Yogurt Shop Murders - 30 Years Later /// Part 1 /// 539 | Forensic Files

thank you [Music] [Music] thank you foreign garage wherever you are whatever you're
doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man that's living Life By the Drop ladies
and gentlemen here is the captain that's right and you know I like to Drop it like it's hot it's good to be seen and
good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend [Music] this week we are very excited to be
drinking best made sour pickle beer brewed in the big beautiful state of Texas by the brilliant Brewers and crew
over at Martin house Brewing Company Captain this week's case takes us back to Texas Austin Texas once again and
when we were in Austin several fine wonderful listeners said to us hey while you guys are here you have to try best
made sour pickle beer from Martin house and these fantastic people were spot on it's not really sour well no more sour
than pickle juice would be you get a refreshing burst of pickle taste that has kind of an ale or pilsner finish
garage grade this one's for the people four and a half bottle caps out of five and here's to our friends that filled up
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[Music] in the early 1990s several Unforgettable Billboards were popping up in and around
Austin Texas these Billboards were not put up with the purpose of advertising for a great restaurant located at the
next exit off of Texas Highway 130. these Billboards didn't stare at the passing cars to influence your next
cable provider choice the only purpose for these Unforgettable billboards screamed their mission loud
and clear with bold white letters all in caps set on a red background who killed these girls
this was the question on the minds of every red-blooded Texan possibly minus one two or who knows how many for sure
because somewhere maybe in the Lone Star State or across state lines maybe even South of the Border
someone or someone's know the answer to that question who killed these girls the question posted on the Billboards
centered just below what looks to be four School photos the pictures are of Amy Ayers Jennifer
Harbison Sarah Harbison and Eliza Thomas these are the four victims of an Infamous crime known as the yogurt shop
murders the four girls ranged in age from 13 to 17. the yogurt shop murders are a still
unsolved quadruple homicide taking place at the local I Can't Believe It's Yogurt
Shop on a Friday night in Austin Texas the crimes committed that night were many they were fast and they were brutal
these girls were killed on December 6th 1991. the unknown assailant or assailants
started a fire in the stockroom of the yogurt shop before fleeing Into the Night
an on-duty patrolman noticed the fire it was close to midnight he rushed to the smoke coming from the I
Can't Believe It's Yogurt located in a strip Plaza 2949 West Anderson Lane he called it into dispatch
firefighters arrived on the scene and began knocking the fire down once they entered the small Northwest
Austin yogurt shop one firefighter motioned to the other pointing to a charred foot and then
they started finding bodies Austin police were called and the lone homicide detective working that night
got the call that no one wants to receive even the most seasoned of Detectives two fatalities suspected arson suspected
homicide looks like gunshot wounds the dispatcher called out over the police radio
APD Sergeant John Jones was in route minutes later the dispatcher tells Jones they found another body and as he drives
closer a cop at the scene radioed Jonesy make that four on the scene Jones got to work the
following is from the 2016 Beverly Lowry book titled who killed these girls ignoring the firefighters who either
milled around or just stood there looking down Jones stepped gingerly around the bodies
having been schooled in evidence collection and processing he felt competent to handle 95 percent of most
crime scenes but this one lie well beyond his expertise in a memo to the district attorney's
office he will describe the situation as robbery plus sexual assault plus multiple child victims plus bondage plus
gunshot wounds plus fire heat smoke water damage plus no known Witnesses equal the
homicide arson and DA's worst nightmare this is true crime garage and this is a new look at the yogurt
shop murders case 30 years later [Music] later this week we'll mark 30 years since some kind of monster or Monsters
committed the horrific yogurt shop murders and the Austin Police Department and the FBI are still on the hunt for
those responsible some of the following was taken from a recent reporting texas.com article the four teenage girls
were brutally murdered on a Friday night at a yogurt shop in North Austin in December of 1991. the girls families and
those who worked decades trying to find and prosecute their Killers say the 30th
anniversary of their murders approaches with no sense of closure the murders remain unsolved and experts say that
crimes lacking resolution can leave a psychological impact on an entire Community but new state and federal
efforts as well as a promising DNA lead have brought renewed Hope For answers and justice the details of the crime
including the subsequent investigation and criminal trials that followed have been well documented Jennifer Harbison
and Eliza Thomas both 17 worked at the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt on West Anderson Lane Jennifer's Sister Sarah
Harbison 15 and Amy Ayers 13 arrived at the yogurt shop around closing time on December 6 1991. with plans to attend a
sleepover together Amy was an eighth grader at Burnett Middle School and the other girls attended Lanier High School
they were shot in the head and gagged with their own clothes their bodies were stacked on top of one another before
being set on fire authorities arrested four suspects but this was almost eight years later in
October of 1999 only two of the four Robert Burns Springsteen and Michael James Scott stood trial and both were
convicted Springsteen received the death penalty and Scott got life in prison but
the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned their convictions ruling that their confessions were improperly used
against each other at trial Springsteen and Scott were released from prison and prosecutors dismissed all charges
against them in 2017 another potential breakthrough emerged an Austin detective submitted DNA evidence found in one of
the victims into a database that searches why Str DNA samples a type of DNA profile that forensic investigators
used to identify male relatives of suspects a match was found the Austin Police Department requested more
information about the identity of the matching donor but the FBI has refused to release any information saying a
federal statute prohibits it from disclosing identities of anonymous donors despite these hurdles
the families have continued to work to keep the case in the Forefront their efforts have led to new crime fighting
initiatives at the state and federal levels quote when I heard there were over nineteen thousand unsolved
homicides in Texas I was really taken aback by that and I think most people are when they hear that number when you
think about each of those cases there's a family associated with that said Mindy
Montford who was the first assistant district attorney for Travis County and one of the prosecutors assigned to the
yogurt shop murders case four years the yogurt shop murders LED Montford to work with Texas Attorney
General Ken Paxton to form the state Cold Case and missing persons unit on October 19th the unit will Aid and
support law enforcement agencies across the state in the investigation and prosecution of Unsolved cases Montford
serves as senior Council for the unit Angie and Sean Ayers the brother of the youngest victim sit on its advisory
committee the yogurt shop victims families have been pushing to affect change on a national level in May of
2021 the bipartisan homicide victims families Rights Act was reintroduced U.S representative Mike McCall said
quote if a case has been cold for three years it gives the victims the right to petition the local district attorney to
re-examine the cold case and take another look at it it's very much empowering to the families of the
victims and particularly the case like the yogurt shop killings many remember the yogurt shop murders as a defining
moment in Austin which was about half its current size and not yet a tech or tourist hub
the 30th anniversary of the yogurt shop murders brings up painful memories for those who've tried to solve the crime
Austin Police Sergeant John Jones who was the lead investigator assigned to the case at the time of the murders said
quote there's no statute of limitations on murder then there shouldn't be any limitation on doing what one can to try
to get it solved and that sometimes means having to relive that pain and answer questions my theory is if me
talking about it to you or anybody else can jog somebody's memory out there to perhaps get this thing solved then it's
worth reliving that night the girls families believe that the case will be solved and we here in the garage hope so
as well we covered this case rather extensively in early 2017 and True Crime garage episodes 81 and 82. now you don't
need to stop these episodes and go back these episodes with this information and
Nick's research will stand on its own yeah just know that this week's shows will be different from those episodes
and they are there to listen to should you want to hear the case as it were back in early 2017.
then Captain we gave a detailed description of the events and the facts of the case followed by the arrest of
four persons nearly eight years later two were convicted because they air quotes here confessed and the two others
saw their charges dropped due to a lack of evidence Rob Springsteen and Michael James Scott as we said both went to
prison Rob sentenced to death Michael to life imprisonment they both confessed that they along with Maurice Pierce and
Forrest Wilborn went to rob the store and killed all four girls the strange thing here is obvious
the two that ended up with charges dropped due to insufficient evidence did not confess yet if we were to believe
that the confessions of the two that the state convicted are correct well then all four are guilty of the yogurt shop
murders so to me Captain I've always felt like this should be an all or nothing situation for these four
suspects absolutely it's almost as if the prosecution didn't believe law enforcement's confessions that they
received now when we covered the case we spent a lot of time covering the case against these four individuals the two
trials and later their release we won't spend a lot of time on that this time around we also covered some other good
suspects and spent a lot of time on what is most likely the best theory out there
so as you can see this is a rather large case not a short True Crime Story at all
and Captain I like the cut of our jib because I think those episodes were really well done and we told as much of
the story as you can in just two episodes and now as we are approaching the 30-year marker well this is a really
good time to revisit the yogurt shop Let's dive into the facts of this case and the timeline that goes with it we're
going to include some angles theories and leads that perhaps were not pursued as doggedly as the four men that were
arrested who were just teenagers themselves at the time of the murders yes but first some background
information Bryce Foods is the company that owns the icby store I Can't Believe It's Yogurt store and they own dozens of
them Bryce Foods by 1991 had been in business for 14 years and the Bryce Foods firm was started by brother and
sister Bill and Julie Bryce from Dallas in 1977 Bryce Foods purchased existing yogurt shops I'm not sure Captain if
this location is one of their original stores as said they owned many this location though we know that by 1991 has
been around for years and only two of the four girls that were killed worked there one of the victims
seventeen-year-old Eliza Thomas started working there in early 1991. it's either
January or early February and her friend Sarah Harbison started working there in
July of 1991. the two were friends and they both attended the same high school well since we've been doing this for
five years it seems like every time around December when it starts and you start feeling that
Christmas holiday there's a couple cases that always come to mind obviously the JonBenet Ramsey case and in this case
happening on December 6 1991. at 6 30 PM Eliza arrives home and is getting ready to make her drive to
the icby store she was there by 7 PM she worked the night before and was said that she had a difficult shift that
night before due to a prank phone call from her ex-boyfriend Roger carducee and one of his Pals so at 7 pm Eliza is
replacing another employee Jorge Barney is closing his store mind you this is like a shopping plaza
so there we're going to reference some other stores that are nearby throughout this case and timeline
Jorge Barney is closing his store the party house he's the owner of the store he's owned it for three months at this
time he has a Santa on the roof because this is a you know the party house is where you're going to go to get
decorations and things for party planning and such and with the Christmas holiday coming up he's got Santa on the
roof and other decorations going on he walks three stores down to another store this is called Mr gaddy's and he says
that he went there to get some pizza it's a pizza place from there he will take his pizza to go back to his store
in his office to eat and do some bookkeeping and watch some TV he's important because his office shares a
wall with the stock room at the icby shop Eliza once she arrives and she gets into work she places her personal
belongings in the store's office which is located in the back of the store in the area we will refer to as the stock
room this stock room is the room behind the sales counter which is located in the dining room the stock room has a
walk-in cooler two bathrooms one designated as men's and the other as ladies and the Shop's small office in
this back corner the office has a locked door and a floor safe there is a back door to the shop which is located near
the door to the office from my understanding captain that back door to the store is locked via deadbolt and the
manager has the only key to this back door that's key to know because this back door is not used often when the
manager with the key is not there because this case is so perplexing it's been investigated by several
detectives and several crime shows so I will post all the pictures that I think are relevant to seeing the outside of
the building and there's also a couple diagrams of inside the building obviously we'll post those on social
media at True Crime garage Twitter Facebook or even at the website and the captain's really doing everybody a big
service by doing that because I think it's important here as is in most cases but in this case it's particularly
important to understand the layout of the store because we will be talking about the movements of not only suspects
but our victims as well well on anybody that's worked at a shop knows that you have Closing Time duties that you start
preparing even though customers are still in the store so I think that becomes very important in this case yes
we're going to want to keep an eye on several things the events leading up to that closing time as well as those
closing duties like you just pointed out as well as the customers that are coming
and going from the shop leading up to closing time now after placing her personal belongings in the yogurt shops
locked office Eliza will then return the office door key to its designated location which is under the cash
register later Eliza Thomas's personal belongings will be found inside the locked office Eliza at this point in our
timeline Captain she is going to be running the store by herself until 8 PM this is when her shift mate Jennifer
Harbison arrives for the closing shift before arriving at the shop for her 8 PM shift Jennifer Harbison will drive her
sister Sarah age 15 and her friend Amy Ayers age 13 to the Northcross mall so they can hang out with some friends we
should also note for those not from familiar with Austin the North Cross mall is relatively close to the yogurt
shop I believe it's less than one mile from the yogurt shop note their ages as well 13 and 15. right one of the parents
would later say that this was the first time that the two good friends were allowed to go to the mall by themselves
I think we all can look back and remember one of those days right Captain when you're a young
teenager and maybe it's the first time that you and a friend are allowed to go somewhere without any type of adult
supervision and you're you're going to the location being driven by your friend's older brother or older sister
who's dropping you off it feels very adult-like right it feels very special to those at that time
and I'm sure that's how Amy and Sarah fell on this Friday night yeah I remember being dropped off at the
cinnamon being able to play a couple arcade games before we watched the movie but you're basically just going into a
building watching a movie and coming out it was more rare if they would let you walk around
and look at different multiple shops Jennifer does everything that we just said and then she arrives at the icby
store just before her 8 PM shift she Parks her vehicle next to Eliza Thomas's vehicle Eliza will be running the
register and Jennifer will be taking and filling orders the store closes at 11 PM
Bryce Foods the company has a pretty detailed closing procedures for the employees and this is important here
because of these closing duties and Jennifer harbison's and Eliza Thomas's work ethic
we will get a really good idea of when things went down and how things may have gone down this is because everyone has
stated that Eliza and Jennifer carried out the closing duties to a t completing each task in the very specific order
designated by the Bryce Foods company foreign [Music] [Music] we're back if you're not signed up on the mailing
list make sure you go to True Crime garage.com and sign up on the mailing list and the next week or so we'll be
sending out a nice little promo code for the store page so if you're not signed up get signed up
today all the cool kids are doing it yes cheers to you Captain cheers all right Colonel why don't you go through a list
of the closing duties the yogurt shop closes at 11 PM so starting at 10 till 11 the person's working that night they
will lock the front door from the inside then they will change the sign from open
to closed and they will leave the key in the lock in the door this is done at this time regardless if there are any
remaining customers in the store or not then they would deposit the money in the
floor safe that is in the locked office and then clean up the store when the store is completely clean they would
remove the key that's in the front door leave through the front door then they would lock the door from the outside
place the key inside of an envelope and then slide that envelope under the front
door the manager with a key to the store opens the store in the morning and then
retrieves the envelope and the key when they arrive let's get into some of the icby customer
testimonials and some of the events that we know happen that night we have customer Lucilla Jones who arrives at
the yogurt shop and says that when she entered the store she noticed two teenage boys seated at the table nearest
the door they were approximately between the ages of 14 and 17 and she says they
had a sort of hippie look to them she describes one of them as being between five foot four and five foot
seven inches tall with medium dark hair 130 to 140 pounds possibly Hispanic or Anglo she does not see the face of the
other so no description of him is given other than he looks to be older and larger than the other boy that she just
described she would give three different descriptions of the table throughout the
course of the events there will be a trial in the last 30 years one of these descriptions says that the boys were
focusing in on something that may have been a paper bag centered on the table another description that she gives says
that she did not see any containers on the table and then the third description says she did not have a clear view of
the table itself she says that these boys gave her an uneasy feeling and she didn't think that the boys fit the quote
normal yogurt shop customers she orders a yogurt and pays by check and then leaves the store now we are at 9 00 pm
here captain this is when Jennifer Harbison leaves the yogurt shop she has to go back and
pick up her sister Sarah and her friend Amy from their visit to the mall when the three return Sarah and Amy walk over
to Mr gaddy's to get some pizza the mall closed at 9 00 pm and Mr gaddy's closes
at 10 p.m so we are very confident with the times that are provided here at 9 30
p.m Maria Thomas Eliza's mother arrives at the yogurt shop Eliza takes a phone call from her younger sister and at some
point gives the phone to her mother Amy and Sarah then arrive at the yogurt shop with their takeout pizza shortly
after this Jennifer is going to receive a phone call from her boyfriend at Sammy
Buchanan around the same time a man named Daryl Croft arrives at the yogurt shop he puts his arrival time between 9
30 and 10 p.m he is traveling with two women who stay in croft's vehicle Croft goes into order to go desserts for all
three of them he says that when he walks into the yogurt shop he sees two girls working behind the counter Maria
again this is Eliza's mother is standing near the counter there's a man and a woman reviewing the
menu standing in front of the counter a young couple is seated at one of the booths on the right hand side of the
dining room and there's a young man in a green army type jacket this young man is
near the counter and near the couple reviewing the menu right he later would describe this young man as early to
mid-20s medium build 150 to 170 pounds between 5 foot 10 and 6 foot tall and Caucasian he says there
was something off about this man there are two differing descriptions of what this man says and does while in the
store one in Beverly Lowry's book who killed these girls and another in the book murdered innocence by Corey
Mitchell both of these books are very thorough and very good anyone that is fascinated by this case should read both
of them but rather than ordering the young man says to Croft you go first and then there is this weird awkward
exchange where the two men keep offering to allow the other to go first you go you go first no you go first yeah oh I'm
sorry you were here before me but it's like Andy and Dwight in that episode where they just kept doing each other
favors over and over again it's weird to me that he has an uneasy feeling from this gentleman that's
letting him go first the guy in the Army jacket is obviously not in a rush and obviously trying to be
polite well I think what we need to keep in mind here is we are reviewing all of
these customers and their statements after the fact and they're giving these statements to police after the murders
occurred so I'm thinking what we have here captain in most of these situations is people
are going about their everyday lives these are all very routine acts uh this Daryl Croft individual he was a regular
at the yogurt shop a lot of the customers coming in that night were regulars to this yogurt shop and so I
think when you have regulars one they seem to notice more that's going on because they're aware that you know this
visit's a little different than last one this time they're really busy this time
they're not right I don't think that most of these people are walking into the yogurt shop that
night observing what's going on and going oh something something terrible is here I feel I I sense a presence a bad
element something's broken I think that it's you know we know what happened and when I left or later that night or now
that I know the outcome now that I know that four girls were killed here I remember this guy something was off
about him something was weird about this guy and we're looking for somebody who killed
four people and so here is my information and Daryl Croft again he's a regular to the yogurt
shop he was a security guard at the time he owned a security company a lot of times these individuals will be
hyper Vigilant they will be extra aware of their surroundings and take mental note right of their surroundings so he
to me can offer up possibly some better information than maybe just the average Jane or Joe walking into the shop that
night well he's coming in like you said between 9 30 and 10. so this is getting close to closing time my big issue is
it's December 6th yes I understand that it's in Texas but seems like there's quite a bit of pockets of people seems
like there's quite a bit of people towards the end of the day yeah so you're going to have this for
several reasons one it's a Friday night and the yogurt shop is open till 11 pm yeah good point so this is going to
offer up traffic to this store when other stores are closing for the night remember we
already pointed out that Mr Gatti's the pizza place closes at 10. well the mall closes at nine mall closes at nine so we
have customers that are coming in maybe from Mr Gatti's after Pizza they want a little dessert they want the yogurt shop
dessert maybe people are leaving a movie we have several customers that we know went to movies that night and decided to
get a dessert on the way home a lot of these customers too you're going to see some stay there to eat their frozen
treats at the shop but also a lot of them are taking things to go they're going in placing their order paying for
them and they're leaving and that's what Daryl Croft was doing here that night I
think I have in my notes here and I can't remember where I got this from but I think that he he and these other
people they were they were either out that night and decided to stop for dessert or he knew
Eliza Thomas and Eliza Thomas's mother as well so that's interesting too that he knows some of the people in the store
when he's walking into it uh he knows them very very Loosely they're like acquaintances because they went to the
same gym so Daryl Croft again a regular to the shop security guard security company owner remember we
said that there will be trials because we know that two individuals were convicted in this case and later they
were released but at the trial Croft testified that he visited the shop around 10 pm that night in line in front
of him was a suspicious looking man dressed in a green army jacket the man asked him about his security guard car
which was parked out front this is part of that weird exchange where this man sees cross vehicle and
says you know what are you some kind of cop right witchcraft that kind of tickled his spidey sense a little bit
because he's like why is this guy so observant in paying so much attention to me and my vehicle and my vehicle has
these lights on it who is this kid to question me and so the man asked him about his security guard card which was
parked out front and then insisted that Croft should cut in front of him now finally crop said that the man slipped
into the back headed to what he thought would be the bathroom this is another reason why I think Croft
has a vivid memory of this guy he walks into a busy yogurt shop sees all these customers and this is the only
individual that he's going to see go into the back room now remember the restrooms are back there so that's the
assumption that Croft is going to make well also it seems like there's pairs of people and we don't know if this Army
shirt or Army jacket guy is connected to the couple that he was closest to it almost seems like he's
in their by himself yes everything that goes on would give the appearance that this man is in there by himself so Croft
says that the man gave him such a funny feeling that he decided to kind of stick
around like linger a bit to see the man return from the back room but eventually you know he's handed his
three desserts that he's ordered he's paid he's made some Chit Chat tried to hang out a little bit but eventually
Croft will leave now Croft could not identify the suspicious man he saw as being Annie
of the four suspects that were later arrested and too convicted that's quite interesting to me
Croft is sure that he was there at 10 pm based off of his testimony and later when shown pictures of the four guys
that were arrested Maurice Michael Robert and Forrest again Croft does not match the suspicious person to any of
the four now from the book who killed these girls Croft says of green army jacket man his voice was deep clear and
distinctive and that he has a long pointy nose Army jacket man then ordered a 7-Up and Eliza explains that they only
have Sprite and so he orders a Sprite this before dipping into the back room with the assumption that he went to the
restroom right at 10 pm James Thomas this is Eliza Thomas's father stops by the yogurt shop and says that he sees
all four girls there in the store at that time is he stopping by just to check in on his kids you know sometimes
that happens where your parents just drop in on you at work when you're a teenager or is he getting yogurt this I
don't know I do know that both he and his wife stopped by that night his wife was there just minutes before I think
they're traveling separate and I don't know if James was in the process of picking up Eliza's younger sister who
had called earlier that night I think that there was some chance here captain that Eliza's sister was going to
find her way to the yogurt shop and maybe one of the parents or both of the parents were going to retrieve her
there but they very likely stopped in as customers and to see their daughter at 10 42 PM Eliza Thomas rings in the last
purchase of the night okay underline that make mental note don't forget 10 42 p.m Eliza rings in the last purchase of
the night yeah 18 minutes before closing we have our customers names this is Tim
Striker and Margaret Sheehan they will later say that when they get there they notice only two other customers in the
store so by this point in our timeline right we have James Thomas we have the security guard man Daryl Croft all these
people have left the store by this time by this point we have two coming in two customers coming in Tim Striker and
Margaret Sheehan they say that when they arrived in the store they only noticed two other customers in the store at that
time and they would later describe them as large people in hooded jackets sitting in the last booth on the left
this is the booth nearest the cash register they said that they saw Eliza behind the counter she's the one that
took and fulfilled their order right and they see Jennifer cleaning the dining room she's wiping tables refilling
napkin holders and placing chairs on the tables Margaret Sheehan does not get a good look at these two customers the two
that are described as large people in hooded jackets I'm assuming they're just they have hoods on their jackets but
their hoods are not up this description I'm giving Captain is the best one that I have found
it's it's extremely vague and limited but I actually think given some other things that I've seen along the way that
that potentially they have these hoods up that they're wearing the hoods because that's pretty suspicious so
Margaret Sheehan does not get a good look at these two customers in fact she says that she's not even certain of the
gender for either but based off of their size she believes that they were both males she says one was larger than the
other and the larger one was wearing a khaki or beige colored padded jacket the other
man if it was a man the other large person let's say was thinner with light brown hair she does not remember seeing
any food or drink or containers on the table where the two were sitting Margaret says that she and Tim left the
store and when they did she looked at her watch and it was 10 47 p.m so it took him five minutes to place their order
get their yogurt they sat down briefly and then decided to take their desserts with them but five minutes being in a
store with it when there's only four individuals working and only two customers other than you and your date
that's a long time to get a perspective of what's happening and to kind of sense what's going on with
inside that shop that's right and note again the time she says was 10 47 PM when they left we also have when it
comes to a lot of these customers well all of them anyone that ordered something and paid for something we will
have the register tape later that's going to kind of give us a timeline of some events as well but we don't know if
these two large individuals had any dessert with them or any all we know is that they're at a booth they're at a
table and it doesn't mean that they're eating anything exactly in fact we have Margaret who says one I didn't get a
good look at them right here's what I do remember and goes out of her way to say I don't
remember seeing any food drink or containers on their table come on this would be like you said three minutes
they're leaving three minutes before they're gonna go put that key in that door and lock the door
yes again this is 10 47 p.m and she says that when she and Tim left the two people sitting
in the booth nearest the cash register were still in the store Margaret says when she arrived and when she left that
she noticed a green car in the parking lot this green car is a tricky little piece
of information as we don't know if this is a suspect vehicle right or a car with
no real significance to the murders at all yeah tricky little piece of [ __ ] or if it was one of the girls Vehicles
because we know that Eliza drove a bright green Carmen Ghia right this is a pisser here captain and in my opinion a
bit of a stumble in the investigation because we can't say if this is a suspect car or Eliza's or a vehicle that
has nothing to do with the murders at all well but maybe law enforcement knows and they just haven't shared that
information with the public this thing went to trial twice right there's that's your time to share information with the
public when you're going to sentence a man to death and another to life imprisonment let's lay out the facts of
the case they also charge two individuals that confess that all four people were involved and they only
charged two people here here's a stumble in the case in my opinion because if if
we truly are still on the hunt for the individuals responsible for these murders yeah this could be important
information again I don't think until we have somebody locked up and the proper person convicted that we will know for
certain if the suspect drove or suspect drove a or suspects drove a green vehicle that night but the reason why I
say that it's a stumble is we could at least eliminate one possibility and one possibility is that
it's Eliza's bright green Karmann Ghia a Karmann Ghia is a unique looking vehicle
I would have shown Margaret a picture of Eliza's Carmen Gia and at the very least
try to confirm or rule out that as a possibility well I agree with you because that makes the most logical
sense now we don't know Captain what happens in the next three minutes so our two customers
left at 10 47. they say that there are two male customers left in the store sitting at that Booth nearest to the
cash register at the time that they left we don't know if these men left or if these men stayed there and are
responsible for the four murders what we do know is within the next hour that's six zero minutes
all four of the teenage girls will be killed yeah so for the next 60 Minutes a lot of
horrible shit's gonna happen one thing we don't know for certain but can assume based off of manager and
co-worker statements Eliza and Jennifer followed the closing procedures to a T and add to that equation
that the two workers are teens right it's late on a Friday night they're going to want to get everything done and
get out of there with the quickness so according to the closing duties the girls would have at 10 till 11 o'clock
locked the front door from the inside whether or not the store was void of customers and then flipped the sign from
open to close and then continued with their closing duties now our customers that left at 10 47 did not say that they
saw the two younger girls they only said that they saw the two older girls that were working at the shop that night
it's presumed that Amy and Sarah went to the back room we assume this for two reasons one it
was understood that Sarah would be helping her older sister with the closing duties that night in exchange
for Jennifer driving her and Amy around Amy was scheduled to ride home with the Harbison sisters and stay the night at
their house that night the second reason is later at the crime scene the Mr gaddy's Pizza Box is found
in the back room at 11 03 pm a no sale was rang in on the register anyone who has worked to register is
familiar with the no sale key you push it and it logs a no sale on the register tape and then the register drawer opens
up so this would be recorded on the register and as we said when we covered this case four years ago it's believed
that this may be the start of the robbery and the start of the horrible events to come well there's a lot of
evidence where we could go through and and talk about what we think could have happened but let's go through some more
events that we'd know for sure happen Okay at 11 47 p.m rookie Austin PD officer Troy gay reports seeing smoke
coming from the rear of the icby store at 11 53 the first truck arrives from the Austin fire department the response
time note is six minutes which is longer than normal here but at first it looks like they were going to the
wrong address and then the address was corrected on the call while in route one minute later a second fire engine and
then at 11 57 p.m another fire engine arrives in total captain we're going to have nearly 50 firefighters on scene
that will respond to this call yeah later when the bodies are found they will also find Jennifer harbison's Timex
watch not on her she took this off when she and the others were ordered to strip by
their Killers her watch stopped marking the time at 11 48 PM when the watch quit
working because of the fire now some other things were found as well that helped to fill in the blanks for us as
to what actually happened from 1103 to the time that the firefighters are on the scene so a couple of things here
Captain one someone started to clean out the yogurt dispensers but did not finish one of the
girls was wiping the counter but did not finish right a can of Coca-Cola and a cup of ice is later found on the counter
the booth where Margaret Sheehan says the two men were sitting when she and Tim Striker left the yogurt shop at 10
47 PM is the only table in the store's front of the house that does not have a chair on it the chair is the universal
signal that the table has been cleaned stocked and closed yes this table has an empty napkin holder the other tables
have napkin holders that have been filled well that tells us something though right the other tables have been
cleaned restocked and closed so maybe not a hundred percent but that could mean that these individuals were still
in the shop when the other duties were stopped possibly and it tells us it tells us this that those three items are
all things that should have been completed if they were able to finish their closing duties right so whatever
happened however it happened it took place before these three items could be closed out for the night the yogurt
dispensers were not finished being cleaned the counter was not finished being wiped down and that table was not
closed out for the night indicating either they didn't get to that table or as you said somebody was sitting there
which prevented them from getting to the table the fifth thing that I want to point out here is that the registered
drawer was found open in the till removed the till was found on the floor in the back
room next to Amy Air's body how much money was taken money taken is an interesting question
because when reviewing this case and reviewing the way that it was handled the investigation was handled it
looks to me like robbery was the Genesis of everything to come that's what they are telling us
they being law enforcement and they being the investigators that have worked this case from Jump Street to me I see
something very different I see a situation where money was involved and part of the crimes
committed but I don't know if it's the Genesis I don't know if it's where this whole
attack and the whole nightmare began because when I'm looking at a picture of the crime scene
it says next to the picture police discovered this register both open and empty with an open bag containing money
underneath so directly under the cash register visible to the naked eye is a bag that contains money that's just
sitting there it's still sitting there the next day while investigators are going through the crime scene right now
one item that's also in the cash register that's visible again the registered drawers open the till has
been removed they will find the till along with scattered change next to the body of Amy Ayers in the stock room
but you can see a check that's still sitting in the register anybody that's operated a register knows that there are
certain items that you do not put in the till you put them underneath the till but inside the registered drawer
things get really complicated here because I wouldn't expect a person in a robbery to want to
grab a check take the check with them and then later have to cash it somewhere especially when we know that the check
is for a small amount this was a customer check somebody that paid for their yogurt that night using a check
well you didn't say that one lady paid for her yogurt her and her dates yogurt correct so there's checks left behind
there was also a bag of money underneath the cash register that was not even touched they did take some money and I
have in my notes here and I don't know where this information came from I was trying to track this down last night so
I want everybody to take this with a grain of salt but I have in my notes that 540 dollars is what was determined to be
missing from that night again though one thing that this tells me is either cash is not the main
concern for the offenders or they didn't go around to the back of the counter because this bag of money and I don't
know how much money is in it but there's paper money that's visible at the top of
this bag they didn't bother to take that so either they didn't see it by going around to the back of the counter or
money was not the main concern for them yeah I agree later the detectives would review the closing duties with Bryce
Foods company and this is important here because as we said it's clear that they
were not finished closing for the night the door may have been locked the sales may have been done for the day
but the girls were still working when whatever happened went down now Bryce Foods is not trying to
sway any type of opinion they're just simply trying to offer up an alternative here and one being that the no sale
button being pushed at 1103 may not have been the start of the robbery but could
simply have been the start of one of the girls closing out the register another thing that they offered up was
that the Coca-Cola can and the cup of ice found on the counter could have belonged to one of the girls that after
closing for the night they decided to get themselves a drink and set this down on the counter and then things got bad
from there right I appreciate the additional information and the thoroughness of Bryce foods and their
involvement in the investigation but the problem with those two thoughts are a couple of things we already mentioned
the yogurt dispensers someone started cleaning them out but did not finish we also mentioned the
counter somebody was wiping down the counter but did not finish this to me indicates that we got two
girls working two girls trying to complete these closing duties and both of them are interrupted
simultaneously so I think we have a situation where very likely the 1103 pressing of the no sale key is probably
the start of the robbery and this probably took place shortly after one individual
orders a Coca-Cola and a cup of ice sets it down on the counter girl turns around
gun in the face open up the register this is a robbery right from there they're probably going to Usher all of
the girls into the back and I say probably because we do not know we do not know the point of entry for
the attackers because at this point we have three possibilities one would be the front door however the
front door is locked so we can go ahead and cross that one out but if our Killers came through the
front door that means they came through that front door before the girls locked it at 10 till 11 that night and that
means it was to the two guys sitting in the booth or the state's case against the four
guys that they would later arrest eight years later was that the killers came in through the
back of the house through that back door that Robert Springsteen at some point went into the shop and wedged the back
door open using I think it was a empty pack of cigarettes and in his confession states that he
Jimmy rigged that door so that it would remain open that you could pull it open from the outside
gaining access to the store from the back but it was positioned in a way that persons from the inside it would not be
obvious to them that the door was not closed not latched not locked right possible
however this begs the question well then why didn't the perpetrator take that bag of
money because now if you have our Killers our attackers our robbers or or robbers and we're told that the Genesis
of everything that's about to happen starts from a planned robbery from these four young men
still boys at this time that they entered through the back with the main purpose of robbery and then went to the
front approached the girls and went to the register and started taking the till and money from the register the problem
with that is then why didn't they take that bag of money that was sitting underneath the register I don't think
that the robbers slash Killers ever saw that bag of money I think that the attack came from the other side of the
counter the girls were surprised and the girls were corralled into the back of the store to
where our Killers then discovered two additional girls or knew that they were already back there well this crime could
have been committed by one individual two individuals or or possibly more I think sometimes people lean to the fact
that there was four attackers involved because we have four victims I would actually lean towards less uh two
individuals even possibly one because if that back door is locked if you're in if
you're in that building before they lock that door with a weapon or with a gun you can easily control that situation
yes and there's evidence at the scene that will suggest that the number of attackers was either two or three
persons thank you so much more to get to meet us back here in the garage tomorrow and until then be
good be kind and don't litter foreign [Music]

Yogurt Shop Murders - 30 Years Later /// Part 1 /// 539

Part 1 of 2 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

This week we take a good solid look at a case that has weighed heavy on the hearts and minds of everyone in the Lone Star state’s capital city. The Austin Yogurt Shop Murders is one of most infamous cases in Texas history. Despite the efforts of the APD it remains unsolved thirty years later. Join us as we discuss the facts of the case and the timeline.

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Brief Summary

The episode revisits the unsolved yogurt shop murders in Austin, Texas, discussing the victims, investigation, and ongoing efforts for justice.

Key points

The Yogurt Shop Murders. A look back at the infamous unsolved quadruple homicide in Austin, Texas.
Renewed Hope for Justice. New DNA evidence brings hope to the families of the victims.
Uneasy Customers. Lucilla Jones describes two teenage boys in the yogurt shop who gave her an uneasy feeling.
Suspicious Encounter. Daryl Croft recalls a strange exchange with a man in a green army jacket.
Last Purchase of the Night. Eliza Thomas rings in the last purchase at 10:42 PM, just before closing.
The Start of the Horrible Events. At 11:03 PM, a no sale is recorded, possibly marking the start of a robbery.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Who killed these girls?

3:49WatchNov 1, 2022

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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