(ELKHART COUNTY) - Two men are now facing murder charges more than 44 years after the 1981 killing of a Mishawaka man, following renewed work by the Elkhart County Homicide Unit.
Prosecutors say 76-year-old Robert Sage of Ocala, Florida, and 71-year-old Daniel Martin of Elkhart have both been charged in the August 1981 murder of Donald Wasserman of Mishawaka.
Investigators say Wasserman was reported missing after he failed to return from a meeting with Sage in Elkhart on August 16, 1981. His abandoned car was found the following day in Elkhart County, and his body was discovered several days later near the Toll Road overpass and County Road 131.
Authorities say Wasserman died from multiple blunt force injuries and skull fractures, and his death was ruled a homicide.
The case remained unsolved for decades until the Elkhart County Homicide Unit reopened the investigation in 2024, seeking new scientific evidence and reinterviewing witnesses. Prosecutors say Martin later provided additional details that were independently corroborated by investigators.
Martin was taken into custody in Elkhart on March 27 and has already made an initial court appearance.
Sage was arrested in Florida on March 30 and is awaiting extradition back to Indiana.
The charges mark a major breakthrough in one of northern Indiana's longstanding cold case homicide investigations.