TX TX - Helen Holladay, 45, Lake Granbury, 29 Sept 1979

Human remains in truck might be from woman missing since 1979

Apr 20th 2014 10:47AM

Police say human remains inside a truck found in a Texas lake might be from a woman who disappeared back in 1979.

KTVT reported that the local sheriff's office took the truck to an impound lot after a city employee saw it in Lake Granbury on Thursday. Workers at the impound lot say they found skeletal remains inside the truck.

According to KDFW, the city employee discovered the truck thanks to low water levels from a drought. Investigators say they have found evidence that suggest the remains are from Helen Holladay.

http://www.aol.com/article/2014/04/...id7|htmlws-main-bb|dl10|sec1_lnk3&pLid=466855
 
I did a forum search, but couldn't find a thread on her.
 
Wow, interesting! I wonder what evidence there is to support this!
 
Holladay was last seen alive Sept. 29, 1979, when neighbors reported she’d been in a bloody struggle with her husband, Herman Holladay, at their weekend residence, a motor home at Whippoorwill Bay on Lake Granbury.

Herman Holladay told investigators that his wife, 45, drove off toward Granbury in the family’s 1973 Chevrolet pickup.

“Early on in the investigation, the husband was looked at as a suspect but he was never charged with a crime,” Deeds said. “We never got any evidence to tie him to it.”

Helen Holladay was declared dead in 1986. Her husband died later.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/04/18/5748677/womans-skeletal-remains-pulled.html#storylink=cpy

____________

The truck was found far away from any road or parking lot near the lake, and investigators "don't believe it was an accident," Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/04/19/remains-found-inside-truck-solves-35-year-old-texas-cold-case/
 
Wow! Nearly 40 years! I hope she still has family living that can put her to rest.
 
Authorities have notified Holladay’s two surviving daughters, but the results of DNA tests will likely take about two months.

http://www.gadailynews.com/news/reg...in-texas-lake-solves-helen-holladay-case.html

article-2608442-1D344B7A00000578-391_306x423.jpg
 
There was blood running down the inside of the camper door, and Helen had put her hand through the window, trying to escape, and he'd put her in hospital several times - but police found no evidence to charge husband with anything?

Not that it matters now; he's dead. I wonder how his next wife/wives fared?
 
There is another missing person in Granbury whom we, the locals, mostly do believe is also in a body of water. Mrs. Holliday's case, of which I was unaware as a local resident until her likely remains have been found, gives us renewed hope that Mr. Moore will also be found.
His case discussion and info: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165888&highlight=William+Moore

Mr. William " Bill" Moore disappeared 2 years ago after leaving our shared private community of Pecan Plantation and drove into Granbury, the nearest town to us.
He disappeared forever that day- was seen on our CCTVs at the gates as they were opened and he was leaving, but he never passed back through- he never came back home. Mr. Moore is elderly, and almost all of us believe he drove off into one of the many bodies of water, which were much fuller at that time than now, during this historic drought we are enduring. Lake Granbury was searched many times for Mr. Moore's remains and his truck. He is still missing. Most of us still feel that he was such a low profile person that he most likely didn't meet foul play but did drown accidentally. However, Lake Granbury is so low that it may prove us wrong..

I have so much sympathy for Mrs. Holliday's daughters, and also for all who knew and loved her, and for Mr. Moore's friends and family.
It's one of those things... we ALL thought as the water receded, he, too, would be found.
He simply vanished, and his truck with him. There's no logical explanation except accidental drowning in his case. No spouse, lived with his son, quiet low key man in a very quiet, violent crime-free area.

Today, Mrs. Holladay would have a very nice, new womens' shelter in Granbury to go to. She wouldn't even need transportation to get there. If only...
I ask myself why it took our country, on average, so long to provide shelter for abused women and their children. This woman's story is proof of what violent men could and did do but went unpunished for so long.
I hope we are leaving a better legacy for our children and grandchildren.
 
at least now her daughters will know she didn't just drive off and leave them

One daughter of Mrs. Holladay is quoted as saying that both she and her sister distrusted and stayed away from their step-father. The entire family ( and LE as well) suspected him of killing her but there was no proof. He is now deceased as well.
I think the 2 girls were very close to their maternal grandparents after their mom re-married, and after she was " disappeared". :)
 
Although a cause of death was not immediately clear, Deeds said the case is being investigated as a homicide.

Holladay was last seen alive Sept. 29, 1979, when neighbors reported she’d been in a bloody struggle with her husband, Herman Holladay, at their weekend residence, a motor home at Whippoorwill Bay on Lake Granbury.
Herman Holladay told investigators that his wife, 45, drove off toward Granbury in the family’s 1973 Chevrolet pickup.

“Early on in the investigation, the husband was looked at as a suspect but he was never charged with a crime,” Deeds said. “We never got any evidence to tie him to it.”

Helen Holladay was declared dead in 1986. Her husband died later.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/04/18/5748677/womans-skeletal-remains-pulled.html
 
Per the HCN.com ( Hood County News online), Mrs. Holladay was definitely ID'd as the victim in the truck found in Lake Granbury. ID was made by dental records.

An investigation into COD is ongoing. Sheriff Deeds quoted in print edition as saying " We may never know exactly how she ended up in the lake."
 
Body found in Texas lake is Helen Holladay, who vanished 35 years ago

The skeletal remains found inside a truck recovered from a North Texas lake belongs to Helen Holladay, a woman who disappeared 35 years ago after an argument with her husband, authorities told FoxNews.com

The Hood County Sheriff's office said Thursday that investigators were able to confirm the discovery by dental records.


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/04/24/body-found-in-texas-lake-is-helen-holladay-report-says/
 
Thanks for the link, Softail. So, it's official now.

The Star article from the other day said the death was being treated as a homicide. But according to a direct quote from Sheriff Deeds in this latest report, no ruling has been made on manner of death.

Initial inspection of the skeletal remains revealed no signs of trauma, but detectives can't yet say whether foul play was involved in her death, Deeds said.

"It's still too early in the investigation to rule in one direction or the other," he said, adding that a forensic investigator with the University of North Texas at Denton is expected to inspect the remains.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/04/24/body-found-in-texas-lake-is-helen-holladay-report-says/


April 18, 2014
Although a cause of death was not immediately clear, Deeds said the case is being investigated as a homicide.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/04/18/5748677/womans-skeletal-remains-pulled.html?rh=1
 
But after all this time and the prime suspect being deceased, could LE definitively prove or say that he chased her in another vehicle, intending to cause her to go into the lake? Or if she passed out from blood loss and accidentally went into the lake? One of the links above mentioned the couple was in a "bloody fight" prior to her leaving that night. Such a sad story.
 

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