According to the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Holly Marie Clouse, a baby girl who went missing in 1981 after her parents were discovered dead in a wooded region of Houston, Texas, has been found alive and well in Oklahoma.
When the couple was located approximately two months after they were killed, investigators were unable to identify them. Tina Gail Linn Clouse and Harold Dean Clouse Jr., a Florida couple, were positively identified by Identifinders International in 2021 through genetic genealogy.
Holly Marie, their infant daughter, was not discovered with the Clouses’ skeletons. Since the Clouses and their daughter, Holly, were last heard from in 1980, the Linn and Clouse families have been seeking for answers about their whereabouts.
Last year, the Clouses’ families began searching for answers about what happened to Baby Holly and the circumstances of her death. Holly has been informed of her biological parents’ identities, and she has been in contact with her extended biological family, with whom she hopes to meet in person soon.
“Finding Holly was a birthday gift from heaven because we discovered her on Junior’s birthday. Holly’s grandma, Donna Casasanta, said, “I begged for answers for more than 40 years and the Lord has revealed some of it… we have discovered Holly.”
“I am immensely proud of my office’s newly formed Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit’s outstanding work. My agency worked tirelessly across state borders to solve the puzzle of Holly’s disappearance. Our efforts to find her and reconcile her with her biological family were successful.” Ken Paxton, the Attorney General, stated.
First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster said: “Baby Holly” was left at a church in Arizona and raised by a family who had nothing to do with her disappearance during a news conference on Thursday.
Holly was abandoned at the chapel, according to Webster, by two ladies who were reportedly part of a nomadic religious organization. “They were dressed in white robes and were barefoot,” Webster explained.
A member of the group who identified herself as “Sister Susan” later called the families of the slain couple and said she had their car and wanted to return it in exchange for money. Webster said the women travelling were questioned by police at the time, but not charged.
Webster went on to say that members of the cult travelled around the Southwest and that they believe in male and female church members being separated.
