A cold case from 1994 has seen a significant development, with a North Carolina man pleading guilty to a rape charge and receiving a 30-year sentence. The case dates back to 1994, when a nineteen-year-old woman was kidnapped in Owensboro, Kentucky, and taken to southern Spencer County, Indiana, where she was sexually assaulted. Despite joint efforts by the police departments, no suspect was identified at the time. In late 2022, the Owensboro Police Department contacted the Indiana State Police to submit DNA evidence collected in 1994 into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). The DNA matched Robert Daniel Shelton (60) of Hickory, North Carolina, who had a previous conviction in Kentucky that required him to submit a DNA sample. Police traveled to Hickory, North Carolina, in February 2023 to interview Shelton and obtain a confirmatory DNA sample. The Indiana State Police Laboratory confirmed in March 2023 that Shelton was the perpetrator. Shelton was arrested in North Carolina and later extradited to Indiana. Robert Shelton was sentenced on April 23 after pleading guilty to the rape charge.
