A detective who requested public funding for a DNA test in a decades-old murder has not been removed from the case, Indianapolis' chief of police said Friday. IMPD Detective Sgt. Bill Carter has spent his own time working on a cold case -- trying to solve the homicide of Carmen Van Huss.
The 19-year-old was raped and killed in her apartment on the city's north side March 23, 1993. She was found by her father two days later.
Chief Rick Hite said Carter may have been temporarily removed from the case -- apparently due to a miscommunication between Carter, IMPD and the crime lab -- because of payment for a DNA test, but that he will continue to be a part of the investigation going forward.
"If something were to happen to my family and Sgt. Carter wasn't around to help out if he could, I would feel the same way," Hite said. "I'm simply saying that we're not going to deny any of our people, and certainly not Sgt. Carter and his tenacity to find justice, the opportunity to assist in this case. It's not like television. You don't just have one detective working on a case."
The victim’s brother, Jimmy Van Huss, said when he learned that Carter was removed from his sister’s cold case, he lost hope that the person who killed his sister would ever be found.
"Ever since Bill Carter took over, we had some hope. You balance between not getting your hopes up and having hope, and he gave hope," Van Huss said. "If he's not assigned to the case, I have zero hope that it'll be solved, zero."
More than two decades later, Van Huss still remembers his sister as a person full of life and joy.
"She was an animal lover, if you would let her, she'd bring home every stray she could find. She was always into fashion, always into hair, every time you see her, she had either colored it or cut it, very artistic," Van Huss said Thursday.
Van Huss said Carter has spent thousands of hours of his own time working on the case since 2011. He set up a GoFundMe page to finance a lab test to find the race of Carmen’s killer.
"The testing has to be done by an outside lab that is not covered by grant funds. The funds are needed to complete the testing to establish a more profile of Carmen's killer," read the GoFundMe page.
"Cause he's got several people that are in his eyesight and you know, he's got a large group of people he's looking at and if he could cut that down to a particular race, it'd definitely help," Van Huss said.
IMPD said Friday that the department will now finance the cost of the test, and that all of the money already donated would be returned.
Van Huss said he's still hopeful investigators will one day find his sister’s killer.
"And just to know that person's been walking around for more than two decades, it's disheartening," he said.
