Houston Cold Case Suspect Charged in 1990 Double Murder

A Case That Went Unsolved for 36 Years

A man has been charged with capital murder in connection with one of Houston’s most recognized cold cases, nearly 36 years after two young people were killed in a remote area of west Houston. Floyd William Parrott, 64, was arrested Wednesday, March 25 by Houston police and FBI agents in Lincoln, Nebraska, and is now charged in the 1990 deaths of Cheryl Henry, 22, and Garland “Andy” Atkinson, 21, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and CBS News. Parrott is awaiting extradition to Harris County and is currently contesting his return to Texas.

Henry and Atkinson had been dating only a few weeks when they were found dead on August 23, 1990, near Enclave Parkway in a then-remote section of west Houston. A security guard on routine patrol spotted a white Honda Civic parked in a cul-de-sac that had not moved over a period of time. Upon approaching, the guard found an unresponsive woman nearby. Houston police officers who responded also located an unresponsive man nearby. Atkinson was found tied to a tree in a wooded area close to the vehicle, with severe injuries to his neck and his hands bound behind his back, according to court records cited by CBS News and KHOU.

The Break That Reopened the Case

For decades, investigators pursued hundreds of leads without identifying a suspect. The turning point came when Houston police received a tip in late 2025 naming Parrott as a possible suspect. A detective reviewing the tip examined a 1996 sexual assault case in which Parrott had been charged but ultimately no-billed by a grand jury. DNA collected during that 1996 investigation had not previously been entered into CODIS, the national Combined DNA Index System. When it was uploaded and compared against samples from Henry’s 1990 case, the system returned a match, according to authorities and court records reported by KHOU.

A recently assigned detective - who had been on the case for only a matter of months - submitted the DNA sample to the database and identified the link, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said at a news conference on March 27. Teare credited decades of investigative work across multiple agencies, including the Houston Police Department, the FBI, and the Texas Attorney General’s Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit.

Families Respond to the Arrest

Cheryl Henry’s sister, Shane Henry, attended the March 27 news conference and addressed reporters. She described her sister as her closest companion growing up, and said she had not expected the case would ever be resolved. Henry said the arrest brought relief alongside the weight of years of unanswered questions. Andy Atkinson’s stepsister, Francesca Del Rosso, told reporters that her father had contacted detectives regularly over the years and never stopped pushing for answers. Atkinson had moved to Houston from North Carolina only weeks before the killings, according to KPRC.

ADA Samantha Knecht, who leads the Harris County DA’s cold case division and has worked the case for roughly ten years, said the call she made to the families on the night of Parrott’s arrest was the most significant of her career, according to KPRC. Teare acknowledged the long gap in justice directly, saying authorities cannot return Cheryl Henry and Andy Atkinson to their families, but committed to presenting the full truth in court.

Extradition and Next Steps

Parrott has indicated he does not want to return to Texas voluntarily. A hearing on extradition is scheduled for late April in Lancaster County, Nebraska, according to Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office said it is pursuing a governor’s warrant to accelerate the process, and Teare said he expects Parrott could appear in a Harris County courtroom within approximately six weeks.

Prosecutors also stated that Parrott has an extensive criminal history including multiple convictions for impersonating a peace officer in the 1990s in Harris County, and that they believe he may have additional victims. Teare asked the public to come forward with any information about Parrott, saying investigators are not limiting the scope of the inquiry. Parrott has not entered a plea, and no trial date has been set. He has not been convicted.

References: Suspect in Houston “Lovers’ Lane” cold case murders arrested 36 years later | Houston ‘Lovers Lane’ murders: Families relieved by cold case arrest; DA says suspect may have more victims