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thank you [Music] [Music] thank you foreign garage wherever you are whatever you're
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doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man that's living Life By the Drop ladies
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and gentlemen here is the captain that's right and you know I like to Drop it like it's hot it's good to be seen and
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good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend [Music] this week we are very excited to be
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drinking best made sour pickle beer brewed in the big beautiful state of Texas by the brilliant Brewers and crew
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over at Martin house Brewing Company Captain this week's case takes us back to Texas Austin Texas once again and
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when we were in Austin several fine wonderful listeners said to us hey while you guys are here you have to try best
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made sour pickle beer from Martin house and these fantastic people were spot on it's not really sour well no more sour
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than pickle juice would be you get a refreshing burst of pickle taste that has kind of an ale or pilsner finish
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garage grade this one's for the people four and a half bottle caps out of five and here's to our friends that filled up
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the fridge for us this week first up a shout out to Kim and Bree in Splendora Texas and a big we like your jib to
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Brook in Hilliard Ohio and here's a long distance cheers to Stacy in Renton Washington she's Thanking us for helping
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her through quarantine quarantine more like boring teen and a big shout out to Tasha and good old Wisconsin next we
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have Rebecca and Pompton Lakes New Jersey and last but certainly not least we have a very big cheers and thanks
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that goes out to longtime friend of the show Paula M everyone we just mentioned they went to True Crime garage.com and
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clicked on the Donate button and for that we thank you yeah say it with me b w r u n beer run if you're trying to get
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a special gift for a loved one for Christmas go to our store Page at truecrimegarage.com and that is enough
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of the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime
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[Music] in the early 1990s several Unforgettable Billboards were popping up in and around
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Austin Texas these Billboards were not put up with the purpose of advertising for a great restaurant located at the
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next exit off of Texas Highway 130. these Billboards didn't stare at the passing cars to influence your next
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cable provider choice the only purpose for these Unforgettable billboards screamed their mission loud
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and clear with bold white letters all in caps set on a red background who killed these girls
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this was the question on the minds of every red-blooded Texan possibly minus one two or who knows how many for sure
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because somewhere maybe in the Lone Star State or across state lines maybe even South of the Border
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someone or someone's know the answer to that question who killed these girls the question posted on the Billboards
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centered just below what looks to be four School photos the pictures are of Amy Ayers Jennifer
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Harbison Sarah Harbison and Eliza Thomas these are the four victims of an Infamous crime known as the yogurt shop
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murders the four girls ranged in age from 13 to 17. the yogurt shop murders are a still
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unsolved quadruple homicide taking place at the local I Can't Believe It's Yogurt
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Shop on a Friday night in Austin Texas the crimes committed that night were many they were fast and they were brutal
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these girls were killed on December 6th 1991. the unknown assailant or assailants
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started a fire in the stockroom of the yogurt shop before fleeing Into the Night
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an on-duty patrolman noticed the fire it was close to midnight he rushed to the smoke coming from the I
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Can't Believe It's Yogurt located in a strip Plaza 2949 West Anderson Lane he called it into dispatch
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firefighters arrived on the scene and began knocking the fire down once they entered the small Northwest
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Austin yogurt shop one firefighter motioned to the other pointing to a charred foot and then
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they started finding bodies Austin police were called and the lone homicide detective working that night
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got the call that no one wants to receive even the most seasoned of Detectives two fatalities suspected arson suspected
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homicide looks like gunshot wounds the dispatcher called out over the police radio
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APD Sergeant John Jones was in route minutes later the dispatcher tells Jones they found another body and as he drives
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closer a cop at the scene radioed Jonesy make that four on the scene Jones got to work the
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following is from the 2016 Beverly Lowry book titled who killed these girls ignoring the firefighters who either
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milled around or just stood there looking down Jones stepped gingerly around the bodies
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having been schooled in evidence collection and processing he felt competent to handle 95 percent of most
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crime scenes but this one lie well beyond his expertise in a memo to the district attorney's
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office he will describe the situation as robbery plus sexual assault plus multiple child victims plus bondage plus
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gunshot wounds plus fire heat smoke water damage plus no known Witnesses equal the
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homicide arson and DA's worst nightmare this is true crime garage and this is a new look at the yogurt
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shop murders case 30 years later [Music] later this week we'll mark 30 years since some kind of monster or Monsters
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committed the horrific yogurt shop murders and the Austin Police Department and the FBI are still on the hunt for
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those responsible some of the following was taken from a recent reporting texas.com article the four teenage girls
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were brutally murdered on a Friday night at a yogurt shop in North Austin in December of 1991. the girls families and
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those who worked decades trying to find and prosecute their Killers say the 30th
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anniversary of their murders approaches with no sense of closure the murders remain unsolved and experts say that
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crimes lacking resolution can leave a psychological impact on an entire Community but new state and federal
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efforts as well as a promising DNA lead have brought renewed Hope For answers and justice the details of the crime
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including the subsequent investigation and criminal trials that followed have been well documented Jennifer Harbison
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and Eliza Thomas both 17 worked at the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt on West Anderson Lane Jennifer's Sister Sarah
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Harbison 15 and Amy Ayers 13 arrived at the yogurt shop around closing time on December 6 1991. with plans to attend a
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sleepover together Amy was an eighth grader at Burnett Middle School and the other girls attended Lanier High School
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they were shot in the head and gagged with their own clothes their bodies were stacked on top of one another before
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being set on fire authorities arrested four suspects but this was almost eight years later in
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October of 1999 only two of the four Robert Burns Springsteen and Michael James Scott stood trial and both were
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convicted Springsteen received the death penalty and Scott got life in prison but
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the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned their convictions ruling that their confessions were improperly used
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against each other at trial Springsteen and Scott were released from prison and prosecutors dismissed all charges
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against them in 2017 another potential breakthrough emerged an Austin detective submitted DNA evidence found in one of
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the victims into a database that searches why Str DNA samples a type of DNA profile that forensic investigators
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used to identify male relatives of suspects a match was found the Austin Police Department requested more
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information about the identity of the matching donor but the FBI has refused to release any information saying a
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federal statute prohibits it from disclosing identities of anonymous donors despite these hurdles
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the families have continued to work to keep the case in the Forefront their efforts have led to new crime fighting
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initiatives at the state and federal levels quote when I heard there were over nineteen thousand unsolved
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homicides in Texas I was really taken aback by that and I think most people are when they hear that number when you
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think about each of those cases there's a family associated with that said Mindy
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Montford who was the first assistant district attorney for Travis County and one of the prosecutors assigned to the
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yogurt shop murders case four years the yogurt shop murders LED Montford to work with Texas Attorney
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General Ken Paxton to form the state Cold Case and missing persons unit on October 19th the unit will Aid and
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support law enforcement agencies across the state in the investigation and prosecution of Unsolved cases Montford
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serves as senior Council for the unit Angie and Sean Ayers the brother of the youngest victim sit on its advisory
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committee the yogurt shop victims families have been pushing to affect change on a national level in May of
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2021 the bipartisan homicide victims families Rights Act was reintroduced U.S representative Mike McCall said
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quote if a case has been cold for three years it gives the victims the right to petition the local district attorney to
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re-examine the cold case and take another look at it it's very much empowering to the families of the
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victims and particularly the case like the yogurt shop killings many remember the yogurt shop murders as a defining
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moment in Austin which was about half its current size and not yet a tech or tourist hub
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the 30th anniversary of the yogurt shop murders brings up painful memories for those who've tried to solve the crime
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Austin Police Sergeant John Jones who was the lead investigator assigned to the case at the time of the murders said
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quote there's no statute of limitations on murder then there shouldn't be any limitation on doing what one can to try
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to get it solved and that sometimes means having to relive that pain and answer questions my theory is if me
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talking about it to you or anybody else can jog somebody's memory out there to perhaps get this thing solved then it's
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worth reliving that night the girls families believe that the case will be solved and we here in the garage hope so
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as well we covered this case rather extensively in early 2017 and True Crime garage episodes 81 and 82. now you don't
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need to stop these episodes and go back these episodes with this information and
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Nick's research will stand on its own yeah just know that this week's shows will be different from those episodes
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and they are there to listen to should you want to hear the case as it were back in early 2017.
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then Captain we gave a detailed description of the events and the facts of the case followed by the arrest of
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four persons nearly eight years later two were convicted because they air quotes here confessed and the two others
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saw their charges dropped due to a lack of evidence Rob Springsteen and Michael James Scott as we said both went to
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prison Rob sentenced to death Michael to life imprisonment they both confessed that they along with Maurice Pierce and
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Forrest Wilborn went to rob the store and killed all four girls the strange thing here is obvious
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the two that ended up with charges dropped due to insufficient evidence did not confess yet if we were to believe
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that the confessions of the two that the state convicted are correct well then all four are guilty of the yogurt shop
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murders so to me Captain I've always felt like this should be an all or nothing situation for these four
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suspects absolutely it's almost as if the prosecution didn't believe law enforcement's confessions that they
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received now when we covered the case we spent a lot of time covering the case against these four individuals the two
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trials and later their release we won't spend a lot of time on that this time around we also covered some other good
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suspects and spent a lot of time on what is most likely the best theory out there
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so as you can see this is a rather large case not a short True Crime Story at all
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and Captain I like the cut of our jib because I think those episodes were really well done and we told as much of
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the story as you can in just two episodes and now as we are approaching the 30-year marker well this is a really
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good time to revisit the yogurt shop Let's dive into the facts of this case and the timeline that goes with it we're
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going to include some angles theories and leads that perhaps were not pursued as doggedly as the four men that were
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arrested who were just teenagers themselves at the time of the murders yes but first some background
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information Bryce Foods is the company that owns the icby store I Can't Believe It's Yogurt store and they own dozens of
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them Bryce Foods by 1991 had been in business for 14 years and the Bryce Foods firm was started by brother and
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sister Bill and Julie Bryce from Dallas in 1977 Bryce Foods purchased existing yogurt shops I'm not sure Captain if
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this location is one of their original stores as said they owned many this location though we know that by 1991 has
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been around for years and only two of the four girls that were killed worked there one of the victims
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seventeen-year-old Eliza Thomas started working there in early 1991. it's either
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January or early February and her friend Sarah Harbison started working there in
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July of 1991. the two were friends and they both attended the same high school well since we've been doing this for
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five years it seems like every time around December when it starts and you start feeling that
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Christmas holiday there's a couple cases that always come to mind obviously the JonBenet Ramsey case and in this case
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happening on December 6 1991. at 6 30 PM Eliza arrives home and is getting ready to make her drive to
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the icby store she was there by 7 PM she worked the night before and was said that she had a difficult shift that
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night before due to a prank phone call from her ex-boyfriend Roger carducee and one of his Pals so at 7 pm Eliza is
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replacing another employee Jorge Barney is closing his store mind you this is like a shopping plaza
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so there we're going to reference some other stores that are nearby throughout this case and timeline
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Jorge Barney is closing his store the party house he's the owner of the store he's owned it for three months at this
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time he has a Santa on the roof because this is a you know the party house is where you're going to go to get
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decorations and things for party planning and such and with the Christmas holiday coming up he's got Santa on the
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roof and other decorations going on he walks three stores down to another store this is called Mr gaddy's and he says
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that he went there to get some pizza it's a pizza place from there he will take his pizza to go back to his store
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in his office to eat and do some bookkeeping and watch some TV he's important because his office shares a
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wall with the stock room at the icby shop Eliza once she arrives and she gets into work she places her personal
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belongings in the store's office which is located in the back of the store in the area we will refer to as the stock
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room this stock room is the room behind the sales counter which is located in the dining room the stock room has a
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walk-in cooler two bathrooms one designated as men's and the other as ladies and the Shop's small office in
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this back corner the office has a locked door and a floor safe there is a back door to the shop which is located near
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the door to the office from my understanding captain that back door to the store is locked via deadbolt and the
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manager has the only key to this back door that's key to know because this back door is not used often when the
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manager with the key is not there because this case is so perplexing it's been investigated by several
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detectives and several crime shows so I will post all the pictures that I think are relevant to seeing the outside of
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the building and there's also a couple diagrams of inside the building obviously we'll post those on social
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media at True Crime garage Twitter Facebook or even at the website and the captain's really doing everybody a big
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service by doing that because I think it's important here as is in most cases but in this case it's particularly
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important to understand the layout of the store because we will be talking about the movements of not only suspects
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but our victims as well well on anybody that's worked at a shop knows that you have Closing Time duties that you start
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preparing even though customers are still in the store so I think that becomes very important in this case yes
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we're going to want to keep an eye on several things the events leading up to that closing time as well as those
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closing duties like you just pointed out as well as the customers that are coming
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and going from the shop leading up to closing time now after placing her personal belongings in the yogurt shops
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locked office Eliza will then return the office door key to its designated location which is under the cash
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register later Eliza Thomas's personal belongings will be found inside the locked office Eliza at this point in our
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timeline Captain she is going to be running the store by herself until 8 PM this is when her shift mate Jennifer
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Harbison arrives for the closing shift before arriving at the shop for her 8 PM shift Jennifer Harbison will drive her
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sister Sarah age 15 and her friend Amy Ayers age 13 to the Northcross mall so they can hang out with some friends we
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should also note for those not from familiar with Austin the North Cross mall is relatively close to the yogurt
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shop I believe it's less than one mile from the yogurt shop note their ages as well 13 and 15. right one of the parents
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would later say that this was the first time that the two good friends were allowed to go to the mall by themselves
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I think we all can look back and remember one of those days right Captain when you're a young
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teenager and maybe it's the first time that you and a friend are allowed to go somewhere without any type of adult
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supervision and you're you're going to the location being driven by your friend's older brother or older sister
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who's dropping you off it feels very adult-like right it feels very special to those at that time
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and I'm sure that's how Amy and Sarah fell on this Friday night yeah I remember being dropped off at the
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cinnamon being able to play a couple arcade games before we watched the movie but you're basically just going into a
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building watching a movie and coming out it was more rare if they would let you walk around
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and look at different multiple shops Jennifer does everything that we just said and then she arrives at the icby
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store just before her 8 PM shift she Parks her vehicle next to Eliza Thomas's vehicle Eliza will be running the
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register and Jennifer will be taking and filling orders the store closes at 11 PM
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Bryce Foods the company has a pretty detailed closing procedures for the employees and this is important here
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because of these closing duties and Jennifer harbison's and Eliza Thomas's work ethic
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we will get a really good idea of when things went down and how things may have gone down this is because everyone has
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stated that Eliza and Jennifer carried out the closing duties to a t completing each task in the very specific order
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designated by the Bryce Foods company foreign [Music] [Music] we're back if you're not signed up on the mailing
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list make sure you go to True Crime garage.com and sign up on the mailing list and the next week or so we'll be
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sending out a nice little promo code for the store page so if you're not signed up get signed up
00:25:07
today all the cool kids are doing it yes cheers to you Captain cheers all right Colonel why don't you go through a list
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of the closing duties the yogurt shop closes at 11 PM so starting at 10 till 11 the person's working that night they
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will lock the front door from the inside then they will change the sign from open
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to closed and they will leave the key in the lock in the door this is done at this time regardless if there are any
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remaining customers in the store or not then they would deposit the money in the
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floor safe that is in the locked office and then clean up the store when the store is completely clean they would
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remove the key that's in the front door leave through the front door then they would lock the door from the outside
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place the key inside of an envelope and then slide that envelope under the front
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door the manager with a key to the store opens the store in the morning and then
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retrieves the envelope and the key when they arrive let's get into some of the icby customer
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testimonials and some of the events that we know happen that night we have customer Lucilla Jones who arrives at
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the yogurt shop and says that when she entered the store she noticed two teenage boys seated at the table nearest
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the door they were approximately between the ages of 14 and 17 and she says they
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had a sort of hippie look to them she describes one of them as being between five foot four and five foot
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seven inches tall with medium dark hair 130 to 140 pounds possibly Hispanic or Anglo she does not see the face of the
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other so no description of him is given other than he looks to be older and larger than the other boy that she just
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described she would give three different descriptions of the table throughout the
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course of the events there will be a trial in the last 30 years one of these descriptions says that the boys were
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focusing in on something that may have been a paper bag centered on the table another description that she gives says
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that she did not see any containers on the table and then the third description says she did not have a clear view of
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the table itself she says that these boys gave her an uneasy feeling and she didn't think that the boys fit the quote
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normal yogurt shop customers she orders a yogurt and pays by check and then leaves the store now we are at 9 00 pm
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here captain this is when Jennifer Harbison leaves the yogurt shop she has to go back and
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pick up her sister Sarah and her friend Amy from their visit to the mall when the three return Sarah and Amy walk over
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to Mr gaddy's to get some pizza the mall closed at 9 00 pm and Mr gaddy's closes
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at 10 p.m so we are very confident with the times that are provided here at 9 30
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p.m Maria Thomas Eliza's mother arrives at the yogurt shop Eliza takes a phone call from her younger sister and at some
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point gives the phone to her mother Amy and Sarah then arrive at the yogurt shop with their takeout pizza shortly
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after this Jennifer is going to receive a phone call from her boyfriend at Sammy
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Buchanan around the same time a man named Daryl Croft arrives at the yogurt shop he puts his arrival time between 9
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30 and 10 p.m he is traveling with two women who stay in croft's vehicle Croft goes into order to go desserts for all
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three of them he says that when he walks into the yogurt shop he sees two girls working behind the counter Maria
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again this is Eliza's mother is standing near the counter there's a man and a woman reviewing the
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menu standing in front of the counter a young couple is seated at one of the booths on the right hand side of the
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dining room and there's a young man in a green army type jacket this young man is
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near the counter and near the couple reviewing the menu right he later would describe this young man as early to
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mid-20s medium build 150 to 170 pounds between 5 foot 10 and 6 foot tall and Caucasian he says there
00:29:51
was something off about this man there are two differing descriptions of what this man says and does while in the
00:29:59
store one in Beverly Lowry's book who killed these girls and another in the book murdered innocence by Corey
00:30:07
Mitchell both of these books are very thorough and very good anyone that is fascinated by this case should read both
00:30:15
of them but rather than ordering the young man says to Croft you go first and then there is this weird awkward
00:30:24
exchange where the two men keep offering to allow the other to go first you go you go first no you go first yeah oh I'm
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sorry you were here before me but it's like Andy and Dwight in that episode where they just kept doing each other
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favors over and over again it's weird to me that he has an uneasy feeling from this gentleman that's
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letting him go first the guy in the Army jacket is obviously not in a rush and obviously trying to be
00:30:50
polite well I think what we need to keep in mind here is we are reviewing all of
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these customers and their statements after the fact and they're giving these statements to police after the murders
00:31:03
occurred so I'm thinking what we have here captain in most of these situations is people
00:31:09
are going about their everyday lives these are all very routine acts uh this Daryl Croft individual he was a regular
00:31:17
at the yogurt shop a lot of the customers coming in that night were regulars to this yogurt shop and so I
00:31:25
think when you have regulars one they seem to notice more that's going on because they're aware that you know this
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visit's a little different than last one this time they're really busy this time
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they're not right I don't think that most of these people are walking into the yogurt shop that
00:31:42
night observing what's going on and going oh something something terrible is here I feel I I sense a presence a bad
00:31:49
element something's broken I think that it's you know we know what happened and when I left or later that night or now
00:31:56
that I know the outcome now that I know that four girls were killed here I remember this guy something was off
00:32:04
about him something was weird about this guy and we're looking for somebody who killed
00:32:09
four people and so here is my information and Daryl Croft again he's a regular to the yogurt
00:32:16
shop he was a security guard at the time he owned a security company a lot of times these individuals will be
00:32:25
hyper Vigilant they will be extra aware of their surroundings and take mental note right of their surroundings so he
00:32:34
to me can offer up possibly some better information than maybe just the average Jane or Joe walking into the shop that
00:32:43
night well he's coming in like you said between 9 30 and 10. so this is getting close to closing time my big issue is
00:32:52
it's December 6th yes I understand that it's in Texas but seems like there's quite a bit of pockets of people seems
00:33:02
like there's quite a bit of people towards the end of the day yeah so you're going to have this for
00:33:08
several reasons one it's a Friday night and the yogurt shop is open till 11 pm yeah good point so this is going to
00:33:16
offer up traffic to this store when other stores are closing for the night remember we
00:33:23
already pointed out that Mr Gatti's the pizza place closes at 10. well the mall closes at nine mall closes at nine so we
00:33:30
have customers that are coming in maybe from Mr Gatti's after Pizza they want a little dessert they want the yogurt shop
00:33:36
dessert maybe people are leaving a movie we have several customers that we know went to movies that night and decided to
00:33:43
get a dessert on the way home a lot of these customers too you're going to see some stay there to eat their frozen
00:33:52
treats at the shop but also a lot of them are taking things to go they're going in placing their order paying for
00:33:59
them and they're leaving and that's what Daryl Croft was doing here that night I
00:34:04
think I have in my notes here and I can't remember where I got this from but I think that he he and these other
00:34:11
people they were they were either out that night and decided to stop for dessert or he knew
00:34:18
Eliza Thomas and Eliza Thomas's mother as well so that's interesting too that he knows some of the people in the store
00:34:26
when he's walking into it uh he knows them very very Loosely they're like acquaintances because they went to the
00:34:33
same gym so Daryl Croft again a regular to the shop security guard security company owner remember we
00:34:42
said that there will be trials because we know that two individuals were convicted in this case and later they
00:34:49
were released but at the trial Croft testified that he visited the shop around 10 pm that night in line in front
00:34:59
of him was a suspicious looking man dressed in a green army jacket the man asked him about his security guard car
00:35:06
which was parked out front this is part of that weird exchange where this man sees cross vehicle and
00:35:14
says you know what are you some kind of cop right witchcraft that kind of tickled his spidey sense a little bit
00:35:21
because he's like why is this guy so observant in paying so much attention to me and my vehicle and my vehicle has
00:35:30
these lights on it who is this kid to question me and so the man asked him about his security guard card which was
00:35:38
parked out front and then insisted that Croft should cut in front of him now finally crop said that the man slipped
00:35:46
into the back headed to what he thought would be the bathroom this is another reason why I think Croft
00:35:54
has a vivid memory of this guy he walks into a busy yogurt shop sees all these customers and this is the only
00:36:03
individual that he's going to see go into the back room now remember the restrooms are back there so that's the
00:36:09
assumption that Croft is going to make well also it seems like there's pairs of people and we don't know if this Army
00:36:17
shirt or Army jacket guy is connected to the couple that he was closest to it almost seems like he's
00:36:25
in their by himself yes everything that goes on would give the appearance that this man is in there by himself so Croft
00:36:36
says that the man gave him such a funny feeling that he decided to kind of stick
00:36:40
around like linger a bit to see the man return from the back room but eventually you know he's handed his
00:36:48
three desserts that he's ordered he's paid he's made some Chit Chat tried to hang out a little bit but eventually
00:36:55
Croft will leave now Croft could not identify the suspicious man he saw as being Annie
00:37:04
of the four suspects that were later arrested and too convicted that's quite interesting to me
00:37:11
Croft is sure that he was there at 10 pm based off of his testimony and later when shown pictures of the four guys
00:37:18
that were arrested Maurice Michael Robert and Forrest again Croft does not match the suspicious person to any of
00:37:27
the four now from the book who killed these girls Croft says of green army jacket man his voice was deep clear and
00:37:35
distinctive and that he has a long pointy nose Army jacket man then ordered a 7-Up and Eliza explains that they only
00:37:45
have Sprite and so he orders a Sprite this before dipping into the back room with the assumption that he went to the
00:37:52
restroom right at 10 pm James Thomas this is Eliza Thomas's father stops by the yogurt shop and says that he sees
00:38:01
all four girls there in the store at that time is he stopping by just to check in on his kids you know sometimes
00:38:08
that happens where your parents just drop in on you at work when you're a teenager or is he getting yogurt this I
00:38:15
don't know I do know that both he and his wife stopped by that night his wife was there just minutes before I think
00:38:22
they're traveling separate and I don't know if James was in the process of picking up Eliza's younger sister who
00:38:30
had called earlier that night I think that there was some chance here captain that Eliza's sister was going to
00:38:38
find her way to the yogurt shop and maybe one of the parents or both of the parents were going to retrieve her
00:38:44
there but they very likely stopped in as customers and to see their daughter at 10 42 PM Eliza Thomas rings in the last
00:38:54
purchase of the night okay underline that make mental note don't forget 10 42 p.m Eliza rings in the last purchase of
00:39:04
the night yeah 18 minutes before closing we have our customers names this is Tim
00:39:09
Striker and Margaret Sheehan they will later say that when they get there they notice only two other customers in the
00:39:18
store so by this point in our timeline right we have James Thomas we have the security guard man Daryl Croft all these
00:39:27
people have left the store by this time by this point we have two coming in two customers coming in Tim Striker and
00:39:34
Margaret Sheehan they say that when they arrived in the store they only noticed two other customers in the store at that
00:39:42
time and they would later describe them as large people in hooded jackets sitting in the last booth on the left
00:39:51
this is the booth nearest the cash register they said that they saw Eliza behind the counter she's the one that
00:39:59
took and fulfilled their order right and they see Jennifer cleaning the dining room she's wiping tables refilling
00:40:06
napkin holders and placing chairs on the tables Margaret Sheehan does not get a good look at these two customers the two
00:40:16
that are described as large people in hooded jackets I'm assuming they're just they have hoods on their jackets but
00:40:23
their hoods are not up this description I'm giving Captain is the best one that I have found
00:40:30
it's it's extremely vague and limited but I actually think given some other things that I've seen along the way that
00:40:39
that potentially they have these hoods up that they're wearing the hoods because that's pretty suspicious so
00:40:45
Margaret Sheehan does not get a good look at these two customers in fact she says that she's not even certain of the
00:40:52
gender for either but based off of their size she believes that they were both males she says one was larger than the
00:41:01
other and the larger one was wearing a khaki or beige colored padded jacket the other
00:41:09
man if it was a man the other large person let's say was thinner with light brown hair she does not remember seeing
00:41:17
any food or drink or containers on the table where the two were sitting Margaret says that she and Tim left the
00:41:26
store and when they did she looked at her watch and it was 10 47 p.m so it took him five minutes to place their order
00:41:36
get their yogurt they sat down briefly and then decided to take their desserts with them but five minutes being in a
00:41:43
store with it when there's only four individuals working and only two customers other than you and your date
00:41:50
that's a long time to get a perspective of what's happening and to kind of sense what's going on with
00:41:59
inside that shop that's right and note again the time she says was 10 47 PM when they left we also have when it
00:42:07
comes to a lot of these customers well all of them anyone that ordered something and paid for something we will
00:42:13
have the register tape later that's going to kind of give us a timeline of some events as well but we don't know if
00:42:20
these two large individuals had any dessert with them or any all we know is that they're at a booth they're at a
00:42:29
table and it doesn't mean that they're eating anything exactly in fact we have Margaret who says one I didn't get a
00:42:36
good look at them right here's what I do remember and goes out of her way to say I don't
00:42:43
remember seeing any food drink or containers on their table come on this would be like you said three minutes
00:42:49
they're leaving three minutes before they're gonna go put that key in that door and lock the door
00:42:54
yes again this is 10 47 p.m and she says that when she and Tim left the two people sitting
00:43:02
in the booth nearest the cash register were still in the store Margaret says when she arrived and when she left that
00:43:12
she noticed a green car in the parking lot this green car is a tricky little piece
00:43:19
of information as we don't know if this is a suspect vehicle right or a car with
00:43:25
no real significance to the murders at all yeah tricky little piece of [ __ ] or if it was one of the girls Vehicles
00:43:34
because we know that Eliza drove a bright green Carmen Ghia right this is a pisser here captain and in my opinion a
00:43:42
bit of a stumble in the investigation because we can't say if this is a suspect car or Eliza's or a vehicle that
00:43:50
has nothing to do with the murders at all well but maybe law enforcement knows and they just haven't shared that
00:43:55
information with the public this thing went to trial twice right there's that's your time to share information with the
00:44:03
public when you're going to sentence a man to death and another to life imprisonment let's lay out the facts of
00:44:10
the case they also charge two individuals that confess that all four people were involved and they only
00:44:17
charged two people here here's a stumble in the case in my opinion because if if
00:44:21
we truly are still on the hunt for the individuals responsible for these murders yeah this could be important
00:44:29
information again I don't think until we have somebody locked up and the proper person convicted that we will know for
00:44:38
certain if the suspect drove or suspect drove a or suspects drove a green vehicle that night but the reason why I
00:44:47
say that it's a stumble is we could at least eliminate one possibility and one possibility is that
00:44:54
it's Eliza's bright green Karmann Ghia a Karmann Ghia is a unique looking vehicle
00:45:02
I would have shown Margaret a picture of Eliza's Carmen Gia and at the very least
00:45:07
try to confirm or rule out that as a possibility well I agree with you because that makes the most logical
00:45:13
sense now we don't know Captain what happens in the next three minutes so our two customers
00:45:19
left at 10 47. they say that there are two male customers left in the store sitting at that Booth nearest to the
00:45:26
cash register at the time that they left we don't know if these men left or if these men stayed there and are
00:45:33
responsible for the four murders what we do know is within the next hour that's six zero minutes
00:45:42
all four of the teenage girls will be killed yeah so for the next 60 Minutes a lot of
00:45:49
horrible shit's gonna happen one thing we don't know for certain but can assume based off of manager and
00:45:58
co-worker statements Eliza and Jennifer followed the closing procedures to a T and add to that equation
00:46:06
that the two workers are teens right it's late on a Friday night they're going to want to get everything done and
00:46:14
get out of there with the quickness so according to the closing duties the girls would have at 10 till 11 o'clock
00:46:23
locked the front door from the inside whether or not the store was void of customers and then flipped the sign from
00:46:31
open to close and then continued with their closing duties now our customers that left at 10 47 did not say that they
00:46:40
saw the two younger girls they only said that they saw the two older girls that were working at the shop that night
00:46:48
it's presumed that Amy and Sarah went to the back room we assume this for two reasons one it
00:46:58
was understood that Sarah would be helping her older sister with the closing duties that night in exchange
00:47:04
for Jennifer driving her and Amy around Amy was scheduled to ride home with the Harbison sisters and stay the night at
00:47:13
their house that night the second reason is later at the crime scene the Mr gaddy's Pizza Box is found
00:47:22
in the back room at 11 03 pm a no sale was rang in on the register anyone who has worked to register is
00:47:33
familiar with the no sale key you push it and it logs a no sale on the register tape and then the register drawer opens
00:47:42
up so this would be recorded on the register and as we said when we covered this case four years ago it's believed
00:47:51
that this may be the start of the robbery and the start of the horrible events to come well there's a lot of
00:47:58
evidence where we could go through and and talk about what we think could have happened but let's go through some more
00:48:05
events that we'd know for sure happen Okay at 11 47 p.m rookie Austin PD officer Troy gay reports seeing smoke
00:48:13
coming from the rear of the icby store at 11 53 the first truck arrives from the Austin fire department the response
00:48:23
time note is six minutes which is longer than normal here but at first it looks like they were going to the
00:48:30
wrong address and then the address was corrected on the call while in route one minute later a second fire engine and
00:48:38
then at 11 57 p.m another fire engine arrives in total captain we're going to have nearly 50 firefighters on scene
00:48:47
that will respond to this call yeah later when the bodies are found they will also find Jennifer harbison's Timex
00:48:55
watch not on her she took this off when she and the others were ordered to strip by
00:49:02
their Killers her watch stopped marking the time at 11 48 PM when the watch quit
00:49:10
working because of the fire now some other things were found as well that helped to fill in the blanks for us as
00:49:18
to what actually happened from 1103 to the time that the firefighters are on the scene so a couple of things here
00:49:26
Captain one someone started to clean out the yogurt dispensers but did not finish one of the
00:49:33
girls was wiping the counter but did not finish right a can of Coca-Cola and a cup of ice is later found on the counter
00:49:43
the booth where Margaret Sheehan says the two men were sitting when she and Tim Striker left the yogurt shop at 10
00:49:51
47 PM is the only table in the store's front of the house that does not have a chair on it the chair is the universal
00:49:59
signal that the table has been cleaned stocked and closed yes this table has an empty napkin holder the other tables
00:50:09
have napkin holders that have been filled well that tells us something though right the other tables have been
00:50:15
cleaned restocked and closed so maybe not a hundred percent but that could mean that these individuals were still
00:50:22
in the shop when the other duties were stopped possibly and it tells us it tells us this that those three items are
00:50:31
all things that should have been completed if they were able to finish their closing duties right so whatever
00:50:38
happened however it happened it took place before these three items could be closed out for the night the yogurt
00:50:47
dispensers were not finished being cleaned the counter was not finished being wiped down and that table was not
00:50:53
closed out for the night indicating either they didn't get to that table or as you said somebody was sitting there
00:51:00
which prevented them from getting to the table the fifth thing that I want to point out here is that the registered
00:51:06
drawer was found open in the till removed the till was found on the floor in the back
00:51:12
room next to Amy Air's body how much money was taken money taken is an interesting question
00:51:19
because when reviewing this case and reviewing the way that it was handled the investigation was handled it
00:51:28
looks to me like robbery was the Genesis of everything to come that's what they are telling us
00:51:36
they being law enforcement and they being the investigators that have worked this case from Jump Street to me I see
00:51:43
something very different I see a situation where money was involved and part of the crimes
00:51:50
committed but I don't know if it's the Genesis I don't know if it's where this whole
00:51:56
attack and the whole nightmare began because when I'm looking at a picture of the crime scene
00:52:05
it says next to the picture police discovered this register both open and empty with an open bag containing money
00:52:13
underneath so directly under the cash register visible to the naked eye is a bag that contains money that's just
00:52:22
sitting there it's still sitting there the next day while investigators are going through the crime scene right now
00:52:29
one item that's also in the cash register that's visible again the registered drawers open the till has
00:52:35
been removed they will find the till along with scattered change next to the body of Amy Ayers in the stock room
00:52:43
but you can see a check that's still sitting in the register anybody that's operated a register knows that there are
00:52:50
certain items that you do not put in the till you put them underneath the till but inside the registered drawer
00:52:56
things get really complicated here because I wouldn't expect a person in a robbery to want to
00:53:04
grab a check take the check with them and then later have to cash it somewhere especially when we know that the check
00:53:10
is for a small amount this was a customer check somebody that paid for their yogurt that night using a check
00:53:18
well you didn't say that one lady paid for her yogurt her and her dates yogurt correct so there's checks left behind
00:53:25
there was also a bag of money underneath the cash register that was not even touched they did take some money and I
00:53:33
have in my notes here and I don't know where this information came from I was trying to track this down last night so
00:53:40
I want everybody to take this with a grain of salt but I have in my notes that 540 dollars is what was determined to be
00:53:52
missing from that night again though one thing that this tells me is either cash is not the main
00:54:00
concern for the offenders or they didn't go around to the back of the counter because this bag of money and I don't
00:54:11
know how much money is in it but there's paper money that's visible at the top of
00:54:15
this bag they didn't bother to take that so either they didn't see it by going around to the back of the counter or
00:54:24
money was not the main concern for them yeah I agree later the detectives would review the closing duties with Bryce
00:54:31
Foods company and this is important here because as we said it's clear that they
00:54:36
were not finished closing for the night the door may have been locked the sales may have been done for the day
00:54:44
but the girls were still working when whatever happened went down now Bryce Foods is not trying to
00:54:51
sway any type of opinion they're just simply trying to offer up an alternative here and one being that the no sale
00:55:00
button being pushed at 1103 may not have been the start of the robbery but could
00:55:07
simply have been the start of one of the girls closing out the register another thing that they offered up was
00:55:14
that the Coca-Cola can and the cup of ice found on the counter could have belonged to one of the girls that after
00:55:22
closing for the night they decided to get themselves a drink and set this down on the counter and then things got bad
00:55:30
from there right I appreciate the additional information and the thoroughness of Bryce foods and their
00:55:37
involvement in the investigation but the problem with those two thoughts are a couple of things we already mentioned
00:55:45
the yogurt dispensers someone started cleaning them out but did not finish we also mentioned the
00:55:51
counter somebody was wiping down the counter but did not finish this to me indicates that we got two
00:55:57
girls working two girls trying to complete these closing duties and both of them are interrupted
00:56:04
simultaneously so I think we have a situation where very likely the 1103 pressing of the no sale key is probably
00:56:13
the start of the robbery and this probably took place shortly after one individual
00:56:21
orders a Coca-Cola and a cup of ice sets it down on the counter girl turns around
00:56:27
gun in the face open up the register this is a robbery right from there they're probably going to Usher all of
00:56:34
the girls into the back and I say probably because we do not know we do not know the point of entry for
00:56:40
the attackers because at this point we have three possibilities one would be the front door however the
00:56:50
front door is locked so we can go ahead and cross that one out but if our Killers came through the
00:56:57
front door that means they came through that front door before the girls locked it at 10 till 11 that night and that
00:57:02
means it was to the two guys sitting in the booth or the state's case against the four
00:57:10
guys that they would later arrest eight years later was that the killers came in through the
00:57:15
back of the house through that back door that Robert Springsteen at some point went into the shop and wedged the back
00:57:24
door open using I think it was a empty pack of cigarettes and in his confession states that he
00:57:32
Jimmy rigged that door so that it would remain open that you could pull it open from the outside
00:57:39
gaining access to the store from the back but it was positioned in a way that persons from the inside it would not be
00:57:47
obvious to them that the door was not closed not latched not locked right possible
00:57:54
however this begs the question well then why didn't the perpetrator take that bag of
00:58:00
money because now if you have our Killers our attackers our robbers or or robbers and we're told that the Genesis
00:58:08
of everything that's about to happen starts from a planned robbery from these four young men
00:58:15
still boys at this time that they entered through the back with the main purpose of robbery and then went to the
00:58:22
front approached the girls and went to the register and started taking the till and money from the register the problem
00:58:30
with that is then why didn't they take that bag of money that was sitting underneath the register I don't think
00:58:36
that the robbers slash Killers ever saw that bag of money I think that the attack came from the other side of the
00:58:42
counter the girls were surprised and the girls were corralled into the back of the store to
00:58:50
where our Killers then discovered two additional girls or knew that they were already back there well this crime could
00:58:56
have been committed by one individual two individuals or or possibly more I think sometimes people lean to the fact
00:59:04
that there was four attackers involved because we have four victims I would actually lean towards less uh two
00:59:12
individuals even possibly one because if that back door is locked if you're in if
00:59:18
you're in that building before they lock that door with a weapon or with a gun you can easily control that situation
00:59:27
yes and there's evidence at the scene that will suggest that the number of attackers was either two or three
00:59:35
persons thank you so much more to get to meet us back here in the garage tomorrow and until then be
00:59:55
good be kind and don't litter foreign [Music]