64-Year-Old Man Charged in 1990 Lovers' Lane Double Murder Cold Case

HPD and the FBI arrested Floyd William Parrott, 64, in Lincoln, Nebraska on Wednesday, March 25, accused of the killings of Cheryl Henry, 22, and Andy Atkinson, 21, in west Houston in 1990. Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare announced Parrott has been charged with capital murder. He is now awaiting extradition to Harris County.

Henry and Atkinson were last seen August 22, 1990, after meeting at Bayou Mama's nightclub in west Houston, before the couple drove to a then-remote area known as Lovers' Lane near Enclave Parkway. The next morning, a security guard on routine patrol noticed a vehicle parked in a cul-de-sac that had not moved; when the guard approached, he found an unresponsive woman, with Cheryl's purse and shoes inside the car. Houston police officers responded and located an unresponsive man nearby; both victims were pronounced dead at the scene. According to investigators, Henry had been sexually assaulted and her throat was cut, while Atkinson was found tied to a tree and had suffered severe injuries.

The break that finally cracked the case traveled a long and technically complex road. A major development had come from a separate 1990 sexual assault involving an exotic dancer in north Harris County; DNA testing was still developing and costly at the time, and it took 17 years before that evidence was tested, at which point investigators determined the DNA matched evidence connected to the Lovers' Lane killings. Despite the match, the suspect was not identified in national databases, and detectives also explored newer techniques, including familial DNA, which allows investigators to identify potential suspects through relatives' genetic profiles. A homicide sergeant began investigating a tip in late 2025, and using the name from the tip, the officer discovered a 1996 police report about a sexual assault in which Parrott was identified as the suspect, though he claimed the encounter was consensual. The DNA from that 1996 case was recently added to the national DNA database CODIS, which matches DNA across local, state, and federal labs. Investigating officers then matched DNA evidence collected during Henry's autopsy to DNA connected to that sexual assault case.

Parrott's ties to the area before the murders were not incidental. In May 1988, he was arrested and put on probation for impersonating a peace officer in Harris County, and at that time provided a work address just over one mile from the Lovers' Lane murder scene, an area early 1990s reports described as remote and largely undeveloped. In December 1988, he was arrested for carrying a weapon, resulting in a conviction; the weapon, a blue steel revolver, was later returned to him, and investigators say it matches the description given by the June 1990 sexual assault victim. In May 1990, Parrott was arrested for impersonating a peace officer again, then released on bond when the June 1990 sexual assault occurred, before the August 1990 murders of Henry and Atkinson. It is unclear when Parrott permanently relocated to Nebraska, though public records indicate he owned property in New Caney, Texas, until 2020.

"One of Houston's most haunting and infamous cold cases has weighed on the Henry and Atkinson families, as well as our community for more than three decades," District Attorney Teare said. "Our prosecutors, working with the HPD and FBI, have pursued this investigation with relentless and dogged determination. They have worked hundreds of leads, facing dead ends and plenty of frustration. But, they never gave up on Cheryl and Andy."

For Cheryl Henry's sister, Shane, the arrest arrived as a stunner after 35 years of silence. "It was very unexpected," Shane Henry said. "It was a lot, and we're still processing it, the whole family... I still feel like it's unreal. It's hard to see that it's real after 35 years of nothing." The family learned of the arrest when investigators called them on Wednesday. Shane noted that Cheryl's mother and Atkinson's father had both passed away recently. "It's heartbreaking that they don't get to have this day, but we know they're with them and rejoicing in their own ways," she said.

Teare confirmed Parrott was arrested in Lincoln, Nebraska on Wednesday and is awaiting extradition to the Harris County Jail; authorities have scheduled a joint press conference with HPD and the FBI for Friday morning to provide further details on the case. A book on the murders by author Johnny Teague, titled "The Lovers' Lane Murders: The Tragic Story of Cheryl Henry and Andy Atkinson," is scheduled for release by Simon & Schuster on August 18, 2026, underscoring how deeply this case has embedded itself in Houston's true crime consciousness. Whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty on the capital murder charge has not yet been announced.