"Today is not a victory lap" - Police & Family Discuss Arrest in...

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

INDIANAPOLIS — A bittersweet day of justice is how the family of a murdered Indianapolis college student describe a break in the case over thirty years in the making.

“She was taken from me when I was a freshman in high school,” said Jimmy VanHuss in a Tuesday press conference. Jimmy’s 19-year-old sister Carmen VanHuss was raped and stabbed to death in her northside apartment in March of 1993, “I’m grateful that the man that did it is finally where he needs to be.”

That man being Dana Shepherd, 52, of Missouri. He’s charged with two counts of murder and one count of rape. DNA was collected from the crime scene on the night of March 24th, but technological limitations prevent Indianapolis police from finding their suspect.

Indianapolis Metro Police say that DNA was eventually developed and processed, and that Shepherd’s DNA matched blood found at the scene. He was arrested Friday morning with the help of the Boone County Sheriff’s Office in Missouri, where Shepherd now lives and works as a custodian.

He invoked his right to a lawyer and refused to speak with police.

In addition to the DNA evidence, police say Dana Shepherd also lived in the same complex as Carmen VanHuss in 1993. Their rooms were separated by a common area.

VanHuss’ naked body was found by her father after she didn’t show up to work. VanHuss’ father passed away years later.

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“She wasn’t able to experience her college graduation,” Jimmy VanHuss continued, “she never had a wedding or any of the life events that she missed out on. When were becoming a lot closer just as she was taken from us. For my dad to have to find his daughter after what was brutally done to her – it’s just real bittersweet and I wish he were here to see it.”

“Today is not a victory lap,” said IMPD Deputy Chief Kendale Adams, “today is really just providing that closure for families and I know so many families in our community that don’t have that closure.”

Deputy Chief Adams encourages anyone with a case similar to the VanHuss family to always contact police.

Dana Shepherd is due in court this week and is expected to be extradited back to Indianapolis.

Full press conference from IMPD: