Woman known as 'Baby Holly' found alive 40 years after her parents were killed in Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Decades after a cold case in Houston, DNA technology has led to the discovery of a woman who has been found alive and well.

The woman, named Holly, is now 42 years old, but she was just a baby when her parents were found dead in a wooded area of Houston in 1981.

In 2021, Identifinders International used genetic genealogy to positively identify the bodies of Florida couple Tina Gail Linn Clouse and Harold Dean Clouse Jr.

The baby, soon to become known as "Baby Holly," was not found with her parents' remains.

Now four decades later, she's alive.

Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose newly-formed Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit found Holly, said she was notified about her biological parents' identities. She's also been in contact with her extended birth family and hopes to meet them in person soon.

After Holly's parents were killed, the Clouses and the Linns searched for answers about what happened to Holly and the circumstances surrounding her parents' deaths.

Paxton said solving the cold case took crossing state lines, including working with the Lewisville Police Department, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office in Florida, the Arizona Attorney General's Office, the Harris County Sheriff's Office, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

"Finding Holly is a birthday present from heaven since we found her on Junior's birthday. I prayed for answers for more than 40 years, and the Lord has revealed some of them. We have found Holly," said Donna Casasanta, Holly's grandmother.

"After finally being able to reunite with Holly, I dreamed about her and my sister, Tina, last night. In my dream, Tina was lying on the floor, rolling around and laughing and playing with Holly like I had seen them do many times before when they lived with me before moving to Texas. I believe Tina's finally resting in peace knowing Holly is reuniting with her family. I personally am so relieved to know Holly is alive and well and was well cared for but also torn up by it all. That baby was her life," said Sherry Linn Green, Holly's aunt.

In a news conference on Thursday, Texas Attorney General First Assistant Brent Webster said they know right now that Holly, as a baby, was left at a church by two women in white robes and barefoot in Arizona and was taken into their care.

"The family that raised Holly is not considered suspect in this case. Two women who identified themselves as members of a nomadic religious group brought Holly to the church," said Webster. "We were grateful that we found her, but we must continue with our purpose of finding who murdered this couple."

Webster says they believe the couple was murdered between December 1980 and January 1981. In the same time frame, a woman who called herself Sister Susan reached out to the couple's family to return their car.

The family agreed to meet Sister Susan at Daytona Race Track in Florida. They described meeting two to three women and possibly one male, and once again, these women were wearing robes and were possibly members of this religious group, said Webster.

Webster says the family was told Dean and Tina joined the religious group and no longer wanted to have contact with their families.

What happened to the couple remains a mystery.

The family's spokesperson tells ABC13 that Holly isn't ready to talk or tell her story. A few hours after she found out about her biological family, she sat on Zoom and met 25 of them on Tuesday. The spokesperson says Holly is understandably a bit overwhelmed.

The investigation into the cold case is ongoing as there are still questions about the homicides.

If anyone has information about the Clouses' deaths, you are urged to contact the Texas Attorney General's Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit via email.

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