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The suspect arrested earlier this year in Texas’ notorious “Lovers’ Lane” cold case murders has died in custody before he could be tried for his alleged crimes.
Floyd William Parrott, 64, was found unresponsive in his Nebraska prison cell Tuesday, according to FOX 26.
He died awaiting extradition to Texas to face capital murder charges for the alleged killings of Cheryl Henry, 22, and Garland “Andy” Atkinson, 21, in 1990.
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Floyd William Parrott, 26, was charged with capital murder in the killings of Garland “Andy” Atkinson, 22, and Cheryl Henry, 22, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. (Houston Police Department)
While authorities have not yet released Parrott’s cause of death, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare told KHOU he appears to have died by suicide.
“We ache for Andy’s and Cheryl’s families who were denied their day in court,” Samantha Knecht, chief prosecutor for the Harris County Cold Case Division, said in a statement, FOX 26 reported.
“Our anger for what Parrott took from them is matched only by our determination to keep going. Yes, we are still working.”
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Cheryl Henry, 22, was found dead inside a parked car in Houston, Texas, on Aug. 23, 1990, according to the Houston Police Department. (James Nielsen/Houston Chronicle)
Since his arrest, multiple survivors have contacted police to reveal new assault allegations, with authorities adding they are conducting an investigation into a Louisiana cold case linked to Parrott.
“Parrott murdered Andy and Cheryl, he violently assaulted others and spent decades thinking he got away with it,” Knecht said. “We now know he thought he escaped justice while hiding out in Nebraska.”
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Garland “Andy” Atkinson, 22, was found dead and tied up next to a tree in Houston, Texas, on Aug. 23, 1990, according to the Houston Police Department. (Houston Police Department)
“Since Parrott’s arrest, we can confirm new survivors have come forward, bravely reliving the horrors he inflicted in painful detail,” she added. “After decades since some of these crimes, we had hoped to answer their courage with action.”
Parrott was initially taken into custody in Lincoln, Nebraska, by members of the Houston Police Department and FBI March 25.
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A Crimestoppers poster from 1990 shows Cheryl Henry and Andy Atkinson, victims of the “Lover’s Lane Murders” in Texas. The image was taken in Houston on May 14, 2008. (James Nielsen/Houston Chronicle)
His arrest came nearly 36 years after the bodies of Henry and Atkinson were found in a wooded area near a remote road nicknamed “Lovers’ Lane” in Houston on Aug. 23, 1990, by a security guard who noticed a vehicle had been parked in the same place “over a period of time,” according to the Houston Police Department (HPD).
Henry’s body was discovered inside the vehicle and Atkinson was found tied to a tree approximately 100 yards away.
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Authorities determined the pair had been stabbed in the throat, with an autopsy later revealing Henry had been sexually assaulted.
For 36 years, the case remained unsolved until a piece of DNA from the alleged murders matched a sample previously submitted by Parrott in a 1996 sexual assault case he claimed was consensual, KHOU reported.
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Parrott had previously been arrested and sentenced to probation in Harris County for impersonating a peace officer in May 1988, authorities said.
In December 1988, Parrott was convicted of carrying a weapon in Harris County and was later arrested again in May 1990 for impersonating a police officer.
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The Harris County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
“Floyd William Parrott thought he could outrun the truth. He thought time would erase his past. But prosecutors and investigators never stopped working the ‘Lovers’ Lane’ cold case,” Knecht said, FOX 26 reported. “We keep the memory of Andy and Cheryl at the center of our work. To families still searching for answers in cold cases: never give up.”