Closing Cold Cases: Couple Honored on National Day of Remembrance for the Work They Continue to Inspire

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Sep 25, 2024, 08:32 ET

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of today's National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims in America, designated by Congress in 2007, FHD Forensics and sister organization, Genealogy For Justice™ honor the memories of Dean and Tina Linn Clouse. The Florida couple's remains were found in Texas in 1981 and identified in 2021 using genetic genealogy.

Murder victims Dean and Tina Linn Clouse left Florida taking infant daughter Holly Marie with them in 1980. As depicted in ABC 20/20's 2023 special, Baby Holly Found, their skeletonized remains were discovered in a rural area outside Houston in January of 1981. They were finally identified and Holly was reunited with their families 40 years later due to the miracle of genetic genealogy. Today, they inspire the resolution of other cold case identifications. (Genealogy For Justice photo)

A marker for a Florida serial killer's victim was recently placed at the Daytona Beach site where her remains were discovered in 1980. Chris Casasanta, homicide victim Dean Clouse's brother, made the trek in the rain last week with the case detective. Pamela Wittman of Indiana was a Jane Doe for over 40 years until she was identified in March using genetic genealogy underwritten by Genealogy For Justice's Dean and Tina Linn Clouse Memorial Fund. (Genealogy For Justice photo)

Genealogy For Justice™ (G4J) was soon created to manage the Dean and Tina Linn Clouse Memorial Fund to sponsor other John and Jane Doe identifications, as well as to encourage DNA uploads to forensic databases and support the survivors left behind. Dean and Tina's families were the motivation for the establishment of the nonprofit organization and continue to advise it today.

Two years later, Dean and Tina still inspire the identification of other murder victims and unidentified remains cases left unsolved for decades. This begins the healing process for families left waiting for years.

Families like that of a young 1979 victim of Florida serial killer Gerald Stano. Formerly known as Daytona Beach Jane Doe, Pamela Wittman was identified by FHD Forensics using genetic genealogy in March. A marble marker was placed this week at the site where her body was found in 1980.

Team FHD-G4J has also been working for almost a year to identify homicide victim Picture Rocks Jane Doe, left in the Tucson desert in 1985. Thanks to a robust crowdsourcing campaign to gain DNA uploads for the databases, her case is closer than ever to being solved. A volunteer recently took DNA tests to Mexico to help generate more matches for the investigation when her distant ancestry was traced to a tiny town in Jalisco.

"These cases would not get the closure the families deserve had it not been for Dean and Tina and their families," says FHD Forensics founder and genetic genealogy expert, Allison Peacock.

Peacock explained the role philanthropy is playing in a 2022 press release about the creation of the fund. Grants are filling a gap right now while governmental agencies try to catch up to this new and very expensive technology.

Dean Clouse's late mother, Donna Casasanta longed to find purpose in her grief when she learned her son was a murder victim discovered decades ago, rather than simply living with a religious cult as she'd been told years earlier.

"Mama Donna" became an enthusiastic driving force for the work done in Dean's memory.

"Out of all this tragedy and all this hurt and all this pain, my son and his wife did not die for nothing," she exclaimed in 2022.

Donna was also a passionate advocate for DNA uploads to the databases used by law enforcement to help identify remains. Over the past two years, more than 200 people have uploaded their DNA to help with FHD Forensics cases underwritten by Genealogy For Justice. Scores more have uploaded at events hosted by the couple's daughter Holly Marie while promoting her book about their case.

"Mom would be ecstatic about this," declared Donna's daughter and Dean's sister, Cheryl Clouse. "The Lord turned our personal sorrow and tragedy into miracles - over and over again."

The Linn family recently remembered the anniversary of Tina's 61st birthday. Holly Marie celebrated her mother in a Facebook post circulating the homicide investigation's public tips email with a prayer for answers and "Happy Heavenly Birthday, Mom!"

Tax deductible donations to the Dean and Tina Linn Clouse Memorial Fund at Genealogy For Justice™ can be made on the organization's website, Paypal, or GiveButter.

Media Contact:
Cyndi Despault
(512) 270-1301
[email protected]

SOURCE FHD Forensics