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[Music] Every year marks another year, you know, that there's no closure. I still have insomnia 30 years after the
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fact. I wish I'd solved the crime for the families. We tried. This is the uh I can't believe it's
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I was a cop for 32 years at Austin PD. I'll always be associated with that case.
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There's no getting away from that. I just hope one of these days we can put this thing to bed.
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Yeah. >> Uh, you hear about the call 2900 West Anderson? >> Yeah, I'm headed over there.
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>> The call occurred at 11:27 p.m. >> Homicide 4. >> Homicide 4. >> Did you get my route there?
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I was the lead investigator on the I can't believe it's yoga shop murder case on December 6th, 1991.
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There was a robbery, fire, and murder committed. >> It's all right. I'll make the call
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myself. >> Victims were Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ays. I can still see him. I can still see the
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inside of that place. That stuff's indelibly burned in my mind. >> There has never been in Austin a more
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gristly, ugly crime. >> There's four girls in there and they're all beautiful girls and they're very
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young. They're cleaning up. They lock up the yogurt shop and then we believe it to be two individuals came in. They
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forced them to the back room at gunpoint. >> I lost my sister Eliza Thomas in the
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yogurt shop murders. I was 13. Yeah, I was 13 when my sister died. The whole city was in shock.
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Everywhere we drove, there were these billboards with a picture of my sister on it. And so it's like you just hold on
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to anything you can to get through these moments that are so impossible. >> We went where the case took us.
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>> Open the door. Police. >> We're either going to charge some people and get them in jail or clear them from
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this case. >> I don't know how many murders I've tried. It's unlike anything I've ever
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done before. It's nothing but one unexpected twist after another. Do you believe that there is right now
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some evidence that could lead to the killers? >> Yes. >> Yes, I know who did this. I just don't
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know his name. >> Is this the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end? [Music]
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[Music] So, what is all of this here? >> These are my notes. >> It's been more than 30 years since Jon
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Jones began the painstaking search for the killers of four teenage girls in an Austin yogurt shop.
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>> Oh, that's the big book. This one is really from day one. He has long since retired from the Austin Police
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Department and moved out of Texas, but copies of some of the case files moved with him.
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>> Hypnosis, polygraph, confessions. >> You know, I noticed this sitting here. >> Yep.
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>> We will not forget. You haven't? >> Nope. Can't. >> The images of December 6th, 1991 remain
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all too vivid. I can definitely still see it. >> What do y'all got out there? I'm in RA
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airport. >> It started with that call from dispatch. >> Okay, I'm copying the fire part. You cut
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out on the first part of that >> to go to a scene of a fire that would turn into something far worse.
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Apparently a lovely homicide fatalities last round. >> And then about halfway out there, they
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called me again on the radio and said, "We found a fourth body." >> A local TV news crew happened to be
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filming Jones on a ride along that night. >> What place of business is this here?
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This is the uh I can't believe it's over. >> Okay. >> Fire department had just knocked down
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the fire. I mean, there was still a lot of water in there, a lot of smoke still. It was all muted grays and
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blacks. There was no color in there with the exception of the girls. >> The girls were quickly identified. Two
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had been working at the shop closing up that night. Eliza Thomas and Jennifer Harbison were both 17 years old.
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Jennifer's 15year-old sister Sarah and their friend 13-year-old Amy had met them there to head home.
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The four girls have been gagged, tied up with their own clothing, and shot in the
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head. Investigators would learn that at least one of the victims had been sexually assaulted. The yogurt shop had
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also been set on fire, destroying potential evidence. >> There was smoke and soot on every
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surface, so kind of made fingerprinting kind of difficult. >> This was a crime like none Austin had
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seen before. Jones knew he needed help and from the scene contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the
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FBI, and the Texas Department of Public Safety. >> Soon as we knew what type of guns we
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were looking for, that information went out nationwide. Gunshot wounds showed two different
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types of guns were used, leading investigators to believe that there were at least two killers on the loose. What
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were the two guns? >> 380 and a 22. And we recovered all of the rounds. >> The weapons though were not found and a
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task force worked to come up with potential suspects. >> They were from all spectrums. I mean, we
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looked at everybody from family members to drifters. >> And while police tracked down leads, the
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families and the city of Austin grieved. The Harbison family lost their only children. Daughters Jennifer, a
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hardworking high school senior, and Sarah, who was enjoying sports and clubs as a high school freshman. Their mother
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Barbara spoke with us in 1992. >> My life was sort of focused around them for from here until eternity. Someone
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took eternity away from me. >> I lost my daughter. I lost my first dance. >> Bobs is the father of the youngest
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victim, Amy. A country girl with a love for animals. >> I want to see her graduate.
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I want to see her become a veterinary. She was a daddy's girl. >> I remember the shock.
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>> Sonora Thomas, 13 years old, when her only sibling, Eliza, was murdered, had a
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hard time dealing with the loss of the sister she looked up to. >> I remember fantasizing for days that my
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sister had somehow escaped and run away and that she was going to come back. And
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so that's what I was kind of holding on to. Her parents struggled as well. >> My family never talked about my sister
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after she died. >> Never. >> No. >> It's too It's too painful. >> Sonora did as best she could picking up
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some pieces of her sister's life. Eliza, an animal lover, had a pig she planned to enter in a livestock show. Just a few
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months after the murders, Sonora took over those duties. >> Third place, Sonora Thomas.
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>> While Sonora may have seemed to be coping, the reality, she says, was far different. You had to grow up quickly.
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>> Very quickly, I would say I fell apart under that pressure. We knew they were
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hurting because, you know, we were hurting, too. >> There you go. Open your little mouth.
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>> Jones, a parent himself, felt the family's grief. He promised to do all he could to help them.
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>> We told them what we could, and I assured him that we would keep them a prize as to everything that was
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happening. And and we did. >> Jones also made a pledge to the families involving the shirt he wore on the night
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of the murders. I kind of made a promise to them the next time they saw me with that green and white shirt on that that
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was a signal to them that, you know, we knew who did it. >> And Jones seemed assured they would find
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the killers. >> And we stayed in constant contact with the behavioral science unit at uh the
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FBI and Quantico. They said that I should, as the face of the investigation, project an air of
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confidence that would cause the the bad guy to shiver in his boots. >> So, look in the camera and be confident.
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>> And when we followed him working the case in 1992, he did just that. >> You know, let me just say this. Whoever
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you are out there, you're going to be mine one of these days. >> Where you at? Okay.
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>> I'm right here. >> But trying to figure that out was daunting. 342 people that have been uh
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listed as suspect, but we're looking at pages and pages of suspects here. >> One of those early suspects was a
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teenager named Maurice Pierce. He was arrested 8 days after the murders at a mall near the yogurt shop carrying a 22
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caliber gun, the type used in the murders. >> The 22s were unmatchable. >> So, you can't say it wasn't his gun?
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>> No. But there was no way to >> prove that it was his gun. Um, he gave a statement. A matter of
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fact, I took his statement and he implicated three other boys. >> Joan says Maurice Pierce claimed that he
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was driving a getaway car and that three acquaintances, Forest Wellorn, Michael Scott, and Robert Springsteen, were
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involved in the murders. But Pice's story began to fall apart. It started to crater when
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we wired him up to go talk to Forest and we were listening in on the wire and it it was pretty obvious Forest didn't
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know what Maurice was talking about. >> And when Wellborn, Scott, and Springsteen were brought in for
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questioning, they too denied any involvement. It was decided there was just not enough evidence to charge them.
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>> I stop right here. right here. >> And the search for other suspects continued.
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>> Get down on the ground. Get down. On the ground [Music] flow. Anyway, >> two months after the yogurt shop
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murders, with no viable suspects, police were chasing leads no matter where it took them.
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>> Into vampires, uh, the occult, graveyard, rights, >> the task force became aware of a
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counterculture type group of local residents known to be into the supernatural. >> They go out and dance and take pictures
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on tombstones. and investigators began to hear that this group might be connected to
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something far more serious. >> The the tips were that they were talking about um the murders.
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>> Talking about the yogurt shop murders, >> the yogurt shop murders. Yes. >> There was one woman in particular whose
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name kept coming up in connection with these tips. >> She got stopped at Oakwood Cemetery. The
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task force planned a raid on her home. Look at >> my computer. >> Hoping to see if any evidence might be
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found there. Stop right here. Right here. >> I locked the door. >> Police. Okay. Police off.
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>> Police offic. [Applause] >> It was creepy in there. all that stuff back there like this around.
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>> But as it turns out, a lot of that stuff was rat bones and theatrical parts, but
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it was a good lead. So, we finally figured out that >> they're just living a makebelieve life.
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>> This Sergeant Hook could be out to task force. >> The raid may have been a bust, but it
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wasn't long before the task force had its eyes on another person of interest. This sketch shows a man that multiple
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eyewitnesses told police they saw sitting in a car outside the yogurt shop on the night of the murders
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>> and it was somebody we really wanted to talk to. So we put it out there >> and the response they got came from an
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unexpected source. >> Couple of other investigators from the sex crimes unit came up and go, "We have
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a sketch that looks just like that." Three weeks before the yogurt shop murders, a young woman in Austin had
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been kidnapped and sexually assaulted. Police had released this sketch of three men wanted in connection with that
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crime. One of those suspects bore a striking resemblance to that man witnesses reported sitting in a car outside the
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yogurt shop. You know, I just kind of went when I saw the the composite. >> A tip came in that the men wanted in the
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kidnapping and sexual assault case had fled to Mexico. Two were caught and arrested, one who resembled the person
00:16:01
of interest in the yogurt shop sketch. The development made national news. When they got caught in Mexico, we went down
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there to interview him. >> Jones's team questioned the man and so too did the Mexican authorities.
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>> But the Mexican government announced to the whole world that they confessed and
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they were going to try for the murders down there. >> They confessed to the yogurt shop.
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>> Yes, they did. >> But Jones learned those confessions had details that didn't match the crime
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scene. Even the caliber of guns they claimed to use was wrong. >> There was too many inconsistencies in
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the confession. >> So Jones's team reintered the man. And he says this time they recanted just
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about everything. It made Jones and other investigators wonder if those confessions were coerced by the Mexican
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authorities. The once promising lead fell apart. [Music] It was depressing. >> Over the following years, there would be
00:17:10
other confessions, ones that were willingly given. >> You know, we've faced six confessions.
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>> Six people who confessed. >> Yeah. Written. >> That confessed to this crime. >> Yes, they did.
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>> And they didn't do it. >> Nope. In 1994, after nearly three years of leading the investigation, John Jones
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was moved out of the homicide division. He says it was a mutual decision. Austin
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police wanted fresh eyes working the case, and Jones felt it was time to move on. Other detectives took over, and as
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time passed, the victim's families were left wondering why no one had been arrested. Amy's mother, Pam, spoke to us
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in 1996. >> They're probably out there leading a life as normal as they've ever had,
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and ours is never going to be the same. >> That same year, Eliza Thomas's mom moved
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away from Austin and the painful reminders. Running into people who were constantly
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asking how the case was going was very hard on me and especially my daughter Sonara.
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>> Sonora's life had taken a downward spiral. >> In my high school years, things really
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deteriorated. Drugs, using alcohol, being hospitalized, going to a boarding school for, you know, disturbed
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teenagers, things like that. The case seems stalled until October 1999. >> Some breaking news. Austin police have
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arrested four men in connection with the yogurt shop murders of 1991. >> There were finally arrests. But would it
00:18:56
answer the question on the billboard that had been haunting Austin for nearly a decade?
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[Music] After nearly eight years, Austin Nights are getting some answers in the case of
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the Yogurt Shot murder. >> I want to start off by thanking y'all for joining us here today.
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For almost eight years, we've all waited to hear the words that our police department is close to a point of
00:19:35
solving a crime that has haunted our very souls. Today, we finally get to hear those words.
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>> When four men were arrested in the fall of 1999 for the yogurt shop murders, relief was felt citywide.
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Sarah, Jennifer, Amy, Eliza, we did not forget. >> The girls families struggled to take it
00:20:02
all in. >> There had been so many false leads for such a long time. It was hard to
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know how to think about it and how to feel about it. >> But there were finally names and faces
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to blame. Maurice Pierce, Forest Welbborne, Michael Scott, and Robert Springsteen. To the task force, they
00:20:27
were familiar names and faces. They were the same young men that John Jones and his investigators questioned just 8 days
00:20:36
after the murders. >> Did you do this? I have no comment. >> And ultimately released for lack of
00:20:43
evidence. I was confident and remain confident to this day that we got as far with him as we could then, but that
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doesn't mean that there wasn't something developed later that would cause them to
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actually go out and arrest him. So, I was going, "Yes, good job." I was ready to
00:21:03
dig out the hideous green and white shirt. But before that shirt could come out of
00:21:08
the closet, the one he promised the girl's families he would wear when the case was solved, Jones wanted to know
00:21:15
more about what led to the arrest. >> There was no physical evidence. Nothing. >> Joe James Sawyer was appointed as Robert
00:21:25
Springsteen's attorney. What made them go back and charge these guys? Because the new officers when they when they
00:21:33
reopened the cold case convinced themselves that we let them slip through our fingers. We had to have had the
00:21:41
murderers in the beginning. In part they decided that because they had nothing else.
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>> There was no new physical evidence suddenly tying any of the four men to the crime. But what police did have were
00:21:57
two newly obtained confessions. One from Michael Scott and another from Sawyer's
00:22:03
own client, Robert Springsteen. Michael Scott's confession came first. He was questioned over four days.
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>> Come on, Michael. You're doing good. Tell us. Let's do this today. Let's do it.
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>> Remember seeing girl? I remember one girl screaming, terrified. >> Scott told investigators that he and the
00:22:23
others only intended a simple robbery. He said they cased the yogurt shop earlier that day and then after dark. He
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said they came back armed with two guns. >> I hear the gun go off. I only pulled the trigger once. I hear
00:22:41
another gun go off. >> Investigators claimed that Springsteen later corroborated much of what Scott
00:22:47
said. >> How you doing? Very loud. Is that correct? >> But after intense questioning, he went
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further. didn't say it. >> Springsteen told them he shot one girl and raped her.
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>> He was so tired of this. He'd already been questioned. He'd already been through that mill. He thought, "You know
00:23:13
what? I'll tell you any damn thing you want." >> Sawyer maintains his client is innocent
00:23:19
and says the confession was coerced. In 2009, Robert Springsteen explained to 48
00:23:25
Hours why he would admit to doing something so horrible, something he says he didn't do.
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>> I was bered and bered and bered by the police officers until they obtained what
00:23:38
it was they wanted to hear. They were not going to allow me to leave. And I I basically they they broke me down.
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>> Let me just ask you, did you have anything to do >> No. >> with the murders at the yogurt shop?
00:23:49
>> No. Never. Even though Joe James Sawyer didn't have Michael Scott as his client,
00:23:54
he says he has serious concerns about his confession, too. >> Is that the gun you shot somebody with,
00:24:01
Mike? >> I don't. Is that the gun you walked up behind somebody with and shot in the
00:24:06
head? >> I frankly couldn't believe it. They terrorized him and he was afraid to say
00:24:14
no. Forest Wellborn denied having anything to do with the murders, but police were convinced he was the lookout
00:24:21
that night and Michael Scott placed him at the scene. >> Hi, I'm Aaron Moretti with CBS.
00:24:30
>> I spoke to Wellbourne in 1999 in jail shortly after his arrest. >> Were you there that night?
00:24:37
>> No. >> Were you there as a lookout? No, >> I'm answer it. >> You had nothing to do with this.
00:24:47
>> Nothing at all. >> Well had been questioned multiple times by investigators over the years and he
00:24:53
never wavered. He, like the others, first came on police radar when in 1991, just days after the murders, Maurice
00:25:02
Pierce had been caught with that 22 caliber gun at the mall near the yogurt shop. PICE told the detectives back then
00:25:11
that he had given the handgun to Wellbborne and that it had been used in the yogurt shop murders.
00:25:17
>> Why would he say that? >> I don't know. >> Well has always maintained his innocence
00:25:24
despite pressure from the police. >> They'll get right in my face and, you know, tell me everything I said was
00:25:31
a lie. Remember, false confessions in this case were nothing new. Joan said that six written false
00:25:40
confessions were obtained when he was in charge. So, when he learned that the two
00:25:45
confessions were all the new investigators seemed to have, it gave him pause. >> I go, well, maybe I shouldn't get that
00:25:54
shirt out just yet. >> It wasn't long before the case against the man began crumbling. Charges against
00:26:02
Forest Wellorn were dismissed after two grand juries failed to indict him. And later on, charges were dropped against
00:26:09
Maurice Pierce for lack of evidence. Everything fell apart except the cases against Michael Scott and Robert
00:26:17
Springsteen. And with Scott and Springsteen's confessions, the victim's families felt prosecutors had a strong
00:26:25
case. These young men have been implicated and they have confessed and they can withdraw it. But the truth is
00:26:32
they actually were there and they actually did the murders. In 2001, nearly 10 years after the
00:26:53
murders of Eliza Thomas, Amy Ays, and Sarah and Jennifer Harbison, the yogurt shop murder trials began. Both
00:27:02
defendants, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, faced the death penalty. >> The only thing that ever tied Robert or
00:27:10
Mike Scott to that crime scene were their confessions. >> Confessions that both defendants said
00:27:17
were coerced. The two were tried separately. Springsteen's trial was first. Neither of the men would testify
00:27:25
against one another. So instead, prosecutors used their confessions against one another, reading parts of
00:27:32
the confessions to the juries. Spring seeds lawyer, Joe James Sawyer, was frustrated that he couldn't
00:27:39
cross-examine Scott. >> I thought the trial was massively unfair to my client and that it was being done
00:27:46
systematically and with deliberation. The trial lasted three weeks. The jury deliberated for 13 hours.
00:27:55
>> Defendant, please run >> and then reached a verdict. >> We the jury find the defendant, Robert
00:28:01
Springsteen IV, guilty of the offense of capital murder. >> Guilty. Springsteen was condemned to
00:28:08
death row. In 2002, Michael Scott went on trial. He was convicted as well. He was sentenced
00:28:16
to life in prison. But the case didn't end there. 15 years after the murders came a shocking turn of events.
00:28:26
>> In a 54 decision, the court behind me said that Michael Scott's constitutional
00:28:30
rights were violated during his trial and therefore should get a new one. >> Both Scott and Springsteen's convictions
00:28:37
were overturned on constitutional grounds. The Sixth Amendment gives defendants the right to confront
00:28:44
accusers. And remember, in Scott and Springsteen's trials, their confessions were used against one another, but they
00:28:52
weren't allowed to question each other in court. >> And the relief, the relief was incredible.
00:29:02
>> But that relief for the defendants came as a devastating blow to the victim's
00:29:07
families. We later spoke to Eliza Thomas's mother, Maria, about that moment. >> Every time I hear those words that their
00:29:18
rights were violated, just feel like I'm going to go insane. Their rights were violated.
00:29:25
Our girls were murdered. >> It ruins your sense of fairness. It ruins your sense of
00:29:33
that we live in a just world. Even though their convictions were overturned, Scott and Springsteen were
00:29:41
not released. A new district attorney, Rosemary Lmberg, was determined to retry them. In an effort to find more
00:29:49
evidence, her office had ordered DNA tests on vaginal swabs taken from the victims at the time of the murders.
00:29:59
It's called YSTR testing and was fairly new in 2009 when we spoke with DA Lmberg. This technology searches for
00:30:09
male DNA only. >> A partial male DNA profile was obtained from one of the victims believed to have
00:30:18
been sexually assaulted and no one expected what it would reveal. Does that DNA match any of the
00:30:26
four young men who were originally accused and two of them who have been convicted?
00:30:32
>> It does not. >> The DNA did not match any of the original four suspects, including Scott
00:30:40
and Springsteen. And that's significant because Springsteen in that confession he said was coerced told investigators
00:30:48
he raped one of the girls. CC Moore is a DNA expert and genetic genealogologist whom we asked about the
00:30:58
case and the role of YSTR DNA in criminal cases. It is a tool that can eliminate almost
00:31:08
everyone. It should eliminate everybody but the suspect. >> If their YSDR does not match,
00:31:17
>> they did not contribute that >> because where that DNA was found. Yes. In this case, it's very important.
00:31:25
>> The district attorney was focused on finding the source of that DNA. She wondered if Springsteen and Scott had
00:31:32
another partner. >> I remain really confident that both Springsteen and Scott were responsible
00:31:39
for killing those poor girls. >> But in 2009, with no matches on that DNA, Lmberg dropped charges against
00:31:47
Springsteen and Scott. After nearly 10 years behind bars, they were released but not exonerated, leaving open the
00:31:56
possibility they could be retrieded at a later time. >> This was a difficult decision and one
00:32:04
I'd rather not have to make. >> The question remained though, whose DNA was it? >> I know who it is.
00:32:11
>> They're killers. >> You're convinced that that >> that is a certain truth. Amber Fairley
00:32:17
was part of both Scott and Springsteen's defense teams. She came up with a theory
00:32:22
that the mystery DNA might belong instead to two never identified men who witnesses reported seen sitting in the
00:32:31
yogurt shop just before it closed. Those two men were described wearing fatigued colored jackets. They were very
00:32:43
slouched over whispering like they were it was a very close conversation in a booth.
00:32:49
>> Officials tried to track down those two men as well as the source of the DNA.
00:32:54
And then in 2017, an Austin police investigator searched a public online DNA database to see if he
00:33:03
could get a hit. And unbelievably, he did. I thought, my god, we actually have a chance, a shot to solve this
00:33:13
crime after so many years. >> I really thought this was it. I really thought we had a chance to solve it.
00:33:36
US Congressman Michael McCall, like so many others from Austin, hoped that the recently uncovered DNA in the yogurt
00:33:44
shop murder case might finally bring answers to the victim's families. >> We'll never forget that tragic day. It's
00:33:53
stained in my memory. 25 years after the murders, the Austin Police Department went searching for a
00:34:00
match to the YSDR DNA that had been found on the yogurt shop victim believed to have been sexually assaulted. And in
00:34:09
2017, they got a break. On a public DNA database used for population studies, investigators thought they had found a
00:34:20
match. >> I've seen DNA prove homicide cases. So the DNA evidence is really the key here.
00:34:29
>> But that sample from the crime scene was not a complete DNA profile. It was just
00:34:36
YSTR, the male portion of DNA. And it was not a very detailed sample having just 16 markers.
00:34:45
>> 16 STRs is not a very powerful match. There could be millions of people with that same profile. So in genetic
00:34:53
genealogy, we usually use 67 or 111 markers or maybe even more. But isn't it a place to start? It is. It's not
00:35:03
absolute, but if there's nothing else to work with, it is certainly something to
00:35:08
look into. Still, it seemed to be the most promising lead in years. But there was a problem. The seemingly matching
00:35:16
sample on the public database had been submitted anonymously by the FBI. That meant it came from a federally convicted
00:35:24
offender, arresty, or detainee, but had no name attached to it. When Austin authorities tried to get that name, the
00:35:33
FBI would not provide it, citing privacy laws. >> There are some restrictions on privacy.
00:35:39
So, it gets into some very sort of uh, you know, uh, dicey issues. >> Frustrated, officials reached out to
00:35:46
Congressman McCall for help. And so I pressed the FBI very hard. >> Finally, in early 2020, the FBI agreed
00:35:55
to work with the Austin Police Department to see if further testing could be done on that YSDR DNA from the
00:36:03
crime scene. >> I was very excited about it. The idea that we could bring this case to a to
00:36:10
closure for the families and bring those responsible to justice. More advanced testing came up with
00:36:17
additional markers, 25 instead of the original 16. But as so often happened in this case,
00:36:26
what seemed so promising turned into disappointment. Some of the additional markers did not
00:36:33
match the FBI sample. In other words, what seemed to be a match was not. In a letter to Congressman McCall, the FBI
00:36:43
explained the new results quote conclusively exclude the male donor of the FBI sample. As such, the FBI YSDR
00:36:54
profile is not an investigative lead. >> And that was the greatest disappointment
00:37:00
because we really thought we had it. >> If it didn't match that individual, doesn't it still mean there's somebody
00:37:07
out there? This DNA belongs to somebody, right? >> It does. It does. Um and that's why
00:37:14
we're we're not going to rest till we find the match. >> How important then is this DNA profile
00:37:19
that exists to solving this case? >> I mean, it's um it's everything. With DNA research advancing so quickly,
00:37:31
there's real hope that one day that sample of DNA obtained 30 years ago may finally solve this case. Still, it will
00:37:41
not erase the pain or the loss of lives. Every year that goes by, I get farther and farther away from my sister,
00:37:50
you know, and I worry about losing memories. Sonora Thomas struggled for years with
00:38:01
panic attacks and physical pain until with the help of therapy, she realized it was connected to the murder of her
00:38:09
sister, Eliza. With a unique understanding of what trauma victims experience, Sonora wanted to help others
00:38:17
like her and became a therapist. >> There's so many moments, you know, when your heart is open. You know, you're
00:38:25
joyful, but there's also this loss that's always accompanying your life. >> Senor found it helpful to look for ways
00:38:33
to remember Eliza. When we got married, we have flower and an empty chair at our
00:38:38
ceremony and my sister was mentioned. >> Compounding Sonora's pain, her mother died in 2015.
00:38:46
Maria Thomas passed away with so many unresolved questions about the murder of her daughter.
00:38:54
>> There is a kind of torture that continues by the fact that it's unsolved and it's ongoing.
00:39:04
It's always there. >> John Jones is still haunted by the fact that the case is unsolved and by what he
00:39:14
saw that gruesome night. He has suffered from PTSD through the years. >> I had completely shut down
00:39:24
uh to where all my energy was directed at at the case. >> It took a toll on you, didn't it, John?
00:39:32
even 30 years afterwards. >> Well, yeah, it would on anybody. I think not as much as the families, you
00:39:39
understand? >> I know. >> Whatever pain I'm having pales in comparison to what they
00:39:46
what they're going through [Music] >> these days. Jones finds solace singing in his church choir.
00:39:58
>> I can relax when I'm in church. Leave the world behind. Leave outside. >> No, I I know it's just past the door.
00:40:08
>> And when he's in that outside world, the families of Amy Heirs, Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, and Eliza Thomas are
00:40:17
never far from his thoughts. >> I feel bad for them that it's still not solved. >> But Jones has hope. He has kept that
00:40:28
shirt he wore the night of the murders. >> Only worn once. >> The shirt he promised to never wear
00:40:34
until the case was solved. 30 years later, it's still sitting in there. >> Still sitting here. It is.
00:40:42
>> And sometime soon, John Jones looks forward to wearing it again. >> I just hope one of these days we can put
00:40:53
this thing to bed. for the family's sake. >> Nearly five decades ago, the son of Sam
00:41:16
terrorized New York City. >> He struck again over the weekend >> in a rare prison interview.
00:41:20
>> What would you tell 23-year-old David Burkowitz today? The serial killer reveals what drove him to murder.
00:41:26
>> He wouldn't understand what it was to walk in darkness. >> 48 hours Son of Sam, the Killer Speaks.
00:41:31
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