In 1993, This Indiana Teen Was Found Assaulted And Stabbed To Death In Her Apartment, And Investigators Believe She Knew Her Killer
On October 9, 1973, Carmen Hope Van Huss of Indianapolis, Indiana, was born. She was primarily raised by her aunt and uncle since her parents divorced when she was just a young girl. But despite that family strife, Carmen still remained close to both her parents and her younger brother.
Then, as a teen, she attended Lawrence Central High School. However, Carmen eventually began to struggle in her classes and opted to drop out– earning a GED instead.
Her decision to take a different path did not change Carmen’s character, though. She was known by family and friends as a beautiful, loving young woman who never got into any trouble, adored animals, dreamt of becoming a veterinarian, and had a strong passion for drawing.
Yet, by the time Carmen was nineteen, everything would change for her and her family.
It all began on the night of March 22, 1993, when Carmen went with her father and younger brother to visit her grandmother in the hospital. Afterward, following the visit, she drove her family back to their home at about 10:30 p.m. before heading back to her apartment on the north side of town.
Her father reportedly asked Carmen to stay over that evening since it had already gotten late. But, she declined the invitation– since she was scheduled to work at Pizza Hut the following morning and needed to wash her uniforms that night.
Carmen did arrive safely at her apartment at about 11:00 p.m., according to neighbors. However, she was also reportedly with an unknown man, and the pair were heard talking and laughing in the stairwells.
Later statements collected by police also revealed that the neighbors had heard Carmen being attacked by the same unknown man inside her apartment between 1:00 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. The teen reportedly yelled, “Get off me! Get off me!” before the building went silent, and footsteps were heard leaving her apartment.
Unfortunately, though, Carmen’s neighbors did not call the police that evening. Instead, they opted to submit a noise complaint to the apartment’s front office, who later left a note on the teen’s door the next morning.
Facebook – pictured above is Carmen
By the following afternoon of March 24, though, Carmen’s father knew that something had gone terribly wrong. He had received a call from Pizza Hut and learned that his daughter never showed up for her last two shifts. This was extremely uncharacteristic of Carmen, who was known to be a trustworthy and hard worker.
So, the teen’s father attempted to call her numerous times. And after he could not get through to Carmen, he decided to travel to her apartment.
Upon arrival, he was met with the noise complaint, which had been left on his daughter’s unlocked door. Then, after walking inside, he found Carmen– who had been assaulted and stabbed numerous times– lying only partially clothed on the floor of her apartment.
Authorities were immediately called, and investigators arrived on the scene to gather evidence. There, police collected bottles of beer and remnants of fast-food items that had been last touched the evening before. This fact alone led investigators to believe that Carmen had known her killer.
The teen’s two past boyfriends were subsequently interviewed, one of whom was out of the state at the time of her murder. Nonetheless, both exes were cleared via DNA testing.
And even though DNA collection and testing were completed very early in Carmen’s case investigation, this evidence actually proved useless– because it was soon revealed that the crime lab actually sent out the wrong DNA samples to be tested. More specifically, the samples that were tested belonged to Carmen– not her killer.
So, by 2015, Carmen’s case had still tragically remained cold, but Detective Sargeant William Carter did not want her murder to go unsolved. In turn, he coordinated a GoFundMe campaign in hopes of raising enough money to fund new DNA tests of the evidence in her case.
The fundraiser’s initial goal was nine hundred and ninety-six dollars. But, in just over one day, the community had banded together to raise over one thousand and two hundred dollars.
This amount of money allowed the detective to not only pay for the case’s DNA tests but also to add additional money to the reward fund. Soon after, though, Sgt. Carter’s plans came crashing down.
Apparently, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department began to make conflicting statements regarding Sgt. Carter’s employment at the station. Rumors also swirled that he had actually been taken off of Carmen’s case.
It was clear that Sgt. Carter was trying to fight for Carmen, though. So after Carmen’s family heard the news, they actually organized a petition to reinstate the officer.
Within the petition, they detailed how Sgt. Carter had been the most thorough and dedicated investigator on Carmen’s case. It soon gained over five hundred signatures from community members, and the petition even spurred widespread press coverage.
This public scrutiny ultimately forced the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to hold a press conference in which the decision to take Sgt. Carter off the case was clarified.
According to officials, Sgt. Carter’s removal was not due to his fundraising efforts but rather because of a “review of assignments and procedures.” It was also revealed that the Sgt. Carter was never a cold case investigator but actually worked within the Nuisance and Abatement Unit.
So, over the two years Sgt. Carter had been working on Carmen’s case, the officer had done so within his free time.
This ultimately meant that following the press conference, Sgt. Carter was reassigned to work on Carmen’s case. However, the funds that he had raised for new DNA tests had to be returned to donors.
And since then, there have sadly been no leads or breaks in Carmen’s case. Her family continues to fight for justice and spread awareness of her case on social media– primarily via a Facebook page entitled Justice for Carmen Van Huss, which has over six hundred and seventy-five followers.
There is also still a one thousand dollar reward being offered to any community member with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of Carmen’s killer.
At the time of her death, Carmen was five foot two, weighed one hundred and fifteen pounds, and had brown hair. If you have any information regarding her case, you are urged to contact Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at (317) 262-TIPS.
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