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The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.

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All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages.

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Listener discretion is advised.

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I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.

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And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.

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And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases.

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Hello everyone and welcome back to Cold and Missing.

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I'm your host, Ali.

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And I'm your co-host, Eli.

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Welcome back, honey.

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Thank you.

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I'm grateful to be back here.

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The last couple of episodes where I haven't been on, you've really taken our podcast

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in not a different direction, but something new with having an interview style episode.

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And I didn't know if maybe you wanted to take a moment to speak on that before we get going

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on this new case, what that's been like for you and the folks you've been speaking with,

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just to recap of last week's episode.

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Yeah.

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I mean, it's always an honor to work with anybody of The Missing and Murdered and to

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be trusted with their story.

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So I was very honored when Peter and Paige agreed to work with me and be interviewed

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with me.

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So thank you again to Peter and Paige.

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And we're really hoping that the podcast will get to Melissa and she's able to get all the

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messages from her family and come home if that's what she wants to be doing.

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So we're really hopeful.

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And of course, we'll keep you all updated with anything that we hear, anything from

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the family as far as all that goes.

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So yeah, but always, always an honor to work with the families and friends.

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So if again, I usually do this at the end of the show, but if you want a case that you

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want covered on Cold and Missing, you can always reach out to us and we'll get in touch

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and we'll work.

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Well, it's been just incredible to watch you work and navigate this podcast, you know,

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that I've seen grow from, you know, a little small seed to this, you know, magnificent

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tree that it's become.

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Another thing that's been just incredible to watch is the correspondence you have with

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these families or loved ones of folks who are maybe missing or with cases that have

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gone cold.

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It's true community engagement to me, especially when I hear you talking to the families and

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really learning who these people are or who they were.

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Yeah, that was what I wanted to just contribute on my end that it's really changed my perspective

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on how a podcast can function, including how it can function on a very community close

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and personal level.

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But with that said, we have a cold case this week.

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That's right.

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We are back onto cold cases.

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All right.

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Would you like to take it away?

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Yeah, let's do it.

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So just as a bit of a content warning at the top, this case does have mentions of sexual

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assault.

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Today, we are going to be talking about the cold case of Carmen Van Huss, and this takes

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place in March of 1993 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

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But first a little bit about Carmen.

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Carmen is 19 years old in 1993.

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She lived on the far north side of Indianapolis.

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Carmen's life had not been easy.

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Her parents had divorced when she was younger, and she ended up living with her aunt and

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uncle.

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Carmen also dropped out of high school but had gotten her GED and was determined to take

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control of her life.

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In 1993, Carmen is working as a server at a Pizza Hut restaurant in Indianapolis.

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She had just moved into her apartment in October, about eight months before this, and she lived

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with a roommate in a two-bedroom, third-story apartment.

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Her stepmother, Sherry Van Huss, says, quote, she was a really good girl.

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The whole family loved her.

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She never created any problems.

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End quote.

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And now a timeline of events.

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On Monday, March 22, 1993, Carmen has had a tough day with her family.

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They spend the day and evening at the hospital with Carmen's grandmother who was ill and

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nearing the end of her life.

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At around 10 p.m., Carmen gives her youngest brother and father a ride back to her father's

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southside apartment in Indianapolis.

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She drops them off around 10.30.

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She tells her dad that she's going home to do some laundry.

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She needed to wash her Pizza Hut uniform since she worked the next day.

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This is the last time her family will see her.

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At around 11.30, so this is around an hour after she left her father's place, neighbors

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heard Carmen arrive at her far northside apartment.

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Neighbors heard Carmen walking in the hallway.

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They could hear her laughing and talking with a man as the two entered Carmen's apartment.

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The next day, Tuesday, March 23, in the morning, neighbors complained to building management

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about noises coming from Carmen's apartment around 1 a.m.

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They thought they heard someone yell, quote, get off me, get off me, end quote, and then

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footsteps leaving the apartment.

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None of the neighbors at the time called police during the night.

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Instead, they just waited till morning to complain to management.

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Management does leave a noise complaint on Carmen's door.

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Carmen is scheduled to work at Pizza Hut, but she doesn't show up for her shift and

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she doesn't call in either.

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The next day, Wednesday, March 24, Carmen was scheduled again to work at Pizza Hut and

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didn't show up for the second day in a row.

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This started to give coworkers pause and they dig into their files to find Carmen's emergency

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contact, which is her father, Jim.

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Her family thought it was out of character of her to miss work without saying anything,

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so her father decides to head to her apartment to check on her after he tries to call her

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several times and she doesn't pick up.

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Her father arrives around 730 at the Turtle Creek Northside Apartments.

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Carmen's father, Jim, finds the noise complaint attached to the front door.

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And when he knocks on the door, nobody answers.

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He finds that the front door to his daughter's apartment is unlocked.

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He lets himself inside.

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When Carmen's father enters the apartment, he finds a nightmare.

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He finds Carmen dead on the floor of her bedroom.

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She had been stabbed several times and was only partially dressed.

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911 is called immediately.

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When police arrive, they start processing the scene.

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It's obvious that there was a bit of a struggle in the apartment.

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It appeared that everything was still in the apartment, however, nothing of note was missing.

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Carmen's purse is found in her roommate's car that was parked near the apartment.

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Her roommate, however, was out of town in Arizona at the time of the murder.

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Police initially are not forthcoming with how Carmen died.

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We do know now that she died because of stab wounds.

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In later years, however, police will theorize that the murder weapon was either a pocket

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knife or a screwdriver.

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The day after the discovery of Carmen's body, this is Thursday, March 25th, the police

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start rounding up several people to question, including several ex-boyfriends.

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Police don't have any clear suspects at this time.

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Carmen's autopsy is also conducted where it's confirmed that she was sexually assaulted.

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Just six days after her murder, on Sunday, March 28th, Carmen is laid to rest.

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Her family asks that people make donations to the Humane Society to honor her love of

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animals.

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Carmen was someone who would bring home stray kittens in the neighborhood to take care of.

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While at the funeral, Carmen's father gets a phone call that his mother, Carmen's grandmother,

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had passed away while at the hospital.

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On April 1st, Carmen's family uses the local media to ask for the public's help in the

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form of donations, for not only a reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever

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killed Carmen, but to also help offset the costs of the unexpected funeral.

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Essentially, a GoFundMe of the day.

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The family not only lost Carmen, but they also lost Carmen's grandmother.

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This left the family having to pay for two funerals pretty unexpectedly.

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A family friend that set up the fund said, quote,

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The family suffered a lot because of all of this.

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It added an extra expense they didn't expect.

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I asked if they mind if I set up a trust fund in her name.

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End quote.

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People from the community do come forward and donate to help the family.

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After this, though, I couldn't find any real updates on the case.

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The next update that I could find comes in April of 2002.

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So that's nine years since Carmen's murder.

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Carmen is included with other murder victims from the state of Indiana at the State House

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in an art installation.

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Carmen's mother, Andrea Wolfe, was at the ceremony, but she told reporters how deeply

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sad she still is about the death of her child.

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There's been no real movement on the case.

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In May of 2013, the local newspaper is running a series about cold cases in Indiana, and

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Carmen's case is included in the series.

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It's here in 2013 that police confirm for the first time that Carmen was sexually assaulted

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during her murder.

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And police also have narrowed down the window to between 1 and 1.30 a.m. for when the crime

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took place.

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So this is right around the time that the neighbors heard all those noises and the fight

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coming from Carmen's apartment.

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Police also mentioned that a neighbor saw someone running from Carmen's apartment.

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And there are other reports that neighbors heard someone running down the hallway shortly

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after they heard the fight.

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In April of 2014, so this is that next year after the local media ran their series, a

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detective within the Indianapolis Police Department decides to reopen Carmen's case with the

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hope that advances in DNA technology would be able to solve the case.

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Detective Sergeant William Carter is not a homicide or cold case detective.

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He is actually a part of the nuisance and abatement unit.

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He had been looking into cold cases in his spare time and had solved a cold case just

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the year before and had received recognition from the police department for doing so.

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Police had already determined that Carmen's boyfriend at the time of her murder was out

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of town, so he was not a suspect.

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Family and friends suspected an ex-boyfriend of Carmen's for a long time, but investigators

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had determined that he was traveling at the time of the murder and not in Indianapolis.

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So therefore he was also ruled out.

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Furthermore, DNA left at the scene had also been able to rule these men out in later years.

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Police do believe that Carmen knew her killer.

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Detective Carter points to the fact that neighbors heard her talking and laughing when the two

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of them arrived at her apartment.

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The scene inside suggested that they had eaten some late night fast food and had a few beers

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together.

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Detective Carter believes that the man who murdered Carmen would have been in her circle

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of friends and at the time of the murder was not suspected for whatever reason.

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Police theorize that this could have been a platonic friend or maybe even a secondary

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friend in her life, maybe somebody that she didn't know well that she just decided to

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hang out with.

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Detective Carter continues to work on this case into 2015.

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In February of that year, so it's been almost 22 years since Carmen's murder, and Detective

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Carter thought that a new DNA test would be able to give him a lead to solve Carmen's

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case.

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He thought that the DNA test would narrow down the suspect pool.

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He requested funding from the city to send the evidence to Utah for the lab to perform

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since local labs couldn't do the test.

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The city approved the testing.

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However, the crime lab sent the wrong DNA to the lab for testing.

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They sent a sample of Carmen's DNA to the lab to be tested, not the suspect's.

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When Detective Carter went back to the city to ask for the funds to resend the test, he

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was denied.

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The city said they lacked the money that was needed for the second test.

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Still determined to get the correct DNA tested, Detective Carter started a GoFundMe to crowdsource

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donations to cover the cost of testing.

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Within seven hours after putting up the request, the community comes together and exceeds the

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goal for the money requested.

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However, right after securing the money, the Indianapolis police take Detective Carter

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off of the case and it's unclear if officials will approve the DNA being sent out.

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This infuriates the family.

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Her brother Jimmy, who was only 15 years old when his sister was murdered, says, quote,

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this is insane.

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This is ridiculous.

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Something has to be changed if this is how the police department is going to run.

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It just makes no sense.

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End quote.

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The police say that Detective Carter fundraising was not the issue.

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Instead, police said that Detective Carter was removed since he was not a cold case detective.

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Quote, we just want to make sure that people stay in their lanes.

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We have cold case investigators and we want to let them do their job.

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End quote.

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The family is firm that they want Detective Carter to remain on the case.

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He's the only detective that the family has heard from in the past few years and the

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only one who has made any recent movement on Carmen's case.

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After this shit storm is brought on, for lack of a better term, that was created by police

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taking Detective Carter off of the case and all of the negative press, the community reaches

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out, the family, they start a petition to get Detective Carter back on.

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The next day, police hold a press conference to say that Detective Carter will remain on

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the case.

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Police say that they have no idea where people got the idea that he was being removed from

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the case.

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Indianapolis police chief Richard Hite says, quote, sometimes people assume things they

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hear.

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I can tell you that the deputy chief never brought that to me that he wanted to remove

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anyone.

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When reporters press further because the police were pretty firm that they were taking him

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off the case, the police chief does say that maybe Detective Carter was told to temporarily

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stop working on the case.

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Police go on to say that Detective Carter will assist the cold case detectives.

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Police officer Major Chris Bailey, when asked if Detective Carter should be allowed to continue

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to work on the case, said, quote, he probably shouldn't be.

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It should be the case investigator, end quote.

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Police also say that all of the money donated for the DNA testing would be returned.

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Police said that they don't believe the test would hold up well in court and that they

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mistakenly approved paying for the first one to begin with.

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Truly after this drama with Detective Carter being kicked off and the fundraising money

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being returned and all of that, that was the last update I could find on Carmen's case.

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So with that, if you know anything about the murder of Carmen Van Hus in March of 1993,

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please call either Crimestoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477, the Indianapolis

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Metropolitan Police Department at 317-327-1270, or the FBI VICAP at 1-800-634-4097.

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And the sources for the timeline today come from the FBI, the Indianapolis Star, and the

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Indianapolis News.

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So that is the case of Carmen Van Hus.

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My first reaction to Carmen's case is how truly colossal of a loss of one person's life

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can be in an instance like this where someone is viciously murdered.

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The ripple effect it can have in that loved one's life and that one person making this

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horrible, evil decision that it not only ends the life of the person, the victim, but it

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ends other people's lives or parts of their lives forever.

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That one decision can create just massive collapse in a family.

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And I feel like that is so present in this family, it was heartbreaking to listen to.

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That's really where I hung in the heaviness of listening to this because I just, I couldn't

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believe what it did to this poor family after her loss and then her grandmother, Carmen's

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grandmother.

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Yeah, it's absolutely devastating, the ripple effects that a murder has on every family.

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But like here you could really see that happening in real time.

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Like her grandmother was ill, but I'm sure none of this helped anything.

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I'm so grateful that you brought this to the front of our minds because as I was counting

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in my head when you said 93, I think I was like, oh, that was like 10 years ago or 20

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years ago because you know, your mind does that as you get older.

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And I realized it was a little, probably 31 years old now-ish.

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And I think it's a case that's completely solvable.

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I wanted to get more of your thoughts and comments on this, but I also agreed with law

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enforcement that it was probably someone that she knew even if it wasn't like first tier,

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you know, close friends, maybe second or third, like acquaintance or someone she had seen

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out at the bar or whatever, someone that she knew enough to let him into her apartment.

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No, I had the same reaction when I started researching this case.

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I think it's completely solvable.

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I do agree that I think she knew her murderer for all the same reasons that, you know, police

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pointed out that she was heard like laughing with this person and talking with them.

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And for the reasons that you pointed out, you know, she felt comfortable enough to invite

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them into her apartment.

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And like, you know, they were eating some fast food, like sharing a beer, like it seems

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like a pretty casual like hang, just like a late night hang, you know?

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So yeah, I think it's somebody maybe not in her close friend circle.

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I like almost wonder if she like ran into somebody from like her childhood or something,

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you know, and was like, how are you?

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Like, let's catch up.

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Do you want to come hang out?

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Like, you know, her grandmother was really sick.

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Maybe she was just like looking for some company, like to pass the time to like kind of distract

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herself a little bit.

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Maybe she like ran into somebody that she like kind of knew and was just like, great,

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like, let's hang out.

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This will distract me for a little bit and then I'll go to bed and I'll work tomorrow

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and you know, repeat.

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But then this guy might have just gotten the wrong idea.

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We do know that Carmen had a boyfriend who was out of town.

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So I don't think she was like looking for, you know, like a physical comfort in any form.

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I think the person who was invited over got the wrong idea.

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I mean, I would even go as far to say he didn't get the wrong idea.

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He just made a decision about what the interaction was.

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And I don't, I didn't think that the prior statement was victim blaming in any way.

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But I more, I also just like want to speak on how about how I think how cool it is that

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Carmen was really trying to carve out a space in the world for herself at such a yes, an

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adult age, but a young age, like an apartment on your own and like a stable job and trying

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to turn your life around.

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I think that that's incredible.

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I think it's incredible when anyone tries to do it at any age.

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But this young woman who was struggling, like I think it was an incredible gift that she

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gave to herself that it was to try in her life and to try to like give herself a happy

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journey in the world.

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I'm so sad that it was taken much, much, much too soon that her journey was cut short.

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But it seems like she left quite the impression on the world and her family.

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Well, some questions that I have in this case, what's happening with the case today, there

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was all this momentum happening in 2013, 2014.

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And there hasn't been any updates on the case that I could find since then since this like

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kind of drama within the police department, which just as an outside observer just seems

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like a lot of ego getting caught up in what was happening, like just feels like a bunch

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of ego.

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So a question that I would just have today is like, what are we doing today?

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Because we know we have DNA.

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So what are we doing?

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What's being tested?

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What hasn't been tested?

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What's happening in the case today?

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Because it does seem very solvable.

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We have DNA, we've been able to eliminate some suspects, and it's somebody that was

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known in her life.

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It feels like if we just like really dug back into interviewing her friends, interviewing

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her family, interviewing her roommates, like her co workers, somebody might pop up that

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didn't a few years ago, or 30 years ago, 30 plus years ago, I guess now.

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Yes, this was like a whole other section that I had questions and comments on.

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And to echo you, like it also outside of like it being a total ego situation, I was thinking

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to myself, this is just like a lot of bumbling and backtracking.

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It just looked bad.

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Like I just didn't understand what was happening at all.

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And then my second immediate thought was, are you are you all trying to cover for someone

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like was this someone who was in law enforcement?

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That was like, also where my brain went.

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And granted, I know that that's maybe not at the top of the list of what probably happened.

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But when you're doing shit like that, like saying like, we shouldn't have even invested

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the money in the first place on testing whatever, like, I don't know, like you're really taking

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the arrow and trying to point it away from yourself.

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But like the light just gets brighter and brighter and brighter.

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It definitely didn't help me have any sort of more confidence in their work.

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Yeah, and well, and just the fact that there hasn't been any updates or any kind of work

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that seems to have been done, like I couldn't see anything that the family was saying that

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was being done, anything in media that was saying that was being done.

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So it just seems like you got mad that this guy was like solving cold cases, told him

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to back off the family didn't want it, it turned into this, you know, bad media press.

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So you backtracked, but it still seems like he's off the case because nothing's happening

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with it.

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So the people who are ultimately suffering are the victims family who have suffered the

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most in this.

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And it's like, they're the ones who are getting jerked back and forward and like getting caught

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up in people's egos.

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And it's just like, let's just close it.

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That should just be the goal.

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And there's also a part of me just as like, somebody who has a job, like if someone came

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up to my desk and was like, Hey, I'm going to take this thing away from you and try to

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do it.

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I'd be like, okay, great.

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Go.

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Yeah, the end goal there, I think in doing that job, that should always be the case of

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anyone who is working in that capacity of solving these cases, especially law enforcement,

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if your work colleague comes up to you and says like, Hey, I think I have like an answer.

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I think unanimously, everyone should always say go for it, even if it wasn't what you

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thought of to begin with, like this isn't about you.

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Your ego in that job should absolutely 100% always be checked at the door.

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And we know that it very rarely is.

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But like, I did have the feeling of like, it seems like this person wants to do good

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with the power that they have and immediately was cut off from doing so.

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It was, I couldn't believe that it was happening and it was publicized and that everyone knew

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and that it was just like, nothing happened from it.

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Yeah, that's really kind of what happened exactly that.

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And I had the same reaction.

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I was like, Oh, this guy who's like, he has free time.

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He's working on the taxpayer's dollar.

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Like, yeah, like go get some more work.

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Go close some cold cases.

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And he did.

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He had done it already.

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And like, the department like gave him gave him an award.

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And it just seems like the cold case investigators were mad that that was happening.

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00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:15,760
So nothing has happened with Carmen's case since about 2015 when that testing was requested.

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I guess my future hope now in, you know, us putting out an episode like this, maybe other

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podcasts will hear about it and they also do their own investigation and we start circulating

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her name case and story more.

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Yeah, I absolutely hope this case is solved.

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It does seem solvable.

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I know we're 30 years out from the event, but it does seem solvable.

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So I really hope that happens.

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And I hope that Carmen's family get the answers that they are looking for.

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And somebody has to answer for what they did to Carmen and ending like a very promising

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life so early.

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If you know anything about the murder of Carmen Van Huss in March of 1993, please call Indiana

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Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477 or the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department

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at 317-327-1270 or you can call the FBI VICAP at 1-800-634-4097.

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And of course we will be putting pictures of Carmen on our Instagram this week.

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So please, if you're not, follow us there as well.

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And we also post about current cases that are happening, you know, just in the media

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and our stories.

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So it's a great resource just to stay up to date on what's happening.

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Or you leave your podcast player or this page.

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If you could, please rate and review us.

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If you're an Apple podcast, writing us a written review is so helpful.

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But if not a five star, a thumbs up, whatever the metric is in your platform, we do appreciate

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it.

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If you're looking for more episodes or want to search or whatever, you can go to our website

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00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:09,960
www.coldandmissing.com and there you'll find transcripts if you or someone you love is

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00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:12,660
hard of hearing and wants to follow along that way.

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00:28:12,660 --> 00:28:16,520
You'll also find links to all the platforms that you can listen on.

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So you can find us on your favorite podcast player.

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But that is all I have.

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00:28:22,980 --> 00:28:25,960
Thank you again so much for listening to Cold and Missing.

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It's always an honor to be a part of your week.

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I'm your host Allie.

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And I'm your co-host Eli.

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Have a great week and stay safe y'all.

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Stay safe y'all.