‘Baby Holly’ found 41 years after parents murdered in Texas
June 9, 2022
Holly’s biological grandmother Donna Casasanta said finding her was a “gift from heaven.”
The 42-year-old “Baby Holly” was found through DNA tracing, according to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office
An Oklahoma woman has been identified as the infant who made headlines four decades ago when she vanished without a trace during her parents’ horrific 1981 murder in Texas, the Lone Star State’s attorney general’s office said Thursday.
The infant known as “Baby Holly” is now a 42-year-old woman who has been able to reconnect with her biological family thanks to DNA tracing that made the connection, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office said in a press release.
“Finding Holly is a birthday present from heaven since we found her on (her father’s) birthday,” said Holly’s biological grandmother Donna Casasanta. “I prayed for more than 40 years for answers and the Lord has revealed some of it … we have found Holly.”
An
Oklahoma woman has been identified as “Baby Holly” — a child who went
missing over 40 years ago after her parents’ cold case murder
Authorities had been searching for Baby Holly since her parents went missing in 1980. Two bodies, believed to be her parents, were found in a wooded area in Houston, but they could not be identified at the time.
Tina Gail Linn Clouse and Harold Dean Clouse Jr. had moved from Florida to Texas shortly before they disappeared, along with their infant daughter, Holly. When the two bodies were found, the baby was missing.
Decades passed before Identifinders International was able to use genetic genealogy in 2021 to positively identify the bodies that were found as the Clouses. Dean had been beaten to death and Tina strangled, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The couple’s families were notified about the positive ID last year and began searching for Holly.
Investigators visited Holly’s workplace on Tuesday in Oklahoma and told her the news, reports the Houston Chronicle.
Holly, who has recently met her biological family, was raised by a family who adopted her.
Tina Gail Linn Clouse and Harold Dean Clouse Jr. were murdered in Texas in 1981 and their infant daughter, Holly, went missing
Her adoptive family are not suspects in the on-going murder investigation for Holly’s parents, the Texas AG’s office said Thursday.
“Baby Holly was left at a church in Arizona and was taken into their care,” said Texas First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster. “Two women who identified themselves as members of a nomadic religious group brought Holly to the church. They were wearing white robes and they were barefoot. They indicated that they beliefs of their religion included the separation of male and female members, practicing vegetarian habits and not wearing or using leather goods. The women indicated they had given up a baby before at a laundromat.”
“It is believed that this particular group traveled around the Southwestern United States, including Arizona, California and possibly Texas. There were sightings of this religious group around the Yuma, Arizona area in the early 80s. The women members would be seen around town at various points, asking for food.”
The Texas AG’s office also revealed that someone who might be a member of this same cult contacted the dead parents’ families in late December 1980 or early 1981.
“The families of Tina Linn Clouse and Harold Dean Clouse received a phone call from someone identifying herself as ‘Sister Susan,’ who explained she was calling from Los Angeles, Cali. and wanted to return Tina and Dean’s car to their family,” said Webster. “She further stated that Tina and Dean had joined their religious group and were no longer wanting to have contact with their families. They were also giving up all of their possessions. Sister Susan asked for money in exchange for returning the car to Florida where the family lived.”
The family agreed to meet Sister Susan at the Daytona Racetrack and contacted local police about the meeting.
“The family described meeting two different women and possibly one male, and once again, these women were wearing robes and appeared to be members of this religious group,” Webster elaborated. “The police reportedly took the women into custody, but there’s no record of a police report on file that had been found as of yet. Given the age of this case, that is common. We’re still on the hunt for that police report.”
The car that was returned was Dean’s. It was a 1978, two-door, red burgundy AMC Concord.
The Clouses were likely murdered between December 1980 and early 1981, the Texas AG’s Office believes. Their bodies were dumped in a wooded area near Houston, although the young couple lived in Lewisville, Texas, north of Dallas.
The Texas AG’s Office is asking anyone with information to come forward. They would not identify who Holly was and did not give any details about how exactly she got into the hands of the religous group after the killing, which remains unsolved. They also declined to take questions from reporters.
Holly’s family said they were glad to be reunited.
“The very first thing that ran through my head when we heard Holly was found was the call that I got eight months ago . . . about my sister’s death,” her uncle Les Linn said. “The juxtaposition of that call with Holly’s sudden discovery just popped into my head. To go from hoping to find her to suddenly meeting her less than 8 months later —- how miraculous is that? All of the detectives involved . . . They all expressed such fortitude to get to the bottom of this case.”
“Even if it’s a piece of information that may not be concrete evidence…we need to find pieces of the puzzle to solve this crime. We wish Holly the best. We’re grateful that we found her, but we must continue with our purpose of finding who murdered this couple,” said Webster.
The investigation into Holly’s biological parents’ murders is
ongoing, and the Texas attorney general’s office is asking anyone with
information to contact its Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit at coldcaseunit@oag.texas.gov or at 512-936-0742.
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