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Houston Lovers Lane Cold Case Files · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: You know, it's funny how some stories just kind of
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  stick with you, you know, the unsolved mysteries, the ones
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  that make you wonder what really happened. Yeah, absolutely, they
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  become like whispers in the back of your mind. Right,
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  and that's what we're diving into today. A case that
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  has haunted Houston for over three decades. Yeah, the Lover's
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  Lane Murders.
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  Speaker 2: Tough one.
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  Speaker 1: Cheryl Henry and Andy Atkinson, a young couple. Their tragic
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  end left a city in shock and their families searching
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  for answers for years and years.
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  Speaker 2: I still are. Yeah, it's fascinating. We've got news reports,
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  police files, even those those heartbreaking appeals from Cheryl and
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  Andy's families, Oh yeah, in the newspapers, you know, asking
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  for any information. It's a lot to go through, but
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  you know, every little piece kind of adds to this
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  story helps us understand what happened.
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  Speaker 1: So imagine if you will. It's nineteen ninety a sweltering
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  Houston night. Oh yeah, Cheryl full of life and energy, right,
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  and Andy with his easy smile and personality. They're at a.
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  Speaker 2: Nightclub out on the town by you.
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  Speaker 1: Mama's enjoying a night out. They're young, They're in love
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  and the world seems to be their oyster. Right. Yeah,
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  then in a flash, everything changes, It's gone. Their lives
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  are cut short.
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  Speaker 2: And that's where it gets really interesting, right, because you
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  have the nightclub, you have the car they were driving,
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  the clothes they were wearing. Right, these are all just normal,
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  everyday details, but for investigators they become these really important clues.
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  It's like a map of their last moments. Who are
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  they with, what did they do? Were they seen leaving
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  the club? All these questions start to add up, right
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  and paint a picture of what happened.
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  Speaker 1: And then Andy's car is found abandoned. Oh wow, with
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  Cheryl's purse still inside. Oh no, this gut wrenching reminder
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  of the chaos that unfolded. You know, imagine being Cheryl's mother, Barbara,
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  Oh gosh, rushing to the scene, clinging to hope, only
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  to have it ripped away. And then the news comes
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  Cheryl's body had been found, awful, hidden under some boards
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  in a wooded area.
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  Speaker 2: The brutality, it's those details, the brutality of it. Yeah,
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  and then the staging. The killer used Andy's golf balls
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  to mark Cheryl's body, placing a twenty dollars bill nearby.
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  It's deliberate, so it's like they're sending a message. Yeah,
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  but what is the message? Is it to the investigators
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  or is it some twisted act of revenge or maybe
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  it's a red herring just to throw everybody off.
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  Speaker 1: It's chilling, and it gets worse. Andy's found tied to
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  a tree, nearly decapitated.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
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  Speaker 1: The detective in charge, Detective Belk, suspected Cheryl was killed first,
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  forced to watch her loved one suffer. Can you imagine
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  the terror?
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  Speaker 2: And that's what always gives me, the psychological impact of
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  something like this, not just for the victims, but they're families.
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  Cheryl's sister. She talked about the lasting effects, the images
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  from that night, the memories just seared into her mind.
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  Speaker 1: And Detective Belk he wasn't convinced this was a random attack.
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  He noted the way Cheryl was bound more securely than Andy,
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  despite him being tied to a tree, suggesting a struggle,
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  maybe even multiple attackers, multiple backers, Yeah, he thought so.
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  Speaker 2: Possibly that changes things. It suggests something more organized, doesn't it,
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  Like maybe it was targeted or even gang related. But
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  without evidence it's just another theory. And this is nineteen ninety. Remember,
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  DNA technology wasn't what it is today. Getting a usable
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  sample from a crime scene that was a whole different
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  ballgame back then.
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  Speaker 1: So despite their best efforts, the investigation goes cold. Yeah,
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  the initial flurry of activity, the interviews, searching for evidence,
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  it all fades away. But then two thousand and one,
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  there's a glimmer.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, a letter.
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  Speaker 1: Sent to the Houston PD promising information about the murders
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  in exchange for one hundred thousand dollars ransom. Huh, a
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  classic ransom for information scenario.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, but how could you tell if it was legit,
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  was it genuine or was it someone just I don't know,
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  preying on the families, you know, taking the advantage of
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  their hope.
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  Speaker 1: Sadly a dead end. Oh no, we case remained unsolved.
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  To imagine what those families went through, the unanswered questions,
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  that lack of closure. It's just they even took out
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  a full page ad in the newspaper pleading for anything,
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  any information.
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  Speaker 2: At all, just to get some answers.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, to break the silence.
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  Speaker 2: It's the worst part of these cold cases, you know,
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  the waiting time doesn't heal anything, just makes it worse.
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  Every birthday, every holiday, it's a reminder, yeah, a reminder
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  of what they've lost.
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  Speaker 1: For decades, it seemed like Cheryl and Andy's families would
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  be haunted by these unanswered questions right forever. But then
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  a seemingly unrelated case from nineteen ninety resurfaced, bringing with
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  it a flicker of hope. It's almost hard to believe,
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  you know, this attack in nineteen ninety, a young dnswer
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  assaulted in her own home, bound, threatened with the gun. Awful,
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  and it happened just two months before Cheryl and Andy's deaths.
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  Really yeah, crazy, right, But nobody connected the two, at
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  least not at first.
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  Speaker 2: I see. So what's the connection?
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  Speaker 1: Well, these like similarities in the attacks, you know, things
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  that might seem random at first, but I'm listening, Like
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  what the use of duct tape, black gloves, the attacker
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  stance described as military. Like these little details taken together,
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  they paint a picture, right, They suggest a pattern.
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  Speaker 2: A chilling thought, for sure. But for years this connection
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  it went unnoticed totally.
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  Speaker 1: It took almost two decades for technology to catch up,
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  seventeen long years before they could really use DNA evidence
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  from that nineteen ninety rape case.
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  Speaker 2: What they find.
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  Speaker 1: It's a bombshell. Really, the DNA it matched samples from
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  Lover's lane.
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  Speaker 2: Wait are you serious? You're saying they might have the
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  same attacker after all this time.
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  Speaker 1: It's a huge break, right, but hold on, it gets
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  even crazier.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, now you've got to be kidding me. There's more.
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  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, the victim in that nineteen ninety attack, the dancer. Yeah,
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  she worked for Andy's father.
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  Speaker 2: Get out. You're telling me that's just a coincidence, right.
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  Speaker 1: What are the odds? It's like something out of those
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  true crime shows.
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  Speaker 2: No kidding. So what are they saying? Is it a
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  coincidence or what?
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  Speaker 1: It's the million dollar question, isn't it? I mean, you
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  can't ignore a connection like that.
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  Speaker 2: No, absolutely not. But you've got to be careful, right
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  you jump to conclusions, you might miss something else exactly.
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  Speaker 1: It could be a red herring, or maybe the attack
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  or wanted them to think it was connected, you know,
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  throw them.
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  Speaker 2: Off a mind game on top of everything else. Exactly,
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  So where do they go from here? Yeah, they've got
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  this connection, but is it enough?
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  Speaker 1: It's a tough spot. They call it the Galveston County connection, right,
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  this link between the victims, the detectives. They have to
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  explore every angle, talk to everyone, no matter how small
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  a detail makes sense.
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  Speaker 2: And the DNA what about that?
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  Speaker 1: Well, that's where things get really interesting. That's where we
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  dive into the world of familial DNA. So we've got
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  this like this powerful new tool, right, yeah, familial DNA
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  can unlock these mysteries that have been buried for years.
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  Speaker 2: It really is remarkable that Golden State killer case. Oh yeah,
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  familial DNA that's what cracked it wide open after all
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  those years. You know, it's amazing. But it's not as
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  simple as it sounds.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I bet so how does it actually work?
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  It sounds kind of like, I don't know, sci fi
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  to me.
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  Speaker 2: It does, doesn't it. But it's not that complicated really. Basically,
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  you inherit your DNA from your parents, right, yeah, so
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  your DNA profile. It's like a mix of theirs familial
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  DNA searching. It takes the DNA from a crime scene
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  and compares it to profiles in databases, you know, like
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  those ancestry websites.
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  Speaker 1: Ah okay, So even if the killer hasn't like submitted
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  their own DNA a relative might have exactly and that
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  could lead investigators to them.
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  Speaker 2: Bingo, even a partial match like a distant cousin or something.
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  It gives them a starting point and from there they
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  can use well more traditional method genealogy, interviews, even surveillance
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  if they have to.
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  Speaker 1: It's incredible, but I mean there have to be some
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  ethical concerns there, right.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, yeah, privacy for example, right, false leads. What happens
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  to family members who have nothing to do with the crime.
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  You know, it's a tricky situation, a lot to think about.
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  Speaker 1: But in a case like this, the Lover's Lane murders,
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  you know, where nothing else has worked. Yeah, familial DNA,
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  it's a real shot at getting answers, when.
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  Speaker 2: You say, it definitely offers hope. Yeah. Yeah. And for
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  Cheryl and Andy's families who've been through so much decades
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  of this, any new lead is huge.
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  Speaker 1: It really makes you think, you know, what, if the
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  answer has been out there all along, just waiting for
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  someone to connect the dots.
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  Speaker 2: It's a good reminder, you know, even the smallest thing,
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  a memory, a detail, right, it could be what they need.
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  Speaker 1: It could be. So if you're listening to this right now,
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  and you know anything, anything at all about the Lover's
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  Lane murders, please don't hesitate. Contact the authorities. You might
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  be the one to bring closure to Cheryl and Andy's family.
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  Speaker 2: It might be that one piece of the puzzle they've
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  been missing.
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  Speaker 1: It's been over thirty years, but that doesn't mean it's
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  too late for justice. And hopefully this deep dive into
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  these tragic events will help in some small way to
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  bring those answers to.
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  Speaker 2: Light, I hope. So you just never know what might
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  spark memory or encourage someone to come forward.
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  Speaker 1: That's right. Every bit of information counts, So until next time,
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  stay curious and stay safe.