked to Kosciusko County because authorities said Baumeister's mother had a cottage on Lake Wawasee, about one-eighth of a mile from the location of the skull recovery.
Local officials said if the skull is identified as belonging to one of Baumeister's victims, an attempt will be made to determine whether additional skulls are in the lake, "but locating anything in Lake Wawasee could be difficult," said Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine.
Kosciusko County Coroner Larry Ladd said that Nawrocki was among the initial group of investigators in the Hamilton County case and "is very interested in it because of his earlier connection to the case," Ladd said. He added that the research into the matter, including comparing the skull to X-rays of males who are missing and believed possible victims of Baumeister, will likely take several months.
Officials said the information on the age of the skull was provided by Nawrocki before the Baumeister connection was theorized.
Both Nawrocki and the KCSD are continuing their investigations.
