John Ingram Brandenburg Jr.[38] (formerly known as Brad) was the fourth and final murder victim discovered at the abandoned farmhouse.[22] This victim was determined to be a white male most likely aged between seventeen and twenty-three years old.[5][n 4] He had medium length, reddish or auburn, wavy hair, weighed between 130 and 180 pounds[1] and was most likely between five feet eleven inches and six feet one inches in height.[n 5] 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.[39][40] In addition, staining evident upon the teeth indicated he may have been a smoker.[31]
The clothing worn by this decedent included size 30×30 brown slacks, white jockey undershorts (which had been lowered to his ankles),[22] and size 10 brown leather hiking boots described as being ankle-high with a fleece interior.[41][42]
This decedent had two known tattoos on opposite sides of his right forearm—both of which were moderately preserved and recognizable.[43] 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 (or possibly U-shaped) marking containing one circular mark, which was located on the other side of his forearm.[41] The crude nature of these tattoos indicated a possibility this decedent may have served time in jail or a juvenile detention center in life.[36]
Eyler specifically stated this murder had been committed in either mid- or late-May 1983, on a date he believed his alleged accomplice, Robert Little, had been on a sabbatical from his employment as a library science professor at the Indiana State University.[28]
As with Adam, DNA was extracted from one of this decedent’s bones in efforts to locate any individual who may be related to him whose DNA is contained within national public DNA databases. In April 2021, Brad was formally identified as a 19-year-old Kentucky native named John Brandenburg Jr., who had disappeared from Chicago in 1983.[22][44] He was last seen by his family leaving their home to visit a friend.[45]
Eyler’s confession
In Eyler’s posthumous confession to Brandenburg’s murder he stated that, following a weekend of continual arguing with his lover, he had driven from his lover’s home in Greenview, Illinois to Robert Little’s Terre Haute residence, where he first encountered this victim. According to Eyler, Little confided to him he had “picked this guy up” at a location he did not divulge. He was unsure whether Brandenburg and Little had been previously acquainted, although he did observe the two had “seemed sort of familiar” with each other.[36] Shortly thereafter, Little persuaded this individual to participate in a sexual act at the abandoned farmhouse where Eyler had earlier murdered Bartlett and Bauer[46] upon the promise of being paid one-hundred dollars. According to Eyler, as the trio drove to this location, Little had informed this individual, “We’re looking for something really far out”.[47]
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. According to Eyler, he had to struggle to remove Brandenburg’s clothing as the young man “seemed to know something was wrong”. He was then stabbed to death after Eyler—responding to an instruction from Little—had informed him, “Okay, make your peace with God, motherfucker.”[43]
Brandenburg’s body was dismembered following his murder, with his head removed from the crime scene at Little’s instruction after he informed Eyler he did not want Brandenburg’s murder “connected to [him].” His head was later discarded in a dumpster close to Terre Haute.[42]
Investigation
Theories
Given the fact Eyler’s identified victims lived in either Indiana or Illinois, investigators believed the two unidentified decedents were also likely native to the Midwestern United States.[5][n 6] Upon revealing the successful identifications of Brad and Adam, investigators discovered both teenagers had been Chicago residents, with the former born in Kentucky.[50]
“I want to get them home. They don’t belong here. They don’t belong in my office. Somewhere out there is a mother or a father or a sister or a brother. They have to be missing these kids.”
— Newton Countycoroner Scott McCord, describing his ongoing determination to identify the Newton County John Does (2010)[51]
Facial reconstructions
Prior to their identification, several forensic facial reconstructions of Brandenburg and Bibbs’s faces were generated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.[28] The facial reconstructions by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reportedly took approximately eighteen months to complete.[1]
Interment
In October 2016, a public funeral for Adam and Brad was held in Brook, Indiana. Both decedents—plus a further unidentified decedent known as Charlene Newton Doe whose death is unrelated to these cases[52]—were interred inside of a mausoleum in Riverside Cemetery in Brook, Indiana.[31]
One month after the April 2021 identification of John Brandenburg, his body was buried in Rest Haven Cemetery in Corbin, Kentucky.[53] Bibbs’s body was returned to his family in September 2023; his body was buried in Chicago’s Mount Hope Cemetery.[54]
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