On a hot August night in 1990, the lives of 22-year-old Cheryl Henry and her 21-year-old boyfriend, Andy Atkinson, were brutally cut short in a secluded West Houston area known as a "Lover's Lane." The young couple, who had recently started dating, were last seen on August 22, 1990, after a night out at a local nightclub. The following day, on August 23, a security guard on patrol discovered Atkinson's car in a cul-de-sac.
This discovery led to a grim search of the surrounding undeveloped woodland.
What authorities found was a scene of unimaginable violence. Cheryl Henry had been sexually assaulted and her throat had been cut. Her nude body was found covered with boards. Not far away, Andy Atkinson was found tied to a tree, he too had his throat slashed, with injuries so severe he was nearly decapitated. The brutality of the crime sent shockwaves through the Houston community and left investigators with a complex and disturbing case. The scene itself held bizarre clues, including items from Atkinson's car, such as golf balls, arranged in a way that seemed to point toward Henry's body, and a crisp $20 bill left nearby.
For over three and a half decades, the double homicide remained one of Houston's most infamous cold cases. Investigators pursued numerous leads, interviewing dozens of potential suspects and conducting extensive DNA testing on evidence recovered from the scene. In 2008, a significant break came when DNA from the scene was linked to a sexual assault that occurred in June 1990. This connection provided investigators with a composite sketch of the suspect, described as a white male in his mid-30s at the time of the murders. Despite this, the killer's identity remained elusive.
The long wait for justice for Cheryl Henry and Andy Atkinson finally came to an end in March of 2026. Authorities announced the arrest of 64-year-old Floyd William Parrott in Lincoln, Nebraska. He was charged with capital murder in connection with the 1990 killings. The breakthrough came after a tip in late 2025 pointed investigators toward Parrott. This led them to re-examine a 1996 sexual assault case in which Parrott had been a suspect. A DNA sample from that case was entered into the national DNA database and it matched the DNA evidence recovered from Cheryl Henry's body in 1990. Further investigation revealed that Parrott had a criminal history that included arrests for impersonating a police officer in the late 1980s and again in 1990, around the time of the murders. At the time of his arrest, Parrott denied knowing Cheryl Henry. He is now awaiting extradition to Harris County to face trial.
