TEXAS, USA — It is the mystery that spans four decades and across three states: Where is "Baby Holly?"
And what happened to her parents, Harold Dean and Tina Linn Clouse?
On Thursday afternoon, the Texas Attorney General's office held a press conference, revealing major details in the missing persons and murder case.
"This case came in right after we started taking cases," said Brent Webster, the first assistant attorney general.
There are upwards of 20,000 unsolved murders currently in Texas. The state's newly installed cold case unit reopened the Clouse case.
It was DNA evidence that identified the couple found in a wooded area near Houston. Tina and Harold Dean were last seen living in Lewisville, Texas in 1980.
"We never knew where the three of them were. My son just went to get a job Texas and were wiped off the face of the earth," said Donna Casasanta, Harold Dean’s mother.
It is the couple's identification that begged the next question: What happened to "Baby Holly?"
The attorney general's office announced Thursday officially that "Baby Holly," now an adult woman, had been found "alive and well."
"[I am] relieved that is she is alive and she was raised - she said she had a normal raising. I don't have to worry anymore. All these years I worried about that she was sold to human trafficking," said Casasanta.
"Lewisville Police Detective Craig Holleman assisted the Texas Attorney General’s Office in its multi-agency investigation into the disappearance of Holly Clouse. Detective Holleman began working on this case in November 2021," read a statement from Lewisville Police. "As First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster announced earlier today, Holly was notified on Tuesday about her parents, Dean and Tina Clouse, and Detective Holleman was present at that meeting."
Investigators still believe parents Harold Dean and Tina Linn were murdered and now need the public's help.
"Holly's" real name and whereabouts have not been disclosed in order to protect her identity.
The families will reunite soon with the woman many first knew as "Baby Holly" -- small steps in a four-decade-old journey to truth.
If you have any information in regards to the case you are encouraged to contact the Attorney General's office by email coldcaseunit@oag.texas.gov or by phone 512-936-0742.