LAGRANGE, Ind. -- In collaboration with the Indiana State Police, on Feb 10 the Michigan State Police arrested a 62-year-old man on criminal deviate conduct, burglary and criminal confinement charges stemming out of LaGrange County from 1986.

The LaGrange County Sheriff's Department, Indiana State Police, and the Steuben County Sheriff's Department began investigating in Oct. 1986 a sexual assault that took place near Howe in LaGrange County.

It is stated that the offense happened in the early hours of Oct. 23, 1986, when the suspect abducted a woman who had stopped and exited her vehicle to remove an object from the road. 

It was determined during the investigation that the victim had been held against their will and sexually assaulted near Howe and was then transported near Orland in Steuben County and sexually assaulted again.

Indiana State Police Crime Scene Technician were called to document the scenes and collect evidence, where all leads were exhausted, and the case was not able to be solved.

In 2015 an Indiana State Police Detective learned of the case and went to the Fort Wayne Regional Lab and inquired about DNA evidence left in the case. 

Once it was determined that there was DNA evidence, the lab ran the results through an Indiana DNA database but came up with no matching results.

It was in 2023 that the DNA results were found to be a candidate for genetic genealogy, and in result it identified a family line tied to the DNA evidence. 

The Indiana State Police District 22 Detectives and the Indiana State Police Cold Case Team were able to narrow the family line down to one person.

On Feb. 10, 2025, 62-year-old Ricky Devonne McLatcher of Quincy Michigan was arrested for Criminal Deviate Conduct, Burglary and Criminal Confinement on a warrant out of LaGrange Indiana.

McLatcher is currently being held at the Branch County Michigan Jail awaiting extradition to Indiana.