A man accused in a decades-old double homicide case out of Houston has died while in custody in Lincoln. The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Department says 64-year-old Floyd Parrott was found unresponsive early Tuesday inside a cell at the Lancaster County Department of Corrections.
Correctional staff initiated emergency life-saving efforts until paramedics arrived, but Parrott was pronounced dead. He had been held at the facility since March 26 following his arrest. Parrott was facing capital murder charges in connection with the 1990 killings of 22-year-olds Garland Atkinson and Cheryl Henry.
According to investigators with the Houston Police Department, the case dates back to August 23 of that year, when a security guard discovered a parked vehicle during a routine patrol in a quiet cul-de-sac. Inside, officers found both victims unresponsive with fatal neck injuries. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
Despite early efforts by the Houston Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and state and county agencies, the case went unsolved for decades. It wasn’t until a renewed investigation, working alongside the Texas Attorney General’s Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, that Parrott was identified as a suspect.
He was arrested in Lincoln in late March by homicide detectives and FBI agents and was awaiting extradition back to Texas at the time of his death. As is standard procedure when a death occurs in custody, officials say a grand jury will review the circumstances surrounding Parrott’s death.