Paper:
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Date: SUN 08/26/1990
Section:
B
Page: 19
Edition: 3 STAR
Kindness of lovers' lane victim recalled
By STEFANIE
ASIN
Staff
When Garland "Andy" Atkinson got the first paycheck from his summer job at
Gold's Gym, he offered it to his grandmother.
It was a gesture of gratitude to the woman who reared
him since he was 15 months old.
Jean Averitte said she never expected her all-American grandson's
life to end in a gruesome lovers' lane murder.
Atkinson, 21, was found dead with his throat
slashed Friday in a wooded field near a cul-de-sac off Enclave
Parkway in far west Houston.
His body was found
about 100 yards from Cheryl Lynn Henry, 22, whose body was found Thursday night. Her throat was also slashed, and police suspect
she was sexually assaulted.
Police say the area where the two were found is a popular place for young
people to park, but there were no witnesses. Both had been reported missing when they didn't come home from a date Wednesday.
"The best memories I have is all the love and respect he had for people," Averitte said Saturday.
"If only you had met him ... he was so precious and handsome," she said, sobbing.
Atkinson had come to Houston for his summer vacation before beginning his senior year at Campbell University, a small liberal arts
college in Buies Creek, N.C.
His grandmother had reared him in Fayetteville, N.C., but moved to Houston two years ago after the death of
her husband.
The youth's parents divorced when he was an infant and decided to give
the grandmother custody. Atkinson's father, Garland Wade Atkinson, also lives in Houston.
On the night the
young couple disappeared, Atkinson called his grandmother from his job at the gym on the Gulf Freeway to tell her he was going
out on a date with Henry. The two had been dating about three weeks.
Atkinson told Averitte they were
going to a neighborhood nightclub, Bayou Mama. She never heard from him again.
"When he didn't come home
Wednesday night, it wasn't something he ever did and I knew something was wrong," Averitte said.
"It
was the worst thing I've ever gone through," she said. "I kept this hope that any time he would call."
Henry's sister filed a missing person's report Thursday, and the girl's body was found that
night. But Averitte said she kept hoping that her grandson was alive.
Ten hours after Henry was found,
police discovered Atkinson's body Friday morning.
"Only God has brought me through, or I could
not have coped with it," Averitte said. Many of Atkinson's friends from home have called Averitte to offer support,
she said. An all-star athlete in baseball, Averitte said, he took part in many other sports and had many friends.
"I
just want justice, I don't want the same thing to happen to some of these other young people," Averitte said.
Investigators
interviewed as many as 50 people Friday and Saturday, but had no leads in the double murder, said Richard Retz, Houston Police
Department spokesman.
Atkinson's body will be flown to North Carolina for burial.
Henry's
sister declined to comment, and her mother did not return calls Saturday.
