incredible missing person case baby holly disappeared with her parents back in 1980 in texas
and the bodies of the adults were found months later but
there was never any trace of the young couple's baby until now so
good afternoon and welcome to true crime mysteries if you're new the channel hello
and welcome and if you're returning welcome back today we will be discussing the recent discovery
that baby holly missing for 42 years has been found alive and well and also
the mystery surrounding the cold case murder of her parents let's get into it
in 1975 in new smyrna florida a young couple 17 year old tina gail lynn and 21 year old dean klaus
get married high school sweethearts the couple soon welcomed their daughter they named holly
after holly was born the couple decided to relocate to texas where dean had lined up a
construction job and left behind their families they packed up their car and set out to start
their new lives in texas initially the couple kept in frequent contact with their families
but the calls and letters suddenly stopped the last contact was in april of 1980
it wasn't initially thought of as a cause for concern but dean's family received a strange call
a woman who called herself sister susan said she was calling from los angeles california
she told donna that she had information about tina and dean and that she was in possession
of dean's car and offered to bring the vehicle to florida in exchange for a thousand dollars
the car had been purchased by donna and gifted to dean for the move donna agreed to meet the
woman but also alerted authorities they agreed to meet at the daytona race track the klaus family
was confused when three women in white robes possibly one male stepped out of the vehicle
sister stuzen told donna that dean and tina had joined a religious group and did not want to
be contacted by family members she further stated that the couple had given up all of
their possessions the women were purportedly taken into custody but no police report of the incident
was ever found and because the couple were adults no investigation was taken at that time
donna stated that she hadn't been surprised that dean had joined a cult he had expressed interest
and had been involved in a different cult in florida but she thought that he'd put it past
him when he married tina after this encounter no one heard from tina or dean ever again
it was in 1981 in houston texas when two bodies were discovered in a wooded area it was a man and
woman found in a shallow grave buried together the cause of death was deemed to be homicide
the man appeared to have been beaten to death while the woman had injuries consistent with
strangulation and in the grave was a bloody towel and green gym shorts they estimated that
they had been killed two months before the discovery the bodies had no identification
and there weren't any missing person report that matched composite sketches were done and
released to the media but no one came forward the bodies remained unidentified for decades
they were buried in the harris county and were given the names harris county jade and john doe
in 2021 texas established a dedicated statewide cold case unit for the first time
to start going through the 20 000 unsolved murders in the state
the cold case team started accepting cases in the fall of 2021 and one of the first cases
they decided to open was that of the harris county jane and john doe they first decided to have the
bodies exhumed in order to get dna samples from the two of them genetic genealogy was done and
soon the bodies were identified as tina and dean klaus who had been missing since 1981.
law enforcement started their investigation which led them to speak to the families of the deceased
very quickly they learned that the couple had a young daughter and a search began to find baby
holly dean's mother said that she was devastated to learn that dean and tina had been murdered so
soon after they stopped communication though she had missed her son over the years she had
hoped the family had been living out their lives but had always feared the worst both
tina's family and dean's family had never given up hope that they might one day have answers
law enforcement from multiple agencies set to work trying to find holly and in june 2022
they made the discovery that no one had thought possible holly klaus now 42 was found in oklahoma
investigators finding holly this week in oklahoma telling her the truth about her biological parents
she's seen here holding a picture of him she has her mother's her mother's smile and she has a
mother's voice the klaus and lynn families meeting her for the first time this week on a video call
when i looked at her i remember the times that i used to hold her in my arms
you know and i just wanted to hug her i just wanted to get up and hug her so bad but it was
zoom and you can't still it is a bittersweet reunion authorities now want the public's
help in finding whoever murdered dean and tina some details have not been released to protect
the ongoing investigation but it was revealed that shortly after the murder of tina and dean
holly had been left at a church in arizona and adopted by the pastor and his wife of the church
they had renamed the infant she never knew her birth name birth family or parents holly's
adopted parents were not suspects they revealed details about the circumstances
that brought holly to their front door two women dressed in white robes and bare foot
they identified themselves as members of a nomadic religious group the women spoke about
their beliefs saying that their religion included separating male and female members and practicing
vegetarian habits they also stated that their religion prevented them from wearing leather goods
these group members also indicated that they had previously given up another baby at a laundromat
experts have identified the group as likely being the nomadic cult called christ's family which had
been led by charles mchugh the group had been known to wander the southern united states for
years and had been active in texas in 1981 the texas general attorney's office went on to state
that the members of the group are believed to have traveled to arizona california and possibly texas
the members of the nomadic group had been spotted in yuma arizona during the 1980s with the female
members asking the public for food mchugh who called himself lightning amen believed himself
to be jesus reincarnated and at the group's highest had two thousand members mchugh encouraged
excessive drug use and demanded that members give up their former lives and earthly possessions
children within the cult were viewed as excessive baggage and it was required that all children be
given up if tina and dean had been involved with this or recruited into this cult they would have
been required to give up holly and it is still unknown what led to their deaths the fbi had noted
that this particular group as non-violent however the leader was seen as dangerous and unpredictable
mckee had been arrested in 1985 for possession and transporting methamphetamines for the purpose
of sale as well as weapons charges at his arrest he was also found to be in possession of several
weapons various other drugs and 4 200 in cash he was convicted along with four other followers
and went to prison for a bit another incident in 1985 was when 10 cult members were arrested
for growing over 900 000 worth of cannabis at a compound in california the cult broke up when
mchugh was in prison when he was released he had a small following until his death in 2010
though there are still active members of christ's family holly whose adopted name has been withheld
to protect her family's privacy has five children of her own and even is a grandmother
she has been reunited with her birth family who has welcomed her return their reunification is
being facilitated by experts family members are relieved that holly had a good life and was well
cared for all of these years we had nightmares you know almost every night no wondering what happened
to holly it is a question debbie brooks holly's aunt and donnica sosanta holly's grandmother have
been asking themselves for decades all kinds of things go through your mind but you never
ever have rest this morning after 40 years of searching they can finally rest a bit easier with
the answer they called us and found molly that night i was able to go to bed the investigation
into the murders of dean and tina klaus is still ongoing little is known about what may
have happened to the couple had they refused to give up holly and was killed by mchugh or other
members the timeline puts a time of murder around the same time the car was returned to florida
if anyone has information about their deaths they are asked to please contact the texas attorney
general's cold case and missing persons unit in 1981 two deceased individuals were discovered in
the wooded area in houston texas their identities could not be determined at that time what law
enforcement did know is that they were likely murdered decades later in 2021 the organization
identifiers international was able to positively identify the bodies who were found in 1981 through
the use of genetic testing the couple was from florida and their names were tina gail lynn klaus
and harold dean klaus they were a young couple we learned this couple had an infant daughter named
holly who was not found with the remains of the classes and so the search for baby holly begin
the linen klaus families have been searching for answers concerning the klaus's
and their baby daughter holly since they were last heard from in nineteen eighty last year
when the families learned that the two bodies from found in houston in nineteen eighty were one were
in fact tina and dean klaus the families began looking for answers as a what as to what happened
to baby holly and the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the classes through collaborative
efforts of the texas attorney general's office cold case and missing persons unit the lewisville
police department the volusia county sheriff's office in florida the arizona attorney general's
office the harris county sheriff's office and the national center for missing and exploited children
i'm excited to announce that baby holly has been located alive and well 42 years later i also am
happy to announce that the national center for missing and exploited children have offered and
will be paying for uh holly to be reunited in person with the lynn and klaus families
holly has been notified of the identities of her biological parents and got to meet her extended
biological for the family for the first time this tuesday they hope to meet per in person
soon in in nick mick the national center for missing and supported children is going to
facilitate that meeting this investigation highlights the hard work and collaboration
of multiple law enforcement agencies working together across the country and demonstrates
the importance of continuing to investigate cold cases both in texas and in the united states
now this next part i'm sharing with you today because we're asking
from for help from the public because we have yet to solve this particular crime while we rejoice
today that holly has been found and families that were looking her for decades rejoice
we still are looking for suspects in this case and i want to share that information with you and i
want to say this again if you have information in this case i'm about to share some facts with you
but if you have information information about this case please contact the texas attorney
general's office cold case unit at coldcaseunit oag.texas.gov that's coldcaseunit at oag.texas.gov
and our phone number as well for this investigation is 512-9
the following information is released today regarding our investigation in hopes that
people will hear this story and come forward with more information baby holly was left at
a church in arizona and was taken into their care out of respect for holly and her family we won't
have any further comments or details regarding that at this time the family that raised holly
are not suspects in this case two women who identified themselves as members of
a nomadic religious group brought holly to the church they were wearing white robes
and they were barefoot they indicated the beliefs of their religion included the separation of male
and female members practicing vegetarian habits and not using or wearing leather goods
the women indicated they had given up a baby before at a laundromat it is believed that this
particular group traveled around southwestern united states including arizona california
and possibly texas there were sightings of this religious group around the yuma arizona
area in the early 80s the women members would be seen around town at various points asking for food
in late december 1980 or early january 1981 the families of tina lynn klaus and harold dean klaus
received a phone call from someone identifying herself as sister susan who explained she was
calling from los angeles california and wanted to return tina and dean's car to their family
she further stated that tina and dean had joined their religious group and no longer wanted to
have contact with their families they were also giving up all of their possessions sister susan
asked for money in exchange for returning the car to florida where the family lived
the family agreed but contacted the local authorities about the situation
the family agreed to meet sister susan at the daytona racetrack in florida
the family described meeting two to three women and possibly one male and once again these women
were wearing robes and to be appeared to be members of this religious group
the police purportedly took the women into custody but there is no record of a police
report on file that has been found as of yet given the age of this case that is common we're still
on the hunt for that police report the return car belonged to dean's mother and was in fact the car
that they had in their possession and this is the description of the vehicle
it's a 1978 two-door red burgundy amc concord tina lynn klaus and harold dean klaus were
likely murdered between december 1980 or early january 1981. their bodies were found off of
wallaceville road in harris county texas i'm going to repeat that their bodies were found off
of wallaceville road in harris county texas and this was between january 6 and january 11 of 1981
they were last heard from by their families in late october 1980 and they had been living
in louisville texas in october of 1980 around that time
if you have any information regarding
these murders we ask that you come forward even if it's a piece of information that may not be
concrete evidence we need to find pieces of the puzzle to solve this crime the texas ag's office
cole's case unit and the law enforcement agencies that work with us are committed
to bringing justice in this case we wish holly the best we're grateful that we've found her
but we must continue with our purpose of finding who murdered this couple well that is it for this
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