June 28, 2024 • 26 mins
Tune into this story of a shocking murder that captivated the entire city of Houston Texas. It may have in fact been the turning point in an age-old courting ritual where young lovers found themselves a quiet spot to enjoy each other’s company. The Lovers Lane murders of Cheryl Henry and Andy Atkinson were so heinous, so depraved, that it no doubt caused others couple to avoid this courting ritual. Their killer or killers have never been caught. The families and friends of these young people have never received closure. Tune in to the end to learn where new advancements in science have not yet been able to solve this crime.
#LoversLane #Texasmurdercase #TaraBeckenridge #CherylHenry #AndyAtkinson #Unsolvedcrime #Truecrimepodcast #Investigationupdates #Suspectprofiles #Crimesceneevidence #Communityreactions #Coldcasereview #unsolvedmurder #HoustonTX #oddmysteriesstories
Check out our new Merch Store:
https://www.redbubble.com/people/OddMysteries/shop?asc=u
Follow me on Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OddMysteriesPage
Twitter https://twitter.com/Odd_Mysteries
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddmysteries4u/
Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/OddMysteries/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@oddmysteries-stories
Members
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/OddMysteries
For creators we use:
VidIQ - https://vidiq.com/oddmysteries/
#MurderMystery #TrueCrime #UnsolvedCase #oddmysteriesstories #unsolvedmysteries #unsolvedmysterycase #unsolvedmurderstruecrime
All negative comments about victims or the story will immediately be deleted. If negative comments become a pattern, then you will be blocked from my channel. Please be kind and respectful.
All source information is available upon written request detailing the reason for requesting.
In my productions, I do my very best to research mostly from what I find online or from available articles. If I personally speak to anyone directly involved in the case, I will mention that in the story.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Maybe you remember the good old days when young infatuated couples felt a little safer.
(00:05):
They would pull off the road into a secluded area for privacy.
There they might do a little necking in their cars and sometimes even steam up the windows.
These fun make out spots or what was called Lovers Lane were popular up through the 1990s.
This chilling story sheds some light on why almost nobody goes out to Lovers Lane anymore.
(00:29):
It was August 22, 1990, when a couple fell victim to a brutal rapist and murderer who
showed them no mercy.
They were a pair full of life and promise when violence entered their world swiftly and without warning.
Join me for a wild ride through the odd mystery of unsolved murder.
The victims were Andy Atkinson and Sheryl Henry in Houston, Texas.
(00:53):
Their tragic story may be connected to a cold missing persons case and another victim that
survived her terrible ordeal.
Worse yet, the killer could still be active, working on his own or with murderous friends.
Andy Atkinson was 21 years old.
(01:14):
He had just graduated from a North Carolina college.
He returned to Houston in late summer to be closer to his father, Garland.
Andy was an aspiring model and he sure looked the part.
Handsome, with striking eyes, he seemed to radiate an easy charm.
A chance meeting at the Yucatan liquor stand brought him into Sheryl Henry's orbit.
(01:36):
They had been dating for just two weeks when a murderer ended their budding romance.
Sheryl was 22 years old, home for the summer during a break from classes at Austin State
University.
She was blonde, pretty, and adored by the people in her life.
There are discrepancies about where Sheryl was working that summer, but it may be important
(01:56):
to the story.
Andy's father claimed she was working at a strip club, possibly a topless bar called
Rick's Cabaret, while her brother alleged that Sheryl was working at an eye doctor's
office.
It could have been both, with Sheryl picking up shifts here and there at the cabaret for
extra cash.
It's interesting to note that Andy's dad, Garland, admitted to a shady past in interviews.
(02:21):
He owned several strip clubs during that time, and Andy would often earn extra money working
the door.
So, if there was a strip club connection to this case, it could have come through either
Sheryl or Andy.
That fateful August night, Andy and Sheryl went on a double date with Sheryl's sister
(02:46):
Meredith and the man she was dating at the time.
They chose a nightclub located on Westheimer and South Gessner roads in the heart of Houston's
West Chase district.
The fun these couples enjoyed together would be the last time anyone would see Andy or
Sheryl alive again.
They left the club and apparently drove to Lover's Lane near the intersections of Enclave
(03:09):
and Eldridge Parkways.
Today that area is busy and booming.
However, in 1990 it was relatively remote and private, the perfect spot for young lovers.
But their date was violently interrupted as one or more killers forced Andy and Sheryl
to get out of the car.
(03:32):
An anonymous caller identifying himself as a security guard called the police the next
morning.
He said he'd found Sheryl's vehicle, though the car was actually Andy's.
The caller noted that her person's shoes were inside of it.
He ended the call abruptly.
As Houston police rushed to the scene, remember those two words, security guard, because they're
(03:56):
going to come up again.
Police arrived to discover a grisly scene.
Sheryl's clothes had been cut away from her.
She'd been bound with hemp rope and raped.
Her throat was slit.
It looked like she died first.
It also looked like she'd put up a fight before her murderer got the better of her.
(04:16):
Andy was tied to a tree, also with hemp rope.
He'd apparently been forced to watch Sheryl's rape and murder before the killer nearly decapitated
him with the same knife.
Andy still had all of his money as well as a rather valuable watch.
So it didn't seem to be a robbery.
Both ropes were tied with complex knots, leading investigators to conclude that the killer might
(04:39):
have been an eagle scout, because these particular knots are commonly taught and practiced at
this rank in the Boy Scouts.
The clues left at the scene were both ominous and bizarre.
The killer had hidden Sheryl's body under the remains of a dilapidated cedar fence.
And he had used Andy's golf balls and a golf club as breadcrumbs leading to Sheryl's body.
(05:03):
There was a $20 bill on the ground nearby, as if flung toward Sheryl in contempt.
There were also four partially deflated balloons in a tree above Sheryl's body.
Some reports say the balloons were tied up there intentionally.
Others say the balloons were just stuck in the tree, and that they could have drifted
into the branches from some other location.
(05:24):
Investigators don't know if the balloons had anything to do with the crime.
Another odd clue was the license plate on Andy's car.
Investigators ran the plate, and it seemed as though the killer had removed the original
and replaced it with a stolen plate from another car.
Did the killer assume nobody would notice the plate had been switched?
(05:47):
Was he trying to conceal the make and model of the car he'd used to stalk Andy and Sheryl?
DNA science was new, but investigators were nevertheless able to collect some of the killer's
DNA via a rape kit of Sheryl's body.
To solve the lover's lane crime, detectives began by giving blood tests to just about
every man they could find who knew Sheryl or had anything to do with her.
(06:11):
One individual refused the blood test and promptly left Texas, which was highly unusual.
However, police said they did not have enough evidence to pursue him.
Why did this man refuse?
Would police have been able to generate a DNA match had they been able to get a court
order for his blood?
(06:34):
There's very little to go on in this case, and no suspects.
Police then commissioned a psychological profile of the killer.
It is worth noting that the validity of psychological profiles is in question.
Even in the modern era, they are not 100% accurate, far from it.
(06:54):
A decent average would be around 46% accuracy.
Therefore, psychological profiling is a tool, but it's not a magic bullet.
Even so, the profile offers some tantalizing hints about who the killer might be in this
case.
According to the profile, the suspect may have known Sheryl, Andy, or both of them.
(07:20):
He was probably around the same age as the victims.
He might have had above average intelligence while being a low achiever.
On their own, these details could describe thousands of young men living in Houston.
But don't dismiss the profile just yet.
There may be at least one suspect who's a good match.
At this point in the investigation, however, the Lover's Lane case went ice cold.
(07:48):
Let's fast forward 11 long years to 2001.
The Houston PD received a peculiar letter about the Lover's Lane murders.
The envelope had Sheryl and Andy's names written in the return address section.
The note itself said, HPD, if you want to know who killed Sheryl Henry and Andy Atkinson,
(08:10):
it will cost $100,000.
Apply to the Houston Chronicle personal column, Monday, March 12 only.
A lawyer will be hired to make sure you play straight.
The letter was written in block capitals.
Both punctuation and spelling were poor.
And it was signed anonymous.
(08:31):
Police immediately replied to the letter in accordance with the instructions.
But the writer never answered.
Investigators then released the note to the press, hoping that someone would recognize
the handwriting.
Nobody ever came forward.
And sadly, the case went cold yet again.
(08:52):
17 years later, investigators ran the DNA of a rape victim who had been assaulted two
months prior to Sheryl and Andy's killing.
The press did not release the victim's name.
So I will simply refer to her as the survivor.
This incident may be connected to the Lover's Lane mystery.
The survivor was an exotic dancer.
(09:14):
The night she was attacked, she left her job at a nightclub and went to her boyfriend's
house in Northwest Houston.
His name was Randy, and apparently he wasn't home at the time.
She was just settling in for the night when the attacker arrived.
He pointed a gun at her, initially asking for Randy by name, claiming Randy owed him
(09:35):
money.
The assailant used duct tape to bind her and cover her eyes and mouth.
Then he put a bag or pillowcase over the survivor's head.
After he raped her, he stole $250 from her purse.
Then he disconnected the phone and left the scene.
The survivor later spoke about the attacker cocking and uncocking his gun as if taunting
(09:57):
her.
He also mocked her for not noticing that he was wearing a military uniform.
Yet the survivor thought it was actually a uniform for a security guard, not from the
military.
He thought he'd be an important clue.
The survivor was able to give a physical description of her assailant.
He was in his late 20s to mid-30s.
(10:19):
She thought he was roughly six feet tall and 180 pounds.
He had black hair and an olive complexion, partially concealed by the black fishnet
stocking he wore over his head.
He also wore gloves.
And he never fired the gun.
He only threatened her with it.
At first, the survivor thought the guy was someone who had possibly worked for her moving
(10:43):
company because that person had threatened her previously.
But police uncovered a far more important connection.
The survivor had once worked for Andy's father, Garland, at one of his strip clubs.
Does that mean that Andy and Cheryl's killer worked for Garland too?
A review of Garland's employee records wasn't very enlightening.
(11:05):
But the case was heating back up due to the strip club connection and the security guard
uniform coincidence.
Police started thinking that the survivor case and Andy and Cheryl's case might lead
them to the same perpetrator.
They wondered if the assailant used a gun to control Cheryl and Andy at the scene of
their murder, just as he had during his attack of the survivor.
(11:27):
But that he didn't fire the gun so police couldn't use bullet casings to identify,
make, or model of his firearm.
Now let me introduce another unfortunate victim.
In 1992, a 23-year-old brunette left her job at an upscale adult night spot called the
(11:50):
Men's Club, which was also located in Houston's West Chase District.
In fact, you would only need to drive 14 miles east down Westheimer Road to get from the
site where Cheryl and Andy were last seen alive, and this particular nightclub, the
drive between the Men's Club and the scene of Cheryl and Andy's murders, would have
(12:11):
taken just 19 minutes.
Tara worked long hours at the club because she was putting herself through college at
the time.
On August 3, 1992, almost two years to the month after the lover's lane murders, Tara
left the Men's Club earlier than usual.
Her manager thought it was odd, as Tara almost never volunteered to go home early, even on
(12:32):
slow nights.
She also walked right past the doorman without saying goodbye, which was also weird.
A security guard nevertheless walked her out to her car.
It's not known whether the security guard returned to work or if he too was leaving
work for the night.
In any case, it is another chilling parallel between Tara's demise and the lover's lane
(12:55):
case.
Officially, Tara is a missing person, though at this point she's presumed dead.
Her boyfriend Wayne Hecker claimed he had found her car around five o'clock that morning.
It had been abandoned on a busy freeway.
The car was locked, the alarm had not been triggered, and it contained a can of mace,
(13:16):
though it hadn't been sprayed.
Oddly, someone had cut the vehicle's alternator belt.
Tara's boyfriend Wayne remains a suspect in this case, so though Houston PD has never
arrested him, it looks like they haven't cleared him either.
Later, I'll explore the connection between Wayne, the security guard, and the lover's
(13:38):
lane murders.
There are additional parallels between these cases.
I think you'll find them to be both chilling and suggestive.
This theory suggests the killer was possibly a security guard who worked the strip club
circuit in and around Houston.
(13:59):
A security guard would regularly interact with the dancers and their boyfriends.
One who was unhinged would have found ample targets for his sick fantasies.
Security guards are sometimes either ex-cop or frustrated cops who aspire to law enforcement
but never quite made it.
In either case, you'd have a killer who knew enough about investigative techniques to change
(14:23):
up his MO, though maybe not enough about rape kits and DNA collection since those techniques
were relatively new.
So, could the killer have been an unhinged security guard who worked at one of Garland's
clubs, a place where he would have easily come into contact with Andy, Cheryl, Tara,
and the survivor?
(14:47):
Several years ago, Garland Atkinson offered an interview to another YouTuber linked in
the description below.
During that interview, he expressed a great deal of frustration with Houston PD, suggesting
that the police were either botching the investigation or deliberately hiding information
that could lead to an arrest.
(15:09):
For example, he believes they failed to send DNA samples to a genealogy lab.
He seemed to respect a detective named Billy Belk, however, who was the very first detective
to work on the Lovers Lane case.
He spoke about one of Belk's suspects, a man who was the son of a Houston narcotics officer
(15:31):
who had been on the force for over 20 years.
This cop's son gave up his DNA eventually.
It wasn't a match which would have been conclusive and cleared his name.
But Belk thought there may be at least two, if not three, killers, rather than just one.
So then Belk gave the cop's son a polygraph.
(15:54):
As I've discussed in other true crime stories, polygraphs are more myth than reality, and
lie detector testing is not admissible in court.
Regardless, the cop's son failed the polygraph.
Very shortly after the cop had a talk with his son, he retired.
Would you agree this seems rather suspicious?
(16:15):
Did the narcotics officer retire because his son revealed information that tied him to
the Lovers Lane murders?
Or did he suspect his son and didn't want to risk being on the force if the truth came
out?
Or do you think his retirement was completely unrelated?
I guess I'd be interested to know if the son ever worked as a security guard.
(16:36):
And I hate to say it, but I wonder if the DNA hasn't been sent along to genealogy labs
because the Houston PD is protecting one of their own.
Wayne Hecker was Tara Breckenridge's boyfriend in 1992.
Reports revealed that he was both controlling and overbearing.
(16:58):
And he absolutely despised her job at the adult club.
Most nights, he required her to contact him within a certain time frame.
If she didn't, he'd frantically call the strip club.
Something, some witnesses say, did not happen on the night Tara disappeared.
Wayne claimed that he did call Tara earlier that evening, but never spoke to her.
(17:21):
Wayne was also at a pool hall three miles, or about a 15 minute drive from the club,
the night she disappeared.
He claimed he was either playing pool or working as a bartender.
It's not entirely clear what he was doing there, but witnesses say that he left the
pool hall for a full hour and 45 minutes that night.
(17:44):
And his timing coincided with about the same time Tara left the club.
There's no good explanation for why he left the pool hall or where he went, but police
didn't get sufficient evidence to charge him.
Indeed, Tara's body never turned up, and police can't charge anyone with murder in
this case.
Still, there are a few striking details.
(18:09):
Wayne fit the psychological profile.
He was about the same age as Cheryl and Andy.
He may have run into one or both of them at some point.
And he was definitely an underachiever.
And then there's the composite photo we haven't talked about yet.
Composite photos are difficult because they represent an exercise of intelligent guesswork.
(18:32):
In this case, a description was offered by a traumatized young lady, the survivor, who
had to pick out her assailants' facial details, even though he was wearing a mesh stocking.
Despite these facts, when compared side by side, I can't help but notice the similarities
between Wayne's picture and the composite sketch.
(18:54):
Do you think that Wayne could have been behind Tara's disappearance?
And if so, is it possible that he was behind the Lovers Lane murders, as well as the attack
on the survivor?
There's another strange and persuading similarity between Tara's missing person case and the
(19:16):
Lovers Lane case.
Tara had a secret admirer.
He was apparently quite taken with Tara, enough to leave her $100 tips on the regular, along
with creepy notes.
This big tipper definitely was not Wayne.
One note said, Don't hide anything.
(19:36):
Please don't be scared.
Do what your heart tells you.
I'm very excited that you'll marry me.
Now, the word marry was misspelled, and the signature was illegible.
The rest of the letter had poor grammar and spelling, too.
A second letter said, The more you hold out, the longer you jeopardize what I feel for
you.
(19:56):
The police claim the letters were not threatening, but I think you'll agree that any young lady
would have found them disturbing or even alarming.
Threatening or not, there's one more striking detail worth mentioning.
When I compare the men's club notes that Tara received with the 2001 note sent to the Houston
police requesting $100,000, I can't help but notice the resemblance.
(20:20):
The letter, you, in particular, is quite similar.
Some of the other letters don't match up as neatly, but a person's handwriting can fluctuate
a little, and the differences between letters in the alphabet, like the W, isn't so stark
that they couldn't have come from the same hand.
The writer's habit of mixing lowercase letters in with capital letters at odd intervals seems
(20:44):
like an interesting pattern, too, especially around the letter E.
Do you think Cheryl and Andy's killer was the same guy throwing $100 tips at Tara just
two years later?
Remember that some of the detectives believe there could have been two or three killers
(21:04):
at the scene of the Lovers Lane crime, not just one.
And if that is true, then Tara's case might already have offered a likely pair or trifecta
to look at.
First, you have the security guard who walked her out, one who worked at strip clubs.
Second, you have boyfriend Wayne Hecker, whose photo looks so eerily similar to the composite
(21:26):
photo assembled from the survivor's story.
And third, you have the secret admirer, whose handwriting is very similar to that of the
extortion letter sent to the Houston police department.
I don't know if police ever connected Tara's case with the Lovers Lane case, or if they
ran handwriting or DNA analysis.
(21:46):
But it seems like they should have done both.
Since one was a rape and murder case, and one was a missing person, maybe the cases went
to two different investigative teams.
Houston had a high murder rate even back in the 1990s, and people go missing all the time.
So maybe the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing, and nobody drew a connection.
(22:08):
There are a lot of parallels between these two cases, including the timing and locations.
Maybe the killers had a falling out or lost touch over the years, and only one of them
tried to extort the Houston police, but then thought better of it, and didn't answer their
reply.
So maybe we don't know the identity of the security guard or the secret admirer, but
(22:32):
we may in fact have already identified at least one other killer in the case.
A killer with a name the police didn't release when they got a DNA match.
Or maybe police may not have what they need for thorough enough DNA matching.
But it would be fascinating to see what turned up if they did.
(22:53):
Catching one murderer could lead to rounding up both or all of them.
I wonder if this theory could be the real story for all of our victims.
Or could it be that the police know something they are not telling the public, something
that would either unravel this theory or possibly solve these cases?
(23:15):
The wheels of justice never move quickly.
One reason worth mentioning is that police aren't just trying to arrest the guilty party.
They also have to build a strong case that will stand up in court.
Sometimes police have a very good suspect, but must wait to find the definitive pieces
of evidence that will make it possible for a jury to declare him guilty beyond a reasonable
(23:41):
doubt.
The DNA sample has been run through criminal databases.
But for whatever reason, it hasn't been examined using genealogical DNA databases that might
finally result in an arrest or it's been tested but did not provide a result.
Perhaps we are but one genetic test away from finding this killer.
(24:06):
Meanwhile, Cheryl, Andy, and Tara's family and friends continue to mourn hoping for answers
in justice.
And it's entirely possible that a rapist and a killer, or a small group of them, have
committed other gruesome acts and continue to operate in the Houston area to this day,
believing they'll never be caught.
(24:27):
The thought is chilling.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed this story.
If you did, please leave me a review, download, and share this podcast with your friends.
Can you imagine how the families of these two young people feel?
Their lives taken from them so young.
(24:48):
I've heard many people comment about this story concerning the possibility that Cheryl
worked at a gentleman's club.
I have two thoughts on that.
One as long as there are people willing to pay for adults, men included to remove their
clothes.
There will always be someone willing to take theirs off for money.
(25:09):
Lastly, while these may not seem to be the prestigious of professions, being a part of
one shouldn't give approval for someone to kill you.
Just my opinion.
Now, if you found this story intriguing, wait till you hear the story of an entire family,
the Chen family, who was brutally murdered in their own home.
(25:30):
And no one knows why, or most importantly, who could have committed this crime.
There appears to be a wall between the community of this family and the investigators who are
trying to determine who killed this family.
Tune into my next podcast to hear that story.
Can I ask a favor of you?
I'm trying to grow my podcast, so if you enjoyed my story, please consider following my podcast.
(25:56):
If you really enjoyed my podcast, I hope you'll consider buying me a cup of coffee at my patron
site.
While I enjoy what I do, a good cup of Joe sure does keep me motivated to bring you more
true unsolved crime stories.
Thank you.
Maybe you remember the good old days when young infatuated couples felt a little safer.
(00:05):
They would pull off the road into a secluded area for privacy.
There they might do a little necking in their cars and sometimes even steam up the windows.
These fun make out spots or what was called Lovers Lane were popular up through the 1990s.
This chilling story sheds some light on why almost nobody goes out to Lovers Lane anymore.
(00:29):
It was August 22, 1990, when a couple fell victim to a brutal rapist and murderer who
showed them no mercy.
They were a pair full of life and promise when violence entered their world swiftly and without warning.
Join me for a wild ride through the odd mystery of unsolved murder.
The victims were Andy Atkinson and Sheryl Henry in Houston, Texas.
(00:53):
Their tragic story may be connected to a cold missing persons case and another victim that
survived her terrible ordeal.
Worse yet, the killer could still be active, working on his own or with murderous friends.
Andy Atkinson was 21 years old.
(01:14):
He had just graduated from a North Carolina college.
He returned to Houston in late summer to be closer to his father, Garland.
Andy was an aspiring model and he sure looked the part.
Handsome, with striking eyes, he seemed to radiate an easy charm.
A chance meeting at the Yucatan liquor stand brought him into Sheryl Henry's orbit.
(01:36):
They had been dating for just two weeks when a murderer ended their budding romance.
Sheryl was 22 years old, home for the summer during a break from classes at Austin State
University.
She was blonde, pretty, and adored by the people in her life.
There are discrepancies about where Sheryl was working that summer, but it may be important
(01:56):
to the story.
Andy's father claimed she was working at a strip club, possibly a topless bar called
Rick's Cabaret, while her brother alleged that Sheryl was working at an eye doctor's
office.
It could have been both, with Sheryl picking up shifts here and there at the cabaret for
extra cash.
It's interesting to note that Andy's dad, Garland, admitted to a shady past in interviews.
(02:21):
He owned several strip clubs during that time, and Andy would often earn extra money working
the door.
So, if there was a strip club connection to this case, it could have come through either
Sheryl or Andy.
That fateful August night, Andy and Sheryl went on a double date with Sheryl's sister
(02:46):
Meredith and the man she was dating at the time.
They chose a nightclub located on Westheimer and South Gessner roads in the heart of Houston's
West Chase district.
The fun these couples enjoyed together would be the last time anyone would see Andy or
Sheryl alive again.
They left the club and apparently drove to Lover's Lane near the intersections of Enclave
(03:09):
and Eldridge Parkways.
Today that area is busy and booming.
However, in 1990 it was relatively remote and private, the perfect spot for young lovers.
But their date was violently interrupted as one or more killers forced Andy and Sheryl
to get out of the car.
(03:32):
An anonymous caller identifying himself as a security guard called the police the next
morning.
He said he'd found Sheryl's vehicle, though the car was actually Andy's.
The caller noted that her person's shoes were inside of it.
He ended the call abruptly.
As Houston police rushed to the scene, remember those two words, security guard, because they're
(03:56):
going to come up again.
Police arrived to discover a grisly scene.
Sheryl's clothes had been cut away from her.
She'd been bound with hemp rope and raped.
Her throat was slit.
It looked like she died first.
It also looked like she'd put up a fight before her murderer got the better of her.
(04:16):
Andy was tied to a tree, also with hemp rope.
He'd apparently been forced to watch Sheryl's rape and murder before the killer nearly decapitated
him with the same knife.
Andy still had all of his money as well as a rather valuable watch.
So it didn't seem to be a robbery.
Both ropes were tied with complex knots, leading investigators to conclude that the killer might
(04:39):
have been an eagle scout, because these particular knots are commonly taught and practiced at
this rank in the Boy Scouts.
The clues left at the scene were both ominous and bizarre.
The killer had hidden Sheryl's body under the remains of a dilapidated cedar fence.
And he had used Andy's golf balls and a golf club as breadcrumbs leading to Sheryl's body.
(05:03):
There was a $20 bill on the ground nearby, as if flung toward Sheryl in contempt.
There were also four partially deflated balloons in a tree above Sheryl's body.
Some reports say the balloons were tied up there intentionally.
Others say the balloons were just stuck in the tree, and that they could have drifted
into the branches from some other location.
(05:24):
Investigators don't know if the balloons had anything to do with the crime.
Another odd clue was the license plate on Andy's car.
Investigators ran the plate, and it seemed as though the killer had removed the original
and replaced it with a stolen plate from another car.
Did the killer assume nobody would notice the plate had been switched?
(05:47):
Was he trying to conceal the make and model of the car he'd used to stalk Andy and Sheryl?
DNA science was new, but investigators were nevertheless able to collect some of the killer's
DNA via a rape kit of Sheryl's body.
To solve the lover's lane crime, detectives began by giving blood tests to just about
every man they could find who knew Sheryl or had anything to do with her.
(06:11):
One individual refused the blood test and promptly left Texas, which was highly unusual.
However, police said they did not have enough evidence to pursue him.
Why did this man refuse?
Would police have been able to generate a DNA match had they been able to get a court
order for his blood?
(06:34):
There's very little to go on in this case, and no suspects.
Police then commissioned a psychological profile of the killer.
It is worth noting that the validity of psychological profiles is in question.
Even in the modern era, they are not 100% accurate, far from it.
(06:54):
A decent average would be around 46% accuracy.
Therefore, psychological profiling is a tool, but it's not a magic bullet.
Even so, the profile offers some tantalizing hints about who the killer might be in this
case.
According to the profile, the suspect may have known Sheryl, Andy, or both of them.
(07:20):
He was probably around the same age as the victims.
He might have had above average intelligence while being a low achiever.
On their own, these details could describe thousands of young men living in Houston.
But don't dismiss the profile just yet.
There may be at least one suspect who's a good match.
At this point in the investigation, however, the Lover's Lane case went ice cold.
(07:48):
Let's fast forward 11 long years to 2001.
The Houston PD received a peculiar letter about the Lover's Lane murders.
The envelope had Sheryl and Andy's names written in the return address section.
The note itself said, HPD, if you want to know who killed Sheryl Henry and Andy Atkinson,
(08:10):
it will cost $100,000.
Apply to the Houston Chronicle personal column, Monday, March 12 only.
A lawyer will be hired to make sure you play straight.
The letter was written in block capitals.
Both punctuation and spelling were poor.
And it was signed anonymous.
(08:31):
Police immediately replied to the letter in accordance with the instructions.
But the writer never answered.
Investigators then released the note to the press, hoping that someone would recognize
the handwriting.
Nobody ever came forward.
And sadly, the case went cold yet again.
(08:52):
17 years later, investigators ran the DNA of a rape victim who had been assaulted two
months prior to Sheryl and Andy's killing.
The press did not release the victim's name.
So I will simply refer to her as the survivor.
This incident may be connected to the Lover's Lane mystery.
The survivor was an exotic dancer.
(09:14):
The night she was attacked, she left her job at a nightclub and went to her boyfriend's
house in Northwest Houston.
His name was Randy, and apparently he wasn't home at the time.
She was just settling in for the night when the attacker arrived.
He pointed a gun at her, initially asking for Randy by name, claiming Randy owed him
(09:35):
money.
The assailant used duct tape to bind her and cover her eyes and mouth.
Then he put a bag or pillowcase over the survivor's head.
After he raped her, he stole $250 from her purse.
Then he disconnected the phone and left the scene.
The survivor later spoke about the attacker cocking and uncocking his gun as if taunting
(09:57):
her.
He also mocked her for not noticing that he was wearing a military uniform.
Yet the survivor thought it was actually a uniform for a security guard, not from the
military.
He thought he'd be an important clue.
The survivor was able to give a physical description of her assailant.
He was in his late 20s to mid-30s.
(10:19):
She thought he was roughly six feet tall and 180 pounds.
He had black hair and an olive complexion, partially concealed by the black fishnet
stocking he wore over his head.
He also wore gloves.
And he never fired the gun.
He only threatened her with it.
At first, the survivor thought the guy was someone who had possibly worked for her moving
(10:43):
company because that person had threatened her previously.
But police uncovered a far more important connection.
The survivor had once worked for Andy's father, Garland, at one of his strip clubs.
Does that mean that Andy and Cheryl's killer worked for Garland too?
A review of Garland's employee records wasn't very enlightening.
(11:05):
But the case was heating back up due to the strip club connection and the security guard
uniform coincidence.
Police started thinking that the survivor case and Andy and Cheryl's case might lead
them to the same perpetrator.
They wondered if the assailant used a gun to control Cheryl and Andy at the scene of
their murder, just as he had during his attack of the survivor.
(11:27):
But that he didn't fire the gun so police couldn't use bullet casings to identify,
make, or model of his firearm.
Now let me introduce another unfortunate victim.
In 1992, a 23-year-old brunette left her job at an upscale adult night spot called the
(11:50):
Men's Club, which was also located in Houston's West Chase District.
In fact, you would only need to drive 14 miles east down Westheimer Road to get from the
site where Cheryl and Andy were last seen alive, and this particular nightclub, the
drive between the Men's Club and the scene of Cheryl and Andy's murders, would have
(12:11):
taken just 19 minutes.
Tara worked long hours at the club because she was putting herself through college at
the time.
On August 3, 1992, almost two years to the month after the lover's lane murders, Tara
left the Men's Club earlier than usual.
Her manager thought it was odd, as Tara almost never volunteered to go home early, even on
(12:32):
slow nights.
She also walked right past the doorman without saying goodbye, which was also weird.
A security guard nevertheless walked her out to her car.
It's not known whether the security guard returned to work or if he too was leaving
work for the night.
In any case, it is another chilling parallel between Tara's demise and the lover's lane
(12:55):
case.
Officially, Tara is a missing person, though at this point she's presumed dead.
Her boyfriend Wayne Hecker claimed he had found her car around five o'clock that morning.
It had been abandoned on a busy freeway.
The car was locked, the alarm had not been triggered, and it contained a can of mace,
(13:16):
though it hadn't been sprayed.
Oddly, someone had cut the vehicle's alternator belt.
Tara's boyfriend Wayne remains a suspect in this case, so though Houston PD has never
arrested him, it looks like they haven't cleared him either.
Later, I'll explore the connection between Wayne, the security guard, and the lover's
(13:38):
lane murders.
There are additional parallels between these cases.
I think you'll find them to be both chilling and suggestive.
This theory suggests the killer was possibly a security guard who worked the strip club
circuit in and around Houston.
(13:59):
A security guard would regularly interact with the dancers and their boyfriends.
One who was unhinged would have found ample targets for his sick fantasies.
Security guards are sometimes either ex-cop or frustrated cops who aspire to law enforcement
but never quite made it.
In either case, you'd have a killer who knew enough about investigative techniques to change
(14:23):
up his MO, though maybe not enough about rape kits and DNA collection since those techniques
were relatively new.
So, could the killer have been an unhinged security guard who worked at one of Garland's
clubs, a place where he would have easily come into contact with Andy, Cheryl, Tara,
and the survivor?
(14:47):
Several years ago, Garland Atkinson offered an interview to another YouTuber linked in
the description below.
During that interview, he expressed a great deal of frustration with Houston PD, suggesting
that the police were either botching the investigation or deliberately hiding information
that could lead to an arrest.
(15:09):
For example, he believes they failed to send DNA samples to a genealogy lab.
He seemed to respect a detective named Billy Belk, however, who was the very first detective
to work on the Lovers Lane case.
He spoke about one of Belk's suspects, a man who was the son of a Houston narcotics officer
(15:31):
who had been on the force for over 20 years.
This cop's son gave up his DNA eventually.
It wasn't a match which would have been conclusive and cleared his name.
But Belk thought there may be at least two, if not three, killers, rather than just one.
So then Belk gave the cop's son a polygraph.
(15:54):
As I've discussed in other true crime stories, polygraphs are more myth than reality, and
lie detector testing is not admissible in court.
Regardless, the cop's son failed the polygraph.
Very shortly after the cop had a talk with his son, he retired.
Would you agree this seems rather suspicious?
(16:15):
Did the narcotics officer retire because his son revealed information that tied him to
the Lovers Lane murders?
Or did he suspect his son and didn't want to risk being on the force if the truth came
out?
Or do you think his retirement was completely unrelated?
I guess I'd be interested to know if the son ever worked as a security guard.
(16:36):
And I hate to say it, but I wonder if the DNA hasn't been sent along to genealogy labs
because the Houston PD is protecting one of their own.
Wayne Hecker was Tara Breckenridge's boyfriend in 1992.
Reports revealed that he was both controlling and overbearing.
(16:58):
And he absolutely despised her job at the adult club.
Most nights, he required her to contact him within a certain time frame.
If she didn't, he'd frantically call the strip club.
Something, some witnesses say, did not happen on the night Tara disappeared.
Wayne claimed that he did call Tara earlier that evening, but never spoke to her.
(17:21):
Wayne was also at a pool hall three miles, or about a 15 minute drive from the club,
the night she disappeared.
He claimed he was either playing pool or working as a bartender.
It's not entirely clear what he was doing there, but witnesses say that he left the
pool hall for a full hour and 45 minutes that night.
(17:44):
And his timing coincided with about the same time Tara left the club.
There's no good explanation for why he left the pool hall or where he went, but police
didn't get sufficient evidence to charge him.
Indeed, Tara's body never turned up, and police can't charge anyone with murder in
this case.
Still, there are a few striking details.
(18:09):
Wayne fit the psychological profile.
He was about the same age as Cheryl and Andy.
He may have run into one or both of them at some point.
And he was definitely an underachiever.
And then there's the composite photo we haven't talked about yet.
Composite photos are difficult because they represent an exercise of intelligent guesswork.
(18:32):
In this case, a description was offered by a traumatized young lady, the survivor, who
had to pick out her assailants' facial details, even though he was wearing a mesh stocking.
Despite these facts, when compared side by side, I can't help but notice the similarities
between Wayne's picture and the composite sketch.
(18:54):
Do you think that Wayne could have been behind Tara's disappearance?
And if so, is it possible that he was behind the Lovers Lane murders, as well as the attack
on the survivor?
There's another strange and persuading similarity between Tara's missing person case and the
(19:16):
Lovers Lane case.
Tara had a secret admirer.
He was apparently quite taken with Tara, enough to leave her $100 tips on the regular, along
with creepy notes.
This big tipper definitely was not Wayne.
One note said, Don't hide anything.
(19:36):
Please don't be scared.
Do what your heart tells you.
I'm very excited that you'll marry me.
Now, the word marry was misspelled, and the signature was illegible.
The rest of the letter had poor grammar and spelling, too.
A second letter said, The more you hold out, the longer you jeopardize what I feel for
you.
(19:56):
The police claim the letters were not threatening, but I think you'll agree that any young lady
would have found them disturbing or even alarming.
Threatening or not, there's one more striking detail worth mentioning.
When I compare the men's club notes that Tara received with the 2001 note sent to the Houston
police requesting $100,000, I can't help but notice the resemblance.
(20:20):
The letter, you, in particular, is quite similar.
Some of the other letters don't match up as neatly, but a person's handwriting can fluctuate
a little, and the differences between letters in the alphabet, like the W, isn't so stark
that they couldn't have come from the same hand.
The writer's habit of mixing lowercase letters in with capital letters at odd intervals seems
(20:44):
like an interesting pattern, too, especially around the letter E.
Do you think Cheryl and Andy's killer was the same guy throwing $100 tips at Tara just
two years later?
Remember that some of the detectives believe there could have been two or three killers
(21:04):
at the scene of the Lovers Lane crime, not just one.
And if that is true, then Tara's case might already have offered a likely pair or trifecta
to look at.
First, you have the security guard who walked her out, one who worked at strip clubs.
Second, you have boyfriend Wayne Hecker, whose photo looks so eerily similar to the composite
(21:26):
photo assembled from the survivor's story.
And third, you have the secret admirer, whose handwriting is very similar to that of the
extortion letter sent to the Houston police department.
I don't know if police ever connected Tara's case with the Lovers Lane case, or if they
ran handwriting or DNA analysis.
(21:46):
But it seems like they should have done both.
Since one was a rape and murder case, and one was a missing person, maybe the cases went
to two different investigative teams.
Houston had a high murder rate even back in the 1990s, and people go missing all the time.
So maybe the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing, and nobody drew a connection.
(22:08):
There are a lot of parallels between these two cases, including the timing and locations.
Maybe the killers had a falling out or lost touch over the years, and only one of them
tried to extort the Houston police, but then thought better of it, and didn't answer their
reply.
So maybe we don't know the identity of the security guard or the secret admirer, but
(22:32):
we may in fact have already identified at least one other killer in the case.
A killer with a name the police didn't release when they got a DNA match.
Or maybe police may not have what they need for thorough enough DNA matching.
But it would be fascinating to see what turned up if they did.
(22:53):
Catching one murderer could lead to rounding up both or all of them.
I wonder if this theory could be the real story for all of our victims.
Or could it be that the police know something they are not telling the public, something
that would either unravel this theory or possibly solve these cases?
(23:15):
The wheels of justice never move quickly.
One reason worth mentioning is that police aren't just trying to arrest the guilty party.
They also have to build a strong case that will stand up in court.
Sometimes police have a very good suspect, but must wait to find the definitive pieces
of evidence that will make it possible for a jury to declare him guilty beyond a reasonable
(23:41):
doubt.
The DNA sample has been run through criminal databases.
But for whatever reason, it hasn't been examined using genealogical DNA databases that might
finally result in an arrest or it's been tested but did not provide a result.
Perhaps we are but one genetic test away from finding this killer.
(24:06):
Meanwhile, Cheryl, Andy, and Tara's family and friends continue to mourn hoping for answers
in justice.
And it's entirely possible that a rapist and a killer, or a small group of them, have
committed other gruesome acts and continue to operate in the Houston area to this day,
believing they'll never be caught.
(24:27):
The thought is chilling.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed this story.
If you did, please leave me a review, download, and share this podcast with your friends.
Can you imagine how the families of these two young people feel?
Their lives taken from them so young.
(24:48):
I've heard many people comment about this story concerning the possibility that Cheryl
worked at a gentleman's club.
I have two thoughts on that.
One as long as there are people willing to pay for adults, men included to remove their
clothes.
There will always be someone willing to take theirs off for money.
(25:09):
Lastly, while these may not seem to be the prestigious of professions, being a part of
one shouldn't give approval for someone to kill you.
Just my opinion.
Now, if you found this story intriguing, wait till you hear the story of an entire family,
the Chen family, who was brutally murdered in their own home.
(25:30):
And no one knows why, or most importantly, who could have committed this crime.
There appears to be a wall between the community of this family and the investigators who are
trying to determine who killed this family.
Tune into my next podcast to hear that story.
Can I ask a favor of you?
I'm trying to grow my podcast, so if you enjoyed my story, please consider following my podcast.
(25:56):
If you really enjoyed my podcast, I hope you'll consider buying me a cup of coffee at my patron
site.
While I enjoy what I do, a good cup of Joe sure does keep me motivated to bring you more
true unsolved crime stories.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!