You Think You Know Me

The True Story of Herb Baumeister and the Horror at Fox Hollow Farm

By: Ryan Green

Narrated by: Steve White

Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

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 anesthesiologist, 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. Astonishingly, Julie believed him.

Over the course of 18 months, Julie became increasingly concerned and even frightened by her husband's mood swings and erratic behavior. In June 1996, whilst Herb was on vacation, she granted police full access to her family’s 18-acre home. Within 10 days of the search, investigators uncovered the remains of 11 bodies.

Once news of the findings at Fox Hollow Farm was broadcast, Herb disappeared. He was missing for eight days when campers eventually found his body inside his car. In an apparent suicide, Herb had shot himself while parked at Pinery Park, Ontario. He wrote a three-page suicide note explaining his reasons for taking his life, which he attributed to his failing marriage and business. There was no mention of the victims scattered in his backyard.

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, but because of his perpetual cowardice in the face of scrutiny, the world will never know.

In You Think You Know Me, best-selling author Ryan Green assumes the role of Herb Baumeister and attempts to fill in the blanks on one of Indiana’s most mysterious serial killers.

©2018 Ryan Green (P)2018 Ryan Green

Very good

Obviously there is no way for the author to know what really happened during this serial killers run. He does an excellent job of putting pieces together to tell the story as he feels it happened. Although it is not very graphic, it is descriptive and at times had me queasy. The narrator did a very good job telling the story. If you are a fan of true crime, going to pass this one up.

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

Horror at the HORROR farm!

Herb was two VERY different people in one body. An emotionless evil killer and a well-mannered businessman with a family. How he managed two live polar opposite lives above suspicion is incredible. Evil deeds done in the night, playing with the children the next day..... gives me shivers. Murdering and burying countless people in the very home you raise a family? He was definitely a psychopath! It is no wonder Fox Hollow is reportedly haunted. The tale told by Green, from Herb's perspective, is bone chilling. I literally had nightmares after listening to this audio book. If you are still deciding on which AB to listen to.... stop now and get this one. That's if you want to be scared outta your mind.
Narration by Steve White A+

Erotic Asphyxiation Will Kill You

My wife is an ID channel hound and considers herself a Murderino, so I am forced to watch a lot of true crime shows. Typically I tune them out because I just don’t care, but I wanted to give this story a try. This book has added another genre of story to my listening queue. Huge horror fan and this felt like a great twisted horror story that happens to possibly be true. Given the lack of trial and no actual confession this book tells a story that may be quite different than reality, although this is easily a terrifying fictitious horror story.
I totally was looking up stuff on Herb on the internet while listening to this. Realized toward the end I have seen paranormal shows on his Fox Hollow Farm home and have already sought out more. As someone who rarely dabbles into real crime this was a great story to get into the whole genre with.
I really liked how this story was told. It wasn’t as if this was just the facts and let’s lay it out for you. This was a speculative story on what happened, complete with dialogue and specific occurrences. The overall arching story is most likely true, but it came across as an actual story which made it interesting, tense, and something I couldn’t stop listening to. There are parts of this story that are a bit hard to listen to. Actually had my headphone jack fall out of my phone in a particularly bad spot and was terrified my phone would start spouting off about what was happening and HR would be called. So PSA be careful where you listen. There are some scenes in this that aren’t for the average person. True crime and extreme horror folks may be desensitized to some of this but there are some parts that are not easy to listen to.
The narrator was great. I felt like his voice wasn’t the typical I hear for true crime shows and he made the story actually sound like a story. He didn’t offer much for character voices but he added inflection and cadence for the characters and it worked well. He did well for this style of story and I hope to find him again in true crime.
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Warning, extremely graphic!

I recall seeing this story on Dateline and other investigative shows and always found it to be a haunting tragedy of a father, husband, and son leading a double life. Although he showed signs early on of deviant behavior it went largely unchecked and a murderer was created. Great read but extremely graphic so reader beware!

Excellently told

Factually told but not itemized, dry and boring. Great to have explanations of the time periods practicing medical standards to remind us how the character escaped the clues he left behind. Sadly this is a true story, and that makes the writing all the more valuable.

Excellent

This was a great look at a sick man that makes you wonder if he lived in a more accepting time would things turn out differently
The team of Ryan green and Steve white always deliver
Never boring and great subject matter I highly recommend any of Ryan’s work
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review

Confusing timeline

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.

Herb Baumeister

Previous to reading this book, I had never heard of Herb Baumeister. This book provided a lot of great information about him. It talked about the way he was as a kid and how he hid his true nature from the world. I really liked how the author presented the information without droning on and he didn't tell it in a way that seemed like an exhausting list of facts. The only negative I can think of is there isn't as much information on the investigation or victims as I would have liked. However, that alone wasn't enough to bring the rating down. The narrator did a great job. I like the tone he put with the book. He kept it interesting.

I was given this nook for free at my request in return for my unbiased review.

Chilling

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.

Horrific, TRUISH true crime story

As fiction, this is a highly effective horror story, told mainly from the POV of the serial killer. In this audiobook, Mr. Green was adept at researching real-life crime and then seamlessly enhancing the factual events with invented but plausible scenarios, dialogue, and internal motivations to fill in the gaps. This gives the listener an entry into the warped mind of psychopath Herb Baumeister, a very uncomfortable place to be for almost 4 hours---irregardless of its veracity. Whatever the ratio of fact to fiction of Baumeister's profile in this audiobook, it feels all-too-real, thanks in large part to the psychological depth Mr. Green imbues in his straightforward writing. It was a fascinating if disturbing listen. Definitely not for the faint of heart. The narrator was perfect: a normal, soothing voice in needed juxtaposition to the atrocities he reveals. I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an unbiased review.