The Yogurt Shop Murders

 

The Yogurt Shop Murders is an unsolved crime that took place on December 6th, 1991 in Austin, Texas. Despite having several suspects, this crime remains unsolved, but it haunts you because the victims of this horrible crime were so young. 

It was Friday, December 6th, 1991, when four teenage girls: Amy Ayers (13), Eliza Thomas (17), Jennifer Harbison (17), and Sarah Harbison (15) were murdered inside an I can't Believe It's Yogurt! shop. Jennifer and Eliza were employees at the shop and were working the night of the murders. While Sarah and Amy were in the shop to get a ride home from the mall from Sarah's sister Jennifer once the shop closed at 11 that evening. 

Around 9:30 that evening, Dearl Croft a former police officer spoke briefly to a young man in a green army jacket inside the shop who was acting suspiciously. The man was in the shop for quite some time and walked out back without permission. But, when Croft asked one of the girls who was working that night what the man was doing. She responded by saying that the man was using the restroom. Croft believed the man had been to the restroom several times at this point and felt comfortable enough to go back there. He also believed that the man had been in the shop for quite some time. 

The man in the green army jacket had left the restroom and sat at a booth with another man. This man was described to be in his late 20s to early 30s, light hair, and wearing a black jacket. When everyone cleared out of the shop these men remained until at least, 10:47 in the evening. It is said that the man who used the bathroom had taken a very long time in there, and could have jammed the rear door open. 

A couple who left the shop at about 10 in the evening said that Jennifer locked the door to prevent any more customers from coming inside. However, the two men that Croft was talking about were acting furtively. 

It is hard to say what happened between 10 that evening and midnight. All we know for sure is that the shop was closed around 10 that evening, the two men remained in the shop until at least 10:47 that night, and a No sales tag popped up on the register at about 11:03 that evening. 

It was around midnight that a police patrolman reported a fire in the shop, and responders found the bodies of the four girls inside. They had all been shot in the head, and some of them had been raped. We know that a .22 and .380 pistol were used in these murders and the killers had probably left the shop through a back door that was found unlocked. 

This was an organized method of operation, with the ability to control the victims, and the intent to destroy evidence by arson insisted that this was the work of adults and not teenagers. Each of the victims was completely nude and shot execution-style in the back of the head with a .22 caliber. Sarah's were bound with her panties, she had been gagged, and raped. Jennifer's hands were not bound, but they were behind her back. Eliza had also been gagged and her hands were also behind her back. All three had been severely charred. 

Amy was found in a separate part of the shop, unlike the others, Amy was not charred. However, she had received 2nd and early 3rd degree burns on about 25-30% of her body. She was found with a "sock-like cloth" around her neck, and she had been shot like the others but the bullet had missed her brain. She was shot a second time, this one severally damaging her brain and exiting through her cheek and jaw. 

It is believed that the killers had stacked all four girls in the backroom. But that somehow Amy had managed to pull herself free and crawl away. Sarah and Eliza's bodies were found stacked, with Jennifer's not far away. It is believed that Jennifer's body was disturbed when Amy crawled out of the pile. 

The autopsy reports showed high levels of BTU output. This suggests that an accelerant could have been used. The initial investigations produced a high number of suspects including a 15-year-old who was caught with a .22 at a nearby mall. However, it turned out that this pistol was not the one used in the murders. Even though this suspect gave promising information detectives soon realized he was trying to get himself out of the gun charge. So they eliminated him and three petty criminals he had implicated. None of which were over the age of 17. 

 However, several years later a new detective had decided that these four teens were credible suspects. Confessions were even obtained from a few of them which stated all four boys were involved. However, no record was kept as to what was said to these men in their initial interrogations in 1991. Making it hard to pinpoint what was fact, and what might have been fed to them by the police. 

Two of the four men were sent to trial based on their self-incriminating statements. It is said that the Prosecution went to great lengths to detail the horrific nature of the murders. However, there was no hard evidence against the men, other than their confessions. Still, the two men were convicted. One of them being sentenced to death, the other getting life because he was only 15 years old at the time of the murders. 

 However, because the Prosecution used excepts of the other's confession at their trials, this violated the Confrontation Clause. This was because the co-defendant was not testifying against the other. Both convictions were overturned, and the men were freed in 2009. 

 Depending on what source you read, either $14 was taken from the register or $540. 

So what happened on the day in question? 

This is what we know:

At 4:30pm Sarah returned home from school and spoke to her mother Barbara. It is not until 6:30pm that Jennifer returns home from visiting her boyfriend. She discusses with her mother about Amy spending the night. At 7:15pm Amy prepares to leave with Sarah for a sleepover. 

9:30-10pm Dearl Croft orders yogurt, has a conversation with a suspicious male, notices that Eliza is working, also sees her mother Maria. 

9:45pm Maria Thomas comes into the shop. All four girls are there. At some point, Eliza called her sister to ask her to come down to the shop. However, their father wasn't home so she did not have permission to leave the house. at 10pm James Thomas came into the shop. He too noticed all four girls, but he did not see Maria. At 11pm the shop closed and at 11:03 a no sale is rung up on the cash. at 11:47pm a police officer calls in a fire at the shop. 11:48pm is the time left on Jennifer's watch. 11:53 the first fire truck arrives at the scene. At 11:54 another truck arrives, and at 11:57 the last truck arrives. It is unknown when the girls' bodies were found. 

It is still to this day unknown what had happened to these girls. Was it the four teenage boys who committed this horrendous crime? Or was someone else responsible for these brutal murders? Will the families ever see justice? 

The funny thing about this case is that in the spring of 2017, Travis County prosecutor Efrain De La Fuente thought they might finally solve this case. He said that an Austin police cold case detective had submitted a new DNA profile called  Y-STR into a searchable database. This new profile won't match an exact name but could link the killer's DNA to a male relative. It was hoped that this would lead investigators to finally tracking down the killers. 

Though this newfound hope turned to disappointment, and then just as quickly to outrage. They were thwarted by the FBI. For three years they were in a stand-off, a fight that stretched from Austin to the Capitol. So far, all they have accomplished with the Y-STR was to rule out the four boys once believed to be connected to this case. 

The National Center for Forensic Science at the University of Central Florida is the one that runs the U.S. Y-STR Database which has 29,000 samples. The website claimed: "government, commercial and academic resources throughout the United States," and "all forensic laboratories and institutions are invited to contribute." However, now there is a disclaimer that reads: "cannot be used to identify a particular individual whose sample is in the database. All donors are anonymous (and samples) cannot be traced back to specific individuals." 

The worst thing about it is that when the cold case officer submitted the Y-STR DNA from the Yogurt Shop Murders, he got a hit! They later learned that the sample had been submitted by a forensic analyst who works at the FBI. The FBI however, had no intentions of disclosing the information. Claiming that they have a statute that says they can not release information like that. 

Also, according to FBI scientists that unlike traditional DNA that confirms a person's identity. Multiple men (we are talking thousands) can carry the Y-STR DNA, making it impossible to find a match. So far, the FBI has not swayed from its decision, and therefore possibly unlikely that a suspect will ever be determined by this DNA. 

Does that mean that the murder of these four girls will never be solved? It's very possible and likely that this case will remain cold unless the police can be provided with new leads. It's such a shame that the truth may never be discovered.