LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – The suspect in a 1990 double murder in Houston died Tuesday morning in the Lancaster County Jail.
The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Floyd William Parrott, 64, died while awaiting extradition to Texas.
Floyd William Parrott(10/11 NOW)
LSO Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said medical personnel responded to the jail at 7:23 a.m. for a medical emergency involving Parrott.
Parrott was found unresponsive in a cell, according to Kristy Bauer with the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners. Correctional staff administered life-saving measures until paramedics arrived, but Parrott was pronounced dead at the scene.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare told KHOU 11, a media outlet in Houston, that Parrott’s death appears to be a suicide. 10/11 contacted the Harris County District Attorney’s Office for confirmation, but has not received a response.
The sheriff’s office is investigating the in-custody death and is working in coordination with the Lancaster County Department of Corrections. Next of kin has been notified.
Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon has ordered an autopsy to be conducted on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.
Once LSO’s investigation is complete, a team of homicide investigators will examine the evidence and present the findings to Condon. A grand jury will then review the matter.
“It could be a while before we know everything,” Houchin said.
Parrott was arrested in Lincoln on March 25. He was charged with two counts of capital murder in Texas in connection with the killings of 22-year-old Cheryl Henry and 21-year-old Andrew Atkinson.
He was also charged with one count of being a fugitive from justice in Lancaster County Court and was expected to make his next court appearance on Thursday at 10 a.m.
Cheryl Henry and Andrew Atkinson.(Houston Police Department | Houston Police Department)
“Floyd William Parrott thought he could outrun the truth. He thought time would erase his past. But prosecutors and investigators never stopped working the Lovers’ Lane cold case.
Parrott murdered Andy and Cheryl, he violently assaulted others, and spent decades thinking he got away with it. We now know he thought he escaped justice while hiding out in Nebraska.
Since Parrott’s arrest, we can confirm new survivors have come forward, bravely reliving the horrors he inflicted in painful detail. After decades since some of these crimes, we had hoped to answer their courage with action.
We ache for Andy’s and Cheryl’s families who were denied their day in court. Our anger for what Parrott took from them is matched only by our determination to keep going. Yes, we are still working. Parrott’s death does not erase his crimes or end our motivation. It does not bring comfort to the people he hurt. Which is why we are in Louisiana right now seeking to close a cold case linked to Parrott. His survivors deserve accountability.
We keep the memory of Andy and Cheryl at the center of our work. To families still searching for answers in cold cases: never give up.”
1990 Houston cold case
The Houston Police Department said that on Aug. 23, 1990, a security guard was conducting a routine patrol when he noticed a vehicle parked in a cul-de-sac. The security guard approached the vehicle after it had remained parked for some time.
Inside, the guard spotted a purse on the passenger side floorboard. He’d later find a license belonging to Henry, and he contacted her family. The guard discovered Henry’s family reported her missing earlier that day.
Police came to the scene and later discovered Henry’s body in a nearby wooded area under some wooden boards. Atkinson’s body would be found some 150-200 yards away tied to a tree, according to an arrest affidavit.
The area was considered undeveloped and remote at the time, police wrote. Officers think Henry’s body had been covered in an attempt to hide it.
Both victims had their hands tied behind their backs. Police allege that Parrott sexually assaulted Henry and cut both of their throats.
Investigators wrote that Henry and Atkinson were in a relationship and had been drinking at a nightclub the night before their deaths. Family reported Henry missing when she didn’t show up for work the next day.
Texas authorities and the FBI worked together on the case, and it remained unsolved.
But a tip lead investigators to Parrott in late 2025, court records show. Parrott had been accused in two sexual assaults between June 1990 and August 1996. In the 1990 assault, Parrott told police that the sex was consensual.
DNA samples were gathered from Parrott and then referenced to samples left at the scene of Henry’s murder. It was a match, the affidavit shows.
Further investigation showed that Parrott wasn’t in custody at the time of the assaults and murders, and police think he worked near the site of the murders.
A sergeant with the Houston Police Department interviewed Parrott on Wednesday, and he denied ever knowing Henry, records show. He would be arrested later that day.
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