Disappeared as a baby, a woman found alive 41 years later in the United States

Steph Deschamps / June 10, 2022

An American woman, reported missing in 1981 when she was a baby, was found alive in the United States, announced the authorities of Texas on Thursday, June 9, 2022. But the mystery surrounding the murder of her parents remains.

Baby Holly has been located, she is alive, 42 years old and doing well, Texas Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster said at a news conference. We are pleased about that, he continued, but we still have a crime to solve.

This one dates back to January 1981, when the bodies of a man and a woman, apparently victims of homicide, were found in a wooded area of Houston, Texas. For forty years, they remained unidentified.

Advances in genetic genealogy made it possible, in 2021, to put a name on these victims: they were Tina and Harold Clouse, a couple originally from Florida who had a little girl, Holly.

She is the one who has just been found. She was informed of the identity of her biological parents and virtually met members of her biological family for the first time Tuesday, Webster said. He said she had been abandoned in an Arizona church and raised with a family that is not suspected in the investigation.

Instead, police are looking for two women identifying themselves as members of a nomadic religious group who dropped her off at this church. They wore long white dresses, walked barefoot and said their beliefs involved separating men and women, being vegetarian and not using leather objects, the prosecutor described.

The Clouse family had been contacted in December 1980 or January 1981 by a woman who identified herself as Sister Susan. She assured them that the couple had joined her sect, wanted to cut ties with the outside world and get rid of their material possessions. She had offered Harold Clouse’s parents the return of their car in exchange for money.

They had contacted the police. When two or three women in white dresses arrived with the vehicle, officers arrested them, but no record of the incident could be found, Webster said. He is now calling on the public for help in tracing the story.

In the meantime, the Clause family was pleased to have Holly back. It’s a real relief to know she’s doing well and has a good life, her aunt Cheryl Clouse was quoted as saying in a statement.