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DNA helped link ‘Baby Holly’ from 40-year-old cold case to Oklahoma woman

KOCO 5 got new insight into how ‘Baby Holly’ was not only identified but located alive and well in Oklahoma.

DNA helped link ‘Baby Holly’ from 40-year-old cold case to Oklahoma woman

KOCO 5 got new insight into how ‘Baby Holly’ was not only identified but located alive and well in Oklahoma.

>> I SAID TO HER IMMEDIATELY, I DON’T BELIEVE IT. I JUST DON’T BELIEVE IT. JESSICA: FAMILY MEMBERS IN SHOCK. A COUPLE IN TEXAS MURDERED 40 YEARS AGO FINALLY IDENTIFIED. EVAN: AND THEIR INFANT DAUGHTER, DECADES LATER, FOUND ALIVE AND WELL IN OKLAHOMA. KOCO’S ABIGAIL OGLE IS HERE. ABBY, WE ARE LEARNING MORE TONIGHT ON EXACTLY HOW THIS CASE WAS SOLVED. ABIGAIL: REALLY INTERESTING STUFF. WE’VE BEEN FOLLOWING BABY HOLLY’S STORY. SHE IS NOW A MOM AND GRANDMA LIVING IN THE CUSHING AREA. TONIGHT, I’M TALKING ONE-ON-ONE WITH A NEW TYPE OF DNA EXPERT. SHE’S CALLED AN INVESTIGATIVE GENETIC GENEALOGIST WHO CRACKED THE CASE AND INTRODUCED HOLLY TO THE FAMILY SHE NEVER KNEW SHE HAD. >> REALLY FASCINATING BECAUSE IT WAS A MALE AND FEMALE. WE THOUGHT OF IT AS KIND OF A ROMEO AND JULIET SCENARIO FOR 40 YEARS. ABIGAIL: THE MURDERED COUPLE WAS SIMPLY KNOWN AS THE HARRIS COUNTY DOES. THEY WERE FOUND BEATEN AND STRANGLED IN HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS. ALLISON PEACOCK WALKED ME THROUGH THE PROCESS OF HOW THE HARRIS COUNTY DOES FINALLY BECAME KNOWN AS THEIR TRUE IDENTITY, TINA AND DEAN CLOUSE. >> WE TAKE A SMALL PIECE OF EITHER A BONE OR TOOTH, GRIND IT UP, AND EXTRACT THE DNA. THEY SEND IT THROUGH WHAT’S CALLED WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING, WHICH MAPS OUT THEIR ENTIRE GENOME. ABIGAIL: PEACOCK TOOK THE GENOME FROM THE FEMALE VICTIM, UPLOADED IT TO A DNA DATABASE. AND GOT 2,300 MATCHES. >> YOU START WITH THE STRONGEST MATCHES. IN THIS CASE, I HAD THIS WONDERFUL FIRST COUSIN ONCE REMOVED MATCH, BUT UNFORTUNATELY SHE WAS ADOPTED, SO WE HAD TO DO A LITTLE BIT OF WORK ON THAT. ABIGAIL: THAT’S WHERE THE GENEALOGY COMES IN. PEACOCK BUILDS FAMILY TREES FOR THE VICTIM AND FOR THE MATCHES. >> YOU START LOOKING FOR WHAT WE CALL THE MOST RECENT COMMON ANCESTOR. YOU START LOOKING FOR WHO IS THE MOST RECENT PERSON YOU’RE SEEING OVER AND OVER. ABIGAIL: AND THAT IS HOW 40 YEARS LATER, TINA AND THEN DEAN CLOUSE WERE IDENTIFIED. LITTLE DID PEACOCK KNOW, THE MYSTERY WAS JUST BEGINNING. >> DID YOU KNOW THAT THEY HAD A DAUGHTER WHO HAD NEVER BEEN SEEN SINCE? >> WELL, WE KNEW VERY QUICKLY BECAUSE THE FIRST WORDS OUT OF DEBBIE BROOKS’ MOUTH WERE, WHAT ABOUT THE BABY? SO, I SAID, WHAT BABY? ABIGAIL: ONCE THEY LEARNED OF BABY HOLLY’S EXISTENCE, THE TEAM TRACKED DOWN HER BIRTH CERTIFICATE AND ADOPTION RECORDS AND THROUGH THAT, HOLLY WAS FOUND. >> IT MIGHT NOT HAVE EVER HAPPENED HAD WE NOT IDENTIFIED DEAN AND TINA AND ALERTED THE WORLD THAT THERE’S SOMEBODY MISSING. ABIGAIL: AND JUST SIX HOURS AFTER HOLLY, NOW IN THE AREA OF CUSHING, OKLAHOMA, LEARNED HER TRUE IDENTITY, PEACOCK SAYS THEY ALL MET VIRTUALLY FOR THE FIRST TIME. >> THIS BEAUTIFUL WOMAN’S LIFE WAS JUST BLOWN UP AND SHE’S ALREADY READY TO MEET PEOPLE. THAT, TO ME, SPEAKS OF RESILIENCE AND OPENNESS. >> WHEN I LOOKED AT HER, I REMEMBER THE TIME I USED TO HOLD HER IN MY ARMS, YA KNOW, I JUST WANTED TO HUG HER. I JUST WANTED TO GET UP AND HUG HER SO BAD. ABIGAIL: PEACOCK TELLS ME HOLLY’S FAMILY FEELS LIKE THEY’VE BEEN GIVEN A MIRACLE. AND THEY WANT TO BE THAT MIRACLE FOR ANOTHER FAMILY DESPERATE FOR ANSWERS. THEY HAVE STARTED THE DEAN AND TINA LINN CLOUSE MEMORIAL FUND TO RAISE MONEY FOR DNA TESTING AND GENEALOGY WORK, SO OTHER FAMILIES CAN HAVE CLOSURE TOO. WE POSTED A LINK TO DONATE IN THE AS SEEN ON SECTION OF OUR KOCO APP. LASTLY, THE INVESTIGATION INTO
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DNA helped link ‘Baby Holly’ from 40-year-old cold case to Oklahoma woman

KOCO 5 got new insight into how ‘Baby Holly’ was not only identified but located alive and well in Oklahoma.

A Texas couple was murdered 40 years ago and their infant daughter ‘Baby Holly’ was nowhere to be found. KOCO 5 got new insight into how ‘Baby Holly’ was not only identified but located alive and well in Oklahoma. It all came down to DNA. She was found 40 years after her parents were murdered. Holly is now a mom and grandma and lives in the Cushing area. | MORE | In 1981, a Florida couple was killed and their infant daughter vanished. She was just found alive and wellNow, KOCO 5 is learning how that connection was made. Holly’s parents weren’t even identified until last year.Good Morning America spoke with a genealogy genetics expert about how she was able to crack the decades-old case."Took some of their remains that had actually been exhumed a year earlier. What I noticed upon uploading Tina's DNA. Immediately, was kind of what we call gold in this business. A very high match," expert Allison Peacock said on Good Morning America. KOCO 5 spoke with Peacock and she said she was able to match Tina to several distant relatives. She said seeing how those matches fit together is what gives you the identity.The genealogy came in and recreated a family tree to figure out how everyone is related and eventually learned the victim’s name. Once they confirmed the identity of the couple, it took another few months for authorities to find their child ‘Baby Holly’ in Oklahoma. "Really fascinating because it was a male and female. We thought of it as kind of a Romeo and Juliet scenario," Peacock said.For 40 years, the murdered couple was simply known as the Harris County Does, who were found beaten and strangled in Harris County, Texas. Peacock walked KOCO 5 through the process of how the Harris County Does finally became known as their true identity: Tina and Dean Clouse."We take a small piece of either a bone or tooth grind it up and extract the DNA. Then send it through, what's called, whole-genome sequencing which maps out their entire genome," Peacock said.Peacock took the genome from the female victim, uploaded it to the DNA database, and got 2,300 matches."You start with the strongest matches. In this case, I had this wonderful first cousin once removed match but unfortunately, she was adopted so we had to do a little bit of work on that," Peacock said.That’s where the genealogy comes in. Peacock built family trees for the victim and for the matches."You start looking for what we call the most recent common ancestor, who is the most recent person you're seeing over and over," Peacock said.That is how, 40 years later, Tina and then Dean Clouse were identified. Little did Peacock know the mystery was just beginning.KOCO 5 asked Peacock if she knew they had a daughter who had never been seen since."Well, we knew very quickly because the first words out of Debbie Brooks' mouth were, ‘what about the baby?’ So, I said, ‘what baby?" Peacock said.Once they learned of Baby Holly’s existence, the team tracked down her birth certificate and adoption records. Through that, Holly Found."It might not have ever happened had we not IDed Dean and Tina and alerted the world that there's somebody missing," Peacock said.Just six hours after Holly, who is now in the area of Cushing, learned her true identity, Peacock said they all met virtually for the first time.“This beautiful woman's life was just blown up and she's already ready to meet people. That to me, speaks of resilience and openness,” Peacock said.Peacock said Holly’s family feels like they’ve been given a miracle and they want to be that miracle for another family desperate for answers. They have started the Dean and Tine Linn Clouse Memorial Fund.The fund will raise money for DNA testing and genealogy work so other families can have closure too.You can find the link here.The investigation into the Clouse murders and Holly’s disappearance is ongoing.

A Texas couple was murdered 40 years ago and their infant daughter ‘Baby Holly’ was nowhere to be found.

KOCO 5 got new insight into how ‘Baby Holly’ was not only identified but located alive and well in Oklahoma. It all came down to DNA.

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She was found 40 years after her parents were murdered. Holly is now a mom and grandma and lives in the Cushing area.

| MORE | In 1981, a Florida couple was killed and their infant daughter vanished. She was just found alive and well

Now, KOCO 5 is learning how that connection was made. Holly’s parents weren’t even identified until last year.

Good Morning America spoke with a genealogy genetics expert about how she was able to crack the decades-old case.

"Took some of their remains that had actually been exhumed a year earlier. What I noticed upon uploading Tina's DNA. Immediately, was kind of what we call gold in this business. A very high match," expert Allison Peacock said on Good Morning America.

KOCO 5 spoke with Peacock and she said she was able to match Tina to several distant relatives. She said seeing how those matches fit together is what gives you the identity.

The genealogy came in and recreated a family tree to figure out how everyone is related and eventually learned the victim’s name. Once they confirmed the identity of the couple, it took another few months for authorities to find their child ‘Baby Holly’ in Oklahoma.

"Really fascinating because it was a male and female. We thought of it as kind of a Romeo and Juliet scenario," Peacock said.

For 40 years, the murdered couple was simply known as the Harris County Does, who were found beaten and strangled in Harris County, Texas. Peacock walked KOCO 5 through the process of how the Harris County Does finally became known as their true identity: Tina and Dean Clouse.

"We take a small piece of either a bone or tooth grind it up and extract the DNA. Then send it through, what's called, whole-genome sequencing which maps out their entire genome," Peacock said.

Peacock took the genome from the female victim, uploaded it to the DNA database, and got 2,300 matches.

"You start with the strongest matches. In this case, I had this wonderful first cousin once removed match but unfortunately, she was adopted so we had to do a little bit of work on that," Peacock said.

That’s where the genealogy comes in. Peacock built family trees for the victim and for the matches.

"You start looking for what we call the most recent common ancestor, who is the most recent person you're seeing over and over," Peacock said.

That is how, 40 years later, Tina and then Dean Clouse were identified. Little did Peacock know the mystery was just beginning.

KOCO 5 asked Peacock if she knew they had a daughter who had never been seen since.

"Well, we knew very quickly because the first words out of Debbie Brooks' mouth were, ‘what about the baby?’ So, I said, ‘what baby?" Peacock said.

Once they learned of Baby Holly’s existence, the team tracked down her birth certificate and adoption records. Through that, Holly Found.

"It might not have ever happened had we not IDed Dean and Tina and alerted the world that there's somebody missing," Peacock said.

Just six hours after Holly, who is now in the area of Cushing, learned her true identity, Peacock said they all met virtually for the first time.

“This beautiful woman's life was just blown up and she's already ready to meet people. That to me, speaks of resilience and openness,” Peacock said.

Peacock said Holly’s family feels like they’ve been given a miracle and they want to be that miracle for another family desperate for answers. They have started the Dean and Tine Linn Clouse Memorial Fund.

The fund will raise money for DNA testing and genealogy work so other families can have closure too.

You can find the link here.

The investigation into the Clouse murders and Holly’s disappearance is ongoing.