FOND DU LAC, WI — After nearly 31 years, investigators in Fond du Lac County have made an arrest in the disappearance of James “Jim” Ruland, who was last seen in October 1995. The sheriff’s office says the case, once treated as a missing-person investigation, had shifted long ago into a homicide probe as detectives kept working the trail.
Authorities announced that Jerome Baier was taken into custody on a charge of first-degree intentional homicide in Ruland’s death. Baier was Ruland’s roommate when Ruland vanished. He is being held in the Fond du Lac County Jail and is waiting for an initial court appearance.
Ruland was last seen in North Fond du Lac in October 1995
According to investigators, Ruland was 40 years old and living in the Town of Ripon when he disappeared. A witness later reported that the person seen hitchhiking in North Fond du Lac on October 24, 1995 may have been Ruland. His vehicle was found afterward at the Stretch Truck Stop in North Fond du Lac.
Those early details became the starting point for a long search that never led to Ruland being found. Even so, the sheriff’s office kept his name active in major law-enforcement systems, including the National Crime Information Center, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, and the FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program.
Searches expanded as the case moved from missing person to homicide
As the investigation developed, evidence pointed detectives away from a simple disappearance and toward a possible killing. That change widened the scope of the case and brought in a range of search methods designed to locate human remains and test burial sites.
Investigators used human remains detection dogs, ground-penetrating radar, aerial searches, large excavations of possible burial locations, public safety divers in waterways, and searches of a pig farm manure pit. Those efforts show how much time and labor went into trying to determine what happened after Ruland was last seen.
Forensic testing in 2021 gave investigators a new lead
The break in the case came in 2021, when newer forensic testing methods were applied to evidence that had already been submitted to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab. Officials described the renewed review as giving the evidence “new eyes,” and they said the results helped back up information gathered through interviews and additional evidence analysis.
That new testing did not locate Ruland’s remains, and authorities said interviews afterward still did not turn up his body. Even so, investigators say the forensic work strengthened their belief that they had identified the person responsible for his disappearance.
Search warrant tied Baier’s home in Spencer to the case
Working with the Fond du Lac County District Attorney’s Office, detectives secured a search warrant for a residence in the Spencer area of Marathon County that belonged to Jerome Baier. That step marked a major development after years of continued investigation.
Authorities then served a warrant for Baier’s arrest early Friday morning and took him into custody. The sheriff’s office says the charge is first-degree intentional homicide in the death of James Ruland. The case now moves into the court system, where Baier will have an initial appearance.
A cold case built on persistence and a long paper trail
The arrest reflects a case that remained active for decades rather than fading away. From the beginning, investigators entered Ruland’s information into national databases so his disappearance would stay visible to law enforcement agencies beyond Wisconsin.
That recordkeeping, along with interviews, searches, and updated forensic work, eventually led detectives to a suspect and to an arrest 31 years after Ruland was last seen. The sheriff’s office has not said whether additional people are being investigated, and it has not identified any recovery of remains.
Local news that matters, from Dulaney Griffin.
