Arrest Made in 1993 Rape & Killing of Indy College Student

Source: Boone County Jail, Missouri / Boone County Jail, Missouri

INDIANAPOLIS — A DNA sample taken from a 1993 Indianapolis rape and murder may have finally hit on a potential suspect.

Court documents say Dana Jermaine Shepherd, 52, was arrested in Boone County, Missouri last week. He’s charged with two counts of murder and one count of rape related to the death of Carmen Hope Van Huss.

Carmen Van Huss was a 19-year-old college student living at an apartment complex on North Harcourt Road on the north side of Indianapolis in 1993. When Van Huss didn’t show up to work at Pizza Hut March 24th of that year, her co-workers started making phone calls. Van Huss’ father went to her apartment and found his daughter dead on the floor.

She was completely naked and had been stabbed 61 times. She was stabbed in the head, face and body.

DNA was taken at the time and throughout the years to eliminate multiple suspects, but detectives had no luck in matching the DNA to a solid suspect.

That was until the year 2000 when DNA samples were added to national and state databases.

Twenty-three years later, detectives with Indianapolis Metro Police were given a tip that the DNA samples from the crime scene matched the relative of a potential person of interest.

Police say Dana Shepherd’s DNA matches that of a blood stain found at the scene. Shepherd, who would’ve been 21 at the time, lived in the same apartment building. Shepherd and Van Huss’ rooms were connected through a common area.

Shepherd now works as a custodian at the University of Missouri. He was arrested Friday and is currently held in the Boone County Jail in Missouri. Shepherd has a criminal history with a few cases in both Indiana and Missouri, although nothing of the severity of the Van Huss case.

He has a court hearing set for Wednesday, September 4th.