MURDERED: Carmen Van Huss

Evening

Carmen Van Huss visits her grandmother in the hospital with her father and half-brother.

Around 9:30 p.m

Carmen drops them off at home and says she needs to return to her apartment to wash her work uniform.

9:49 p.m

Carmen speaks on the phone with her boyfriend, Rob. She tells him she ran into an old friend, but does not remember his name.

Around 11 p.m

Neighbors hear Carmen enter her apartment with a man, laughing and talking in the hallway.

Around 1 a.m

Neighbors hear Carmen screaming from her apartment. The screaming lasts for about 30 minutes, and footsteps are later heard leaving the apartment.

Early morning

A noise complaint is filed with apartment management.

Carmen fails to show up for work. Her father goes to her apartment after being contacted by her friend, and he finds Carmen dead inside her apartment.

Police interview friends, neighbors, and former boyfriends. Several suspects are identified and later cleared.

Sergeant Bill Carter begins reviewing Carmen’s case and reexamines the evidence.

DNA testing produces a male profile, but no matches are found in CODIS. At least 40 men are ruled out through DNA comparisons.

A lab error results in the wrong DNA being tested. Additional testing is denied, and Carter is temporarily removed from the case.

Genetic genealogy testing indicates the suspect is a Black man.

A close genetic relative of the suspect is identified through a DNA database.

Investigators identify Dana Shepherd, a former resident of Carmen’s apartment complex, as a potential suspect.

Police collect a DNA sample from Shepherd in Missouri.

Shepherd’s DNA matches evidence from Carmen’s crime scene.

Shepherd is arrested and charged with murder and rape with deadly force.

Shepherd pleads guilty to one count of murder and is sentenced to 45 years in prison.

“Carmen’s Law” is signed into law in Indiana, creating a framework for privately funding advanced DNA testing in cold cases that have remained unsolved for at least five years.