Merrillville man charged in 1988 murder, rape of Gary woman

The FBI is crediting new witness testimony and technological advances in solving a decades-old rape and murder in northwest Indiana.

Tyrone Andrew McKee, 56, of Merrillville, was charged Tuesday in Lake County Superior Court with a count of murder and a count of rape in the 1988 murder of 23-year-old Colleen Callahan, the FBI said in a statement.

The woman’s body was found Nov. 9, 1988 in an abandoned house in Gary, the FBI said. The FBI Gang Response Investigative Team began to reinvestigate the cold case last year.

“With the advances in technology, especially DNA, increased resources and once reluctant witnesses now willing to come forward to provide information years later, cases that once did not have enough evidence to charge now become cases that can be prosecuted,” FBI task force officer Nicholas Wardrip said in the statement.