Dean and Tina Linn Clouse Memorial Fund Has New Non-profit Home: First Two Underwritten Jane Doe Cases Underway

News provided by

Feb 07, 2023, 08:44 ET

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The families of 1980 murder victims Dean and Tina Linn Clouse are proud to announce that the memorial fund established in their honor recently celebrated two important milestones.

New Managing Organization

From far left, FHD's Valerie Kemp, Allison Peacock, Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford, and Genealogy for Justice's Isabel de la Luz recently participated in a public Missing & Unidentified Day at Segra Park in Columbia, South Carolina organized by RCCO. Several families of missing persons paid it forward by allowing upload of their previously tested DNA to GEDmatch, a database used by genetic genealogists to make DNA identifications of unidentified individuals for law enforcement.

The bodies of Dean and Tina Linn Clouse of Volusia County, Florida were found in January 1981 in the woods outside Houston, Texas. They remained unidentified for over 40 years. Private funding allowed their names to be returned to them using genetic genealogy in 2021. As a result of their identifications, the couple's missing daughter, Holly Marie, shown, was reunited with surviving family members just 8 months later.

A brand new non-profit organization has been founded inspired by the search for the couple's daughter, Holly Marie and the creation of the memorial fund when Holly was found alive in June, 2022. Genealogy For Justice™ is a new sister organization of FHD Forensics. The Texas-based nonprofit organization is now the managing sponsor of the memorial fund that recently celebrated surpassing the $35,000 mark in funds raised.

"Many unidentified remains cases languish at the agency level due to lack of funding. Our mission is to help alleviate that problem," said Isabel de la Luz, President of Genealogy For Justice. "And in doing so we can fulfill the Clouse-Casasanta and Linn families' mission to bring hope to other families missing loved ones."

"We're blessed by the opportunity to be able to turn our tragedy around and channel the pain of losing Dean and his sweet wife, Tina to help others," said Dean's sister, Tess.

First Two Funded Cases Underway

Underwritten by Genealogy For Justice™, FHD Forensics is proud to announce an investigative collaboration with the Richland County and Calhoun County Coroner's Offices in South Carolina for the fund's first two Jane Doe cases. The first, Richland County's State Hospital Jane Doe, profiled by NamUs as UP12594, was a patient at the South Carolina State Hospital when she died on February 15, 1982. Not long after being hospitalized, the patient had an accidental and fatal fall.

"We're grateful for FHD Forensics and the services they provide," commented Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford. "We hope for a positive ID to be able to give a name and identity to this woman 40 years later."

The body of the second unidentified victim, NamUs UP61811, also known as Fort Motte Jane Doe was discovered on the afternoon of October 21, 1971 floating in the Congaree River. Dean and Tina's family personally selected the cases of both young women.

"With the advent of forensic investigative genetic genealogy, we now have the tools to bring answers to so many families in this country," said FHD Forensic founding genealogist Allison Peacock. "Many have had to go without answers for years, sometimes decades like Dean and Tina's families did."

Fund History and How to Donate

Fundraising began as a way to pay for DNA testing of women with stories similar to Holly's and to help the families to search for her and gain some closure. The idea was inspired by a Chicago man who reached out to Peacock and sent in a generous donation to help that search after seeing Dean's mother in a news interview. It got a boost in June by foreign media appearance fees for family members when Holly was found.

A North Carolina donor has kept the fund going by pledging a percentage of his transmission parts distributorship. "After hearing about my friend's sister, I felt such a calling to help this cause that I challenged my customers, vendors, and competitors to run similar donation campaigns in an email last spring," says Ted Keating of TKT Sales.

Donations to the Dean and Tina Linn Clouse Memorial Fund go directly to identifying John, Jane and Infant Does and can be made on GoFundMe. Links to make donations on other platforms like Paypal are found on the Genealogy For Justice and FHD Forensics websites.

Media contact:
Isabel de la Luz
[email protected]
512-694-1600

SOURCE FHD Forensics