A Greensburg man was convicted of Shelby County crimes from nearly 40 years ago.

Steven Ray Hessler was convicted after an 8-day jury trial of two counts of Rape, six counts of unlawful deviate conduct, seven counts of burglary resulting In bodily injury, three counts of criminal deviate conduct, and one count of robbery – each as a Class A felony.  The charges stem from a series of home-invasion sexual assaults from 1982-1985.

Shelby County Prosecutor Brad Landwerlen says Hessler had the residents of Shelby County on edge for several years with his daring night-time attacks – generally waking his victims in the middle of the night, wearing a ski mask or legging to cover his face, and holding a gun or knife.  Many of the victims were tied up – others were not – as he stole cash and other certain items before sexually assaulting the women. 

In his final local assault, he struck a male victim several times with a gun, resulting in that victim being in a coma for months, and then a rehab facility for several more months, learning again to talk and to walk with a cane (though he fell daily, and for years now has been confined to a wheelchair).  The local attacks stopped in the late 1980s.

The prosecutor notes that Hessler was generally very cautious, wiping down the scene and taking items that he had touched with him.  But he did leave some DNA at one scene (though DNA was not then yet used for forensic investigations).  At the recommendation of retired Indiana State Trooper Mike Kolls (who worked with the original task force investigating the attacks), some of the DNA was sent to Parabon Nanolabs, who specializes in geneological DNA identification.  Parabon also solved the Golden State Killer case with this technology. 

Parabon sent back results that caused put a focus on Hessler and one other person.  Eventually, the prosecution was able to obtain Hessler’s DNA sample from an envelope he licked to send in a utility payment, and it matched the DNA at the scene. 

It was also found that Hessler had been convicted of a rape in Decatur County in the late 1980s (when the Shelby County attacks stopped), and received a 20-year sentence.  He was released from the Department Of Corrections about two months befthey would have had his DNA and a match years ago.

The prosecution was made more difficult because a previous task force had arrested and charged another local man with the first few of the attacks.  Further investigation confirmed his alibis for the evenings of certain attacks, as well as other information that led to dismissal of the case but this still created an additional hurdle for the prosecution to address in the trial.  Another suspect came up in trial as well – Michael Kenyan (aka – the “Illinois Enema Bandit”), who had committed a series of attacks similar to in the late 1970s, and who had been released from prison before the Shelby County attacks began.  Frank Zappa even wrote a song about him, which was brought up during the trial.  The Shelby County Prosecutor sent officers out to Arizona, where Kenyan lives now, to obtain DNA, interview Kenyan, and perform a forensic examination of his computer.

After receiving the DNA results matching Hessler to the DNA at one scene, they executed a search warrant at Hessler’s residence in the early morning hours on August 17, 2020, where they found photographs stolen from one victim and computers which showed that Hessler had been tracking down two other victims. He had even downloaded a Google Earth streetview photo of one victim’s house in Georgia.  Law enforcement also located certain coats that matched coats used, with ski masks in the pockets, and various specific items that matched items used in various of the attacks.

The most recent detectives to work (and solve) the investigation are Shelby County Sheriff’s Detective David Tilford and Indiana State Police Detective Paul Baker, but without several prior investigators doing things correctly, they would have still been unable to prove the case.

Landwerlen says the biggest credit goes out to the victims, who bravely testified despite having received death threats during the attacks.  These attacks have had profound impacts on their lives – always fearful if someone looks at them, and living in a recurring state of fear.  Landwerlen says he truly hopes these verdicts will bring them some sense of closure.  

Landwerlen was assisted in the prosecution of the case by Chief Deputy Prosecutor Scott Spears and Deputy Prosecutor Brandon Robinson.  Coordinating the trial also proved to be quite a task, as 27 witnesses were called – some as many as six times, and whittled thousands of pieces of possible evidence down to just over 300 exhibits actually admitted.  Witnesses had to be flown in from as far as Florida and Georgia, as well as a Secret Service computer technician from the east coast. 

Hessler will be sentenced on April 1, at 10:00 am, at which time he faces up to 50 years for each offense.  Landwerlen says he intends to seek a sentence sufficient to ensure that he dies in prison – never to hurt anyone again.