A suspect has been identified and charged in the 1990 “Lovers’ Lane” cold case murders of two young people found dead in a parked car in Houston.
Floyd William Parrott, 64, was charged with capital murder in connection with the killings of Cheryl Henry, 22, and Andy Atkinson, 21, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. He was arrested on Wednesday in Lincoln, Nebraska, and is awaiting extradition to the Harris County jail in Texas.
Their bodies were found on Aug. 23, 1990, after a security guard on a routine patrol came across a vehicle that had been stationary for an extended period of time, Houston police said in a news release. The security guard approached the vehicle and found an unresponsive woman.
Police were called and found an unresponsive man.
In a 2008 news release, police said that the pair had been stabbed in the throat. Atkinson was found tied up next to a tree, and Henry was located about 100 yards away. Police said Henry had been sexually assaulted.
Despite multiple agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, assisting with the case, the murders remained unsolved until earlier this month when investigators linked Parrott to the crime. Additional details were not immediately clear.
“Our prosecutors, working with the HPD and FBI, have pursued this investigation with relentless and dogged determination. They have worked hundreds of leads, facing dead ends and plenty of frustration. But, they never gave up on Cheryl and Andy,” District Attorney Sean Teare said in a statement.
He called the murders one of the city’s “most haunting and infamous cold cases.”
“Thank you to all investigators who have touched this case,” Teare said. “Your perseverance has delivered something two families long deserved: progress and hope.”
