A man suspected in a 1990 Houston cold case known as the “Lovers’ Lane murders” was arrested in Nebraska and is now awaiting extradition back to Texas.
Investigators who kept working the case for 35 years arrested suspect Floyd Parrott, 64, on Wednesday in Lincoln, Nebraska, 875 miles north of Houston, police said. He has been charged with capital murder.
A security guard found victims Cheryl Henry, 22, and Garland Atkinson, 21, dead after noticing a car in a cul-de-sac in Houston on Aug. 23, 1990.
Henry’s arms were bound and her throat was slit, and investigators also determined she had been sexually assaulted. Atkinson was found about 100 yards away from Henry, fully clothed but with his throat slit, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The authorities were tipped off to Mr. Parrott as a possible perpetrator of the murders in 2025. Investigators also looked into a 1996 sexual assault report that had been recently uploaded to an FBI database, and the DNA taken for that report matched DNA found at the scene, according to a criminal complaint cited by the Houston Chronicle.
There was also a DNA match from another 1990 sexual assault case, according to KPRC-TV.
“One of Houston’s most haunting and infamous cold cases has weighed on the Henry and Atkinson families, as well as our community for more than three decades. … Thank you to all investigators who have touched this case. Your perseverance has delivered something two families long deserved: progress and hope,” Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said in a release.
In a statement, the Henry family said, “After nearly 36 years, we never imagined this day would come, and we are overwhelmed with emotion. … We never gave up hope, and we thank God that a suspect is now in custody. We just wish our mother and Andy’s father would have lived to see this day. Cheryl’s mother, Barbara Craig, and Andy’s father, Garland Atkinson, passed away in 2024. … we kindly ask for privacy and continued prayers during this time,” according to KPRC-TV.
