Newton County John Does
The Newton County John Does are two young unidentified murder victims whose remains were discovered alongside the bodies of two other, identified, murder victims by mushroom foragers in Lake Village, Newton County, Indiana, on October 18, 1983.
Both individuals are individually known as Adam and Brad; names given to each individual by Newton County coroner Scott McCord who, having discovered the decedents remained unidentified and had never been either returned to their families or given a dignified burial, provided each individual with a name in an effort to further humanize the victims.
In efforts to discover the identity of these individuals, a forensic anthropologist named Stephen Nawrocki has developed forensic facial reconstructions of each decedent. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has also created composite drawings of the decedents, depicting how the individuals may have appeared in life. Furthermore, DNA has been extracted from both decedents for genetic testing against the DNA of any individual who may be related to them.
These unidentified decedents are collectively known as the Newton County John Does due to the name of the county in which their bodies were discovered.
Discovery
On October 18, 1983 a middle-aged couple gathering wild mushrooms discovered two partially buried human skulls alongside an oak tree close to an abandoned farmhouse in Lake Village, Indiana. The couple immediately reported their discovery to authorities.Investigators discovered the partially decomposed bodies of four murder victims at this location. Each victim had been deceased for several months, and all four decedents had been partially buried, face upwards, with sections of the body of each victim remaining exposed above ground and loosely covered with leaves and soil, suggesting the murderer had made only rudimentary efforts to conceal each victim.
Three of these victims were buried at one side of the tree, three feet apart, with their heads facing north. The fourth decedent was buried at the other side of this tree. All four victims had been bound and stabbed more than two dozen times, and the trousers and underwear of each victim were discovered around their ankles. Furthermore, the body of one victim had been dismembered after death.
All four murders were almost immediately linked to the collective manhunt for a serial killer known as the Highway Murderer, who at the time of the discovery of these bodies was believed to have already murdered up to nineteen young males across several Midwestern States. The level of decomposition of each victim and the clothing discovered upon each body suggested several weeks or months had elapsed between each murder. One victim had worn a parka, whereas the other three victims had worn clothing suggesting they had been murdered in the spring or summer. In addition, evidence retrieved from the farmhouse would lead investigators to conclude the murderer had evidently used this location as a site to restrain and torture these victims before burying their bodies alongside the oak tree.
By December 1983, two of these four murder victims had been identified via dental records as Michael Bauer and John Bartlett; both of whom had been murdered by Eyler in early March 1983. The third and fourth victims discovered at this location remain unidentified.
Perpetrator's confession
Serial killer Larry Eyler posthumously confessed to these four murders following his death due to AIDS-related complications in March 1994 while incarcerated on death row at the Pontiac Correctional Center, where he had been detained since 1986 for the 1984 murder of a 16-year-old Uptown male prostitute.A major factor as to why neither Adam nor Brad has been identified is due to the fact that Eyler encountered both decedents by happenstance. According to his posthumous confession, Adam was a hitchhiker who agreed to submit to a sexual act for $75; Brad was an individual whom Eyler claimed to have been introduced to by his alleged accomplice, Robert David Little. He was unaware of either of their actual identities. In addition, he is known to have disposed of any forms of identification that he would find upon his victims' possession.
"Adam"
Victim A, or Adam, a black male, was the third of the four victims to be discovered at the burial site. This victim is believed to be around fifteen to eighteen years of age, although he may have been aged in his early twenties. His hair was cut short and was black, and he was most likely between five feet eight inches and six feet two inches in height. He had received several fillings in life.The clothing worn by this decedent included a distinctive red and black belt, inscribed with the word "devil" multiple times. The buckle contained the word "jeans". A pair of jeans and pajama bottoms were found on his remains, along with a pair of boots. The boots were made in the Hush Puppies design and had metal buckles to fasten them on each side.
As with the vast majority of Eyler's murder victims, Adam was found with his trousers and underwear around his ankles.
Eyler specifically stated this murder had been committed in July 1983, and confirmed investigators' suspicions that the victim had been a hitchhiker whom he had lured into his vehicle near Indiana State Road 63 in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Investigator Scott McCord believes that Adam was likely native to the region, perhaps from Chicago or St. Louis.
Eyler's confession
In a formal confession released by Eyler's defense attorney, Kathleen Zellner, following her client's death, Eyler claimed that after an argument with his boyfriend, John Dobrovolskis, he had driven toward Terre Haute in mid-July 1983. While traveling through the town, he had encountered a hitchhiker whom he confirmed to be Adam and who he described as being aged in his late teens or early twenties. According to Eyler, he offered this victim seventy-five dollars to allow Eyler to bind and "perform a sexual act" upon him, to which the victim agreed. After Eyler had plied the young man with vodka and ethchlorvynol, he drove him to the abandoned farmhouse in Lake Village, where he had earlier murdered John Bartlett, Michael Bauer, and Brad. At this location, the victim was bound, blindfolded, and stabbed multiple times in his upper and lower midsection.According to Eyler, his last words to the victim were, "Okay, make your peace with God, nigger."
Eyler's confession further revealed he had intentionally buried this victim separately from the three Caucasian victims he had previously murdered at this location as he did not believe it to be "proper" to bury an African-American alongside European Americans.
"Brad"
Victim B, or Brad, was the fourth and final murder victim discovered at the abandoned farmhouse. This victim was determined to be a white male most likely aged between seventeen and twenty-three years old. He had medium length, reddish or auburn, wavy hair, weighed between 130 and 180 pounds and was most likely between five feet eleven inches and six feet one inches in height. This decedent had also received several fillings in life and, in the years prior to his murder, had severely fractured his nose and left ankle. In addition, staining evident upon the teeth indicated he may have been a smoker.The clothing worn by this decedent included size 30x30 brown slacks and jockey undershorts which had been lowered to his ankles, and brown leather hiking boots described as being ankle-high with a fleece interior.
This decedent had two known tattoos on opposite sides of his right forearm—both of which were moderately preserved and recognizable. One of these tattoos depicted either a crudely inscribed Chinese character or a cross with two circular marks. This tattoo was located on the underside of the decedent's arm close to the wrist; the other was a rectangular marking containing one circular mark, which was located on the other side of his forearm. The crude nature of these tattoos indicates a possibility this decedent may have served time in jail or a juvenile detention center in life.
Eyler specifically stated this murder had been committed in either mid- or late-May 1983, on a date he believed his alleged accomplice, Robert David Little, had been on a sabbatical from his employment as a library science professor at the Indiana State University.
As with Adam, DNA has also been extracted from one of this decedent's bones for genetic testing against the DNA of any family member who may be related to Brad.
Eyler's confession
Eyler's posthumous confession released by his defense attorney, Kathleen Zellner, stated that, following a weekend of arguing with his lover, he had drove from his lover's home in Greenview, Illinois to Robert Little's Terre Haute residence, where he had first encountered this victim. According to Eyler, Little confided to him he had "picked this guy up" at an unknown location, although he did observe the two had "seemed sort of familiar" with each other. Shortly thereafter, Little persuaded this individual to participate in a sexual act at the abandoned farmhouse where Eyler had earlier murdered Bartlett and Bauer, upon the promise of being paid one-hundred dollars.At this location, the victim was blindfolded, handcuffed, and bound to a wooden post resembling a cross before Robert Little took several photographs as Eyler removed or adjusted several items of his clothing. He was then stabbed to death after Eyler—responding to an instruction from Little—had informed him, "Okay, make your peace with God, motherfucker."
Ongoing investigation
Theories
Given the fact Eyler's identified victims lived in either Indiana or Illinois, these two unidentified decedents are possibly native to the Midwestern United States. However, investigators have not discounted the possibility that either victim could have hailed from anywhere in the United States or Canada.Facial reconstructions
The two victims' faces have been reconstructed several times by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The facial reconstructions by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reportedly took approximately eighteen months to complete.The investigation to determine the identities of these two individuals is ongoing; dental records of both are in the possession of investigators; and the DNA of both individuals is stored within national DNA databases. In July 2020, the DNA Doe Project announced renewed genetic testing efforts to identify Adam.