INDIANA — Police have solved a 24-year-old cold case involving a bank robbery and the kidnapping of a mother and child in Indiana.
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Working with the non-profit organization Seasons of Justice and Parabon NanoLabs Inc., detectives used DNA evidence collected at the original crime scene to narrow the suspect pool to a single family.
On the morning of Sept. 1, 2000, a man wearing a nylon mask and a baseball cap approached a child outside a home on Ferdinand Road Northwest.
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The suspect took the child and her mother inside the home at gunpoint.
He told them no one would be hurt if they followed his instructions.
The suspect used plastic ties to bind the victims’ hands behind their backs and placed them in a closet.
He covered their mouths with duct tape and tied the mother and child together with twine.
While restraining the mother, the suspect dripped blood onto her ankle. Law enforcement collected and preserved a swab of that blood as evidence.
The suspect used the mother’s vehicle to rob the Holland National Bank at approximately 9:05 a.m.
Bank employees reported the man wore dark pantyhose over his head and carried a handgun and an object that resembled an explosive device.
He fled the bank with currency concealed inside his shirt, dropping a set of plastic ties as he left.
The mother and child eventually freed themselves and sought help from a neighbor.
Police later located the stolen vehicle in the parking lot of Aristokraft Plant #22 near 3rd Street and Industrial Park Road.
Investigators determined the suspect used the vehicle because the license plate was associated with the home on Ferdinand Road Northwest.
Tests narrowed the focus of the case to three brothers.
Two of those brothers lived in Ferdinand at the time of the robbery, within walking distance of where the stolen vehicle was recovered.
One of the three brothers is still alive and lives outside Dubois County, Indiana.
After investigators obtained a search warrant to conduct DNA testing, the living brother was conclusively ruled out as a suspect. The other two brothers are dead.
Based on the available DNA evidence and modern forensic advancements, investigators identified one of the dead brothers as the suspect.
State police said the resolution brings long-awaited answers and peace of mind to the victims, their families and the residents of Ferdinand and Dubois County.
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