FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO) — A Fort Wayne man has pleaded guilty to a nearly three-decade-old rape, closing a cold case that had remained unsolved since 1997.
David Mark Kerner, 56, entered a guilty plea Monday to one count of rape in connection with a violent sexual assault that occurred on May 29, 1997, at Shoaff Park. The plea deal includes a recommended 30-year prison sentence, and in exchange, charges of criminal deviate conduct and battery will be dismissed.
According to court records, the victim told police she was attacked from behind while walking on a trail near the park’s boat ramp. The assailant, armed with a knife, beat and raped her before fleeing the scene. A sexual assault forensic exam was performed at the Sexual Assault Treatment Center shortly after the incident, and evidence was submitted to the Indiana State Police Laboratory.
According to our partners in news at 21ALIVE, the case remained cold for years—until March 2025, when the Fort Wayne Police Department was notified of a DNA match through the Combined DNA Index System. The DNA hit linked Kerner to the decades-old crime. He was arrested in May.
Kerner is scheduled to be sentenced on October 27 in Allen Superior Court, pending approval of the plea agreement by Judge David Zent.
If accepted, the resolution would bring long-awaited justice in one of Fort Wayne’s oldest unsolved rape cases. Kerner is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 5.
