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DNA Match Leads to Arrest in 1990 Houston ‘Lovers’ Lane’ Killings

Texas is seeking a governor’s warrant as Floyd William Parrott fights extradition from Nebraska.

Overview

  • Floyd William Parrott, 64, was arrested in Lincoln, Nebraska on Wednesday and charged with capital murder in the 1990 deaths of Cheryl Henry and Garland “Andy” Atkinson.
  • Investigators say a late tip and a CODIS case-to-case DNA match linked Parrott’s profile from a 1996 sexual-assault file to DNA from Henry’s autopsy, according to court records.
  • Parrott remains in Nebraska custody and is opposing extradition to Harris County, while prosecutors move for a governor’s warrant and plan to ask a judge to hold him without bail once in Texas.
  • At a Friday news conference, the district attorney urged anyone who may have encountered Parrott to come forward, citing his past convictions for impersonating a police officer and a 1996 sexual-assault charge that a grand jury declined to indict.
  • The 1990 case weighed on Houston for decades as police preserved evidence from a remote west Houston scene, and the new DNA hit underscores how older profiles added to the FBI’s CODIS database can unlock long-stalled investigations.