(HUNTINGTON COUNTY) - Indiana State Police say DNA testing has identified Stephen L. Shlater as the man responsible for the 1997 murder of Fort Wayne resident Angela Saco, bringing answers to a case that remained unsolved for nearly 29 years.
Saco, 23, was found dead on Dec. 21, 1997, on Huntington County Reservoir property off County Road 100 East north of County Road 100 South. An autopsy determined she died from stab wounds.
According to Indiana State Police, advances in forensic genetic genealogy led investigators to Shlater. Evidence collected and preserved at the crime scene was submitted to Identifinders International, a California-based forensic genealogy company. Using advanced DNA testing, investigators developed a DNA profile and identified Shlater as a suspect in February 2026.
State Police said subsequent DNA testing confirmed Shlater as the contributor of DNA recovered from the crime scene.
Investigators said Shlater was 50 years old when Saco was killed. He had been released from federal prison on an unrelated case in the spring of 1997, about five months before the murder.
Shlater died in 2021 in Huntington County. His last known residence was in Markle.
Investigators said Saco was last seen during the early morning hours of Dec. 21, 1997, at her place of employment in Fort Wayne. She lived in Fort Wayne and was the mother of a 2-year-old son.
Nearly 100 people were interviewed during the original investigation, but detectives were unable to develop enough probable cause to file charges.
The Indiana State Police Cold Case Unit reopened the investigation after the unit was established in 2024.
Huntington County Prosecutor Jeremy Nix said that if Shlater were alive today, he would be charged with the murder of Angela Saco.
Indiana State Police credited decades of investigative work, preserved evidence and advances in DNA technology for finally identifying Saco's killer nearly three decades after her death.