Missouri man arrested in Indiana woman's 1993 stabbing death

A Missouri man was charged with murder and rape in the fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old woman more than three decades after she was found dead in her Indianapolis apartment, authorities said Tuesday.

Dana Shepherd, 52, was arrested Aug. 20 in the 1993 killing of Carmen Van Huss after investigators used genetic genealogy — a technique that uses DNA evidence and genealogical research — to help identify her suspected killer, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said in a news release.

Authorities in Boone County, Missouri, surveilled Shepherd and took him into custody, deputy police Chief Kendale Adams told reporters.

Boone County jail records show Shepherd is being held without bond. Prosecutors in Marion County, Indiana, are seeking his extradition back to that state, according to the news release.

It wasn’t clear Tuesday if he has has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

Shepherd declined to speak with investigators after he was taken into custody, the police department said.

Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, Van Huss’ brother said his sister was killed when he was a freshman in high school.

“There’s a lot of people that miss Carmen all these years,” Jimmy Van Huss said. “She had a lot of family, a lot of friends. She had cousins that loved her like a sister. She had an aunt and uncle that loved her like a daughter.”

“For my dad to have to find his daughter after what was brutally done to her makes this day bittersweet,” he added. “I wish he was here to see it.”

Carmen Van Huss was found dead in her apartment north of downtown Indianapolis on March 24, 1993, according to the news release.

After a co-worker at Pizza Hut told her father she hadn’t shown up to work, he found signs of a struggle at her apartment and his daughter’s body on the floor, NBC affiliate WTHR of Indianapolis reported.

Citing the Marion County Coroner’s Office, the station reported that Van Huss had been stabbed 61 times.

In the decades that followed, detectives interviewed dozens of people and followed up on hundreds of leads, but the case remained cold until a detective provided a DNA sample in 2018 to Parabon NanoLabs, a genetic genealogy company that has worked with law enforcement agencies across the United States to solve cold cases.

Five years later, in the summer of 2023, a combination of that analysis and investigative work pointed to Shepherd as a suspect, the department said. Additional DNA testing showed that Shepherd’s genetic material matched evidence found on the victim’s body and at her apartment, the department said.

“For 31 years, the family of Carmen Van Huss has been searching for answers and justice,” Adams said. “While nothing can ever replace their loved one, we hope that today’s arrest brings them some measure of peace.”