In 1981, Harold, Tina, and their baby Holly vanished. 40 years on, just one of them was found alive.

Holly's aunt, Debbie Brooks, said, "They were talking about adopting, then all of a sudden this baby's dropped on their front doorstep, practically."

On June 7, 2022, a shocked Holly learnt who she really was and where she really came from, and on the same day, was reunited via Zoom with a family she never knew she had. In a bittersweet sign, it was also the day that her biological father Harold would have turned 63.

"Finding Holly is a birthday present from heaven since we found her on Junior's birthday," Casasanta said. 

"For the first time in 42 years, I was able to come home and go to bed that night and actually slept all night. I hadn’t slept the whole night in 42 years, and that’s the truth."

What was the Christ Family cult?

Officials didn't release the name of the nomadic religious group who left Baby Holly at the church, but the white robes and no shoes description led some to believe that Harold and Tina had a connection to the Christ Family cult - an organisation that did not welcome children into the fold.

Rick Ross, a cult expert who has worked with the FBI in the past, told the New York Post, "There aren't any other groups that wore white robes and went around barefoot other than Christ Family, and the locality would match as well. The time frame also matches."

Led by Charles McHugh - or Lightning Amen, as his followers knew him - Christ Family travelled between California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico in the late '70s and early '80s, and were spotted many times in Yuma in the '80s.

"The Christ Family, per its name, was supposedly based on the Bible, but the real truth about the group is that it was based on the interpretation as delivered by its leader," Ross said.

That leader told his followers that he was God's representative and made them give up their material possessions and become vegetarian.

"[Amen] was known for twisting the meaning of individual scripture, individual verses in order to manipulate and control his followers," Ross explained. "Very bad man, psychopath, hurt many people... the group just shredded families."

Perhaps the most disturbing revelation about the cult was their disregard of babies and children, as they were seen as "excess baggage" that simply did not fit in with their nomadic way of life. 

Decades ago, some Christ Family members were wandering through Santa Fe when portrait artist Joe Szimhart snapped their photo.

"The look was to look like nuns and monks and that’s why children were not necessarily part of the movement," Szimhart, who became a cult information specialist, told Fox 10.

The Christ Family cult wandering the streets. Image: Twitter/ Steven Hassan, PhD.

How did Holly's parents get involved?

Harold's family admit the young man had a troublemaker streak in him, always looking for adventure and living spontaneously and on the edge.

If Harold and his new wife Tina did become embroiled with the Christ Family all those years ago, it's possible they were told to give up their baby girl in order to meet the cult's criteria. 

Given all the factors surrounding the bizarre case, Ross has formulated a convincing theory as to how the young couple wound up dead and buried in the Houston forest. 

"My belief is that the Clouses decided that they didn't want to continue with the group," he explains. "They may have also witnessed illegal activities involving the group's drug trafficking, so at that point, they disappeared, but they were murdered, and I don't think there's any way to separate those murders from Christ Family."

Another cult expert, Dr Steven Hassan, adds that Christ Family was the only cult to match the descriptions given.

A family finally reunited.

Finding Holly safe and well was the light at the end of the tunnel for Harold's grieving mother, Casasanta, after years of convincing herself to "never give up" hope for her missing grandchild.

In an emotional reunion in November last year, Holly and her grandmother finally met in person, along with Holly's aunts Debbie Brooks and Tess Welch.

When she embraced them for the first time, Holly told them, "Thank you for all of your prayers. God kept me safe and protected all these years, and I just wanted you to know that."

Watch: Holly Miller known as 'Baby Holly' finally reunited with grandmum, Donna Casasanta. Post continues below.

An overwhelmed Casasanta told The Independent, "She looks a lot like her mother... got her mother's soft voice... she's got her mother's voice to the tee. She also has a lot of Clouse in her; she looks a lot like some of my sons."

The journey of finding out her true identity has been a bittersweet one for Holly. “I am so wonderfully blessed to have a loving, faithful family… My heart is overwhelmed with joy and sadness,” she told ABC News. “Joy to get to know my parents’ family who have been praying and searching for me. Sadness for our loss of my parents and the time we could have shared together.”

What happened to the cult?

Now defunct, the Christ Family cult fell apart when its leader was caught by police for a string of crimes. In 1987, Amen was sent to prison for five years for possession and transportation of meth for sale. 

He was arrested again in 2001, and found guilty of annoying or molesting a child under 18. Nine years later he died at the age of 73.

The investigation into Holly’s biological parents’ murders continues.  

"What we need to know is who, and why, why, you know? What was your reasoning behind killing them?" Harold’s aunt Brooks said.

Feature Image: Hope for Holly DNA Project.