The Newton County (Indiana) Coroner’s Office and Identify Indiana Initiative with the assistance of members of the DNA Doe Project and the Indiana State Police Lab in Indianapolis have positively identified the remains of a young man found nearly 40 years ago.
Known for years as “Adam Doe”, the man has been positively identified as Keith Lavell Bibbs, of Chicago. Bibbs was 16 when he went missing.
Family has been contacted and advised of their son/brother’s fate.
Bibbs was one of four young men found on an abandoned farm in rural Lake Village on October 18-19, 1983. He, along with the others, had been drugged and murdered by now deceased serial killer Larry Eyler (the Highway Killer).
Eyler confessed to at least 20 killings before his death in an Illinois prison in 1994. A the time, he was on death row for the 1984 murder of Danny Bridges,15, of Chicago.
Eyler was born in Crawfordsville. He, at times, had worked and lived in Terre Haute and Greencastle.
Of the four victims found, all have now been identified. Michael Bauer and John Bartlett were identified early in the investigation leaving “Adam Doe” and “Brad Doe” unidentified for years.
Through collaboration with the DNA Doe Project, a 501(c) (3) volunteer group, and Rebecca Goddard, Chief Deputy Prosecutor for Newton County, a volunteer as well, and the use of genetic genealogy a potential match was found. After reaching out to potential family members and allowing the upload of their DNA into a program called GEDMatch, a match was developed. The family was quickly and quietly notified, and a Family Reference Sample (FRS) was obtained from a potential brother of “Adam”. This sample was sent to the Indiana State Police Lab in Indianapolis for “kinship” testing. This testing was conclusive that “Adam” was Keith Bibbs.
The Newton County Coroner's office says at this time no further information will be released until the family has had time to grieve and they give permission to release more detailed information.
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