The missing daughter of a young couple who was found murdered in a wooded area north of Houston, Texas in 1981 has been found.
And she is alive and well.
More than 40 years later the victims’ then one-year-old daughter known as “Baby Holly Marie” is now a mother of five living in Oklahoma.
According to a news release, Harold Dean Clouse, 21, and his wife Tina Gail (Linn) Clouse, 17, recently moved from Volusia County, Florida to Texas so Harold could pursue carpentry. However, shortly upon arriving the newlyweds and their one-year-old daughter disappeared.
In January 1981, a few months after they were last seen, a dog came upon human remains.
At the time the identities of the bodies were a mystery.
It wasn’t until 2011 that the bodies were exhumed to determine if they were related.
In 2021 audiochuck, a podcast producer, funded genealogy research. Using advanced DNA technology and researchers from three states, the victims’ identities were confirmed in 10 days.
“It’s a very humbling and honorable experience to be able to do that, to be able to provide closure to the family and answer questions that they’ve had for for 40-some odd years,” Misty Gillis, a cold case liaison and senior forensic genealogist for Identifinders International, told Oxygen.com.
“It’s extremely rewarding.”
Forensic genealogists reached out to family members to share the good news.
“Of course, when you get news like that you’re crying on the phone,” Debbie Brooks — who last saw her brother Harold in 1978 — said. “Yes, we have closure but we also have more questions.”
Where was Baby Holly Marie?
Not only did their families wonder what happened to Harold and Tina, but they had questions about the couple’s young daughter, Holly Marie.
Holly Marie Clouse was last seen by family in 1980.
It wasn’t until early 2021, shortly after her parents’ identities were confirmed that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released an age progression photo of Holly Marie.
“After months and months of looking at this little blonde-hair, blue-eyed toddler … to see a full-grown woman with different coloring along with brown hair,” Allison Peacock, the founder of Family History Detectives, said.
FHD Forensics launched a special project using DNA to find Holly.
Finally, in 2022 the Clouse and Linn families received some closure. Baby Holly Marie had been located, and she was alive.
KHOU reported that the ongoing criminal investigation prevented certain details like Holly’s childhood from being made public.
OAG Senior Counsel Mindy Montford and Det. Craig Holloman with Lewisville Police Department met Holly at her place of employment on what would have been her father’s 63rd birthday.
Within hours she met long-lost family members via video.
“They’ve spent the past six months with me digging through records, gathering photos for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s age progression portrait, and documenting memories of Holly and her parents in an effort to help law enforcement,” Peacock said.
“What matters is that Holly was found happy and alive and now knows that she has a huge extended family that has loved her for decades.”
“The whole family slept well last night. The Hope For Holly Project was a success thanks to the Texas Cold Case Unit,” Cheryl Clouse, Holly’s aunt, said.
For over 40 years these two families mourned the loss of their loved ones and wondered what happened their child, but thanks to advanced technology they finally received good news.
Can you even imagine what it must have felt like to hear Holly Marie was alive and well?
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