← Murder In America
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- [00:00]
Courtney Brown
Warning. The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects.
- [00:12]
Colin Brown
Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children.
- [00:18]
Courtney Brown
This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.
- [00:23]
Colin Brown
So me and Colin have been on summer break, but. But we are popping in your feed a week early because the story I have for you today is actually a rewrite of our very first episode of Murder in America, the Austin yogurt shop murders. In December of 1991, four teenage girls were inside a yogurt shop in Austin, Texas, when someone came in and took their lives in the most violent way imaginable. The crime completely devastated the community, and to make matters worse, it went unsolved for decades. It's one of those true crime cases that I would think about constantly over the years. And to tell you the truth, I was afraid we'd never know who killed them. But I was gladly mistaken. If you've been keeping up with this story, then you'll know that in 2025, the Austin Police Department announced that they finally made a break in the case after 34 long years. So today we are going back to 1991, revisiting the crime that took the lives of four young girls. Then in next week's episode, we will tell you all about the man who did it, a serial killer named Robert Brashers. But with that being said, this is the story of the Austin yogurt shop murders. I'm Courtney Brown.
- [01:34]
Courtney Brown
And I'm Colin Brown.
- [01:35]
Colin Brown
And you're listening to Murder in America.
- [01:39]
Courtney Brown
It was just before midnight on December 6, 1991, in the town of Austin, Texas. For the most part, the streets were silent, and for rookie police officer Troy Gay, that was a good thing. As he patrolled around North Austin, not much caught his eye. A few drunk drivers, a car running a red light. The night had been uneventful, peaceful even. But at 11:47, as he turned onto West Anderson Lane, something caught his eye. In the night, he could just make out a warm glow radiating from the Hillside shopping center. He turned into the parking lot, and that's when his fears were confirmed. Smoke billowed out of the building, pouring out of the roof of a frozen yogurt shop called I Can't Believe It's Yogurt. Immediately, he called for backup. Within minutes, several squad cars and fire trucks pulled up to the scene, ready to extinguish the flames. This wasn't the first time they had to put out a fire at a local business after hours, everyone was under the impression that perhaps an employee forgot to turn off an oven or left some equipment plugged in. Firefighters geared up and raced towards the building, and fire specialists Rene Hector Garza and David Devoe attempted to enter the front door, only to discover it was locked. As the flames raged inside, time was ticking. One of them grabbed a crowbar, and together the two pried it open. Smoke bulged from the doorway, washing over them in a cloud of ash and soot. But armed with flame retardant jackets and masks, the two didn't hesitate. They both dropped to their bellies, getting low for better visibility against the smoke, and began to crawl their way across the dining room of the yogurt shop. Deveaux dragged a hose line from the fire truck alongside him, and their objective was simple. Get to the source of the fire and knock it out. But knowing their objective and getting it done were two very different things. The smoke was so thick that neither of them could see even a few inches in front of them. Garza held onto Devoe with one hand and with his other tried to light the way with the hand lights strapped to his glove. But in the dense haze, the light was practically useless. And then came the water. At first, both Daveaux and Garza were confused. As they neared the backroom of the business where the flames were flickering, they found themselves crawling into a pool of rising water. At the time, they didn't know, but the heat of the fire had caused a PVC pipe in the backroom to shatter. They weren't just crawling beneath smoke, they were sloshing through a puddle of ash filled water. Inch by inch, fighting the smoke and water, they made it to the back room where the fire had originated and was blazing in full force. With the flames in sight, Devoe turned on the hose. Garza later recalled. We located the fire. We began knocking it down. After we had knocked it down, there were some hot spots, just small bits and flames here and there. And once you put water on a fire, it creates steam, so it knocks down the visibility some.
- [04:32]
Colin Brown
Within just a minute, the fire was reduced to nothing but a few glowing embers in a room full of steam and smoke. Now they needed ventilation and visibility to investigate the cause of the fire. So in the darkness, Garza began to search along the wall for a door or window. But as his hands felt through the pitch black, he felt Deveaux grab his shoulder. When he turned, Deveaux was pointing his light at the floor directly by their feet. And then he asked a horrible question.
- [04:59]
Courtney Brown
Is that a foot?
- [05:01]
Colin Brown
Garza could just make out what Devoe was pointing at. There, surrounded by water, charred by flames, was a foot. A body. But he had to be sure. Garza stepped up to inspect the foot, and as he did, he felt something bump against the back of his calf. He turned to look. That tiny beam of light as his only guide. And it's there. Where he came to yet another disturbing realization. He had bumped into an army. They didn't have just one body lying at their feet. They had two. Stunned and trying to retain his composure, he began to look for the door again. They needed ventilation. They needed light to see what they were standing in. Garza made it to the back door of the building. He assumed it would be locked, but he had a motto. You try before you pry. And when he tried, to his surprise, the door swung open. Smoke and steam burst into the cold night air, and finally, a small bit of light flooded in. But what that light illuminated was. Was so much worse than what Garza and Devoe were imagining. Two charred bodies stared back at them. Their eyes were open. Their bodies were contorted, unrecognizable from the damage the flames had caused. But a few things were clear. The bodies were nude. Their hands were tied behind their backs. Gags were stuffed in their mouths. They were young girls. Decades later, Garza testified, quote, I can't help but relive those images. I. I still see them. End quote. And sadly, what he saw didn't end with those bodies. As the smoke poured out of the room, more victims came to light at the same time.
- [06:33]
Courtney Brown
Just down the road, Sergeant John Winston Jones of the Austin Police Department was riding around with a reporter and videographer from KTBC tv, filming an investigative report on homicides in Texas. In the early 90s, Austin was still considered a relatively safe city, and that night had been pretty unremarkable. Sergeant Jones had even jokingly apologized to the reporter, telling them that they'd find a better story when they filmed in Houston the next day. But what started as an uneventful night quickly turned into a night that Sergeant Jones would never be able to forget. The reporter captured the moment that dispatch radioed in.
- [07:09]
Reporter
Jonesy.
- [07:10]
Sergeant John Winston Jones
Yeah?
- [07:11]
Reporter
You hear about the call? 2900 West Anderson? Yeah, I'm headed over there. Okay, I'll meet you out there. 2900. 2900. That's a business.
- [07:24]
Courtney Brown
The initial call reported that there were two fatalities. Sergeant Jones immediately turned on his lights and sirens and rushed to the scene. But before he could Arrive, he got another call. A third body had been found inside the yogurt shop.
- [07:38]
Reporter
Go ahead, Wayne. Triple fatality. I'm murdered.
- [07:51]
Colin Brown
By the time Sergeant Jones pulled up to the shopping center, he had to maneuver his way through a sea of flashing red and blue lights, as well as a growing crowd of reporters already on scene. And as he got out of his car, he was given an update. A fourth body had been found inside the building. As Jones stepped inside to assess the damage, he was stunned. He later told filmmaker Claire Hughie, it was still smoldering. There was water everywhere, steam everywhere, smoke everywhere. And that was the least of his worries. The fire had been so intense, it caved in the ceiling. Looking up, you could see the sky overhead. It was like a portal to another world. Because there, down on the ground, squished between those four smoked colored walls, was what Jones described as wholesale carnage. Every inch of the room was charred gray and black. And in that monochrome blur, you could see the girls so clearly. Jones would later say, quote, there was no color in there with the exception of the girls. First, he saw the two bodies stacked on top of one another near the back door. A few feet away, he saw another young girl near the south wall. And then finally, about 12ft away from her, he saw the fourth girl, nude and face down in the water. The back of her head was nothing but a mass of blood and burnt flesh. As he stood over the scene in front of him, the only thing he could manage to say was, holy shit. News of what they had found would be out fast, and if they didn't alert the families of these young victims ahead of time, they were going to find out in the worst way imaginable. So desperate to identify them, investigators ended up calling the store's manager, 24 year old Reese Price. When Price answered the phone in the early morning hours, her heart sank. She later stated, quote, no phone call in the middle of the night is a good call. Ever expecting news of a family death or horrible accident, she was initially relieved when the officer on the other end told her that there was a fire at the yogurt shop. Price looked at the clock. It was nearly 1am the girls who were working would have been home for hours. So half joking, she told the officer, uh, okay, let it burn, I guess. But the officer didn't laugh. Instead, he told her to sit down. She didn't. Her heart was racing. She demanded to know what the problem was.
- [10:10]
Courtney Brown
And then he told her, we have four dead bodies.
- [10:13]
Colin Brown
Her knees went out from under her. She collapsed to the floor, unable to comprehend what was happening. And it didn't end there. Officers asked if she would be willing to come down and identify the bodies. Reese didn't hesitate to say yes. Despite it being the first day of her vacation and her being on the other side of town, she rushed to the store. She later explained her decision, saying, quote, I was only 24. I wasn't thinking of fire and burned people. I agreed to do it because it was the right thing to do. And I still feel that way to this day. End quote. Reese believed that if she identified the bodies, she could save the parents of the girl some pain. At the time, she didn't realize the sacrifice she was making, but as soon as she pulled up to the store, it became clear. She explained, quote, it's slow motion. It's literally slow motion. It was like this mist and I could see the yogurt shop and there was just flashing lights everywhere, sirens, fire trucks. And I remember a panic setting in, like, this is real, this is real, this is real. End quote. She couldn't believe what she was looking at. The building that she knew like the back of her hand was in shambles. An officer led her inside to where the bodies were standing in her destroyed business. She looked down at not just her, her employees, but her friends. And right there, she was given the task of identifying them. It was nearly impossible because, quote, there wasn't anything to identify. They didn't have faces, end quote. But despite this, she had a pretty good idea who two of the girls were. They were the teenagers who worked the closing shift that night, Jennifer Harbison and Eliza Thomas.
- [11:53]
Courtney Brown
Jennifer Ann Harbison was born on May 9, 1974. She was just 17 years old when her body was discovered. And sadly, a few feet away from her was her younger sister, Sarah Louise Harbison, who was born on October 28, 1976. The girls were born in Texarkana, along the Arkansas state line in East Texas. Their parents, Mike and Barbara Harbison, were high school sweethearts who married young and started a family. Almost immediately, Barbara explained, we were so poor, we didn't even have a car between us. We had to get a loan just to get enough money for a down payment on a car. In search of a more stable life. When Jennifer was five and Sarah was two and a half, the family moved to Austin so Mike could enroll in graduate divinity classes. But somewhere along the way, Mike and Barbara's marriage started to fall apart. They had always been mismatched, with Barbara being a self described loosey goosey liberal type and Mike being more traditionally conservative. They had been united by their love of their daughters in spite of their differences and as they divorced, that didn't change. The girls split their time between the houses and eventually both of their parents remarried. Their mother, Barbara, remarried a man named Skip who worked a well paying job as a technician at Dell Computers. Growing up, the girls lived comfortably, surrounded by love and practically joined at the hip throughout everything their parents divorce, their remarriages and the ever changing world around them. They had each other and they grew up to be good people. By 1991, Jennifer was 17 years old, Sarah was 15, and Jennifer and Sarah made the most out of their high school experience. Sarah was a freshman at Sydney Linear High School. She played basketball and volleyball and was not only a dedicated student but a good friend to everyone who knew her. Her principal later remarked she had already established herself as assertive and enthusiastic, a vital member of the freshman class. She was a leader, clearly a kid who was going to make a mark on the place. She took school and her studies seriously. But at heart she was a goofball, her mom, Barbara recalled. She was a serious comedienne. She would watch any comedian on videotape. She loved to study their punchlines, pauses and timing. She loved to cut up. And something else she loved was being a member of the ffa, the future Farmers of America. In fact, Sarah and Jennifer were raising lambs to show at the annual Austin Livestock show on Rodeo the following spring. They had a system. Every morning after breakfast, the two would go to the ag barn to feed and tend to the lambs. Then they would come home, shower, drive to school, and then go back to the ag barn after dinner. There they were often the center of attention. One of their friends from the FFA remembers Jennifer belting country songs into a broom, dancing in the pig and sheep pens like a superstar to make everyone laugh. Every time she and Sarah would wash their lambs or pigs for the show, they'd come out soaking wet with suds in their hair and water in their boots, he said. For them, everything was fun and could be made into a game as long
- [14:53]
Colin Brown
as they were together and the two were always together. But they both knew that their time living under the same roof was limited. Jennifer was set to graduate the following year. She had actually just received her graduation ring. It was gold with a green stone and she wore it proudly. She also had a boyfriend at the time. His name was Sammy Buchanan and he had just received a baseball scholarship. Jennifer planned to attend the same college and embark on their lives together. Once she graduated, she had her life all planned out. Her parents were proud of her. Not only was she a good person, but she was really responsible. She made good grades at Sydney Linear High School and had a big impact on everyone who knew her. Her geography teacher Ed Gifford remembered her fondly saying, quote, she brought joy into the classroom. She was more excited about life than any kid I've ever known. She was one of the best Lanier ever had. End quote Jennifer was also very involved at her school. She ran varsity track, was a member of the drill team for two years, and she was dedicated to the ffa. She not only loved raising sheep with her sister, but she was a dedicated horticulturist. In 1990 she took part in a horticulture competition in Kansas City, placing eighth in the country. The win was exciting, but for her the most exciting part was seeing snow for the very first time. Her friend and FFA Sandra recalled, quote, the girls saw the good in everything. On top of running varsity track and serving as the president of the school's ffa, she also worked part time. Jennifer's father Mike bought her a brand new 1991 dark blue Chevy S10. But there were two caveats to the deal. The first was that she had to drive her younger sister Sarah around when needed and the second was that Jennifer had to help pay for the car. To her, it was a great deal and she wasted no time sealing it. First, to save up money, she bagged groceries at Albertsons. But when her close friend Eliza Thomas told her about a job opening at her work, I can't believe it's yogurt. Jennifer decided to send in an application. She was hired and began working at the yogurt shop in July of 1991, earning $4.35 an hour. Now I can't believe its yogurt was a pleasant, family friendly establishment. The franchise started in Dallas, focusing on non fat yogurt to attract customers. In 1991 it was a popular spot in Austin. The yogurt shop was near a mall and movie theater so it was always filled with people. It also stayed open pretty late, closing at 11pm the later crowd usually consisted of teenagers or young adults satisfying their late night sweet tooth. Jennifer really liked the job. It was fairly easy, the customers were nice and the cherry on top was that she got to work with her best friend Eliza.
- [17:43]
Courtney Brown
Eliza Hope Thomas was born on May 16, 1974 to James and Maria Thomas in Austin, Texas. She had a little sister, Sonora, who was born three years later and much like Jennifer and Sarah. The two became each other's tethers. Their parents divorced and remarried when they were both very young. And in spite of the rapid changes, the two always had one another. Sonora had her sister as a guiding light. She was really everything she wanted to grow up to be. Eliza was active in the ffa, which is where she became fast friends with Jennifer and Sarah. There she primarily raised pigs, including an 800 pound pig named Stoney, who won a ribbon and sold for a good price at auction in early 1991. Since she was a little girl, Eliza had loved animals. And it didn't matter what kind of animal either. Her family recalled a time when she took care of crawfish and rats. Every living creature was special to her, and her passion for animals followed her wherever she went. It was something that she planned to turn into a career one day. In fact, she'd been talking to her father about attending Texas A and M to become a veterinarian. But Eliza was gifted in so many other ways, too. Her mother, Maria, said she was artistic and well spoken. She believed she had a strong future as a writer or a poet. With her attitude and hard work ethic, she could have done anything she dreamt of. Because when she wanted things, she went for them. And in late 1990, what she wanted was a 1971 Carman Ghia. The little green car was described by her friends as junky and shaped like an egg. But to Eliza, it was freedom. In the winter of 1990, she got her job at I Can't Believe It's Yogurt in order to not just buy the car, but upkeep it as well. Fortunately, she excelled at welding and small engine repair, two things that came in handy when it came to keeping her rundown car on the road.
- [19:34]
Colin Brown
Eliza wasn't the type to care what people thought, whether it was the car she drove, the hobbies she got involved in, or the people she hung out with. She was authentically herself. She was kind, outgoing, and never too cool to hang out with her little sister. In fact, some nights when Eliza was working a shift at I Can't Believe It's Yogurt, she would call her sister and ask her to ride her bike down just to keep her company, which was pretty common at the yogurt shop. Jennifer Harbison's sister Sarah would also stop by the shop with her friends just to hang out. And one of these friends who visited often was a girl named Amy Ayers.
- [20:12]
Courtney Brown
Amy was born on January 31, 1978 in Austin, Texas, to Bob and Pamela Ayers. She had an older brother, Sean, whose favorite memory of her was holding her for the first time. He recalled, I wanted a little sister so bad. So when I had a little sister, I got everything I wanted right there. Growing up, Amy and Sean had the kind of childhood a lot of kids could only dream about. They were raised on a ranch surrounded by horses, pigs, chickens and cows. Her dad described her as growing up experiencing real life. He explained, the kids, they seen calves and horses be born, seen them growing up, seen them die. It was real life. It was real. And in a lot of ways, that connection to real life made Amy wise beyond her years. She had a deep understanding of animals and people, her dad recalled, Even since she was knee high to a duck, she loved horses. She had a connection and understanding with horses that went far beyond anything her dad had ever seen. If he was having a problem training a horse or the horse was acting unusual, he'd hand them off to his preteen daughter and she'd solve it in a flash. For a couple days, she'd ride them in the pasture. She'd come back, say, do this, do that, and my problems would be over. She just knew animals. She knew them so well, in fact, that at 12 years old, her dad surprised her with a cutting horse for her birthday. Now, a cutting horse isn't a casual animal to own. Her brother Sean described it best, saying, there's no kid version of a cutting horse. If you have one, you're doing what all the adults are doing. Cutting horses are bred to cut cattle from a herd, which means to separate an individual cow from the others. It involves complete trust between the horse and the rider, and because the two make sharp, fast, slashing movements back and forth to block the separated cow from rejoining the herd. In other words, it's intense. And 12 year old Amy had no problem hopping on a thousand pound animal and trying it. She was resilient and tough as nails, all cowgirl as her dad described her. But she was also free spirited, funny and book smart.
- [22:20]
Colin Brown
Now, Amy wasn't in high school yet, but Lanier High allowed her to be a junior member of the FFA just because she excelled at it so much. When Amy was in the fifth grade, she sold a cow she raised at auction for 550 bucks. In the FFA, she primarily raised lambs and pigs, oftentimes even walking one of her pigs on a leash alongside her older brother. Amy had also successfully raised a lamb named Tootie as one of her FFA projects. And that's really how These four teenagers were all connected. They were all members of Lanier High's Future Farmers of America. Despite being just 13, Amy became a core member of their friend group consisting of Eliza, Jennifer and Sarah. In fact, because of Eliza's dream of becoming a vet, Amy started to work towards becoming one, too. She often spoke to Sarah, who she was the closest to, about her dreams for the future. Now, because they went to different schools, the girls tried to hang out as much as they could. They did everything together, going to the mall, raising their animals, and chatting about boys and movies and their future careers. Amy's parents later stated that they felt they didn't have to worry about her when she was with Sarah, Jennifer and Eliza because they were all such good kids. And December 6, 1991, was no different. On that morning, a Friday, Jennifer and Sarah Harbison woke up and did what they always did in the mornings. Eat breakfast and then tend to their lambs. Afterward, they came home to shower and then made their way to school. Jennifer's boyfriend Sammy wasn't there that day. He had to attend his grandma's funeral. So Jennifer planned to stop by his house once school let out. And the days seemed to go by pretty quickly. However, once the last bell rang and school let out, Jennifer still had a lot to do. After visiting Sammy, she needed to run by her friend's house to grab her wallet that she had left behind. Then she had to go back to her school to pick up a form for the FFA she was running for Queen of their local chapter. Then once all was said and done, she had to make it to her closing shift at I Can't Believe It's Yogurt. Now. While Jennifer was running around town, her little sister Sarah was sitting on the couch after school eating oranges. When her mom came home from work, she asked Sarah what she had planned for the night. For once, Sarah didn't have basketball or volleyball, so she told her mom she wanted to go to the mall. However, she didn't want to go alone, so she was going to call her best friend Amy to see if she wanted to go with her and then have a sleepover. After Barbara told Sarah that she was too tired to drive them, but that if Jennifer could take them on their way to work, they could go. A short time later, Jennifer rushed through the door. After finishing up her errands, she quickly ran to her room and changed into her work uniform, a polo shirt with pink and green trim with the company's logo, dark jeans and black tennis shoes. As Jennifer was getting ready Sarah walked into her room and asked if she could take her and Amy to the mall. The way to work. Jennifer agreed and with that she tied up her shoes, grabbed her purse, and she and Sarah headed out the door. As they left, their mother Barbara followed behind them and gave each of them a hug before they piled in the car. Then she told them what she always did when they left. I love you. Y' all be careful. I'll see you soon. Barbara waved as her daughters pulled out of the driveway and zipped off for a fun night ahead. She later recalled, quote the thing I remember most is what a good mood they were in that night. They were so happy.
- [25:47]
Courtney Brown
Meanwhile, Eliza Thomas was also getting ready for her shift, which she wasn't crazy about going to. It was a Friday night. There were a million other things she'd probably rather be doing. In fact, Eliza had already worked there the previous night and during her shift her ex boyfriend and one of his friends had prank called the yogurt shop asking for nearly every flavor on the menu. To Eliza, it had been more annoying than funny and she hoped her next shift would go more smoothly. Fortunately, Jennifer was closing with her, which made all the difference. Their boss later remarked that it was more like fun than work for those two when they were together. Around 6:30pm Eliza changed into her uniform, pulled her thick black hair into a ponytail with a scrunchie, and said goodbye to her mother before heading to work.
- [26:33]
Colin Brown
Shortly before 8pm Jennifer and Sarah Harbison pulled up to Amy's house. Her parents, Bob and Pamela, had already left for the night to go Christmas shopping, but before they left, they made sure to tell Amy that they loved her and that they hoped she had a good time. They never feared that anything would happen to Amy. She was a smart girl who made good choices. Plus they knew she would be safe with Sarah's family. Here they are describing the girl's relationship.
- [26:58]
Sonora Thomas
They just hit it off from the
- [26:59]
Reporter
first time they met and then once that happened, you didn't see one without the other.
- [27:03]
Sonora Thomas
At the livestock show.
- [27:04]
Reporter
You just, you didn't have to worry about those two. When they were together, you knew that
- [27:08]
Sonora Thomas
they were going to have a good
- [27:09]
Reporter
time, but you didn't have to worry about what they were going to get into. They were going to be safe in what they did. They had a ball together, laughed and giggled.
- [27:19]
Sonora Thomas
Really a good time.
- [27:20]
Colin Brown
As Amy jumped in the backseat of Jennifer's car with her Jiminy Cricket overnight bag, the girls were excited to spend the evening together. It had been a while since they had a sleepover. But first they were going to spend some time at the Northcross Mall. Jennifer dropped the girls off that evening and watched as they walked through the front doors. Then from there, she made her way to the yogurt shop just two blocks away to clock into her shift. Eliza was already there when Jennifer walked in and they started their shift like they always did. The girls had a system. Eliza usually ran the cash register while Jennifer helped customers and managed the topping. It was a slow night, definitely slower than the hot summer nights. But over the next few hours, customers came in, ate their frozen yogurt, and then went on their way. Around 9pm, Amy and Sarah walked through the doors of the yogurt shop. After spending some time at the mall, they planned to hang out there until Jennifer's shift ended at 11pm Then hitch a ride home for their sleepover. Now, at some point, Amy and Sarah picked up a takeout pizza from one of the only businesses in the shopping center that was still open. Mr. Gaddis. Then around 9:30pm, Eliza's mother actually stopped by. When she walked through the doors, she saw Amy and Sarah sitting at the table, eating their pizza and giggling in their own little world. Behind the counter. She saw her daughter on the phone with her younger sister Sonora, trying to convince her to ride her bike to the store. But thankfully, Sonora couldn't that night. If she had, she would have been the fifth body found ablaze in the back of the store.
- [28:54]
Courtney Brown
Hours later, Eliza's mother had no idea what was awaiting her daughter. She stopped in, chatted with Eliza for a bit, hugged and kissed her, and went out the door expecting Eliza to come home at the end of her shift. Surprisingly, Eliza's father and stepmom actually came into the shop that evening not long after Eliza's mother left. Because it was slow, Eliza had the opportunity to tell her father about an economics class she was taking. He would later say that the only people inside the shop were Jennifer, Eliza, Sarah and Amy. Between 9:30 and 10:00pm, Darrell Croft, a retired military police officer and owner of Longhorn Security Company pulled into the parking lot outside of the icby. After walking inside, Croft recalled noticing a small, fidgety man inside the yogurt shop wearing a green military style jacket. He described him as a white male in his mid to late twenties, approximately five' ten and around £170. What stood out most to Croft was the man's unusually deep voice for someone who appeared so young. Croft motioned for the man to go ahead of him, but he insisted that Croft go Instead, what followed was a strange standoff. Croft told the Austin American Statesman, I told him to go ahead and he refused to go. He kept telling me to go ahead of him. It got kind of ridiculous. Eventually, Croft, who knew Jennifer, looked at her and said, you go ahead and serve him first. The man reluctantly shuffled up to the counter and asked for a cold drink. Jennifer informed him that they only carried Sprite, and he replied that that was fine. Jennifer then slid him the drink, and after paying in cash, he asked if they had a restroom he could use. Jennifer pointed to the back of the store. They didn't have a customer restroom, but he was welcome to use the employee one near the freezers. He thanked her and disappeared down the hall. Croft then ordered his yogurt, but he didn't leave. He explained to the Austin American Statesman, something bothered me, so I hung around and wanted to see if the guy came out of the back. Something just didn't feel right. But Croft waited and waited and waited. He finished his yogurt and even tried two samples, but the man still hadn't emerged from the back. Eventually, Croft gave in and headed back out to his car to get back to work.
- [31:10]
Colin Brown
Between 10 and 10:30pm Business slowed down once again. A regular couple stopped in and spoke with eliza about her FFA project. Shortly after that, around 10:30, another woman came inside. She would later tell investigators that she noticed a white or Hispanic male sitting alone in a van outside in the parking lot. Something about him made her feel uneasy. Now, at 10:42pm Eliza rang up the last customer of the night, 18 minutes before the yogurt shop closed. It was a young couple, Tim Stryker and Margaret Sheehan. They had just finished watching a movie and wanted dessert before heading home. When they walked through the doors, Eliza welcomed them. While Jennifer had started the cleaning up process, wiping down tables, filling napkin dispensers and placing chairs on top of tables. Now, Tim and Margaret would later say that Amy and Sarah were not in the main area of the yogurt shop. The pizza box would be discovered in the back room near the sink. So it's theorized that they were back there, possibly helping out and washing dishes. But as Tim and Margaret ordered their yogurt, they saw that they weren't the only customers in the store. Strangely enough, there were two men inside wearing hooded jackets. The men stuck out because out of all the tables within the shop, they were sitting at the table closest to the cash register where the girls were. But even more strange was that the men weren't eating yogurt. In fact, they were just sitting there, not saying a word to each other. And on the table in front of them was this bag that they were messing with. It was strange, but the girls didn't seem unnerved by it. So at 10:47pm the couple walked out. As soon as the door shut behind them, Jennifer walked over and locked it. She then turned the open sign to close. This was routine. Roughly 10 to 15 minutes before closing, employees were instructed to lock the front door if there were customers still inside. They could finish up their yogurt and leave once they were done. But this made it so no additional customers could enter. When Tim and Margaret left, the store had been empty aside from those two men, and nothing was amiss. At 11:03pm, Eliza Thomas opened up the register as a no sale only three minutes after the shop officially closed for the night. It was the last moment detectives had to go by to track the girls. But what happened in that next hour would remain a mystery for 34 years and haunt the city of Austin, Texas, for decades to come.
- [33:41]
Courtney Brown
And now for a brief ad break. Anyways, y', all, let's get back to the show. It was just about an hour after that final input on the register that Officer Troy Gay saw the smoke billowing out of the shopping center. After firefighters put out the flames and the bodies of Jennifer Harbison, Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ayers were found and identified. The officers had to secure the building as a crime scene. Officer Jones and Michael Huckabay were the two leads at the scene. However, Huckabay struggled to stomach what laid beyond the charred remains of the building. He later told hbo, I'm not at all afraid to go in a room with a dead person, but I don't want to go in a room with a dead child. And that's what they were looking at. Children in a state that no child should ever be put in. Not wanting to be inside, Huckabay ran interference outside. And that interference was desperately needed because quickly the Travis county medical examiner arrived, wanting to take the bodies for autopsy. Jones insisted the bodies stay. DNA testing was relatively new at the time, and he knew that it was more reliable and efficient if it was taken at the scene of the crime rather than after the bodies had been transported. And sadly, looking at the bodies, Jones knew that DNA testing would be important here because all of the girls were nude, indicating that there was likely sexual assault that took place.
- [35:22]
Colin Brown
Jennifer Harbison was discovered curled up on her side near the melted shelves on the wall. Her Wrists were secured tightly behind her back. Out of all the girls, she had the most severe burns. Her hair had been burned off. Her face was so damaged by the flames that her teeth had actually been charred by them. And the skin on her legs had essentially peeled off from the heat. Her younger sister Sarah, was close by, still on her back. Her wrists were also bound behind her back with her underwear, and her legs were spread disturbingly. Whoever killed her had inserted a metal ice scooper into her vagina. Now, if you're familiar with this story, you might have heard this detail before. Original media reports described it as an ice cream scooper, but. But according to the FBI, it was actually a metal ice scooper to scoop out ice rather than ice cream, which is somehow even more disturbing because those scoopers are large. But an autopsy would later show severe abrasions to Sarah's vaginal wall. The first person who had noticed the scoop, one of the firemen, had to leave the building after he noticed it to catch his breath. Their deaths, of course, were horrific. But that item painted a picture of not just murder, but. But torture. And it didn't end there. On top of Sarah was the body of Eliza Thomas. Her legs were also spread, and the heat of the fire had caused her skin to rupture around her pelvis and thighs, splitting her muscle and tissue open. The coroner later testified, Quote, Thomas body was seriously charred from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. She had third degree burns. She had burned away the top part of her hair in the front. Her face, ears, and all of her face was extremely charred.
- [37:05]
Courtney Brown
The three girls who were close together, Jennifer, Sarah, and Eliza, had faced such intense heat that they had seemingly melted together. And then there was Amy, who was discovered about 12ft away from the others. Out of all the girls, she was the least damaged by the fire. Crime scene investigator Irma Rios knew that Amy may be their best chance at pulling DNA evidence. She took samples from all of the girls in the form of a vaginal and rectal swab due to the belief that they had been sexually assaulted. But Amy provided even more possibilities. There were bloodstains on her left leg, bloodstains that may have belonged to her or potentially her killer. When Rios knelt beside her to get a sample of the blood with a Q tip, part of Amy's burnt skin peeled off in the process. For Rios, it was a nightmare. And even more haunting was the story that Amy's body told. She was away from the girls, and she hadn't just been burnt. She'd been Beaten. A ligature was tied around her neck, indicating strangulation. There was a gag in her mouth and her hand was outstretched towards the door to the front of the building. It painted a picture of a girl who tried to escape and a later autopsy would confirm that.
- [38:18]
Colin Brown
But before the bodies were transported for autopsy, detectives had to work to alert the families. Early in the morning on December 7, Barbara Harbison was jolted awake by rapid knocking on her front door. Her daughters Jennifer and Sarah were supposed to have arrived home at 11pm Barbara had no idea that they never made it back. It was around 5:30am when, as Barbara later put it, quote, the devil came to my door. End quote. Skip, her husband was fast asleep, so she hurried out to answer the door herself. The minute she laid eyes on officers standing on her porch, she began to scream for Skip. She called out to him, skip, wake up. The police are here. Something is wrong with the girls. Before the officers even said a word to her, she knew. But nothing could have prepared her for what came next. Officers sat the couple down on the couch and explained that there had been a fire at the yogurt shop and that their daughters had not survived. Barbara later recalled, I kept trying to listen to that. I knew it didn't make sense because the girls wouldn't just burn up. They wouldn't burn up in a fire. The news was incomprehensible and she didn't want to share it. Police refused to leave the house until Barbara and Skip had friends or relatives physically with them to support them. But Barbara lied over and over, telling police that they didn't know anyone and had no relatives in the area. It wasn't just that she didn't want to share the horrible news. It's that she knew in doing so, it was going to end someone else's life as they knew it too. Eventually, she caved and admitted that she had a sister in town. Police called her sister, who rushed over. And then Barbara had to tell her the news that her niece was dead. She described it as agonizing, saying, quote, I had to tell her and I had to see her face. End quote. From there, it only got worse. The girl's father, Mike Harbison, had to be told as well. In a daze of grief, Barbara called him and told him the news no parent should ever have to hear. Not just about one child, but in their case, 2. There was silence on the other end when she said the words, Jennifer and Sarah were killed. And then there was nothing but wailing, screaming. Mike's wife got on the phone and begged to know what Barbara had said. Mike was so inconsolable that he couldn't explain. He could only scream. Barbara later described the agony of that morning, saying, so you have another person whose life is over and one more person whose life is over. And I had to call my other sister and tell her that her life was over and listen to screams. And this wasn't just our house. There were other houses.
- [40:56]
Courtney Brown
One of those other houses was just down the street, the home of Amy's parents, Bob and Pamela. Around 5:30am the two were awakened by the flashing lights of police cruisers outside their home. Pamela shook Bob awake and told him something was going on. The two climbed out of bed and made their way to the front door. Upstairs, still asleep, was Amy's older brother, Sean. Seconds after his parents opened the door, he was startled awake by the sound of his mother's screams. He rushed down the stairs and found her inconsolable in Bob's arms. Amy's dead. She screamed. He later recalled that he felt numb as officers explained that there had been a fire at the yogurt shop only a few blocks down the road from the crime scene. Eliza's father, James, was also awakened by the police.
- [41:43]
Colin Brown
Her sister Sanora has blurry memories of what was the worst night of her life. She would later say, I was only 13. It was late, and there was a banging on the door. They didn't really know anything. That was like the most confusing part of that night. They came in, they said there was a fire. Something happened to Eliza, end quote. When she finally came to realize that her sister was dead, her world crashed down around her. She later told abc, my body started shaking and my teeth started chattering and I couldn't even really hear what was being said, end quote. She eventually stuck her hand in her mouth in a desperate attempt to stop her teeth from chattering. As she laid back in bed after receiving the news, her mind raced. She would later say, quote, I remember going to bed and just thinking, I've never woken up on a day where my sister is not alive. There's no Sonora without Eliza. There's no Eliza without Sonora. Half of me died when I heard the news. End quote. All three families were left to cope with the crushing weight of grief while millions of questions were going unanswered. There were questions about how the fire started, when, whether the girls were burned to death, and, of course, what happened. But police refused to give additional details. And no one could have ever expected the truth. For Sonora, not knowing the details only made Things harder.
- [43:04]
Sonora Thomas
I remember fantasizing for days that my sister had somehow escaped and run away and that she was gonna come back. And so that's what I was kind of holding up to.
- [43:15]
Courtney Brown
With sunlight pouring over the city, investigators stood in the ruins of a building in a crime scene that they knew would forever change their town. Sergeant John Jones was named the case agent in charge of keeping documentation on the case and ensuring that it kept moving. Detective Mike Huckabay was named the lead investigator handling leads and interrogations, and Senior Sergeant Hector Polanco was named the supervisor, meaning he was the overall lead and would conduct interviews and generally have the final say on the progression. But they all wanted the same thing, justice for these young girls. But unfortunately, they were already at a disadvantage. You see, fire is one of the best destroyers of physical evidence. The other is water. And this building had been covered in both. However, they would find some evidence that would give them some insight as to what happened on that fateful night.
- [44:06]
Colin Brown
On the morning of December 7, as the city of Austin woke up to hear the news of the quadruple homicide, the four bodies were removed from the building and taken to the medical examiner's office for autopsy. There, the true details of their deaths came to light. Each of the girls had a gunshot wound from a.22 caliber revolver. They hadn't died from the flames. The flames had been set in an effort to erase the evidence of what had been done to them. Each of the girls had been shot execution style in the back of the head. But Amy had been shot twice. The first shot from the.22 caliber revolver was to the back of the head. The medical examiner would later testify, saying
- [44:46]
Courtney Brown
this, the bullet went through the scalp. It hit the top of the skull and knocked a small plug, just a little bit larger than the size of the bullet, down on top of the brain. The bullet stopped there. It did not go into the brain.
- [44:58]
Colin Brown
In other words, the shot didn't kill Amy. In fact, the medical examiner believes that she was likely conscious after being shot, but was still trying to get away. Then she was shot again, this time with a different gun, a 3:80AMT backup. That shot traveled through the side of her head, severing her brainstem and killing her instantly. But Amy had not gone down without a fight. She had her killer's DNA under her fingernails, and in a few decades time, that would make all the difference. But back in 1991, police didn't have much to work with. The DNA evidence inside Amy, Sarah and Jennifer indicated that they had been sexually assaulted. But Police only had a partial DNA profile at the time. There wasn't anything they could do with it. But behind the scenes, detectives were getting more information by the second. However, they couldn't share it with anyone, and many details of the case were sealed because they were essential to the investigation. But that day, Sergeant Jones had to stand in front of the media and address the quadruple homicide for the very first time.
- [46:04]
Reporter
Okay. At 11:47, one of our patrol officers called in to dispatch. Smoke coming out from I can't believe it's yogurt. Fire department got here shortly thereafter. What we found in the back there was. We found four victims. We're handling as a homicide right now because it appears that one of the victims was struck in the head. Were the victims together, or were they in different parts of the building? No, I can't. Can't give you that, either. Were they bounded in any way? Can't give you that. Was there any sign of forced entry to this building? Can't give you that. What can you give? Just what I gave you. It's still very early in the investigation.
- [46:40]
Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lengberg
Okay.
- [46:41]
Courtney Brown
One thing everyone knew for sure was that this was one of the worst homicides their city had ever seen. The neighboring business employees were horrified. They were just innocent little girls, Darlene Lunsford, manager of Suzanne's clothing store, told the Austin American Statesman. One of Amy Ayers friends said, you don't think about anyone our age dying. You think it's a joke and that Amy is going to show up at school. On Monday, both Lanier High School and Burnett Middle School administrators had meetings with counselors before students arrived for school the following Monday, the Lanier High School principal explained to help them work through it first so they can be prepared to work with the kids. For some, the news didn't sink in. High school classmate Shawna Kunkel told the Austin American Statesman, everyone's still pretty much in shock. There's a lot of denial. Nobody wants to think this happened. Everyone is hurting. Some students gathered at the remains of the yogurt shop, where they piled flowers, stuffed animals, and letters to the friends they lost. One high schooler, who remained anonymous, placed a heart on the front door of the building to show the person who killed them how low he is. But there was no one more devastated than the families of Jennifer, Sarah, Eliza, and Amy. Barbara Harbison's only children were Jennifer and Sarah. In one single night, she had lost everything. Her girls were her entire world, her best friends. Daughters, she said, had helped raise her. And all that remained were Memories of their short lives. I can remember their smiles and the things that made them who they were, she told Kazan. But Barbara's life would never be the same.
- [48:19]
Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lengberg
My life was sort of focused around them from here until eternity. Someone took eternity away from me.
- [48:25]
Courtney Brown
Bob, Pam and Sean ayers found themselves remembering Amy in her favorite moments, like riding her horses, her long hair flowing behind her. Her dad, Bob, put it perfectly. She wasn't about dying. She was about living. She was about happiness. She was about love. That love was on full display at the joint funeral held for the girls at St. Louis Catholic Church. Somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 people were in attendance, paying their respects to lives taken far too soon. No media was allowed in the building, which for the families was a moment of respite in a sea of agony. Reverend Garner spoke to the crowd of sobbing friends, family and community members, saying these young women were filled with joy and with life. They were the kind of young girls you would hold up as an example to the community. Each life is short. We all live between the bookends of time. Their short chapters had just begun, and they ended too soon. But they live on in our hearts and for the families, they live on in every second, every song, every breath. A song was picked to play for each of the girls during their funeral. Eerily, Sarah had actually picked her own song. Months prior, Sarah and her mom Barbara, had been riding in the car when the dance came on the radio. And that day, Sarah told her mom casually, mom, if I die young, I want you to play this at my funeral. So that's just what her mom did. For Jennifer, they played another Garth Brooks song, if tomorrow never comes. For Eliza, they played seven Spanish angels by Willie Nelson and finally, George strait's song baby blue for Amy.
- [50:05]
Colin Brown
But even after their funerals, there were still a million questions. A yogurt shop, of all places, is not a place where young girls should lose their lives overnight. Any sense of safety felt throughout the city of Austin was stripped completely. Everyone was worried that the killer might strike again, and the Austin police department was feeling the pressure to solve the case. But unfortunately, there were a number of mistakes made when it came to preserving the evidence. For instance, the victims bodies were not swabbed for the presence of an accelerant. The crime scene wasn't tested for accelerant either. The Austin police department as well as ATF and the Austin fire department reported that they never tested it because they didn't smell accelerant inside the building. In addition, investigators didn't wear booties on scene, they never swabbed the bathroom for fingerprints. The list of mistakes can go on and on, but one piece of evidence that they did find was a.380 spent shell casing lodged in a drain beneath the main sink. It matched the bullet that killed Amy Ayers. It was the only ballistics evidence that police had. And with that lack of evidence, police needed leads anywhere they could get them. Following the news of the murders, people in the community started to come forward with information. Two of these people were Tim Stryker and Margaret Sheehan. If you recall, they're the couple that came in shortly before the yogurt shop closed on the night of the murders. And they told police all about those two strange guys that were sitting near the register. They also told police about how Jennifer had locked up the shop once they left with their yogurt. And considering those two guys were the only people in there when the front door was locked, investigators were confident that the two men were responsible. And this theory seemed to match the evidence, too. After all, there were two different guns used in the crime. A.22 caliber revolver and a 3 80AMT backup. Additionally, investigators would later reveal that the entire front of the yogurt shop was cleaned, except for the booth where the two men had been sitting. So with all of this information, investigators in Austin were on the lookout for these two mysterious men.
- [52:15]
Courtney Brown
In addition to keep the case in the public eye, billboards with pictures of Jennifer, Sarah, Amy, and Eliza were scattered around the city. The photographs were above one large question. Who killed these girls? There was also a substantial award for information, starting at $25,000 and growing to $125,000, funded by the community, businesses, the families, and even the owner of I Can't Believe it's Yogurt Bill Bryce. Over 20 traditional billboards and 40 cab billboards throughout the city served as a reminder of the girls. For Barbara Ayers, it was a comfort. We want their pictures up. We want people to know these beautiful girls were alive and part of this city. And we don't want anyone to forget that they lived, that they were here, and that they were murdered. They served as a constant reminder. For some, that made things harder. For Eliza's sister, Sonora. The billboards felt like the twist of a knife.
- [53:11]
Sonora Thomas
The whole city was in shock. Everywhere we drove, there were these billboards with a picture of my sister on it. And so it's like you just hold on to anything you can to get through these moments that are so impossible.
- [53:28]
Courtney Brown
And for first responders who were on the scene, it made the Trauma of that night, inescapable. Here's Lieutenant Hilton Crocker talking with Caveview about his experience. The signs that are up all over town, when I look at the faces of on those signs, that's not what I see. I see the girls that I found in that building. Despite the feelings, good and bad, the billboards kept the investigation alive. They refused to let the city forget, and eventually they generated thousands of tips and leads. In the weeks after the murders, Austin PD combed through thousands of leads with no answers. And as the investigation dragged on, rumors spread like wildfire. People around town were calling in tips to report their neighbors or even their friends and family members. Shockingly, many people also falsely confessed, claiming they were responsible for the murders. Investigators questioned each of these people and were able to rule them out when they couldn't give specifics about the case. At one point, there were over 300 suspects they were looking at. But for APD, none seemed to be as promising as 16 year old Maurice Price.
- [54:35]
Colin Brown
Maurice Pierce had a reputation around Austin, Texas. He was the bad boy who would get into trouble. He was known for skipping school, having a hot temper, and carrying a loaded gun. And on December 14, 1991, just eight days after the yogurt shop murders, Marie stuck a loaded.22 pistol into his pants and walked into the North Cross Mall. It was the same mall that Amy and Sarah had gone to shortly before they were killed. And almost immediately after Maurice stepped foot inside, someone spotted the gun and called 911. Soon after, Maurice was taken into custody and sat down in front of Senior Sergeant Hector Polanco. Now, Polanco was a ruthless detective known for his interrogation skills. According to his colleagues, he had a quote, convict at any cost mentality. In fact, leading up to the yogurt shop murders, he never had an unsolved murder. Every single case he was in charge of led to a conviction. Now, whether those convictions were false or the real deal depends on who you ask. But one thing was clear. Polanco had a reputation to uphold. And heading into the interrogation with Maurice, Polanco saw a great opportunity to do just that. In his mind, Maurice was a punk. He was near the scene of the crime, and he had a weapon matching one used at the scene. Now, we feel it's important to mention that a.22 pistol isn't exactly one that's hard to come by. Its ammo is some of the cheapest and easiest to access on the market, which makes it widely used. But despite that fact, polanco grilled the 16 year old for hours simply because he owned one. Polanco was intimidating, threatening, and he could go on and on for as long as he needed to. And soon enough, Maurice began to break down. He started to confess, but he also pointed the finger at his friend, 15 year old Forrest Welborn. He told investigators that on the night of Friday, December 6, he had given his.22 to Forrest. When the gun was returned, Maurice said it had been shot six times and smelled of hairspray. He claimed that Forrest told him he had done something bad and that he wanted to kill more girls. For investigators, this was huge. And immediately they found Forrest Welborn to bring him in for questioning.
- [56:54]
Courtney Brown
Soon enough, 15 year old Forrest Welborn found himself sitting in the same interrogation room across from the same intimidating sergeant Polanco. However, he was adamant that he had nothing to do with the murders. He said that on the night in question, he had been with Maurice and two other teens named Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott. And while they were up to no good that night, they weren't killing any girls. Forrest admitted that the four of them had stolen a Nissan Pathfinder from a parking lot and drove it to San Antonio, where one of the boy's girlfriends lived. Polanco questioned the story for hours, but Forrest wouldn't waver. He even agreed to take a polygraph in which he passed. And with nothing else to hold them on, the police had to let them go. However, many investigators were confident that these guys had something to do with him, a belief they would hold onto for years and years to come.
- [57:47]
Colin Brown
Over the next several years, the four teens, Maurice, Forrest, Robert and Michael, weren't the only ones put in the interrogation room and questioned into a confession. In the first few years, at least six people gave full confessions, including infamous serial killer Kenneth McDuff, who we covered in episode 194 and 195 of Murder in America. But surprise, surprise, Kenneth McDuff was not responsible. And all of the people who did confess to the yogurt shop murders confessed in the presence of Hector Polanco. In March of 1992, one man, Alex Briones, signed a written confession stating that he had murdered and raped the girls. Polanco brought the confession to Jones and Huckabay, proudly stating that they had got their man. But as they read the confession, they immediately knew it was bogus. Briones had claimed to have stolen around $1,300 out of the register, which was nowhere near the actual amount that had been stolen. It was really around $500. However, Polanco didn't know how much money had been taken. He asked Jones and Huckabey, but the two had made a private agreement to never tell Polanco the true amount. If Polanco didn't know, he couldn't use that fact to force a false confession. So, needless to say, the early years of the investigation were a mess, and a lot of people place blame for that on Polanco. Huckabay later stated, quote, I don't know if it can be undone, what he did, end quote.
- [59:18]
Courtney Brown
In 1994, Sergeant John Jones was taken off the case with almost no notice and transferred to another department. For the next three years, he spent every day thinking about the case. He got close with the families of the girls. He knew every aspect of it, front to back. But in a lot of ways, people believed that that was his downfall. He had gotten too close to it. It was too personal. He described the transfer as a slap in the face. And he wasn't the only one who was upset. The families who had grown fond of him were heartbroken. Barbara, Jennifer and Sarah's mom, stated, we feel abandoned. We're being processed out just like Jon Jones was. This man dedicated his life to what happened to our children, and we can't help but love him for that. Eliza's stepmother, Norma Fowler, agreed, adding, I think that we've been unbelievably, uniquely lucky in how positive our interactions with police have been. And I think a lot of that is due to John. With John and eventually Huckabay taken off the case, homicide detective Paul Johnson became the new lead investigator. And just like his predecessors, he too became obsessed with trying to solve the murders. He combed through the files day in and day out. But by this point, there were no new leads coming in. And after a while, he started to believe that investigators had been right all along, that the four boys, Maurice Price, Forrest Welborn, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, had been the ones to commit the murders. So in 1999, eight years after the murders, he decided to bring them back to the Austin police station for questioning. And right alongside him was Senior Sergeant Hector Polanco. This time around, the investigators used a different tactic. They believed that Michael Scott was the weakest of the four. So they decided to put the pressure on him. And sadly, for five long days, Michael was subjected to nothing short of psychological torture. In the beginning, Michael denied being involved. He said he had no idea what happened to the girls, but the detectives wanted to help him. Remember, one even held a gun to the back of Michael's head, asking if that was what he had done to the girls. At one point, he asked for an attorney, but was ignored. The questioning continued, and finally, Michael cracked. He started telling them what he thought they wanted to hear, anything to end the interrogation. But during his five days there, as he was confessing to the crime, the details he was giving didn't match what actually happened. So the detectives started feeding him the correct details. They claimed that Mike had done it, but that he must have forgotten. At one point, they demanded to know what Mike had tied the girls up with. Convinced that he must have done it and forgotten, Mike asked, uh, shoelaces? And Polanco replied, no, Mike, come on. You know it's not shoelaces. He kept guessing. Electrical cords, napkins, rope. Each time, the detectives shot him down, telling him he knew deep down what it had been. After several guesses, he finally suggested T shirt. And despite the girls being bound with their bras, underwear and pants, the detectives agreed, congratulating him on finally being honest. And in the end, he told them exactly what they had been waiting eight years to hear. That Maurice Pierce made him kill one of the girls. Here's a clip of Michael's interrogation.
- [62:43]
Reporter
You're having trouble with the memories or flashbacks. You know what happened. You're scared to tell it. I don't blame you. Come on, Michael. You're doing good.
- [62:50]
Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lengberg
Tell it.
- [62:50]
Reporter
Let's do this today or be seeing girls. I'll never see it again. I remember one girl screaming, terrified. Okay. I don't know if this is real or not, or if this is Michael. It's real. You're remembering what happens. You were inside there, right? I don't. You're remembering what happened. I don't honestly remember going in the building. If you were in the building, you went in there with me. You ever seen that gun before?
- [63:16]
Courtney Brown
I'm not positive.
- [63:18]
Reporter
Does that look like a gun you've seen before? It looks like a gun I've seen
- [63:20]
Courtney Brown
before, but I'm not positive.
- [63:22]
Reporter
Is that the gun you shot somebody with, Mike? I don't it. Is that the gun you walked up behind somebody with and shot in the head? Is that the one? Talk to me, Mike. Yes, sir. You did that, didn't you? Yes, sir.
- [63:43]
Courtney Brown
After 20 hours of investigation, investigators believed they had a solid confession. And now it was time to question Robert Springsteen. Like Michael Scott, in the beginning, Robert denied any involvement in the murders. He stated that that night he had been at a showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show. There had been a showing that night, and he had likely Been there. But the police lied to him. They told him they had researched it and that there was no showing that night, planting a seed of doubt in Robert about his own memory.
- [64:13]
Reporter
If I was there and I partook in this, I would remember these things. And you do remember these things. No, don't. No, I do not. You're the coldest guy I've ever talked to in my life. Are you a cold blooded murderer? No, sir, I'm not.
- [64:27]
Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lengberg
I think you are.
- [64:28]
Courtney Brown
After hours of brutal interrogation tactics, Robert cracked as well. In fact, the detectives were basically feeding him the details of the case so that his confession would match facts and evidence at the crime scene, the same tactic they used on Michael. Robert admitted to shooting the girls, but when asked where, he pointed his finger at the detective's shoulder. That wasn't right. So the detectives had to keep him guessing until he got it correct, finally saying they were shot in the back of the head. Now, there had been no mention of rape until asked, what else did you do? Robert said he didn't know, unsure of where detectives were leading him. Finally, one piped up and said, tell me how you raped her. Obviously, Robert was defeated at this point and told them, fine, I stuck my dick in her pussy and I raped her.
- [65:14]
Colin Brown
That was all the detectives needed. Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen's confessions matched because both had been led to say the exact same thing. In order to shut the case that haunted Austin for years, Hector Polanco and Paul Johnson forced innocent young men to confess to something they never did. Now, even during these interrogations, investigators had already conducted a ballistics test on Maurice Price's.22, which is the whole reason they started looking at these guys in the first place. But the ballistics test came back inconclusive. They could not prove it was the gun used in the murder. But still, they had tunnel vision. Polanco's theory was that Maurice Pearce was the mastermind behind the murders and that Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott carried it out. As for Forrest Welborn, Polanco believed that he stayed outside the yogurt shop to keep watch. After getting his confessions, Polanco took the evidence to prosecutors, and ultimately Maurice, Michael and Robert were indicted by a grand jury, charged with capital murder. Since Forrest had never confessed to the crime, he was never indicted, and the charges were dropped in the year 2000. A few years later, in 2003, Maurice's charges would also be dropped due to insufficient evidence. The only two to ever go to trial would be Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, the two who gave full confessions but soon enough, they both recanted, saying that the only reason they confessed in the first place was because they were pressured into doing so. However, it didn't matter. Investigators had their confession and they were going to bring this to trial. For the families of the victims, closure was on the horizon. They didn't know it was a false confession, and they were only listening to what detectives were telling them, that they had found the men responsible. However, in spite of the horrors they had endured, the families remained poised and fair. Barbara, Sarah and Jennifer's mom, told local station kvue, this is not the end of what we're trying to do, but the beginning. It's important that these four people are allowed to have a fair and good trial.
- [67:20]
Courtney Brown
In 2001, Robert Springsteen went on trial for the murder of Amy Ayers, who the only murder he falsely confessed to. And in court, they played Michael Scott's confession, which didn't do Robert any favors. It depicted him as a cold blooded killer. However, the prosecution refused to put Michael on the stand, likely because he would have testified that the crime never happened. Now the defense focused heavily on the inconsistencies between the two confessions and how clearly neither of the two men truly knew what happened within those walls. Nonetheless, with both confessions played to the jury, it would be enough to secure his fate. Pam, Amy's mom, was stunned and told kview, not only did they strangle her, but they pistol whipped her twice in the face. That is a cold, cold person who could do that to a kid. The jury found Robert Springsteen guilty of capital murder, and he was sentenced to death. For Robert and Sarah's mom, it didn't bring the closure or relief that she expected. It was awful. You think that it's going to be great, but it's awful. I was in the courtroom, me and my mother were trembling and shaking and crying. Not because you like these people, I don't. But he's going to die. This man is going to die. And now we have blood on our hands too.
- [68:33]
Colin Brown
The following year, in 2002, Michael Scott was put on trial. Once again. The prosecution played his and Robert's confessions, and in the end, that was all they needed. After 22 hours of deliberation, the jury returned with their verdict. Michael Scott was found guilty of capital murder. He was sentenced to life in prison. The families of Eliza Thomas, Amy Ayers and Jennifer and Sarah Harbison had long supported the investigation. And with this verdict, they believed that the men were guilty and that their daughters finally had justice. This was the moment that had been waiting For Barbara recalled, quote, we were trembling. I mean, just trembling for the verdict, end quote. Many family members of the victims were present at the trials, and clearly they were emotionally invested in the outcome. They wanted closure, an ending to the nightmare. And after the verdicts were read, it felt like a weight had been lifted. Here is Eliza's sister, Sonora, and her opinion on the verdicts.
- [69:35]
Sonora Thomas
There had been so many false leads for such a long time. It was hard to know how to think about it and how to feel about it.
- [69:46]
Courtney Brown
Jennifer and Sarah's mom, Barbara, was relieved that her daughters got justice. In the beginning, she asked for a fair trial. She had no idea that the boys on the stand hadn't gotten one. Like anyone in her situation, she truly believed that the police knew what they were doing. They got the right men. Here's Barbara speaking with reporters.
- [70:04]
Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lengberg
These young men have been implicated and they have confessed, and they can withdraw it. But the truth is, they actually were there and they actually did the murders.
- [70:14]
Colin Brown
Following the trials, both Robert and Michael sat behind bars for years for murders they did not commit. Both men appealed their convictions on the grounds that they had been denied the right to confront their accuser, a protection granted under the constitution. And in 2006, the Court of appeals agreed. Roberts conviction was thrown out. The following year, Michaels was too. However, they weren't allowed to leave prison until the prosecution decided whether or not to retry the two. In 2008, the defense teams for both men requested that all of the physical evidence be retested using advancements in DNA technology. Now, as we mentioned before, in the early days of the investigation, detectives were only able to get a partial DNA profile from the scene. And because of that, they couldn't match it to anyone within codis, the national database that holds the DNA profiles of criminals. But with these advancements, they were able to test the DNA against the four accused men. It was a bold move for the defense, but they truly believe that Robert and Michael were innocent, and they were determined to prove it. So using the samples collected from the rape kits, investigators compared the DNA. And soon enough, the results proved that none of them matched. Robert Springfield, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn were all innocent. Now, you would think that with this groundbreaking evidence, investigators would finally leave these men alone and focus on finding the real killer. But that didn't happen. In fact, investigators were convinced that the men were still responsible and that the DNA found on scene was an unknown fifth accomplice.
- [71:58]
Courtney Brown
But there were others who did believe the men were innocent. And it's around this Time when conversations about false confessions really started to take off. After reviewing the men's interrogation footage, it was clear that they had been coerced by lead investigator Hector Polanco. Detective Mike Huckabay would later tell K View the sad thing about it is Hector really is a good investigator. He's a very good investigator, but he don't use it right. I've seen him get confessions from somebody that did not have a thing to do with it. But Hector can scare the shit out of you and make you confess. He can. He's okay with it. As long as he gets a confession, he's okay. In fact, after this, the Austin police started going through old cases that Polanco worked, and they found that multiple people had falsely confessed because of Polanco's coercive and improper interrogation tactics. They even started referring to it as the Polanco era of the department. Now, by 2009, Robert Springsteen had been in prison for eight years for a crime he did not commit. Michael Scott had been serving seven years. But finally, in October of 2009, the men were released. Unfortunately, they weren't exactly exonerated. In fact, here's the Travis County District attorney, Rosemary Lengberg announcing that their cases were being dismissed with a caveat.
- [73:18]
Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lengberg
Today I presented to judge Mike lynch motions to dismiss the cases against Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, the defendants in the murder of four young teenage girls at the yogurt shop on December 6, 1991. Judge lynch has signed the orders dismissing those cases. While I remain confident that Springsteen and Scott are responsible for these murders, going to trial and risking a result that could forever prohibit us from trials of these men again is a risk that I simply will not take. My office in the Austin police department remain common committed to these cases, and our investigation will continue.
- [74:01]
Colin Brown
When they walked out of those prison doors, they knew there was still a possibility that the state could try them again. The DA stood in front of the country and said so. And even though they knew they were innocent, it was something that loomed over them for years and years to come.
- [74:15]
Courtney Brown
I was berated and berated and berated by the police officers until they obtained
- [74:20]
Reporter
what it was they wanted to hear.
- [74:21]
Courtney Brown
They were not going to to allow me to leave. And I basically, they broke me down.
- [74:26]
Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lengberg
Let me just ask you, did you
- [74:28]
Colin Brown
have anything to do with the murders at the yogurt shop?
- [74:31]
Courtney Brown
No.
- [74:32]
Reporter
Never.
- [74:32]
Colin Brown
And the false confessions didn't just cause pain for the four men, for the victims families, it felt like justice was being ripped out from under them. Their old Wounds that they had been desperate to heal were exposed to everyone. Here's Maria, Eliza's mother, talking to 48 Hours.
- [74:49]
Sonora Thomas
Every time I hear those words that their rights were violated, just feel like
- [74:55]
Colin Brown
I'm going to go insane. Their rights are violated.
- [75:00]
Sonora Thomas
Our girls were murdered.
- [75:02]
Colin Brown
At the time, Maria had no way of knowing the depth of the men's innocence. It was a lose lose for everyone involved. The families were in agony. The victims who were falsely accused never truly got to feel the freedom of exoneration, just the weight of the accusations. By 2009, it had been 19 years since the Yogurt Shot murders. 19 years of the community and the world pointing the finger at them. And even though the evidence proved they were innocent, you never really come back from something like that. People still treated them differently. They treated them like cold blooded killers. It was difficult for them to return back to normal life. And tragically, in 2009, Maurice Pierce was killed and an officer involved shooting that was not connected to the yogurt shop murders. It was a Rainy Night on December 23, 2009 in North Austin, not far from where the yogurt shot murders had taken place. Driving home, Maurice ran a stop sign. When Austin police attempted to pull him over for the minor traffic infraction, he did the worst thing he could have possibly done. He decided to run. Whipping through the rain soaked street, Maurice led cops on a high speed chase through several residential neighborhoods in North Austin. He wasn't in his right mind. His attorney later explained, quote, he had been in jail for such a long time on those cases that every time he gets detained, he is traumatized and runs because he's so scared of the police. But when fleeing in his car wasn't working, Maurice stopped the car and ran through backyards on Campbell's Drive. An officer chased him down, attempting to tase him. But Maurice wasn't willing to go back to jail without a fight. The two men scuffled in the yard, adrenaline pumping, and Maurice grabbed a knife from the officer's belt and slashed him across the face and neck, cutting the officer's ear, trachea and carotid artery. Blood went everywhere. With the last of his strength, the officer pulled out his gun and fired a single shot. Maurice fell to the lawn, dead. The officer managed to stagger back to his fellow officers who applied pressure to his wounds until paramedics arrived. Despite the severity of his injuries, he would go on to make a full recovery. But Maurice was pronounced dead at the scene. Now, obviously, Maurice's actions were not okay. Assaulting a police officer is never the answer. But we can't help but think about whether the circumstances would have been different if the Austin yogurt shot murders hadn't taken his life from him and traumatized him beyond repair.
- [77:31]
Courtney Brown
But as you can see, this case was tragic in so many ways. Four young girls lost their lives in the most brutal and horrific crime. And after all those years, their families still didn't have answers. Amy's parents kept her bedroom untouched after her murder, often returning to reflect on her life. Her room was filled with animal figurines, stuffed animals, and posters of her favorite musician, George Strait. I lost my daughter. I lost my first dance.
- [77:59]
Reporter
I want to see her graduate. I want she would become a veterinary. She was a daddy's girl.
- [78:07]
Courtney Brown
Eliza Thomas's family never fully recovered from the loss. Both James and Maria shut down emotionally, never wanting to fully accept what happened. Her sister Sonora admitted that no one ever talked about Eliza after she was murdered. It was too painful.
- [78:22]
Sonora Thomas
My family never talked about my sister after she died.
- [78:25]
Colin Brown
Never.
- [78:26]
Sonora Thomas
No, it's too. It's too painful.
- [78:31]
Colin Brown
At just 13 years old, Sonora was forced to grow up far sooner than she should have, saying, after my sister died, it was decided that I should take care of my mom. I no longer saw my dad. I lived alone with my mom, who wouldn't come out of her bedroom for years. She would just drink all the time. So here I was, 13, left to fend for myself with no resources, nobody to talk to, end quote. Eliza's death completely destroyed her family. She later wrote, quote, the childhood house I remember was quiet, lonely, unpopulated. I remember coming home from school to find that there was still mail in the mailbox. My mom was still in bed, and my sister was still dead, end quote. And as the years kept coming, the pain of her sister's death somehow grew more sharp and more hazy, all at the same time.
- [79:20]
Sonora Thomas
Every year that goes by, I get farther and farther away from my sister,
- [79:28]
Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lengberg
and
- [79:31]
Sonora Thomas
I worry about losing memories. There's so many moments you know when your heart is open, you know you're joyful. But there's also this loss that's always accompanying your life. There is a kind of torture that continues by the fact that it's unsolved and it's ongoing.
- [79:51]
Courtney Brown
In 1996, Maria and Sonora Thomas moved away from Austin. Running into people who were constantly asking how this case was going was very hard on me and especially my daughter, Sonora, Maria told a local news outlet. But despite leaving the city, their pain followed. Sonora coped with Eliza's death by turning to drugs and alcohol. She was hospitalized at one point for a drug overdose and attended a boarding school for disturbed teenagers. Though time moved forward, their grief remained. Every milestone, holiday, and special occasion was a constant reminder that Eliza wasn't there to celebrate. There was a black hole in their lives that could never be filled. Panic attacks, pain, and depression now fueled their lives. But Sonora found a sense of peace while in boarding school. She connected with the adults there and started attending therapy. She learned that everything she was experiencing was tied directly to her sister's murder. She learned to cope in healthy ways, and eventually, as she got older, she wanted to help others like her and become a therapist.
- [80:53]
Colin Brown
Jennifer and Sarah's mother, Barbara, admitted that she wasn't the same person after the murders. And with each passing year, she was afraid that her daughter's memories would be lost. She later said, quote, the smells and the sound of them being here are fading. There'll be fewer and fewer people who will remember them being here, end quote. But in the end, she chose to remember the good memories she had with them.
- [81:16]
Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lengberg
Remembering what happened in this building, remembering how they suffered when they died. I remembered that and cried about that for a while, and. And then it wasn't serving me well. It didn't respect them any because they were much more about who they were when they were alive than how they were killed. They. They made everyone else feel better that was around them, and they cared about people and. And I think. I think the city would have been enjoy having them here, you know, working and raising their own children and making a difference in this community.
- [81:59]
Colin Brown
But the unanswered questions surrounding the girl's death would forever torture Maria Thomas. Sonora said, quote, my mom basically disappeared into her grief, end quote. And for years and years, Maria retreated into grief, alcohol, and isolation. She escaped Austin to forget, but the pain followed her. She was a shell of her former self. Every year, on the anniversary of the girl's murder, Maria admitted it was extremely difficult. It was a reminder of all the things her daughter didn't get to do. Graduate with her class, become a vet like she always dreamed, settle down with a country boy on a ranch, and maybe someday have a family of her own. The sense of loss was constant and unrelenting. Every mother and daughter she saw catching up over drinks, every holiday, every graduation, new baby, new house, every single bit of motion in her life was a reminder of the fact that her daughter was forever stuck in time.
- [82:56]
Courtney Brown
There were so few people who understood that kind of pain, but Barbara Harbison did. In 2011. It had been 20 years since the girls had been killed. So Maria joined Barbara at her house to remember the good times. It was the last interview she ever gave. She said, you know, I was lucky enough to have Eliza for 17 years. I was lucky it was my kid. But sadly, the pain proved to be too much. On March 24, 2015, she died by suicide at the age of 60. Unable to navigate the overwhelming, unrelenting grief of losing her oldest daughter, Eliza, she had no answers. There was no justice, because there was no way of getting her baby girl back. And whatever you believe, I'd like to imagine that they're together now and that the pain Maria lived with for so long is at least finally gone.
- [83:48]
Colin Brown
It is heartbreaking to think about how Maria never got to know what happened to her baby girl before she passed away. But as the years ticked on, the other family members began to wonder if they would one day pass without ever knowing what happened on that fateful night in December of 1991. Eventually, the yogurt shop where the girls were killed was turned into a nail salon. Outside of it, there was a plaque to remember them. Colin and I used to visit that plaque, and every time, it was always covered in flowers, pennies, and little notes from people in the community. By 2020, it was hard to believe that they still didn't have answers after 30 years. This was a case where the killer left his DNA behind. And although investigators had tried a number of different DNA testing strategies, without a full DNA profile or someone to specifically test it against, there was nothing they could do. And with each passing year, we all had the same how was this man able to escape justice for so long? And if he was depraved enough to rape and murder four teenage girls, is it possible he had killed others? After decades, people began to wonder if this case would ever be solved. And for a while, things were pretty quiet. But little did anyone know, behind the scenes, there was a fresh set of eyes looking at the case. His name was Detective Daniel Jackson. He took over the case in 2022, and the first thing he wanted to do was look at all of the physical evidence, not just the DNA that was left at the scene, but also the bullet casings. If you recall, there was a spent.380 shell casing recovered from the drain and the yogurt shop. And like DNA, ballistics have their own unique identifying characteristics. There's a term in forensics called a ballistic fingerprint. Every time a gun is fired, that specific weapon creates microscopic scratches on the bullet casings. That are unique to that gun. So detective daniel jackson took the ballistic fingerprint from the casing found at the scene, and he entered it into atf's national integrated ballistic information network. The database is like codis, but instead of comparing DNA, it compares the ballistic fingerprint to other shell casings Found at crime scenes all around the nation. Now, they had already done this in both 1997 and 2007, but with both, they never found a match. However, now In July of 2025, there was a match. Detective jackson learned that the same gun used in the yogurt shop murders Was also used in an unsolved murder out of kentucky. And not only was the same gun used, but the crimes were eerily similar. The victim was found in a strip mall. She had been raped and shot. Her body had been set on fire. And sadly, just like with the yogurt shot murders, her case had been unsolved for decades. But finally, investigators had something to work with, and this was more than they had gotten in over 30 years. So detective jackson met up with investigators in kentucky, and as it turns out, they also had a partial DNA profile from their crime scene. The two agencies were able to compare those profiles and bring them to a lab to see if they could find anyone that matched it. And sure enough, they did. Over the next few weeks, they would learn that the man who killed jennifer, sarah, Eliza, and amy had raped and murdered countless other women and girls across the united states. This monster was a serial killer who operated and the shadows. And his name was Robert eugene brashers.
- [87:23]
Sergeant John Winston Jones
Thank you all. Over three decades after a horrible crime took the lives of four teenage girls and changed Austin forever, Our hearts haven't healed. They're still broken. For the precious girls we lost, We've never stopped sending our love and our prayers to their families. As all of you know, the austin police have announced that a significant breakthrough has been made in the yogurt shop murder case. The detectives today will outline the timeline and process of their investigation. Their investigation is thorough and relies on technology that was not available back then. This day has been a long time coming. More than a quarter century ago, In a circumstance much like this. Today I said that Austin lost its innocence the night those young souls became victims. Today, we have some closure. We are different people and a different city. Time has passed. We have endured more, have been disappointed and have felt defeated and devastated. But today, with the resilience needed to endure something this painful, Recognizing the scars, the suffering. And while there's no change to the horror, no wiping away any of the wrongs. No diminishing the grief we can finally express a deep sigh, a release that comes from knowing. Thanks to advancements in science, thanks to the relentlessness of our committed detectives who have lived and breathed this case for decades, thanks to the support of Austin forensics, and thanks to an unwavering commitment by the city of Austin, today, finally we have an answer.
- [89:35]
Colin Brown
Finally, after 34 years, we know the man responsible for the Austin Yogurt Shop murders, A serial killer who raped and murdered women and girls across the United States. So join us in our next episode as we walk you through the life and crimes of Robert Eugene Brashers.
- [89:54]
Courtney Brown
Today, in honor of the men who were wrongfully convicted of this crime will be making a donation to the Innocence Project who use DNA testing to exonerate prisoners who have been wrongfully convicted. We also want to thank Beverly Lowry as her book was one of the main sources for this episode. The book's called who Killed these Girls? The Unsolved Murders that Rocked a Texas Town. Corey Mitchell's book Murdered Innocents served as an additional source, providing many quotes from the family and details on the early investigation. Hey everybody, thank you so much for listening to today's episode of Murder in America. Obviously, for this episode we almost went back in time to the very first story that we told here on the show. We redid it, we retooled it, we added more information and detail. And next week we are proud to present you with the conclusion to the story that we didn't have when we started this podcast because we now know who committed the Austin yogurt shop murders. And and trust me, we're going to talk about it next week. If you want to support the show, please consider joining us on Patreon. On Patreon, you can get access to early ad free versions of every episode of the show. And if you've already listened to our entire library and you want more on Patreon, we have an entire library of bonus episodes of the show. These are full length episodes of Murder in America, just like the episode you just listened to. But these episodes will only ever live on Patreon. They will never be posted anywhere else. So if you want to support the work that we do here, joining us on Patreon is a great place to start. Also, don't forget to leave us a five star review. Wherever you listen to the show, whether it's Apple podcasts or Spotify or whatever platform, we love hearing from you guys. We love seeing those reviews. So if you haven't done that already. Please take 10 seconds out of your day and click that five stars. And finally, don't forget to follow us on Instagram at Murder in America to see photos from every case that we cover here on the show. Anyways, y', all, we'll be back next week with Part two. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you're listening on Friday, I hope you have a great weekend and catch you on the next one.