In a strange twist involving a barefoot nomadic religious group, the child of a murdered Texan couple is located more than 40 years after the violent death of her parents. state authorities said: Thursday.
The new Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit with the Texas Attorney General’s Office made the announcement Thursday morning.
Holly Marie Clouse was last seen by her family in late 1980. Her parents, Dean and Tina Linn Clouse, were found murdered on January 12, 1981 in rural Houston. Dean was beaten to death and his wife was strangled. Their child was not found with their remains, state officials said.
Law enforcement officers in three states joined the search, and Texas investigators eventually found the child, now a 42-year-old woman.
“Finding Holly is a birthday gift from heaven,” her grandmother Donna Casasanta said in a statement obtained by USA TODAY. “I’ve prayed for answers for over 40 years and the Lord has revealed some of it… we found Holly.
“Thank you to all the researchers for their hard work finding Holly. I prayed day in and day out for them and that they would find Holly and that she would be okay.”
At a news conference in Austin Thursday afternoon, First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster said the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children will pay for Holly to be reunited with her family.
“They hope to meet in person soon,” he told reporters.
A dog and a human arm
After a whirlwind romance and pregnancy, the Clouses, aged 22 and 18 when they disappeared, were married in June 1979. Investigators believe they were murdered in 1980 and said they lived in Lewisville, Texas, before their deaths.
In January 1981, a dog wandered into the woods and returned with a human arm in its mouth.
Years passed without the bodies being identified and without progress in the missing persons case.
Their bodies were exhumed in 2011, and Identifinders International, a California organization that conducts genetic genealogy for law enforcement, decided to take on the case.
The agency tested the couple’s DNA and matched it to the couple’s bodies.
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The family learned that the couple’s daughter was still alive and living in Oklahoma, where a family adopted her as a baby, the Houston Chronicle reported this week. Investigators walked into Holly’s workplace on Tuesday and told her who she was.
The family who raised Holly are not suspects in this case, Webster said Thursday.
He said the investigation into the murder of Holly’s biological parents and the circumstances leading to the girl’s disappearance remained open.
“After finally being able to reunite with Holly…I believe Tina is finally resting in peace knowing that Holly will be reunited with her family,” Sherry Linn Green, Holly’s aunt, said in a statement released by the family. . “Personally, I’m so relieved to know that Holly is alive and well, but also torn by it all. That baby was her life.”
Barefoot women dressed in white
According to new information released Thursday, Webster said, Holly was left at an Arizona church and taken under their wing.
Investigators said two female members of a “nomadic religious group” dropped off baby Holly at the church. The women wore white robes, were barefoot and indicated that their religion’s beliefs included the separation of male and female members, practicing vegetarian habits and not using or wearing leather goods, Webster said.
“The women indicated that they had previously donated a baby at a laundromat,” Webster said.
Researchers believe the women and their group traveled throughout the southwestern United States, including Arizona, California and possibly Texas. Webster said the group was sighted in Yuma, Arizona, in the early 1980s, where they were seen in town asking for food.
Around January 1981, Webster said, the victims’ families received a call from an unknown woman who said she was calling from Las Vegas and wanted to return the Clouses’ car to their families. She said the couple had joined their religious group and no longer wanted contact with their family.
The woman asked for money in exchange for the car — a red 1978 2-door AMC Concord — and the family agreed to meet in Daytona, Florida, where police took the women into custody, Webster said.
But because of the age of the case, Webster said, no police report has been found.
“We are still looking for suspects in this case.” Webster said that on Thursday. “This is an ongoing, ongoing criminal investigation.”
Anyone with information about their death or Holly’s disappearance is requested to contact the Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit of the Texas Attorney General at [email protected].
Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund†
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The missing baby of a Texas couple found dead in Oklahoma after more than 40 years
