OH OH - William 'Bill' Comeans, 14, Columbus, 7 Jan 1980 - #1

In addition to the murders at his estate, Baumeister is also suspected of killing nine more men, the bodies of whom were found in rural areas along the corridor of Interstate 70 between Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana.[3] Julie Baumeister told authorities that her husband made as many as 100 business trips to Ohio, on what he said was store business.

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Herb BAUMEISTER was the embodiment of the American dream. He built from scratch a chain of successful local thrift stores in Indianapolis and led a seemingly normal life as a husband and a devoted father of three. However, when police uncovered the remains of seven young gay men in the woods of Fox Hollow Farm -- the family's $1 million estate in the exclusive Indianapolis suburb of Westfield -- Herb's American dream was more like a murderous nightmare.
In fact, Herb's wife of 20 years -- Julie -- had no idea of what Herb was all about. Every summer, while she and the kids went to Herb's mom's lakeside condo, he stayed behind "to work." A big fan of autoerotic asphyxia, Herb is suspected in as many as a dozen unsolved gay murders along the Indiana Interstate, and another dozen young gay men killed in Ohio and Indiana.

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ZaZara said:

If an adult and another teenage boy were involved, maybe this boy (or antoher one) was used to lure BC away from his home. I don't think the adult turned up in front of a house where many persons where at home at that time.
I've been thinking how this could have been done. I do think a car was involved, must have been. Maybe a van, like the neighbour claimed later.

I've made a lot of ice cream by hand and it is very difficult to whisk something in once it is frozen. You need a lot of force to stir something in and then you have to put the mixture together again. And make it look like nothing has happened. It is very different from lacing a drink. I think this tiny part of the theory by GBMG is unlikely because of the risks and how could the perp know that the bowl of ice cream would be left on the porch? and have the valium ready? Nor could the perp could count on BC 1. returning and 2. eating the ice cream 3. while remaining outside 4. without company.

When I'm thinking of Bill, I feel so sad and so enraged that someone convinced him deep down that his parents would no longer love him if they knew just THAT about him. (Maybe there were pictures?) Would he have lived, Bill would have understood over time that this was not the case but he never got the chance.

Hugs to everybody who needs them.

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dogperson said:

Or, if the person who killed him had access to medical supplies, he may have injected Bill somehow.

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• Church or other youth group leader
• Private music teacher
• School accompanist
• Local school personnel: Teacher, aide, superintendent, principal, coach, extracurricular advisor, custodian, guidance counselor, school psychologist
• Camp director, recreation program director, scout leader, local children's theater company coach, birthday party clown/magician
• Children's (or school) photographer
• Librarian
• Daycare worker
• Paper route coordinator or customer
• Medical personnel: Doctor, nurse (tho male nurses were more rare then), orderly, custodian at a medical facility, home healthcare aide, pediatric dentist or hygienist, child psychologist
• Social worker, child welfare worker
• College professor?

murkmanz said:

Hey. No probs. I removed that video now. In hindsight, your 100% correct about those errors too! Its ok, there was minimal views on it, probably just you guys from my above post. Its completely removed and i deleted it from my hard drive too.

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murkmanz said:

The note that read

'Bill has 3 months to live. Ps. Make the most of it'

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bob6104 said:

How can someone attack three times but be completely invisible to us all. No one is that good, are they? If this is solved are we going to say, it was right there looking us in the face and we missed it all these years?

Like opening a twitter account for Bill. Twitter's been around for awhile and all of a sudden Katco sees it as an opportunity, and it is.

Ice cream was partially eaten in the house, put in freezer to go get sister, and never returned for it. It was not eaten outside. (to answer previous question)

Just thinking out loud here.

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dogperson said:

Herb Baumeister probably killed several more men/teens than we will ever know. It's hard to say what he might have done.

Somehow I feel that the answer is in whatever Bill may have kept to himself about his attacker/attackers. There are some things that don't fit, such as giving a description of the car but not of who attacked him, and having dry clothes when it had been raining. There's something more here but I think he was too afraid of whatever it was to tell more to his family or police. If he did know the person responsible then we have no idea what kind of threats the person used to keep him in line. I just can't imagine anonymous strangers picking him out, stalking him, coming and going in his neighborhood, and leaving notes in lockers. I think this was done by someone who would not have looked out of place in any of those areas.

I did not think about the "grooming" aspect of a sexual predator. I agree that normally it should take some time to establish the proper connection to coerce a young man into going to the next level. In my family, my great-grandfather was a raging pedophile, having molested many of his grandchildren and many neighbor children, yet nobody spoke out until one of my aunts, in her 50s, asked other family members if they had been assaulted by him as well. I was shocked at how many of them admitted to being molested by him as children, and also by the fact that they carried this secret for so long. Each of them thought they had been the only one, each thought they were somehow to blame and somehow brought it upon themselves, and each had been groomed with candy and presents and convinced that nobody would believe them.

Was Bill friendly or close with the dads of any other boys his age, or any men in the neighborhood? Or maybe had a favorite teacher from his previous school? I don't know how things worked in his school system, but in mine they often sent a teacher to the high school from the elementary or junior high to fill in for teacher shortages. So a teacher who normally spent his day with his 6th grade class would have to travel about a mile down the road during his free period to teach history at the high school. I wonder if this ever happened at Bill's school?

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rosemadderlake said:

Someone can be very invisible given the right circumstances.

As an example, the scandal at Penn State University was beyond shocking because so many (boys and young men) were trapped in silence and shame for so long. They were targeted, and hunted, and abused, by a “well respected” coach, person of authority, and the community. Those within the institution did not heed the alarm bells, either.


“I would’ve stayed silent if he’d just left me alone, I probably would never have said anything.”
Victim #1 – Sandusky sexual abuse scandal, Penn State University

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/zone-victim-1-tells-story-abuse-article-1.1216072


Penn State Scandal Fast Facts
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/28/us/penn-state-scandal-fast-facts

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bob6104 said:

How can someone attack three times but be completely invisible to us all. No one is that good, are they? If this is solved are we going to say, it was right there looking us in the face and we missed it all these years?

Like opening a twitter account for Bill. Twitter's been around for awhile and all of a sudden Katco sees it as an opportunity, and it is.

Ice cream was partially eaten in the house, put in freezer to go get sister, and never returned for it. It was not eaten outside. (to answer previous question)

Just thinking out loud here.

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GoingByMyGut said:

BBM1: I think you could be right. Hidden in plain sight, as they say. It is not a good feeling to have to rethink the people you know in these terms. After the discovery of AJT, I'd like to think you've had your share, right? But no matter how our opinions and ideas vary here, everyone does seem to feel strongly that it's someone who was close by.

BBM2: And there goes the ice cream! Thanks

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GoingByMyGut said:

William Comeans: Case Information & Initial Timeline

(1) From the Ohio Atty. Gen.’s website (TBM):

UNSOLVED HOMICIDE: WILLIAM COMEANS

Case number: 713
Date: 1/23/1980 [Error: the homicide actually occurred 1/7/1980]
Location: Buena Vista Ave., Columbus, Ohio -- Franklin County
DOB: 1/7/1965 [Error: DOB is actually 1/11/1965]
Gender: Male
Race/Ethnicity: White
Height: 5' 09" [One news source says 6’1”]
Weight: 170 lbs [One news source says 177 LBs]
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Law enforcement agency: Franklin County Sheriff's Office​

Case Details
William Comeans was helping his father work on family car. He then went two doors down to get his sister to come from a birthday party but it wasn't over, so he came home and told his mother that he would go back to get her. His parent's never saw him again before his discovery. They filed a missing persons report and police canvassed the neighborhood. William's father and neighbor found him at the dead end of Buena Vista Ave., which was the next street over, by the railroad tracks. William died later at the hospital. The cause of death was strangulation. On two previous occasions, in September and October, William was attacked by two unknown males and was choked on both occasions.​

(2) From various sources (see listing after this post):

PERSONAL INFORMATION

• Family residence: Maple Drive, New Rome (Franklin County, Columbus, considered “the west side”).
• Bill was a freshman at Westland High School in Galloway, Ohio.
• Police describe Bill as “the perfect student, the perfect child, the perfect citizen.”
• Bill had a passion for music, played piano, and was in the school choir and musicals.

(3) Created by pdxmama:

MAP

For a visual of locations mentioned in the timeline that follows, pdxmama created a Google Map with colored pushpins showing:

• Red -- The family residence on Maple Drive
• Aqua -- Westland High School (where BC was a freshman and received notes in his school locker)
• Yellow -- Prairie-Lincoln Elementary School (site of the 1st assault)
• Magenta -- The intersection of Maple Drive and Beacon Hill Road (site of the 2nd assault)
• Green -- Where Buena Vista Ave. dead-ends by the railroad tracks (where BC’s body was discovered after the 3rd and final assault)

(4) From various sources (see listing after this post):

TIMELINE

September & October Threatening Notes Rec’d at School

• Throughout the fall, Bill finds 3-4 threatening notes in his school locker, which he gives detectives.
• Some are typed, some are written, and some are cut from pieces of magazines.
• Bill’s best friend and a girl friend each also received a note in their lockers. These messages, typed in red ink, say “Blood will spill,” “It’s your turn,” and “Bill has three mths. left. ps. make the best of it.”
• At least one note is found at Westland HS after BC’s death. It says, "You're next" and is signed with a red "S." (A source says this is according to BC's parents, as deputies would not confirm such a note was found.)
• LE compares Bill’s handwriting to the handwriting on the notes.

9/5/1979, Wednesday First Assault (Attempted Murder?)

8:30 PM​

• Bill is delivering papers near Prairie-Lincoln Elementary School, 4900 Amesbury Way.
• Bill is on a trail 50 yards into the woods behind the school.
• Bill is knocked from his bike by “two unknown men” who approach from behind.
• They tie a plastic garbage bag over Bill’s head and wrap a bicycle inner tube around his neck.
• Bill nearly loses consciousness but frees himself.
• Bill returns home with bruises on his neck.
• Police find inner tube, plastic bag, and BC’s bike at scene, plus note that says “He was warned.”
• Bill later files an assault report with Sherriff’s deputies (exactly when not known).
• Bill is unable to describe his assailants.

10/22/79, Saturday Second Assault (Attempted Murder?)

6:30 PM​

• Bill is out collecting money on foot for his paper route near Beacon Hill Road and Maple Drive.
• Two men leap from an older model, aqua/turquoise car and jump him from behind.
• They tie a rope around neck and leave him for dead under a tree or some shrubs.
• Bill lies there unconscious for 5-1/2 or 6 hours, then walks home at 1 AM.
• Bill arrives home with rope burns on his neck and a gash on the right side of his face.
• Bill tells his parents what happened.
• Bill quits his paper route after this attack.
• Bill later files an assault report with Sherriff’s deputies (exactly when not known).
• Bill describes his assailants as two white males in their late teens/early 20s.
• Four days later, Bill takes a polygraph test at Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation in London, Ohio.

1/7/80, Monday The Murder

About 9 PM​

• Sister Kathleen (age 9) attends a birthday party two doors down the street from the family home.
• Bill goes to pick Kathleen up, but she asks for more time and Bill leaves.
• Mother is in living room of family home.
• Father is working on the car in the garage.
• Bill brings his father coffee twice.
• Bill wanders from the garage to the porch to the yard and never returns.
• Nearly 20 minutes later the family becomes alarmed when they realize Bill is gone.
• The family believes he was abducted.
• Father says Bill would not have left the yard without telling someone.

9 - 9:45 PM​

• Father searches for Bill with a neighbor.
• Bill is found near the Conrail RR tracks at the north end of Buena Vista Ave.
• He lies face down in a snowy ditch, about two blocks from home, amidst beer bottles, broken tree limbs, and rusted car parts.
• Bill’s winter scarf is tied very tightly around his neck, choking him, but he’s still alive.
• Brother Mike cuts the scarf free with a pocket knife.
• Bill’s father and brother Bob give Bill CPR until ambulance arrives.
• The ambulance takes Bill to Doctors West Hospital.
• LE determines that, aside from the strangulation, there are no signs of a violence/struggle, no marks on Bill’s body, and Bill was not robbed (one source suggests he was not robbed during any of the attacks); they are unsure at this time if his death was caused by murder or suicide

About 11 PM​

• Bill dies at Doctors Hospital West

4/22/80, Tuesday Coroner’s Report Released

• Coroner William Adrion rules death a homicide. (Adrion may have had to put his name on all reports, as another source says Dep. Coroner Patrick M. Fardal conducted the autopsy.)
• Finding is based on autopsy findings and sheriff’s department investigation.
• COD: Cardiac arrest due to compression of the neck by ligature.
• MOD: Petechial hemorrhaging shows he was most likely strangled.
• Toxicology report shows diazepam (valium) in BC’s blood, but LE sees no evidence of personal drug use and does not know how Bill may have gotten any.
• The report says Bill has internal injuries from the strangulation as well as facial hemorrhaging, but no other wounds to his body.
• Coroner declares death “a very bizarre case.”

7/21 - 10/31/80 Neighbors on Maple Drive receive threatening letters/notes

• 13-19 letters (sources are mixed on the exact number) are received by eight families living w/in 200 yards of one another on Maple Dr. (or within 200 yards of the Comeans home)
• Families on Maple Drive who receive the notes include: Armstrong, Baker, Blain, Comeans, Kidwell, Stormont, Tope, and Watts
• Families receive identical notes on same days.
• In July they start to arrive at two-week intervals.
• Some are mailed, others hand-delivered at night (several sources say tied to porches and cars with leather belts; one source says taped; one source says leather straps).
• First to be delivered in person arrive 9/9/80.
• Sometimes arrival is 4 days apart, other times 33 days apart.
• Handwriting is described two ways:

• “crudely printed messages”
• “neatly penciled on pieces of cut envelope.”

• Handwriting analysis reveals all are written by same person. (Unclear whether comparison include pre-death notes.)
• Messages are “very brief in three or four words or in poorly constructed sentences.”
• Messages reported in press:

• Parents should guard their children carefully, signed X.
• “Time is short”
• “[Name] is next” (seven neighborhood females, aged 7-50, were specifically named across in these notes)
• “All have been warned”
• “Death in October”
• “U R Next”
• “It’s time.” (left the night before Halloween)

• Police believe the letter writer may be BC’s killer.
• On Nov. 2, LE calls the letter writer a “terrorist” and go to Syracuse to get a psychological profile done on the letter writer.

December 1980 54-Year-Old Woman Arrested for Penning Letters to Neighbors

• Alean J. Tope, 54, of 387 Maple Dr., is arrested for writing threatening letters to her neighbors from July - Halloween.
• Tope, a clerk in the Ohio Dept. of Taxation, and her husband, retired mail carrier Willard Tope, 56, have lived in the neighborhood for seven years and have four adult children (in 1980 they include a 22-YO daughter and three sons “ranging in age up to 30”).
• Alean is allegedly diagnosed in November by a psychiatrist as having “dual personalities” (one source calls this diagnosis “tentative”); she had nervous breakdowns in 1973 and 1974; and she spent three weeks in University Hospital in November (presumably as a psych in-patient-- this stay shortly following the writing of the last note on Mischief Night/Halloween Eve).
• At the time the neighborhood was alarmed by the notes, Tope claims to be one of the first to receive a note and participates in the neighborhood response to the letters. Early on, she tells the Columbus Dispatch, “This is a sick joke or someone ready to go off the deep end.”
• She also tells police two men tried to force her into a van about a block from her home.
• She also calls LE about prowlers, getting threatening phone calls, and attempted break-ins.
• LE begins to see her as a suspect when her claims can’t be substantiated (once source says “proves to be false”].
• The county sheriff executes a search warrant on her desk at the Dept. of Taxation Nov. 11 because she won’t surrender a handwriting sample or take a polygraph.
• She is charged with disorderly conduct, pleads “no contest” (reportedly fainting and falling to the floor during the proceeding, something she reportedly had done several times since being found out), and is fined $50 (half of the maximum $100).
• Exact charge is “did recklessly cause inconvenience, annoyance, and alarm to other persons by engaging in threatening harm to such persons when taken in the context of the death of William Comeans,” a misdemeanor.
• Mrs. Comeans says of her, “She was a good friend, but I don’t even want to look at her.”
• She offers no explanation as to why she wrote the notes.
• LE claims she is not a suspect in BC’s death or in the writing of the notes he received.

Sept. 1981 LE Proposes New Theory of Crimes

• LE advances a theory that BC died of accidental suicide by way of autoerotic asphyxiation.
• NYPD is asked to weigh in and agrees, while FBI calls COD “inconclusive.”
• Coroner has not changed ruling of homicide and does not speak.
• LE claims homicide investigation continues “officially” while detectives state publicly that they don’t believe BC was murdered.
• Deputy Coroner claims ruling of homicide was given “to keep the case open.”
• LE claims scenes of first two attacks showed no signs of struggle, and that in spite of wet ground from heavy rains, BC’s clothes and shoes weren’t soiled.
• LE claims that BC’s responses to the lie detector test he took were “significant of an attempt to deceive.”
• LE claim the trampled “death scene” [Bill dies at Doctors Hospital West] hurt their case: 35-40 people were present, many panic stricken, as the family and emergency services tried to save Bill’s life.
• A teacher tells LE that, before Bill died, he asked him Qs about “how to make yourself pass out.”
• Case remains open as a homicide.

(4) From various sources (see listing after this post):

EVIDENCE

Medical Report​

• Bill sees a doctor after the second assault, and his physician sees signs that Bill was choked (the choking caused blood vessels in his face to rupture).

Final Crime Scene​

• Knife, beer bottle, and scarf from murder scene sent to crime lab in London, OH.
• Family: "Franklin County Sheriff Cold Case unit has files, evidence, the scarf, statements, the butcher knife, pictures, DNA sample, everything."
• FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Lab and NYPD both perform "personality analyses,” using interviews with relatives, friends, and school officials, to determine "personality traits and habits" of the victim (a handwriting sample is included).
• Trace DNA found on scarf, awaiting release of new testing procedure that will better preserve sample (test was expected for release in Jan. 2013, but has not yet materialized).

CURRENT CASE STATUS

A cold case detective says they found bodily fluids on the scarf and plan to send it for DNA testing, but that has not been done yet. Since there isn't a big sample, they are waiting for a new test, currently in the works, to become available.​

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Ruby said:

Is there a link that has what was written on the notes?

I've must have missed the post where the info was located. I did not realize he was given a time frame in one of those notes, and then was held to it.

Does the police still have the notes in evidence to get fingerprints/dna from them, and so sorry if this has been discussed.

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