- This is the story of a young family, their identities lost and then suddenly found again ` a mystery that would defy belief. And it all started with this sudden arrival of a baby. - I heard a knock at the back door. There were two ladies. - They look like they just walked right out of the Bible. I had never seen anybody like that in my whole life. - They said, 'We need somebody to take care of a baby.' She was a gift from God. - It's like a mystery in a mystery in a mystery. - This is just one of several stunning turns in this story. There would be another in the woods of Houston. So it was days before they actually discovered the two bodies, and they were right here in the woods? - Both bodies were bound. - It was a young man and a young woman. - They likely knew the people who killed them. - The hunt for answers to what really happened in those woods would actually lead investigators across the country and to a second mystery. - What happened to this baby? - My brain just was on fire. How can a child be missing for 40 years and nobody know where she is? - It sounds like a scene from a movie or something, right? - All the pieces started to come together. - The woman behind the headline ` Baby Holly, who made national news ` sharing her journey for the first time, from lost to found. Holly, it's great to finally meet you. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023 - Nau mai, haere mai. Welcome to 20/20. It's great to have you with us. Tonight we bring you the captivating case of Baby Holly, a mystery that took over 40 years to unravel. And today, there's still more to come. To begin telling you the complicated story of Baby Holly, we have to go all the way back to 1981. - On January 6th, it was a sunshiny day, but it was... it was cool. It was very common for our three shepherds to run off through the woods, do their hunting, their barking, their frolic, and whatever they were doing. Our shepherd comes around the corner, and she's got something in her mouth. Well, as she got closer, she dropped that something right in front of us. And it was a human arm, from just above the elbow, down to the fingertips. - You got all hands on deck trying to find where this arm came from. - So it was days before they actually discovered the two bodies, and they were right here in the woods? - They were. They were about 100 feet from the roadway and about 50 feet from this access road, right pretty much through this path. We don't know if they were killed elsewhere and brought to this location, or if they were killed at this location. - But the mere fact that they're deep into the woods here means there was an effort to get them back here. - Yes, absolutely. - Investigators start by thinking they're searching for one body. Now, suddenly, they have the near-skeletal remains of two people about 10 to 12 feet apart. - Both bodies were bound. And it appeared that there were not very many clothes in the area. There was a pair of green shorts found. - It was a young man and a young woman. And there was just really very little indication of what had happened. - The medical examiner was able to determine that the female victim had likely died from asphyxiation, and that the male victim had likely died from blunt force trauma to the head. - The medical examiner in the case is able to determine that the female victim is likely between 15 and 18 years old, the male victim between 17 and 24. - Harris County investigators are really scratching their heads. They're able to put together sketches of the pair's reconstructed faces and put those sketches out to the media. But no one came forward. And in 1980 and 1981, the resources for identifying people were more limited than they are today. - They casted their fingers to try to get fingerprints. You could compare dental records. They did that. But they were not able to find any dental records. - This medical examiner's investigator talked about the teeth of these victims being in immaculate condition. You would expect, maybe, that these are people that people would look for ` their relatives, their loved ones, their friends. - So no match on the fingerprints. The dental turns up nothing either. There were no IDs on them, no paperwork, no wallets, nothing else attached to these bodies. - Absolutely nothing else that could identify these people. If you don't know who the victim is, you can't really complete any investigative steps. They were just basically labelled a John Doe and a Jane Doe. The case just goes on a shelf. - They were buried right here in this county cemetery. No headstones, no family paying its respects. Instead Jane Doe and John Doe, marked with a simple, nondescript concrete marker here in this strip of land. They are among the hundreds of anonymous souls that have been buried here through the decades. - I think it's really important to think about when this murder took place ` Pre-internet, pre-cell phone. If you had a missing persons case, you're going and putting signs on telephone poles, on bulletin boards. And you don't know what's happening the next county over. - Fast forward 30 years. 2011, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences gets a grant. They'd gotten a grant from the federal government to test some of the remains of their most promising cold cases. - This case was definitely top of the list, because it was two individuals, and it was two young individuals. So someone had to be looking for them. - And they actually had to dig up these Jane and John Does. - The DNA was extracted and analysed and put into the system. - Nothing. No familial matches at all. - Remember, at the time, they only had criminal databases to search. They didn't have all of these family genealogy databases. So they turned to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children for that Jane Doe. - Harris County Sheriff's Office had a Jane Doe case of a person who was under the age of 21. They had a drawing that they were already circulating. So we utilised that image on our missing child poster and distributed that. We did have some leads, but obviously nothing that sparked enough to lead to an identification. - But there would be new hope along the way. Because over time, advances in DNA technology give rise to what's called forensic genetic genealogy, offering new tools to once again try to identify Jane and John Doe. - We're able to do so much more with investigative genetic genealogy, where you can use the DNA that you have to further your case and find out, are there people related to this case? - I had started looking through a website called the DoeNetwork, which is kind of a clearing house for unidentified remains in North America. And I came across this rendering of a male in Texas that was found in 1981. There was something about it that just ignited something in me. - And she said there was a male and female found together. This Romeo and Juliet is what she called him. There was a story there. We just didn't know what it was. - They decide they're gonna try to figure out who these two young people are. - Harris County, to its credit, agrees to play ball, and it's off to the races. - GILLIS: Once I started building out the family tree matches, I had DNA matches to the mother's side and father's side. So I knew that my unidentified remains was from this family. And once I saw that there was one male, that was my 'aha' moment of I had figured it out. - After about 10 days, Misty said,... - I think I just solved the Harris County Doe. And she said, 'Who is it?' And I said, 'Harold Dean Clouse'. - They end up making a call in late October 2021 to a woman named Debbie Clouse-Brooks of New Smyrna Beach, Florida. (PHONE RINGS) - I said, 'Would you happen to have anybody in your family 'that might have been missing for a really long time?' - I said I had my brother that disappeared about 40 years ago. She says, 'I just want you to know that we found him.' He had been murdered. - We had to say, he was found with a female ` can you tell us about his wife? And she said it was Tina. - In just those first moments on the phone, Jane and John Doe suddenly have their names, after 40 years of being unidentified ` 21-year-old Harold Dean Clouse, 17-year-old Tina Linn Clouse. And they were a beautiful young couple from Florida. - When I was on the phone with Debbie, she just went silent. And then a couple of seconds later, she was like... - What about Holly? What about the baby? - And I was like, 'Baby? What baby?' My brain just was on fire. Because I was like, how can a child be missing for 40 years and nobody know where she is? - Debbie was able to share with us a lot of details. They really were just a young family. They had this little girl. They were establishing their own life together, really, when unfortunately that was taken away from them. - The real story begins in a small town just south of Daytona Beach, Florida. Donna Casasanta is a waitress at a local restaurant. She raised her six children ` four daughters, two sons ` and all of this after her husband passes away. - DONNA: They were the glue that held me together, made me whole. - Her second oldest son, Dean, is actually known by the family as Junior. - Well, he's very rambunctious, very... breaking the rules ` he's real good at that. - DEBBIE: He like to joke around with us, make us laugh, do silly things. - Dean's family described him as kind ` kind to a fault. He would often pick up hitchhikers, much to his family's disapproval. - I don't know how else to put it, except to say he had empathy, if you will, for others. - The family says at the time it was also not uncommon in New Smyrna Beach to actually see these groups of young people travelling on foot, often wearing white robes. They would talk about their religious views. And as a teenager, Dean actually travelled with these groups on more than one occasion. But he always returned home. - I said, 'Junior, you can't keep doing this. You will wind up in trouble somehow, someway.' You know. And 'Oh, Mom, nah! 'I can handle it.' You know. That's the way he was. - Now back home again, Dean finds a reason to actually stay. Her name was Tina Gail Linn, and she was a friend of one of his younger sisters. - DONNA: She was so sweet and so happy. And then the more she was with the family, the more I just fell in love with her. - She told me she was in love with him, crazy in love with him. And she just looked so happy. And the next thing I know, they were married. - It wasn't long before Dean and Tina announced that they were expecting a baby. - And then on January 24th 1980 Holly Marie Clouse was born. - DONNA: Oh, she was sweetie. A chubby, healthy, healthy little thing. - They doted over her. - There was so devoted. I mean, absolutely devoted. And I loved the way he took care of his little girl. - It was the spring of 1980, and Baby Holly is just a few months old. And this young couple with their new baby decide to move out of state. - They hit the road, and first they drive to Baltimore, Maryland, before then going to Texas, where they first stay with some of Dean's family in Lewisville, which is a suburb of Dallas. - Tina was very good about writing letters or a phone call at least once a month ` 'Hey, how are you doing? Da-da-da-da.' And she would also send pictures of Holly. Early October, we got a letter from Tina. It said, we've got a place of our own. And she was excited and happy about it. And she gave me that address. And I wrote back to her, I know, within the same week, within days. And my letter came back marked, 'Moved. Left no forwarding address.' And I thought, 'What's going on?' - So, I think worries started once a month, 45 days go through and there's no letter, there's no updated pictures of Holly. There's something not right about this, you know? That's not like them. - And then all of a sudden Donna gets an interesting phone call. - The man's voice was rough. - Kinda raspy. - This man on the phone now with Dean's mother tells her that he has something that belongs to her son and he wants to return it. - The man said, 'Meet me at Daytona 500 Speedway, 12 o'clock midnight.' And I'm thinking, '12 o'clock midnight? That don't sound right.' - Yes, that mysterious midnight rendezvous, when we come back right after this break. - Welcome back to 20/20 and tonight's story on Baby Holly, a two-pronged mystery with so many layers. It's 1981 in this story, and Holly's young parents, Tina and Dean, have moved out of state with her and then worried their families by dropping out of contact. Their parents and siblings are trying to get in touch, but are hampered by distance, technology and the lack of easy communication back in the early '80s. - It's now been a few months. No word from Tina and Dean Clouse. That steady stream of letters about them and their baby has stopped. So Dean's mother, Donna, calls family in Texas, and all they know is that the young couple and their baby are gone. - What's going on? She was happy. They just got their own place. This can't be. Why would they have left? I was just very suspicious. - A couple of months after Donna stops hearing from Dean, she gets this weird phone call. - And he told me that their car had been found in LA. - It's the same car that just the spring prior had pulled out of Donna's driveway with Dean, Tina and little Baby Holly. And now this man presenting himself as a detective calls and claims that the car was found empty and abandoned in LA. It didn't make sense. - Half a tank of gas. - Keys in the ignition. - Nothing wrong with it. - Wiped clean. - And it was parked in this nice neighbourhood. - When she said, 'Have you found my son? Do you know anything about my son?' he told her, 'Well, ma'am, between California and Texas, there's a lot of desert.' - And I'm thinking, '12 o'clock midnight? That don't sound right.' You know? - BARNED-SMITH: Donna is a waitress at that time, in a restaurant frequented by law enforcement. So she talks to some of these guys. - And they said, 'Yes, Donna, do it. We'll be there. You don't have to worry. We will be there.' The woman pulled Junior's car up and got out. I would guess her age, late 20s, early 30s. And then she had two girls, and they also stepped out. - DEBBIE: And they had robes on. - Yes. I said, 'I've been searching for my son. Let me just call him.' I'll talk to him on the phone. I'll know his voice. - BARNED-SMITH: And then this older woman who went by Sister Susan just said that Dean and Tina had renounced their worldly possessions and their past lives, joined this religious group, and they weren't gonna be hearing from them any more. - And she said, 'He's no longer part of your family. He's our family now.' And I think that broke Mother, I'm sure. I mean, it would me, as a mother. - DONNA: The police stepped in, then. And he told me, 'Go ahead, take your car and go home.' I checked with the police a few days later, and they said nothing they could do, because they didn't... hadn't broken any rules, except they brought your car back to you. - Donna told me that she was concerned, but Dean had joined these groups before, so she had no reason to believe that he wouldn't return home at some point. - Coming out of the hippie movement in the mid '70s, there was a whole entire movement of people becoming involved with these religious-based organisations. - When the baby boomers were hitting their early 20s, they were looking for answers, they were trying to figure out their direction in life. - All these groups had very similar names as well. They all wore white robes. They were all travelling around the United States. - Authorities say that the woman at the speedway didn't reveal this at the time, but investigators would later discover that Dean and Tina had travelled with members of a group called Christ Family. - Followers of the Christ Family often surrendered all of their possessions. They used the phrase 'in the wind' to describe their travels around the country This nomadic lifestyle wasn't easy with children, let alone babies, and people who've studied this particular group said Children were reportedly handed over to relatives or others to take care of them while their parents travelled. - I knew Tina would do whatever Dean wanted to do. So I did believe they may have joined a group, but I still figured that we'll get a call or they'll show up some time, because I couldn't believe Tina would really, totally give up family. - Because they're adults, you can't list them as missing, because they have freely chosen to just disappear. - I thought about them a lot. - Honestly, after the years go by, you hit year five, you hit year 10, you hit year 20, year 40 comes by, life's still going on. And then you get news like we did. Very frustrating, very painful. The thought of not knowing was over with, but that only brought another section of it, is where was Holly? What happened? We don't have the full story. - Early November of 2021. We have IDs on the unidentified human remains, but no one knows what happened to the infant. We know what Mom looked like. We know what Dad looked like. So we created what's referred to as an age progression and just start putting the pieces of the puzzle together, to figure out, where is this baby? - Four hours north of Houston in Lewisville, Texas, a detective there opens a missing persons case for this little baby. Remember, Lewisville, Texas is the last known address for this young couple and their baby before they suddenly disappeared in late 1980. - I knew that Dean and Tina had been there kind of October-ish time frame. When I interviewed his family that lived close to Lewisville, they did say that they stayed with them, and after about a month with them, they found their own apartment. And then as quickly as they came in, they disappeared. - One of the first things Detective Holloman tries to do is track down Holly's birth certificate. Easy? Not so much. - I figured, well, maybe I can call to the state of Florida to get somebody to help me out. I eventually talked to somebody on the phone. No help. - And right around the time that this detective hits this major roadblock, there's actually a new cold case unit getting off the ground at the Texas Attorney General's Office. - When we first received the case, we realised it had two parts ` a missing infant, Baby Holly ` and then we knew there was also a double homicide. We needed to find Baby Holly. That probably held a lot of answers about what happened to her parents. We thought that either Holly had been kidnapped and, God forbid, had grown up in very bad circumstances, or had been murdered along with her parents. When you work these cases, usually they don't have a very happy ending. - They tried to get Baby Holly's original birth certificate. - We reached out to the Florida AG's office, and they eventually linked us up with a detective with the Volusia County Sheriff's Department. - I drafted up a subpoena. - But the Florida Department of Health advised that my subpoena would not be sufficient to provide me these documents. And I asked why. They just said they were sealed. - Instantly, I had a feeling she's alive. Baby Holly's alive. There are only a few reasons why you'd want to seal a birth record. And one of those reasons is an adoption. - I drafted up a court order and told the judge these documents, unsealed, could find Holly, she could still be alive, or these documents could lead the state of Texas to the suspects in her parents' murder. - And after all this time, a judge finally delivers what detectives have been waiting for. - When I got the email and looked at the records, I was just like, 'Holy crap.' I'm thinking maybe we had a big breakthrough. - We had names, and that was huge. We did not know if these adoptive parents were innocent, caring, loving parents or had details about a heinous homicide. At that point, it was all hands on deck. - All the pieces started to come together. - Baby Holly has been located alive and well 42 years later. - Holly, it's great to finally meet you. - Thank you. David. It's really nice to meet you. - Yes. Finally, that birth certificate provides the vital info and Baby Holly ` officially found. - You're with 20/20. Welcome back. In tonight's story, two young people are found dead, murdered, and their bodies dumped. Many years later, their remains are finally identified as Tina and Dean Clouse. And then a shocking reveal ` they had a baby daughter. Which brings us to the central question of this case. Is their Baby Holly still alive? And the key to figuring out what happened to her? Adoption records from 1981. - She was adopted in Arizona. We had names of adoptive parents. We had locations, things that we could investigate. - Investigators discover that Baby Holly was adopted by a couple in Yuma, Arizona. Their names are Philip and Constance McGoldrick. And the question is, who are they? - There is a letter written by Philip that Tina signs giving up Holly to him. There was also another letter that is presumed to have been written by Dean, also giving up custody of Holly. - We went right away trying to find the adoptive parents, where they were living now. We started using public records database checks, social media checks. We were fairly certain we had found Philip's Facebook profile. And we discovered that Philip McGoldrick, the adoptive father of Holly, lived in Oklahoma. However, Holly's adoptive mother still lived in Arizona. - I did a search for all Holly Maries with that same exact date of birth, and I looked at the driver's licence photos of all of them. And just based on how she looked compared to Tina, I picked out which Holly Marie it was. - Investigators are almost certain that the woman they find online is Baby Holly. A waitress living in a small town in Oklahoma, she's 42 years old, and she's a mother. - So we developed a plan. - A team would go to Arizona to talk with the adoptive mom of Holly. And then a team would also go and talk with Philip, her adoptive father. And then Detective Holloman and I would go and speak with Holly. - June 7th 2022, and this multistate operation is launched. - We asked to speak with Holly, and we heard a voice say yes. Detective Holloman immediately said, 'Holly, can we talk to you? I want to tell you a little story.' - Yeah. - Thanks for doing this. This is your chair here. - Mm-hm. - Are we good? We're all rolling? - Yeah, we're all rolling. We're all good. - Holly, it's great to finally meet you. - Thank you. David. It's really nice to meet you. - June 7th 2022. You were at work, and you remember hearing someone approach the drive-through window. There are two people standing there. - With guns and badges. - And what were you thinking? - What in the world am I about to get myself into? That's what I was thinking. Why would they be wanting to talk to me? - He asked me, he said, 'Do you know anything about your birth parents?' And I told them that I thought they joined a cult, and I believe they must have died. - And what did they say to you? They said yes, they are dead, but they were murdered. - That's a lot. - Yeah. - I know that they handed you a photo. This is the photo they gave to you? - This was a... a face to a name. It means the world. It changed my whole world, this little picture right here. It really did. - How so? - You can see how happy and loving they are. - When I handed that to her, she just broke down. She'd never actually seen a picture of her mother. And then when she saw her mom, it was quite overwhelming for her. - After we talked to Holly, she was able to get Philip on the phone. - Philip, of course, is the pastor who adopted her. He told us about the moment they came to the door. - I didn't realise until about halfway through the interview that I was a suspect. - We knew Holly was alive. But how did this come to be? - The story that Philip is about to tell investigators deepens this mystery even more. - And I heard a knock at the back door. There were two ladies in white. They had white robes all the way down. They were barefoot. They had white head coverings. I asked them, 'Can I help you?' Instead of asking for food or money, they said, 'We need somebody to take care of a baby.' And I'm thinking, oh, they need a babysitter. And then they explain, 'No, we need someone that would take this baby and raise this baby.' I'm still thinking, who could I give this baby to? And then it suddenly struck me, it's me. Because my wife and I had one daughter, and we'd been praying for another child. And when I went to the car, I saw this baby girl, blonde, blue-eyed, just like one of my family. The older lady said, 'This is the mother of the child, and she joined our group to dedicate her life to God in that way.' - Is the woman who they say is Holly's mother standing right there, is she distraught? Is there any emotion as she's looking at you? - She had very little emotion at that time. I'm sure there was emotion going on inside, but whether it was brainwashing or drugs or something going on, she seemed to be containing it. - Were you puzzled at all, as to why she would want to give up a perfectly healthy, beautiful little girl? - Yes, obviously it was a very strange thing to happen. And my wife at the time, Connie, kept asking, 'Are you sure you want to do this?' 'Yes, I'm sure I want to do this.' - So you decide to adopt Baby Holly? - Yes. Yeah. - What were the next steps to make this official? - On Monday morning, I just looked up a lawyer in the phone book. He says, we'll put advertisements in the newspaper. So they put things out saying there's a baby that's been abandoned. And after six months, he said if they don't come back, then you can go through the adoption process. And they didn't. - If there was any idea that Philip might have been a suspect, those were put to bed. He was able to produce things that he had kept over the years that were helpful to our investigators. - So as all of this is unfolding, investigators also visit Holly's adoptive mother, who still lives in Arizona, and she confirms Philip's story. And investigators also clear her as any potential suspect in the murders of Dean and Tina. - They just truly were the people who adopted Holly and gave her a great childhood. - So here you have this beautiful little girl. - Mm-hm. - What was she like? - She was very sweet and fit in very well. If you look at pictures, you see Sally ` that's my older daughter ` and Holly just hugging on each other. They look like they were made for each other. To me, adoption doesn't make any difference. She was a gift from God. - As the years pass and Holly begins to grow up, her family changes too. The mother and father who adopted her, Philip and his wife, they divorce. He takes full custody of Holly, and they actually leave Yuma, Arizona and eventually settle outside Tulsa, Oklahoma. Holly spent so much time as a child wondering about her parents. Where were they? She'd been told that they had left with a religious group. As she grew older, her questions grew about her parents. - I started getting really curious about my biological family. - So I gave her the copy of the birth certificate. She had the names on there. And at the top it said New Smyrna Beach. And I said, 'Holly, let's just go to Florida.' - So you had your birth certificate. You go back to Florida. And you were trying to get the records unsealed. - I wanted my birth records. I wanted to know if there was any note in there from my parents, if there was an address, something. And when you went there and asked for that, what did they tell you? - That I was not old enough. I needed to come back when I was 18 to be able to get those records. They wouldn't give it to me or my dad. I was heartbroken. I was devastated. That's when I finally accepted the fact that I'm just not supposed to know. - And it was at that point, when they tell her she's not old enough to get these records, that she essentially stops thinking about meeting her biological family, until that fateful day, 30 years later. - She goes, 'Are you sitting down?' And I'm like, 'Yeah, I'm sitting in my car. Why?' - Baby Holly has been located alive and well 42 years later. - She goes, 'They found Holly.' - And you're about to see the incredible moment when Holly finally meets her biological family. - I thought my heart would stop. - The reunion over 40 years in the making, when we come back. - Kia ora ano. You're with 20/20. Baby Holly, the child who'd been missing from her extended biological family for more than 40 years, has been found. Adoption records and genetic DNA research revealed where she is and who adopted her. Her biological parents are dead, but now she has a chance to meet the rest of her family. - Holly says her life in Oklahoma has been a happy one, grounded in faith and in family. She married her husband, Troy, when she was 18. You get married. And how many children do you have? - Five. My pride and joy. - I can see it in the smile. - What makes this life worth living for? Family is treasure. It was really overwhelming. I went from nobody caring a world about me (LAUGHS) to all of a sudden everybody wanting to know my story, wanting to talk to me. Crazy. - So many people wanted to talk to Holly, but no one more than her biological family, who'd been waiting for years back in Florida. They had just been told days earlier that Holly has been found. - I thought my heart would stop. Because I was just overwhelmed with... 'Thank you, Jesus!' You know? - The same day that investigators made contact with Holly at the diner they told her that her family had gathered and they were ready to meet her. - I was in shock. I couldn't believe it. Are you serious? These people gathered already for me, to talk to me? - And when that Zoom turned on and the faces start popping up, could you see yourself in the faces of your family? - You know? I could see resemblances from my kids. - In that moment, suddenly your family grew. - It did, in just a moment. - It was a little nerve-racking at first, but the moment she started talking, I just... I felt like this is where she belongs. - We got to talk to her a little bit and just introduce ourselves to who we are. It was wonderful. - But I knew they'd been searching for me for a long time. So I loved 'em for that. And I could hear in their voices the hurt and pain that they had to suffer from not knowing all those years of what happened to all of us. - And then, decades after she disappeared, Holly and her biological family are finally reunited face-to-face. - Oh my goodness! (LAUGHS) I know you from your picture. LAUGHS: Hi! I love you. Thank you. Thank you for all your prayers. 'To hold them, to love on them, 'greatest feeling in the world.' - It's great to finally meet you. - Yes. Thank you. - You look just like Tina. I can't believe it. - You've got all these people wanting to hug you and to tell you they love you and to know about you. - At this reunion, they actually show Holly the baby book that her mother, Tina, had lovingly prepared, the notes she had written. The last photo was dated October 1980, and that was just a month before Holly was dropped off at the door of that church in Yuma. - She wrote, 'Holly stood on her bed, holding on to the rail for the first time. 'September 5th of 1980. 7 months old.' She was very meticulous in putting together her baby book for me and writing on the back of every little photo. That showed me how much she really did care and love for me. - How then, do you explain to yourself how they were able to give you away? - I can't. Knowing and seeing the love they shared for me, I just can't fathom that they would want to do that. - You still have so many questions. - I do. So many unanswered questions. - Since June of 2022, when Baby Holly first made national headlines, the public scrutiny, the questions, the speculation around this nomadic religious group, Christ Family, has only intensified. - We knew from the family that Dan and Tina had set off with the Christ Family. We were fairly certain they travelled from Lewisville to Arizona with this group, were with the group when they gave Holly up for adoption. - The group was actually being led by a charismatic leader, a man named Charles McHugh. He was actually known by his followers as Lightning Amen. And all these years later, a small number of people still live by these teachings in Hemet, California. - He died in 2010. - People have very different takes about that group. There are people in the group who said they never saw anything bad, ever. And then there are people who describe being brainwashed. - I really believe that they tried to leave the cult, that they were leaving when they were murdered. I really believe that. - I know if they joined this cult, they were not told the truth, that the children were given away. They must have believed that, 'We've got to get out of this.' - Leaving is as easy as joining. You just say, 'Brother, Sister, I'm just not feeling this.' You either are of it or you're not. Nobody's gonna come chasing after ya. - The people that 20/20 visited in Hemet, California hoped that in some way by speaking out they might try to offer insight as to why they believe Holly's parents might have left her at that Yuma church. - Well, I know it's hard for people in a regular worldly life to even imagine giving up your child. It's very rare that a child would be dropped off like Holly was. Usually children went to grandparents or to the other spouse. - To this day, Holly and her biological family remain convinced that Dean and Tina's murders are somehow connected to their affiliation with Christ Family. - I don't believe that the group that we have encountered today, as in the people that we've interviewed, have any knowledge or were involved in anything. But I certainly believe that fringe members of the group could have possibly done this. - And you're about to hear from a woman who was part of Christ Family right around the time that Dean and Tina were also part of the group, right around the time they disappeared. And what she told me is eye-opening. Is this Sister Susan? - We have more clues in the continuing mystery of what happened to Dean and Tina right after the break. - Welcome back to 20/20. Baby Holly has been found and happily reunited with her extended family. But the mystery of what happened to her parents and who killed them back in 1981 still haunts all of them. There's a lack of evidence from the site. Some items were found with the bodies but are no longer in police custody, despite a full audit to check. So investigators decide to take another look in the woods. (POLICE RADIO CHATTER) - Today we are out searching the area where Tina Linn and Dean Clouse were located, murdered in 1981. We need something to give us some leads in this case. - Something in that pile right there. Right here. I don't know what those are. - Unfortunately, though, we did not find anything today. - You've gotta just make sure you checked every box. You never know what you're gonna find. - Every piece of information is so important in a cold case. You really have to be patient and wait for those pieces to come in. - One of the things they're convinced of is investigators say they believe the killer knew the area, that area in Houston. So they believed that finding anyone who came in contact with the couple or knew who they were travelling with will be critical to this case. - All the tips that have come in, we've not had anyone say they remember travelling with Dean and Tina, correct? - Correct. - Nothing in your investigation so far has indicated to you that the religious group was involved. I mean, if anything, they were wanting to help figure this out. - That was my impression of them. They wanted to give us other names of people who might have known them, might have travelled with them. - There have been so many questions about that car being handed back to Dean's family at the Daytona Speedway. And we found the woman who brought that car back, Sister Susan. Sister Susan tells 20/20 that we can record her voice but didn't want her face shown because of all of the scrutiny that Christ Family has faced with respect to this case. Let me ask you, if you could, take me back to late 1980. You were in your group. They said, would anyone take the car back? Did you ask what happened to Dean and Tina? - Well, it was pretty common knowledge the car that was Dean and Tina's, um, it was already there, and they had already hit the wind. - They were gone. - Yeah. Yeah. - Did you ever meet them? - No. - What were you asked to do with the car? - Just to return it to his mom's. - And once you arrived in Florida, Sister Susan, what was the scene? What did you encounter? - Well, as soon as we pulled up, police cars surrounded us. But the police knew who we were. They knew we were non-violent. They knew we were, you know, harmless. - What do you think happened to Dean and Tina? - Some evil demon picked 'em up and kill 'em. - And you don't believe it had anything to do with Christ Family? - No, of course not. I mean, we have been portrayed as this dirty, rotten cult, and that is untrue. - And so in looking back, you understand why they gave up their baby. - Oh, of course. Everybody did. It wasn't like we weren't gonna ever see 'em again. But there was work to do. - Investigators have spoken to Sister Susan too, and they don't believe she had anything to do with Dean and Tina's homicide. How often do you think of your parents and what happened to them, not knowing? - Every day. Every day now. Not a day that goes by I don't think of them and what happened. - Because now you believe you know them. - I do. I've gotten to know them. And I miss them. So, tell me about how my parents got married. - OK. I came home from work that day... - It must be difficult to think all the years you lived without your Grandma Donna. - And she was there all along. - But she was, praying me through it. I had no idea. Prayer works. God does answer. You might have to wait 40 years. - And you did. - Yes. And it was definitely worth the wait. - An incredible woman with an incredible story. And that's our show for tonight. In fact, it's our final show for the year. Thank you so much for being with us. Until next time, kia ora, nga mihi. Captions by James Brown. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023