Carmen Van Huss. Credit: SOJ
Indiana’s new Carmen’s Law took effect last month, creating a legal framework for nonprofit organizations to help fund advanced DNA testing in long-stalled criminal cases.
House Enrolled Act 1248 allows law enforcement agencies to partner with tax-exempt nonprofits to raise private money for testing conducted by outside laboratories. Advanced testing can cost $20,000 to $60,000 per case, potentially limiting access for agencies with tight budgets.
The law defines a cold case as one that has remained open for more than five years without pending charges. It also covers county coroner investigations involving unidentified human remains. Eligible cases include homicides, sex offenses, high-risk missing-person cases and unidentified remains.
Carmen’s Law also gives victims and certain close family members the statutory right to request a formal review of a case. Family eligibility extends to relationships established through blood, marriage, adoption or cohabitation.
The law specifically recognizes DNA forensics, DNA analytics and forensic investigative genetic genealogy as advanced testing methods.
The Indiana State Police can conduct genetic genealogy and DNA testing through its own forensic resources without charging agencies. Recent state budget increases have expanded those resources, including efforts to strengthen cold-case investigations.
The law is intended to create another path for agencies pursuing evidence in cases that have remained unresolved for years.
In 1993, 19-year-old Carmen Van Huss was killed in her northwest Indianapolis apartment. For over 30 years, there were no leads and no arrests. But in 2024, a man named Dana Shepard was arrested in connection to the case, following DNA genealogy testing.