Officials Hope For Clues On 15th Anniversary Of Lovers Lane Killings

HOUSTON -- Authorities hope a reward will help bring someone forward with clues about a couple killed 15 years ago in an area of west Houston once known as Lovers Lane.

Officers with the Houston Police Department found the bodies of Cheryl Henry, 22, and Andy Atkinson, 21, on Aug. 23, 1990, about 100 yards apart in a wooded area that is now a business park in the 1300 block of Enclave Round.

Investigators said they have run extensive DNA tests on evidence found at the scene and have interviewed dozens of possible suspects but nothing has led to an arrest.

Police said that the killer raped Henry, leaving behind his DNA. Both victims' throats were slashed.

"The ethnicity of the individual who left the suspect sample is 100 percent European," said Sgt. Billy Belk, with the Houston Police Department.

Investigators believe more than one person was involved in the killings.

Authorities released a note that surfaced in 2000, 10 years after the couple was killed. In the note, the writer demanded $100,000 to reveal the killers' identities. Investigators said the note was anonymously mailed to investigators in March 2001. No one ever came forward and the letter-writer was never found.

The victims' families spoke at a Crime Stoppers news conference Tuesday morning.

"He won't have a family, children, grandchildren. I'll never have grandchildren," Atkinson's mother, Ann Fowler said.

The families hope someone will recognize the handwriting in the note.

"School teachers -- people who've known people who've written like this -- bankers," father Bob Henry said.

A $5,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in these cases.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-TIPS.