A horrifying Houston double murder that stayed unsolved for decades may have finally been cracked.
Authorities say a suspect has now been charged in the infamous 1990 “Lovers’ Lane Murders,” a brutal cold case that has haunted the Houston area for 36 years.
According to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, 64-year-old Floyd William Parrott has been charged with capital murder in the killings of Cheryl Henry, 22, and Andy Atkinson, 21.
Parrott, who reportedly has a lengthy criminal record, was arrested Wednesday in Lincoln, Nebraska. Officials say he is now awaiting extradition back to Texas.
The shocking arrest is a major break in a case that long seemed impossible to solve.
According to court records, investigators got a fresh lead after a tip was sent to a cold-case detective. That tip eventually led to DNA evidence from the 1990 killings being matched to Parrott. The DNA had reportedly been submitted years earlier in connection to a sex assault accusation that Parrott claimed was consensual.
The murders happened after Henry and Atkinson spent a night out at a club on Aug. 22, 1990. Afterward, the young couple drove to a remote stretch of road in West Houston known at the time as “Lovers’ Lane.”
The next day, a security guard became suspicious when he noticed their car had not moved and decided to check on it.
What he found was horrifying.
Investigators said Cheryl had been sexually assaulted and her throat had been slit. Andy was found nearby tied to a tree, and officials said his neck had been cut so deeply that he was nearly decapitated.
The savage killings stunned Houston and quickly became one of the city’s most haunting and talked-about unsolved murder cases.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said the case remained a priority for years, even as investigators ran into dead ends and frustration.
He said prosecutors, working alongside Houston police and the FBI, followed hundreds of leads but never stopped fighting for justice for Cheryl and Andy.
