Murdered Houston couple identified 40 years later, but their baby is still missing..

[Sevens My Charm]

A couple murdered in Houston, Texas, 40 years ago has been identified, thanks to a team of researchers and a true-crime podcast producer — but their daughter remains missing.

Forensic-based research service Identifinders International announced on Wednesday that researchers had identified then-21-year-old Harold Dean Clouse and his wife, then-17-year-old Tina Gail Linn Clouse, as the victims of a 1981 murder case that was unsolved for exactly four decades.

Identifinders Senior Forensic Genealogist Misty Gillis and former colleague Allison Peacock identified the couple within 10 days of taking on the case. The location of their daughter, however, remains unknown.

Clouse and Linn's families hadn't seen the couple since they left Florida for Texas with their 1-year-old daughter, Hollie Marie Clouse, in 1980.

On Jan. 12, 1981, a dog discovered the couple's remains in a wooded area in Houston. They had already been dead for about two months at the time of the discovery. Clouse was beaten and gagged, and Linn had been strangled, according to Identifiers International.

Family members believed the pair had joined a religious cult and no longer wanted contact with relatives, Identifiers International said in a press release.

“If Hollie Marie is still alive, she will turn 42 years old next month, although she probably doesn’t even know her real birthday," Peacock wrote. "And she’d have no way of knowing that she was raised by someone who at the very least was a third or fourth party to the murder of her parents. At the most, they may have been involved directly."

Murdered Houston couple identified 40 years later, but their baby is still missing

A couple murdered in Houston 40 years ago has been identified, thanks to a team of researchers and a true-crime podcast producer — but their daughter remains missing.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Blunderbuss Firozabad]

“If Hollie Marie is still alive, she will turn 42 years old next month, although she probably doesn’t even know her real birthday,"


So their infant daughter could very realistically be alive and well and 42?
Very intriguing.
I hope she is, and if so, I wonder if she was raised by someone connected to the murderers or outside of that?

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Holly Marie Clouse, a baby who went missing after her parents were killed in Texas, has been found alive more than 40 years later, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced in a press release.

As the Houston Chronicle reports, Holly Marie and her parents, Harold Dean Clouse, 21, and Tina Gail Clouse, 17, vanished abruptly in 1980. The couple had just moved to Texas from Volusia County, Florida so Harold could pursue carpentry work. Their daughter was born in Texas, according to KHOU.

The couple died violently, according to the newspaper. Authorities said Harold Clouse had been beaten, bound and gagged. Tina Clouse had been strangled. There was no sign of a baby, and their identities remained mystery.

The Clouse’s bodies were exhumed in 2011. Then in 2021, they were identified with new DNA technology.

As of this writing, no arrests have been made in their deaths.

This week, authorities announced they found their daughter. They said Holly Marie, now 42, is alive and well, and living in Oklahoma. Investigators visited her at her workplace on Tuesday, her father’s birthday, and informed her of the case. Hours later, she met her family on a Zoom call, the Chronicle reported.

“Finding Holly is a birthday present from heaven since we found her on Junior’s birthday,” her grandmother, Donna Casasanta said, in a statement released by a family spokeswoman. “I prayed for more than 40 years for answers and the Lord has revealed some of it.”

“I believe Tina is finally resting in peace knowing Holly is reuniting with her family,” Sherry Green, Holly’s aunt said, according to KHOU.

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office in Florida worked with Texas authorities and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to help reunite the family.


“It’s one of the most meaningful things I’ve ever been a part of,” Det. Steve Wheeler of the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said. “It’s a once in a lifetime thing to play even a small part in reuniting a family after 40 years.”

‘Baby Holly’ found alive more than 40 years after Florida couple murdered

“I believe Tina is finally resting in peace knowing Holly is reuniting with her family,” Sherry Green, Holly’s aunt, said.

www.wfla.com

 

[Mountaineer95]

If I could, I’d give @Sugar Cookie a dozen of her favorite Girl Scout cookies for her update! I’ve spent some time looking into these two victims when they were still unidentified (below I’ve linked the two Doe Network entries for this couple when they were still unidentified, these links are the Doe Network links you see below). It is so great that they’ve been identified…but to learn their baby is safe?!? That’s unbelievably awesome. The first link below has more about the daughter.

ETA, if you look at the forensic sketches made of them by investigators trying to identify them, and compare those to the pictures of the couple, the sketches are uncannily spot-on. And (not to be disrespectful to their families), they weren’t found within a day or two of their murders; it was several weeks to months, so their remains were not in a state where you just take a photo and post that. To have created such perfect reconstructions is unbelievable. Props to that forensic artist. The sketches are at the two bottom links below.

Baby Holly Marie Clouse Was Left at a Church by 2 Barefoot Women in Robes Who Belonged to Religious Group

Holly Marie was dropped off at a Arizona church, authorities said Thursday

people.com

Doe Network: International Center For Missing and Unidentified Persons

Doe Network is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to bringing awareness to missing persons and unidentified persons throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Australia.

www.doenetwork.org

Doe Network: International Center For Missing and Unidentified Persons

Doe Network is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to bringing awareness to missing persons and unidentified persons throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Australia.

www.doenetwork.org