By David K. Li -
NBC News
Cold case investigators have located the now-grown daughter of a Florida couple killed in 1981 and whose baby ended up in the care of a "nomadic religious group," authorities said Thursday.
The couple's bodies were found in a wooded area of Houston in 1981, but their identities were unknown until last year when genetic tests concluded they were
Tina Gail Linn Clouse
and
Harold Dean Clouse Jr.
, prosecutors said. from Texas.
However, the couple's young daughter was not found near her parents' remains, authorities said.
"The Linn and Clouse families have been searching for answers about what happened to the Clouses and their daughter, Holly, since they were last heard from in 1980," according to a statement from the Texas Attorney General's Office.
“Baby Holly has been located safe and sound and is now 42 years old.
Holly has been notified of the identities of her biological parents and has been in contact with her extended biological family and they look forward to meeting in person soon,” they said.
Texas prosecutors have revealed that Holly was abandoned at a church in Arizona by two barefoot women in white robes who claimed to be members of a "nomadic religious group," said First Deputy Attorney General Brent Webster, who did not name the religious group, but he said it was present in Arizona, California and "possibly Texas."
"The family that raised Holly is not a suspect in this case
," Webster added.
In late December 1980 or January 1981, the couple's family said they received a phone call from a woman calling herself "Sister Susan," claiming that Holly's parents had joined their religious group and wanted cut all your family ties, according to Webster.
"They wanted to return Tina and Dean's car to their family," Webster said.
“They also wanted to hand over all their possessions.
Sister Susan asked for money to return the car to Florida, where the family lived."
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“According to reports, the police arrested the women, but there is no record of any police report of what happened.
This type of thing is common given the age of the case.
We are still on the hunt for that police report," Webster said.
The red 1978 AMC Concord returned to the family was the couple's car and Texas authorities believe they were killed in December 1980 or early January 1981.
The couple, whose bodies were found on Wallisville Road in Harris County, last spoke to their families in late October 1980 when they lived in Lewisville, Texas, north of Dallas, Webster said.
The murder case remains unsolved and prosecutors said they hope news of baby Holly's discovery will spark new leads.
"Thank you to all of the investigators for working so hard to find Holly," the grandmother, Donna Casasanta, said in a statement released by prosecutors.
"I prayed for them day after day," he said, and "that they find the girl and that she is okay."
