Chicago teen identified as victim of 'highway killer' found dead on abandoned Indiana farm in 1983

LAKE VILLAGE, Ind. - A victim of notorious serial killer Larry Eyler who was found on an abandoned farm in Indiana decades ago has been identified.

Keith Lavell Bibbs, of Chicago, was 17 years old when he went missing and for nearly 40 years, he has been known as "Adam Doe."

Bibbs was one of four young men found on an abandoned farm in rural Lake Village, Indiana on Oct. 18 and 19 in 1983. He and the four other victims were drugged and murdered by Eyler, who is also known as the ‘highway killer.’

All four victims have now been identified. 

Michael Bauer and John Bartlett were identified early in the investigation, but "Adam Doe" and "Brad Doe" remained unidentified for years. Brad Doe was identified as John Brandenburg, Jr in 2021.

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The Newton County Coroner, Scott McCord, brought the Adam Doe case to the DNA Doe Project in 2020 in hopes of finding a resolution after 37 years had passed without a viable lead to the teen's identity.

The case spent more than two years in the labs and multiple attempts were made to create a workable DNA profile that could be uploaded to databases used for forensic cases.

In January, the team of investigative genetic genealogists started to gain some traction on the complex family tree.

After reaching out to potential family members and allowing the upload of their DNA, a match was developed. 

The family was notified, and a Family Reference Sample (FRS) was obtained from a potential brother of "Adam Doe." The sample was sent to the Indiana State Police Lab for "Kinship" testing. The testing was conclusive that "Adam" was Keith Bibbs. 

Authorities tied Bibbs' murder to Eyler, who confessed to killing more than 20 young men in the ’80s and ’90s. 

Eyler was sentenced to death but died in 1994 while on death row.