BOONE COUNTY, Mo. — A Missouri man wanted in connection with the 1993 murder of an Indianapolis woman has been arrested and charged with her death over 30 years after the case was opened.
Dana Jermaine Shepherd, 52, is charged with two counts of murder and one count of rape in connection with the 1993 death of Carmen Hope Van Huss.
Shepherd was arrested in Boone County, Missouri, on Friday, Aug. 30. He is charged in Marion County, Indiana. Shepherd reportedly works for the University of Missouri as a custodian.
"She was taken from me when I was a freshman in high school, and I'm glad the man who did it is where he belongs," said Van Huss's brother Jimmy, at a press conference on Sept. 3.
"For 31 years, the family of Carmen Van Huss has been searching for answers and justice. While nothing can ever replace their loved one, we hope that today's arrest brings them some measure of peace," said Deputy Chief Kendale Adams, of IMPD's Criminal Investigations Division, on the day of Shepherd's arrest. "We remain dedicated to bringing justice to all victims and will continue to pursue every lead, no matter how much time has passed."
Police say advancements in DNA testing, combined with the use of information found in genealogy databases, brought results that eventually led investigators to Shepherd.
“For more than 31 years, Van Huss’ family and friends never had the closure of knowing who was responsible for this heinous crime," said Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears. "Thanks to the resilient work of several individuals, many of whom have since retired, we have reached this point, and the defendant will no longer have the undeserved freedom he has had for 31 years.”
Found by her father
On March 24, 1993, 19-year-old Carmen Hope Van Huss was found raped and murdered in her north Indianapolis apartment in the 8200 block of Harcourt Road, near West 79th Street and Ditch Road.
Carmen's father called 911 after he found his daughter dead on the floor of her apartment.
According to court documents, one of Carmen's co-workers at a local Pizza Hut called her father after she didn't show up to work.
Carmen's father told detectives he tried calling her multiple times but never got a response, so he drove to her apartment to check on her.
Court documents say Carmen's father showed up at her apartment, and he said the front door was unlocked, so he went in the apartment and found his daughter dead on the floor.
Detectives said Carmen was found naked, and there were obvious signs of a struggle at the scene, including a knocked over table, clothes thrown on the floor, a large pool of blood near Van Huss' head and blood splatter around her body.
According to court documents, detectives said Carmen had multiple puncture wounds to her head, face and body.
The Marion County Coroner's Office determined Carmen's cause of death was from stab wounds to the head and ruled her manner of death a homicide. The corner's office said she had 61 stab wounds on her body.
According to court documents, Sheperd was Van Huss’s neighbor at the time of her murder.
A decades long search
"Obviously, we wanted to offer a solution and kept working it and technology and DNA constantly evolves and so the DNA test in 2015 was definitely different from this type of testing,” said IMPD Detective William Carter.
Jimmy Van Huss, Carmen's younger brother, said his sister loved animals and was a freshman in college, studying art, when she was brutally murdered.
Jimmy said he was a freshman in high school at the time of his sister's death and found out when he turned on the news and saw their father crying.
According to Jimmy, their father was never the same. Their father died in 2002 — never knowing who killed his daughter.
Court documents say detectives spoke with multiple witnesses who lived on her floor, many saying they heard yelling – one of whom said they heard a woman scream 'get off of me' – as well as footsteps hurrying away.
Over the years, multiple people were eliminated as suspects.
According to court documents, Shepherd lived at the same apartment complex as Carmen in 1993, with the apartments being connected internally by a shared common area, which included a laundry room.
In 2000, detectives asked to have Carmen's DNA entered into state and national databases.
Twenty-three years later, IMPD detectives were notified by a DNA analysis service that one of their users might be related to a person of interest taken from evidence at the apartment where Carmen was killed.
The tip eventually led IMPD to find Shepherd in Columbia, Missouri. DNA collected from Shepherd reportedly matched the blood stain that was on the paper sack from the trash can in the kitchen at Carmen's apartment.
Shepherd is being held in the Boone County, Missouri jail. Police said a hearing will be scheduled for Shepherd to be extradited back to Indianapolis in the coming days.
Hope for other families
Now Van Huss’s family is hoping the same testing advances that helped solve their case can allow other families to someday stand where they are now.
"I do have hope that any similar case with DNA can get this same traction with the genealogy and everything we have available today. I want all of them to get the same attention and maybe we can all have some more outcomes like this,” said Jimmy Van Huss.
IMPD said they want to hear from other families with cold cases of loved ones who have been murdered.
"Technology has advanced. Our ability to compare things has advanced. Our ability to seek those answers continues. That pursuit continues,” said IMPD Deputy Chief Kendale Adams.
“We have not forgotten about you,” Adams said.