HOUSTON – After 25 years of uncertainty, the family of Almond Gene Little finally has closure. Little, who vanished in 1999, was recently identified by Houston Police after his remains were found. The case is now officially closed.
KPRC 2‘s reporter Corley Peel spoke with Little’s daughter, Lovetta Little-Smith, who shared the emotional journey of searching for her father.
Lovetta recalls the last time she saw her dad in 1999, captured in a photo with her children. Though he often left on his own, she grew worried when he never returned.
“The calls stopped coming, and I started reaching out to the community where he was known,” she said.
Lovetta’s fears were compounded by the unsolved murder of her brother in 1995, which she worried might be connected to her father’s disappearance.
After years without answers, the family officially reported Almond missing in 2011. He was declared legally dead by 2021.
“I had done some soul-searching and accepted that dad was no longer here, not physically alive,” Lovetta said.
Two weeks ago, she received the call that changed everything: her father’s remains had been found.
“I was stunned. I was shocked,” she recalled.
Houston Police confirmed that Little passed away in a hospital in 2000 when he was 48 years old. Due to being listed as “Gene Little” rather than his full name, Almond Gene Little, confusion delayed identification. At the time, police had no contact information for his family.
Little has been buried in the Harris County Cemetery, a resting place for unidentified and unclaimed individuals, ever since.
Lovetta rushed to the cemetery to find his grave, marked with the name Gene Little.
For nearly two and half decades, Little-Smith said she felt like a prisoner trapped with anxiety and fears of the unknown about her father, until now.
“It’s like I’ve been released. Released of just being able to move on with my life,” said Smith.
Lovetta is still waiting on her father’s death certificate but hopes her story encourages other families of missing persons to never give up hope.
Houston Police said there is nothing suspicious about Little’s death