Human remains discovered in 1983 on an abandoned farm in Indiana have been positively identified as belonging to Keith Lavell Bibbs, a Chicago teenager who fell victim to the notorious serial killer Larry Eyler. This announcement was made by authorities on Tuesday.
Alongside the remains of three other young men, whom Eyler also confessed to killing, the DNA Doe Project and the Newton County Coroner’s Office confirmed that the remains are indeed those of 16-year-old Bibbs. Larry Eyler, known as the “Interstate Killer,” admitted to at least 20 murders before his death in 1994 while on death row for the 1984 murder of 15-year-old Danny Bridges from Chicago.
Back in 1990, Eyler confessed to the killing of a Black male in July 1983 at a Newton County farm, describing the victim as being in his late teens or early 20s. The victim’s identity was not known until now, but it has been determined that Bibbs, a Chicago resident, fits the description of the victim Eyler referred to in his confession.
The process of identifying Bibbs took almost four decades, with the Newton County Coroner’s Office collaborating with the DNA Doe Project, Indiana State Police, and the Identify Indiana Initiative. The DNA from Bibbs’ remains was heavily degraded, which made the investigation challenging. Over two years, investigators worked tirelessly to construct a viable DNA profile to compare against forensic databases. Ultimately, a team of investigative genetic genealogists successfully untangled Bibbs’ complex family tree, leading to his identification in January.
The abandoned farm in Lake Village, located approximately 60 miles southeast of Chicago, yielded the remains of all four victims buried in shallow graves in October 1983. Eyler had drugged and murdered all of them, as per his confessions. The previously identified victims include Michael Bauer, John Bartlett, and John Ingram Brandenburg Jr., while Bibbs remained the last unidentified victim until now.
Another of Eyler’s victims, 19-year-old William Joseph Lewis of Peru, Indiana, was found in a Jasper County field, about 70 miles southeast of Chicago, in December 2021. His body had been discovered in October 1983. Eyler’s killing spree left a trail of tragedy and pain for the families of the victims, and the identification of Bibbs brings some closure to one family’s decades-long ordeal.
You can also read: Minneapolis Security Guard Fired for Requesting Fan Photos with Taylor Swift
Newton County Coroner Scott McCord is now working to ensure Bibbs’ remains are returned to his relatives for a proper burial. The family has requested privacy as they grieve, and McCord expressed relief that the identification process has finally reached its conclusion after such a long and difficult journey.