Tina and Harold met in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, fell in love and had Holly before borrowing Harold’s mother’s sedan and moving to Lewisville, outside Dallas, in 1980. They kept up communication for a time, but that October, Casasanta stopped hearing from the couple.

A few months later, members of Tina and Harold’s family received a call from a woman in Los Angeles identifying herself as “Sister Susan,” the first assistant attorney general said. Sister Susan said that Tina and Harold had joined their religious group, were giving up their possessions and wanted to cut off contact with their families. Sister Susan added that she had the couple’s car and would return it to Florida in exchange for money.

The Houston Chronicle reported that it was Casasanta whom Sister Susan contacted and that she agreed to meet the mysterious woman at the racetrack in Daytona Beach, Florida, late at night. According to Webster, police were notified before the meeting.

At the racetrack, Casasanta met three women dressed in robes who had her burgundy 1978 AMC Concord, the car she had loaned to her son. Officers took Sister Susan into custody that night, Webster said, though investigators said they could not locate a police report regarding the arrest.

Casasanta never heard from her son again. Harold and Tina were likely killed between December 1980 and January 1981, Webster said, not long before their bodies were discovered in the Houston area.

“It is such a blessing to be reassured that she is alright and has had a good life.”

Cheryl Clouse, Holly’s aunt

Like the women at the speedway, Webster said the women who left Holly at the church in Arizona also wore robes. They were barefoot and identified themselves as members of a “nomadic religious group” that believed in “the separation of male and female members,” as well as a vegetarian lifestyle.

Webster added that investigators believe the group roamed around southwestern states, including Arizona, California and possibly Texas. The group was spotted in Yuma, Arizona in the early 1980s, Webster said, noting the female members would sometimes be seen around town asking for food.

Holly’s path from the Arizona church to her adoptive family is unclear, and officials did not identify the family who raised her. After learning the identities of her birth parents, Holly is contact with members of her biological family, officials said.

“It was so exciting to see Holly. I was so happy to meet her for the first time,” Holly’s aunt, Cheryl Clouse, said in a statement. “It is such a blessing to be reassured that she is alright and has had a good life.”

The Washington Post