HOUSTON – A university student was found dead more than 20 years ago, and detectives still do not know who killed her or why.
In the fall of 1989, Angela "Angie" Darling was a junior at the University of Houston. Her parents characterized her as an analytical thinker who found her creative soul studying interior design.
On Sept. 22, 1989, Darling was found murdered in a wooded area near 25000 Cypresswood.
"Vivacious and very, very outgoing," is how Connie Darling described her daughter.
"Well, as I'm sitting here, I know she could have been president," Angie's father, Harold Darling, said.
Darling's parents said their daughter was as bubbly as she was feisty. Her path in life was finally coming into focus at U of H.
"I miss her arguing with me sometimes," said Connie Darling. "She always kept me updated. She kept my clothes updated, she'd say, 'You know, don't look frumpy.'"
"You don't really ask 'Why?' you ask, 'What am I supposed to do?' because you don't have any experience," said Harold Darling as he remembered the fall day his daughter was found 22 years ago.
On a Friday, Angie called her mother to say she was staying at her boyfriend's apartment but she'd be home first thing Saturday morning.
"I told her I loved her, and that would be the last time I talked to her," said Connie Darling.
Saturday came and went and Angie never showed. By Sunday her parents, friends and family organized search parties. Missing person flyers bearing her picture were posted near the Cypresswood Court apartments, where Angie was last seen.
"Last seen walking from those apartments and never showed up at home," said Sgt. Dean Holtke of the Harris County Sheriff's Office's Cold Case Unit. "We found her car near the apartment complex and it didn't appear to have any mechanical trouble, so we don't know why she was walking."
"We had groups of people and covered Cypresswood, up and down 1960 and north," said Harold Darling.
The agonizing hours of searching stretched into Monday. Harold Darling tired to go back to work.
"I can't work, I got to go, I have to do something," Harold Darling recalled telling a co-worker.
Harold Darling was out with searchers and news crews when Angie was found. Investigators said she had been beaten and strangled.
Harold Darling then faced the terrible burden of waiting for his wife to come home.
"When you're sitting there knowing that you're going to have to tell your spouse your daughter is dead, nothing fun about that," said Harold Darling.
"I saw Harold and his friend down there and I told (my friend) right then and there, I said, 'They found her and she's dead,'" said Connie Darling.
With no physical evidence pointing detectives to a killer, the Darlings hired a private investigator. In the last 22 years, nothing has helped detectives pinpoint who murdered Angie.
The Darlings said they have learned to live with the loss, but they will never give hope somebody will come forward.
"Somebody will come along and say, 'You know, it's time. It's time for me to 'fess up, this is what I know,'" said Harold Darling.
"I sat in church one Sunday and I said, 'God, she's yours,'" said Connie Darling.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.