A Columbia custodian charged with the gruesome rape and murder of a woman in Indianapolis more than 31 years ago has made his initial court appearance in Boone County.
939 the Eagle News was at the Boone County Courthouse on Wednesday, when 52-year-old Dana Jermaine Shepherd appeared in court via video from the Boone County jail. He’s charged in Boone County with the felony of being a fugitive from out-of-state. Shepherd is charged in Indiana with murder and rape for the March 1993 stabbing death of Carmen Hope Van Huss.
Shepherd, who was wearing a jail jumpsuit, tells Boone County Judge Kimberly Shaw that he will submit an application for a public defender to represent him. Judge Shaw keeps the case at no bond, and she says Shepherd’s extradition hearing is set for September 26. Boone County prosecutors describe Shepherd as a flight risk.
It had been a cold case until Shepherd’s arrest on Friday. Indianapolis television reporter Marina Silva of WTHR quotes court documents as saying Van Huss was stabbed 61 times. Court documents say Shepherd lived in the same apartment complex as Van Huss in 1993.
