Missouri man arrested in 1993 murder of young Indianapolis woman after DNA matches crime scene evidence, police say
A Missouri man has been charged in the 1993 rape and slaying of a young Indianapolis woman after his DNA matched evidence found at the crime scene and on the victim's body, authorities said.
Dana Shepherd, 52, of Columbia, Missouri, was arrested Friday in Missouri on murder, felony murder and rape charges in 19-year-old Carmen Van Huss' killing, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said in a news release.
Shepherd was being held without bond Wednesday at Missouri's Boone County Jail, and an extradition hearing is to be held in the coming days, the police department said in a news release.
Online Indiana court records did not list an attorney who could speak on Shepherd's behalf Wednesday.
Deputy Chief Kendale Adams of the police department's criminal investigations division said Tuesday in a statement that he hopes Shepherd's arrest brings Van Huss' family "some measure of peace."
"For 31 years, the family of Carmen Van Huss has been searching for answers and justice," he added.
Van Huss' father found her dead in her Indianapolis apartment in March 1993 after she failed to show up for work. An autopsy found she had been raped and was stabbed 61 times, according to court records.
"We hope after all this time people understand just how violent my sister's murder was," Van Huss' brother, Jimmy Van Huss, told CBS affiliate WTTV. "She was raped and stabbed over 60 times and my dad had to see her like that, blood everywhere, blood on walls, his daughter was naked, laying there … he had to see that. That changed him forever."
DNA evidence was found on her body and blood was found on a paper bag in her apartment, but the case eventually went cold, police said.
In 2018, the department submitted a sample of DNA found at the scene to a specialty company. Last year, detectives used that company's genetic genealogy analysis to identify Shepherd as a suspect. They then collected DNA from Shepherd in February and found that it matched DNA found on Van Huss' body and the paper bag.
Investigators said Van Huss and Shepherd lived at the same apartment complex at the time she was slain.
Jimmy Van Huss told WTTV that he hopes the arrest in his sister's murder brings more attention to other cold cases.
"We want all of them to get this treatment," he told the station. "And by that, I mean the DNA, genealogy treatment. We would love a bill, a law, a procedure — something in Carmen's memory to get the attention other cases deserve."
