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