Identified! TX - Houston, WhtFem 18-25, UP701 & WhtMale 20-30, UP703, in woods, Jan'81 - Dean and Tina Clouse

[Ksprincess2]

Remains of Houston couple found in 1981 finally identified. But their child, now 41, is still missing.

 

[FamilyHistoryDetectives]

You can watch the documentary on the producer's YouTube Channel
The documentary is: No Place To Call Home
The channel is: Jaime Prater

Yes, I've been in touch with Jaime. We queried several community members and he's not found anyone that knew them. We can't say for sure whether the cult was related to JPUSA or The Brethren/Jim Roberts Group. There were similarities. I'm considering contacting a cult expert. I'm the genealogist that identified Tina and notified the family. I am now serving as their advocate. There are some new articles up today:

Houston couple's remains identified but their baby still missing

After 40 years, a murdered Houston couple has finally been identified. Where is their missing baby? (paywall)

An Important Date: Marking a death and looking for signs of life | Family History Detectives® Allison Peacock

Today was actually the 41 year anniversary of Tina's body being found and the forensic sketches being made by Mary Mise. Rough day today for the family.

 

[Trebor5591]

Here are the details from the page:

<snip>
The child, who was most likely given a whole new name, may have grown up in or around a religious community. Members called themselves by the titles "Brother" or "Sister" and may have been related to the Jesus People in Chicago.
Several months after the murder, in the summer of 1981, someone calling herself "Sister Suzanne" returned Dean's car to his mother in Daytona, Florida. She told the family that the young couple was happy with their new religious community and wanted to be left alone. The family had no way of knowing that they were, in fact, already dead.
<snip>
If you have information on this missing child, now 41 years old, please visit our website at Identifinders.com.

From the Houston Chronicle article (cited below):

A few months later, Casasanta received a call from a group of people saying they had Clouse’s car and would drive it back to her from California for $1,000.
“This is strange,” she recalled thinking.
She agreed to pay the money — then talked to police who patronized the restaurant where she worked.
A trio of women showed up with the car, dressed in religious-looking robes. One appeared to be in her 30s; the other two seemed younger
Casasanta begged them to let her speak to Clouse, to give her some information about her son.
They couldn’t answer any questions about Clouse or Linn; Casasanta recalled, only told her that they’d joined a religious group and were cutting ties with the family.
​

I wonder if the return of Dean Clouse's vehicle to his mother was unrelated to their murder? I find it difficult to fathom why "Sister Suzanne" would knowingly return the vehicle of a murdered man to his mother--even for a $1,000 payment, because that act would be an arrow of guilt pointed directly at her. She likely wouldn't know that the murder would fall between the cracks like it did.

Still, there is a lot that is vague about this case--was a missing persons report ever filed? With what agency? Is there a case number? Also, the article says that the mother spoke with police who patronized a restaurant where she worked. What did they advise?


After 40 years, a murdered Houston couple has finally been identified. Where is their missing baby?

Condolences to the family, and prayers for locating the daughter.

 

[Trebor5591]

I'm the genealogist that identified Tina and notified the family. I am now serving as their advocate. There are some new articles up today:

Houston couple's remains identified but their baby still missing

After 40 years, a murdered Houston couple has finally been identified. Where is their missing baby? (paywall)

An Important Date: Marking a death and looking for signs of life | Family History Detectives® Allison Peacock
.

Thank you for identifying the bodies of Harold and Tina! Congratulations on a job well done.

 

[Trebor5591]

I just checked it out..this case is so sad but I also believe very solvable! So can anyone tell me where there 2 different cars belonging to this young couple - the one found in LA and the one returned to family members in Florida by some woman?

I believe there was only one car. From the Houston Chronicle story:

"A few months later, Casasanta received a call from a group of people saying they had Clouse’s car and would drive it back to her from California for $1,000.
She agreed to pay the money — then talked to police who patronized the restaurant where she worked.
A trio of women showed up with the car, dressed in religious-looking robes. One appeared to be in her 30s; the other two seemed younger.
Casasanta begged them to let her speak to Clouse, to give her some information about her son.
They couldn’t answer any questions about Clouse or Linn; Casasanta recalled, only told her that they’d joined a religious group and were cutting ties with the family."​

After 40 years, a murdered Houston couple has finally been identified. Where is their missing baby?

 

[FamilyHistoryDetectives]

Thank you for identifying the bodies of Harold and Tina! Congratulations on a job well done.

Thank you! It was a team effort. I identified Tina and my former colleague at Identifinders Misty Gillis (I'm no longer with the company) identified Dean.

 

[Trebor5591]

@onceuponadecember

The Jesus People!! I didn't even know they were still around in 1981.
They were a 70's thing that I thought fizzled when the Vietnam War ended. It was mostly teenagers and young adults. (Hippies who were high on Jesus instead of drugs) I think there was also some communal living involved, but most just lived at elsewhere. I went to some of their events, because they were pretty much everywhere back then.
Jesus People USA - Wikipedia

Here is a documentary.
I'm listening to some weird, disturbing stuff about kids being taken from their parents.
This documentary is on the producer's You Tube channel.

Film sheds light on Jesus People's dark stories
CHICAGO — When filmmaker Jaime Prater decided to make a documentary exploring the lives of the children he grew up with at the Jesus People USA religious community, he says he never imagined his research would "open the floodgates."

Stories poured out of ........More than a dozen adults who lived as children at Jesus People relate their stories in Prater's film, No Place to Call Home, which has been released on Vimeo on Demand.

Jesus People is one of the last remnants of the Jesus Movement of the 1970s, which attracted earnest young urban missionaries seeking an alternative to the drug culture and free love communes of the time. Today, Jesus People says it offers adults and families a chance to turn around their lives in an evangelical, Bible-based communal setting.


You can watch the documentary on the producer's YouTube Channel
The documentary is: No Place To Call Home
The channel is: Jaime Prater

From what I gather, the Jesus People were a Chicago area Christian group, and not a nation wide group. Also, I don't know if they can be characterized as a "cult", but I am not certain on this point.

I think identifying the specific cult the Clouse's may have joined might be key in helping to identify the Clouse's murderer and a start for determining the location of Hollie Marie . I wonder if Mrs. Casasanta can identify the cult's name?

I remember the Branch Davidians were located in Waco TX, about 100 miles north of Houston. Certainly they would be capable of violence.

 

[Trebor5591]

View attachment 320182 View attachment 320181 We are looking for more answers. Their baby daughter disappeared with them. It’s been 41 years and I know finding them should bring closer but it doesn’t not when their was a baby girl that disappeared and now we know her parents were killed and found in the woods.

We really hope that putting some attention on this cold case might help locate Hollie Marie. Do you know the name of the cult they joined?

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Identifiers International worked in conjunction with the Houston Institute of Forensic Sciences and podcast producer audiochuck, which provided funding for generic testing for the case, to make the discovery.

Identifinders Senior Forensic Genealogist Misty Gillis and former colleague Allison Peacock identified the couple within 10 days of taking on the case. The location of their daughter, however, remains unknown.

Clouse and Linn's families hadn't seen the couple since they left Florida for Texas with their 1-year-old daughter, Hollie Marie Clouse, in 1980.

Hollie Marie Clouse pushing a stroller. (Family History Detectives)

On Jan. 12, 1981, a dog discovered the couple's remains in a wooded area in Houston. They had already been dead for about two months at the time of the discovery. Clouse was beaten and gagged, and Linn had been strangled, according to Identifiers International.

Family members believed the pair had joined a religious cult and no longer wanted contact with relatives, Identifiers International said in a press release.

Peacock wrote about the discovery and her experience sharing it with Clouse's 80-year-old mother in a blog post for Family History Detectives — a company she founded that uses genetic genealogy to help identify human remains and parentage.

Composite drawings of then-21-year-old Harold Dean Clouse and his wife, then-17-year-old Tina Gail Linn Clouse (Family History Detectives)

Clouse's mother said Peacock's call, while sad, was "the joyous answer to a decades long prayer…to have answers as to what happened to her firstborn son while she was still alive."

"If Hollie Marie is still alive, she will turn 42 years old next month, although she probably doesn’t even know her real birthday," Peacock wrote. "And she’d have no way of knowing that she was raised by someone who at the very least was a third or fourth party to the murder of her parents. At the most, they may have been involved directly."

"It’s inspired me to shepherd DNA profiles for key family members on various consumer databases hoping that she’ll test one day," Peacock wrote. "And if she does, I have no doubt that this lavishing of love will indeed take place.
Murdered Houston couple identified 40 years later, but their baby is still missing

Couple murdered in Houston in 1981 identified; daughter, now 41, still missing

 

[FamilyHistoryDetectives]

I wonder if Mrs. Casasanta can identify the cult's name?

I remember the Branch Davidians were located in Waco TX, about 100 miles north of Houston. Certainly they would be capable of violence.

Unfortunately due to it being so long ago, and these kinds of groups being very loose and disorganized, the family doesn’t know of a particular name for them. Dean and the family just called them the “Jesus freaks” and there is good reason to believe they may be associated with the group that eventually became JPUSA. The Jesus people that began in California were winding down by 1980, but the one in Chicago that also had ties to Florida and Oklahoma was just beginning. We strongly looking at the Jim Roberts/Brethren group as well. They had a well documented history of child trafficking and many missing children.

 

[FamilyHistoryDetectives]

Thanks so much for posting the video from KHOU! I’ve been so busy with media interviews for the past few days I’ve not had time to come back to visit this conversation and post new things.

 

[onceuponadecember]

Slightly off topic but Dean’s mom wrote a memoir about two years ago, I think it might have some details in it about Dean and Tina. Here’s the Amazon link if you want to buy the book:

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Girl-Wall-Donna-Casasanta/dp/1645310736

 

[Trebor5591]

"Identifinders International, in conjunction with the Houston Institute of Forensic Sciences and audiochuck, announces the identification of 1981 Harris County murder victims as then 21 year-old Harold Dean Clouse and spouse 17 year-old Tina Gail (Linn) Clouse.

The newlywed couple, who married in June 1979, was found together in a wooded area in Houston, Texas. They had been deceased approximately two months prior to their discovery on January 12, 1981, when a dog led searchers to their remains. Harold was found beaten, bound and gagged, while Tina had been strangled."

1981 Murdered Couple Identified, But Questions Remain about Missing Baby

 

[Trebor5591]

" HOUSTON — Forensic genetic genealogists are following new leads in the search for Hollie Marie, a baby girl last seen more than 40 years ago, whose parents were murdered in Houston back in 1980.

Hollie Marie's parents are Harold Clouse Jr. and Tina Linn. Their remains were discovered in 1981. However, they weren't identified by authorities until late 2021."


Who is Holly Marie? Her parents were killed in Houston in 1980 | khou.com

 

[Trebor5591]

"AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The recent identification of two 1981 Texas murder victims alerted law enforcement 41 years later to the fact that at the time of their deaths, they had a one-year-old daughter. Holly Marie Clouse hasn't been seen since sometime before January 1981 when her parents Dean and Tina Linn Clouse were found murdered in Houston.



1980 photo of Holly Clouse with her mother, Tina Gail Linn Clouse. Tina was murdered in Houston in 1981.

Holly Marie Clouse in a 1980 photo taken in Lewisville, Texas. If alive, Holly will turn 42 years old next week.
"After the story broke about Dean and Tina last week, the number of women who wrote to me hoping that they might be Holly has inspired her family and me to take action," says Peacock. "Their stories were all compelling and I didn't want to leave them hanging - even if they weren't Holly."

Family History Detectives® has launched a special project in Holly's honor. The Hope for Holly Project will screen, DNA test, and help identify those with uncertain childhoods, including the women who have found hopeful connection to the 1981 story of Holly and her parents."

Family History Detectives Launch Hope for Holly: Missing Daughter of Texas Murder Victims Sought, Inspires an Effort to Help Stolen Children

 

[Trebor5591]

This is a good read.

Where is Holly Marie? Solving two tragedies only to uncover another | Family History Detectives®

 

[Mysteries1974]

Have you seen this child? Holly Clouse

Holly is officially listed as missing with The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Have you seen this child? Holly Clouse

Holly is officially listed as missing with The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Age Progressed

Holly's photo is shown age-progressed to 42 years. She has been missing since January 1981.

 

[onceuponadecember]

I don’t know if anybody has noted this, but Hollie must have been conceived around the spring of 1979 yet her parents married in June of 1979. It’s also worth noting that Dean would’ve been 19 at the time and she would’ve only been 15. The age of consent (I don’t know if this has changed since then) in Florida now is 18 years of age. Is it possible that Dean and Tina got married to avoid him getting in any legal trouble? Not trying to victim shame with this post FYI, I think it’s just important to bring up.

 

[Friday Fan]

I don’t know if anybody has noted this, but Hollie must have been conceived around the spring of 1979 yet her parents married in June of 1979. It’s also worth noting that Dean would’ve been 19 at the time and she would’ve only been 15. The age of consent (I don’t know if this has changed since then) in Florida now is 18 years of age. Is it possible that Dean and Tina got married to avoid him getting in any legal trouble? Not trying to victim shame with this post FYI, I think it’s just important to bring up.

They probably had parental consent from Tina's family.

I knew people in Wisconsin who got married at 14. It all hinged on parental consent.