In 1981, a Florida couple was killed and their infant daughter vanished. She was just found alive and well

and welcome to the texas. Attorney General’s law enforcement press briefing. My name is Aaron writes, I’m the deputy attorney general. We’re gonna get started here in just *** moment. But first two notes first, because this is an ongoing criminal justice matter, we will not be taking any questions. But for the media that’s present here or watching us online, we welcome you to email us at communications at oag dot texas dot gov will field your questions and answer the ones that we can, to the extent that we can 2nd *** call to the public. If anyone watching this event or anyone that you know has any information leads or tips about the story that you’re about to hear today, we need you to reach out to our cold case and missing persons unit. We have two ways that you can contact us. First is by email, cold case unit at oag dot texas dot gov Or call us at 512 9360742. Now to get us started, I’m gonna turn it over to Texas. 1st. Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster. Good afternoon. First of all, I’d like to express ken paxton’s and condolences. He has had *** scheduling conflict and was not able to make it today. Um Currently the United States, there are 270,000 *** solved murders In the state of Texas. There are over 20,000 unsolved murders In the fall of 2020 Ken Paxton identified this as *** problem. He also identified it as *** problem in the sense that there was no major statewide group investigating these unsolved murders in texas. So he began the process of developing *** strategy and *** plan to build *** team. They would investigate cold cases in texas. He built that team and that team began its work in March of 2021. Now I want to introduce that team today. That team began with me Brent Webster. I am the first assistant attorney general. I had 10 years as *** prosecutor in criminal law and he brought me on to help build this team out and also to help lead the agency. He also brought on deputy for criminal justice josh Reno. Now josh Reno had prosecuted criminal cases in three different district attorney’s offices. And most recently he was *** human trafficking prosecutor in the Travis County D. ***. S office. We also brought in *** former assistant police chief named Brent Dupree of the Austin police department who read the, ran the headquarters bureau and had extensive experience in cyber investigations and technological investigations and then finally to to lead the team in the day to day operations. We brought in Mindy Montford. Now Mindy Montford is an accomplished criminal prosecutor. She’s led *** D. ***. S office. She’s also been on the other side and she’s been *** criminal defense attorney and was accomplished in her own right there. She is also known for being good at investigating cold cases. So we were very happy to bring her on the team, those individuals with the exception of josh reno are here with me today as well as other members of our cold case team. Now As luck would have it, Ken Paxton had the vision to form this team and he we took cases in December of 2021. This case came in right after we started taking cases the case we’re going to discuss today. Now, as you’ll see, I’m going to read from some prepared statements today because this is an ongoing pending criminal investigation and we don’t want to say anything that might impact that investigation or hurt that investigation. Our main goal as *** law enforcement agency and the law enforcement agencies involved in this case. Their main goal is to make sure that we see justice occur and we like locate suspects and we find out where the facts lead us to solve these crimes. In 1981, 2 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 identified international was able to positively identify the bodies that were found in 1981. Through the use of genetic testing. The couple was from florida and their names for Tina Gael linn, Klaus and Harold Dean Klaus. They were *** 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 began the linen claus families have been searching for answers concerning the classes And their baby daughter Holly since they were last heard from in 1980, Last year when the families learned that the two bodies from found in Houston in 1981, 1 were in fact Tina and Dean Klaus. The families began looking for answers as to 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 holly to be reunited in person with the lin 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 in person soon and and nick nick, the National Center for Missing and exploited Children is gonna 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 in 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 about this case, please contact the texas. Attorney General’s office. Cold Case unit at Cold case unit at org dot texas dot gov. That’s Cold Case unit at o *** g dot texas dot gov. And our phone number as well for this investigation is 512936 0742. 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 *** 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 *** 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 *** baby before at *** 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 *** 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 beating 2-3 women and possibly when male and once again, these women were wearing robes and to be appeared to be members of this religious group. Yeah. The police reportedly took the women into custody, but there’s no record of *** 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 in 1978 2 door red burgundy AMC concord Tina and Klaus and Harold Dean Klaus were likely murdered between December 1980 or early January 1981. Their bodies were found off of Wallace Ville Road in Harris county texas. I’m Gonna repeat that. Their bodies were found off of Wallace Ville Road in Harris county texas and this was between January six and January 11 of 1981. They were last heard from by their families In late October 1980 and they had been living in Lewisville 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 *** piece of information that may not be concrete evidence, we need to find pieces of the puzzle to solve this crime. The texas, Aggie s Office cold 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 found her. But we must continue with our purpose of finding who murdered this couple. As we stated earlier, we cannot take questions today because this is *** pending investigation, but we thank you so much for coming out today and we ask again to the public. Please please come forward with information. Thank you, increased. Yeah, I’m not gonna take questions, but I’m more than happy to read the description of women again. Um, the women who identified themselves as members of nomadic religious group who brought holly to the church. They were wearing white robes and 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 *** baby before the laundry mat, and additionally, they were known for asking for food when they were located in human. Human Arizona, thank you.