Solving cold cases within marginalized communities. This is the mission of our new series called ‘Solvable’. It’s an opportunity for us to hopefully get answers to heinous murders that you didn’t hear about at the time the crime was committed.
This summer during a special episode of our award-winning true crime docuseries ‘The Evidence Room,’ KPRC 2’s Zach Lashway introduced us to Annette Parson.
Her son, De’Shaun Hollins, was murdered in West Houston in 1992. When we left off, Parson did not know where her son’s body had been left.
Thanks to the good Samaritans who found De’Shaun’s body and reached out to Zach Lashway after his initial report aired in July, Annette now has some answers.
“She thought she noticed something in the in the weeds,” explained Mark Brand who was training for a bike race along Highway 36 in Sealy in 1992. “Not what you expect to find out on a bike ride.”
The Brands rode into Sealy to use a pay phone to call the police. That call would mark the beginning of a nightmare for Annette who would soon be informed her son 19-year-old De’Shaun Hollins was murdered.
“I always wanted to meet who found him,” explained Parson.
“It was good for us to watch it because it was the first time that we were able to see Annette, you know, and see her face and her. You know, and then I just reached out to you to thank you,” Brand added.
After more than 31 years of not having all the answers, Parson said knowing this part of her son’s unsolved murder is meaningful. Annette placed this cross in the spot that brings her pain, but also purpose… in hopes of one day getting all the answers.
The hope is for the cold case to be solved.
If you have information that could help investigators with this case, you’re asked to contact the Texas Rangers division of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
There are hundreds of thousands of cold cases across the country. Thousands are here in Houston, and many impact marginalized communities that might not have had the opportunity to speak to the media. Through this ‘Solvable’ series, we want to re-write that history and help bring answers to those families.
Someone somewhere, knows something. And for these families they just want answers. It’s hard to get closure if there’s such a thing or even justice without answers.
If you have a cold case tip for ‘Solvable’ that you want Zach to look into, email him at zlashway@kprc.com.