Suspect arrested in connection with 1996 southern Indiana cold case

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – A suspect has been arrested in a 29-year-old cold case, according to Indiana State Police.

Then-Detective Delmar Gross began an investigation in 1996 after a woman stated she was raped in Austin, Indiana.

The victim provided a name she believed belonged to the culprit. DNA analysis, however, confirmed that the suspect was not the perpetrator.

In June of 2025, an Indiana State Police forensic scientist notified Gross, now a lieutenant in the investigative division, that new DNA technology and techniques successfully identified a close genetic relative of the original suspect profile.

This led to follow-up interviews that identified 53-year-old Sammy Wayne Riley of La Follette, Tennessee, formerly a Scott County resident, as the suspect.

With the help of the Scott County Prosecutor’s Office, additional DNA samples were collected and analyzed, and an arrest warrant was requested and eventually issued on Wednesday, Oct. 29.

Investigators learned that Riley had returned to Indiana for family reasons and took him into custody on Saturday, Nov. 1.

Riley is being charged with rape committed by using or threatening the use of force.

He is currently being held in the Scott County Jail.

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