Slain Texas couple’s baby found 42 years later
Natalie Neysa Alund
The child of a slain Texas couple has been located 42 years after her parents’ violent deaths, state authorities confirmed Thursday.
The new Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit with the Texas Attorney General’s Office made the announcement Thursday morning.
Holly Marie Clouse had last been seen by her family in late 1980. Her parents, Dean and Tina Linn Clouse, were found slain in Houston on Jan. 12, 1981. Dean was beaten to death and his wife was strangled. Their child was not found with their remains, officials said.
Law enforcement in three states joined the search, and Texas investigators ultimately found the child, who is now a 42 years old.
“Finding Holly is a birthday present from heaven,” her grandmother Donna Casasanta said in a statement obtained by USA TODAY. “I prayed for more than 40 years for answers and the Lord has revealed some of it ... we have found Holly.
“Thank you to all of the investigators for working so hard to find Holly. I prayed for them day after day and that they would find Holly and she would be alright.”
After a whirlwind romance and a pregnancy, the Clouses, ages 22 and 18 when they disappeared, were married in June 1979. Investigators believe they were killed in 1980.
In 1981, a dog wandered into the woods and returned with a human arm in its mouth.
Years went by 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 performs genetic genealogy for law enforcement, decided to take on the case.
The agency tested the pair’s DNA and linked it to the bodies of the couple.
Family learned the couple’s daughter was still alive and living in Oklahoma, the Houston Chronicle reported, after investigators walked into Holly’s workplace Tuesday and told her who she was.
Anyone with information about the deaths is asked to contact the Texas Attorney General’s Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit at coldcaseunit@oag.texas.gov.