EDGEWATER, Fla. (WFLA/NBC) — A child who went lacking after her mother and father have been killed in Texas greater than 40 years in the past was found alive and effectively this week, and has now reconnected with family members in Florida.
Holly Marie Clouse’s mother and father vanished shortly after transferring from Volusia County, Florida to Texas in 1980. There was no signal of Holly Marie, who was only a child on the time, after their our bodies have been found in 1981. The mother and father weren’t recognized till 2021.
Texas Attorney General introduced this week that “Baby Holly” had been found, now 42 years previous, residing in Oklahoma.
“I’m like, ‘oh my gosh – we found her. We found her,’” Holly Marie’s aunt, Debbie Brooks, advised NBC affiliate WESH.
Brooks and her mom Donna Casasanta – who’s Holly Marie’s grandmother – reunited with their long-lost family member through Zoom after news broke that she was found.
“I kept thinking, I used to hold her as a little baby, you know, and I just wanted to put my arms around her,” Casasanta mentioned.
Casasanta’s son, Harold Dean Clouse Jr. – or Junior, as they known as him – was Holly Marie’s father. He and his spouse moved from New Smyrna Beach to Texas in 1980 and vanished later that 12 months.
“You would see someone in a store [and be like] ‘is that Junior?’ but it never was, of course,” Brooks mentioned.
Brooks and Casasanta spent greater than 4 a long time not understanding what occurred to their family members, till final 12 months when their our bodies have been recognized.
“It’s very heartbreaking knowing that they had been killed that long ago and we never knew it,” Brooks mentioned. “The bodies just dumped in the woods.”
Texas authorities on Thursday introduced that “Baby Holly,” who was not found with her mother and father’ our bodies, was left at a church in Arizona and was later adopted.
Brooks and Casasanta need to know who murdered their family members however are additionally celebrating the truth that Holly Marie has been found.
“I said, ‘oh my God, this is a gift from heaven.’ It’s Junior’s birthday, I was just so ecstatic,” Casasanta mentioned.
They hope to fulfill Holly Marie in individual when she is prepared, however mentioned they perceive she’s overwhelmed proper now and wishes time to course of all the things.