Just finished the 20.20 on this and was confused/surprised by one thing - which seeing as it’s an active investigation, is hopefully a red herring.
But why was it presented by the investigators, and Holly/the families, that Tina was the one to hand over the baby? I was waiting for the obvious question from David Muir to Hollys adoptive father - was this the woman who was holding the baby in the car - but it never came.
I just find it so much more likely that Dean and Tina never made it west of Texas. I was shocked (and saddened) that holly seemed to be sure it was her mother handing her over, when I feel like odds are greater that it was someone else. Based on the following :
- Despite having both of their immediate families in New Smyrna, and a brand new baby - they pack up and leave without a plan to Maryland (where they dont seem to know anyone), then move on to Texas where they have somewhere to stay with deans family. Was Dean being harassed by the cult at this point already, and trying to get away?
- As soon as they get their own place, they aren’t heard from again. These groups were known for traveling around and taking advantage of anyone they knew outside the cult. Especially if this new address was a home on land, I wouldn’t be surprised if the cult showed up right after Dean told one of his old friends about his new house, demanding to stay.
- At this point Dean and Tina may have attempted to kick them out for conducting their illegal activities there, or just being a nuisance. The cult would have wanted the use of the property and the car more, and could have killed Tina and Dean for it. I could definitely see female members of the cult arguing to keep the baby alive and drop her off after they move on.
- To me it’s no coincidence that three women have the car to drop off holly, and three women drop off the car months later. I am completely suspicious of Sister Susan. She was clearly lying to David Muir when she said she never met them. And the sarcastic “I’m praying for you” at the end just enraged me. I would be very interested to know the timeline of when Tina/Deans family contacted the Salvation Army vs. when they decided to go drop off the car. The family said the Salvation Army was going to check driving records first, and it seems like a coincidence that the car then gets magically returned. It could have been the cult was planning on keeping the car but got word that SA was looking for it and decided the best thing was to drive it completely across the country and scam Deans mom at the same time.
- The fact that they were found east of where they lived in Texas, yet the baby went all the way to Arizona, and the car the baby was in the ended up in LA, is just not passing Occam’s razor .
In all I do not think the couple ever made it out of Texas. Whether or not Dean could have grown caught back up in he cult I don’t know. It seems incredibly unlikely that Tina would be capable of changing her feelings about her baby so quickly, but again you never know. The one glaringly obvious issue here is that,
like members of the cult admitted, children were always left with relatives or friends. There were close family in both Texas and Florida, seemingly at least two sets of grandparents of holly as well as multiple aunts and uncles, where Tina and Dean would have left Holly. And Dean and Tina were either dumped far enough away (or were followed on their way back to Florida), in a part of Texas where nobody would think of them if the bodies were found.
These groups were grifters, and well versed in the law. Someone would have known the rules about posting in the paper for adoptions, so purposefully drove Holly to Arizona where nobody reading the paper would recognize her name/age.
And Sister Susan, if you’re reading this. The truth will set you free.
