Indiana State Police have finally solved a 29-year-old cold case, identifying the killer of a woman found dead in neighboring Huntington County in 1997.
The Indiana State Police Cold Case Unit used advanced DNA testing to identify Stephen L. Shlater as the killer of Angela Saco. Saco, a 25-year-old Fort Wayne resident and mother of a 2-year-old son, was found stabbed to death on December 21, 1997, on Huntington County Reservoir property.
Shlater was 50 years old at the time of the murder and had been released from federal prison just five months prior. He died in 2021, with his last known residence in Markle, Indiana. Huntington County Prosecutor Jeremy Nix stated that if Shlater were alive today, he would be charged with Saco’s murder.
The breakthrough came after evidentiary items preserved from the crime scene were submitted to Identifinders International, a forensic genealogy company. Using Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) DNA testing, forensic genealogists identified Shlater as a suspect in February 2026, which was later confirmed through STR testing.
“Identifinders International is proud to have supported the Indiana State Police to bring long overdue answers to Angela’s family,” said Colleen Fitzpatrick, founder of the company. She noted the case could not have been solved without forensic genetic genealogy.
State Police credited the meticulous evidence preservation by initial responding agencies—including the Huntington County Sheriff’s Department, Indiana Conservation Officers, and the Huntington County Coroner’s Office—for making the resolution possible nearly three decades later.