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subject to credit approval C store or ashley.com for [Music] [Music] details [Music]
00:01:42
welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me
00:01:48
as always is a man that's living Life By the Drop ladies and gentlemen here is the captain that's right and you know I
00:01:54
like to Drop it like it's hot it's good to be seen and good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a
00:02:03
[Music] friend this week we are very excited to be drinking best made sour pickle beer
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brewed in the big beautiful state of Texas by the brilliant Brewers and crew over at Martin house Brewing Company
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Captain this week's case takes us back to Texas Austin Texas once again and when we were in Austin several fine
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wonderful listeners said to us hey while you guys are here you have have to try best made sour pickle beer from Martin
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house and these fantastic people were spot on it's not really sour well no more sour than pickle juice would be you
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get a refreshing burst of pickle taste that has kind of an ale or pilsner finish garage grade this one's for the
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people 4 and 1/2 bottle caps out of five and here's who are friends that filled up the fridge for us this week first up
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a shout out to Kim and Brie in Splendora Texas and a big we like your to Brook in
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Hillyard Ohio and here's a longdistance cheers to Stacy in Ron Washington she's Thanking us for helping her through
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quarantine quarantine more like borantine and a big shout out to tasa and good old Wisconsin next we have
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Rebecca in Pompton Lakes New Jersey and last but certainly not least we have a very big cheers and thanks that goes out
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to longtime friend of the show Paula M everyone we just mentioned they went to True Crim garage.com and clicked on the
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Donate button and for that we thank you yeah say it with me BW R you and beer run if you're trying to get a special
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gift for a Lov one for Christmas go to our store Page at true Crim garage.com and that is enough of the business all
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right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime
00:04:05
[Music] in the early 1990s several Unforgettable Billboards were popping up in and around
00:04:22
Austin Texas these Billboards were not put up with the purpose of advertising for a great restaurant located at the
00:04:30
next exit off of Texas Highway 130 and these Billboards didn't stare at the passing cars to influence your next
00:04:37
cable provider Choice the only purpose for these Unforgettable Billboards screamed their mission loud and clear
00:04:46
with bold white letters all in caps set on a red background who killed these girls this
00:04:56
was the question on the minds of every red-blooded Texan possibly minus one two or who knows how many for sure because
00:05:05
somewhere maybe in the Lone Star State or across state lines maybe even South of the
00:05:11
Border someone or someone's know the answer to that question who killed these girls the question posted on the
00:05:22
Billboards centered just below what looks to be four School photos the pictures are of Amy a
00:05:30
Jennifer Harbison Sarah Harbison and Eliza Thomas these are the four victims of an
00:05:37
Infamous crime known as the yogurt shop murders the four girls ranged in age from 13 to
00:05:45
17 the yogurt shop murders are a still unsolved quadruple homicide taking place at the local I Can't Believe It's Yogurt
00:05:55
Shop on a Friday night in Austin Texas the crimes committed that night were many they were fast and they were brutal
00:06:04
these girls were killed on December 6th 1991 the unknown as salent or asants started a fire in the stock room of the
00:06:13
yogurt shop before fleeing into the night an on duty patrolman noticed the fire it was close to midnight he rushed
00:06:21
to the smoke coming from the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt located in a strip Plaza 2949 West Anderson l
00:06:30
he called it in to dispatch firefighters arrived on the scene and began knocking the fire down
00:06:37
once they entered the small Northwest Austin yogurt shop one firefighter motioned to the other pointing to a
00:06:45
charred foot and then they started finding bodies Austin police were called and the lone homicide detective working
00:06:54
that night got the call that no one wants to receive even the most seasoned of detectives two fatalities suspected
00:07:04
arson suspected homicide looks like gunshot wounds the dispatcher called out over the police radio APD Sergeant Jon
00:07:13
Jones was in route minutes later the dispatcher tells Jones they found another body and as he drives closer a
00:07:22
cop at the scene radioed Jonesy make that for on the scene Jones got to work the following is from the 2016 Beverly
00:07:33
Lowry book titled who killed these girls ignoring the firefighters who either milled around or just stood there
00:07:42
looking down Jones stepped gingerly around the bodies having been schooled in evidence collection and processing he
00:07:51
felt competent to handle 95% of most crime scenes but this one lie well beyond his expertise in a memo to the
00:08:00
district attorney's office he will describe the situation as robbery plus sexual assault plus multiple child
00:08:09
victims plus bondage plus gunshot wounds plus fire heat smoke water damage plus no known Witnesses equal the homicide
00:08:21
arson and DA's worst nightmare this is true crime garage and this is a new look at the yogurt shop
00:08:30
murders case 30 years [Music] later later this week will Mark 30 years since some kind of monster or Monsters
00:08:55
committed the horrific yogurt shop murders and and the Austin Police Department and the FBI are still on the
00:09:02
hunt for those responsible some of the following was taken from a recent reporting texas.com article the four
00:09:10
teenage girls were brutally murdered on a Friday night at a yogurt shop in North
00:09:14
Austin in December of 1991 the girls families and those who worked decades trying to find and
00:09:21
prosecute their Killers say the 30th anniversary of their murders approaches with no sense of closure the murders
00:09:28
remain unsolved and experts say that crimes lacking resolution can leave a psychological impact on an entire
00:09:36
Community but new state and federal efforts as well as a promising DNA lead have brought renewed Hope For answers
00:09:45
and Justice the details of the crime including the subsequent investigation and criminal trials that followed have
00:09:52
been well documented Jennifer Harbison and Eliza Thomas both 17 worked at at the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt on West
00:10:02
Anderson Lane Jennifer's Sister Sarah Harbison 15 and Amy airs 13 arrived at the yogurt shop around closing time on
00:10:11
December 6th 1991 with plans to attend a sleepover together Amy was an eighth grader at
00:10:19
Bernett middle school and the other girls attended laner high school they were shot in the head and gagged with
00:10:25
their own clothes their bodies were stacked on top top of one another before being set on fire authorities arrested
00:10:33
four suspects but this was almost 8 years later in October of 1999 only two of the four Robert Burns
00:10:42
Springsteen and Michael James Scott stood trial and both were convicted Springsteen received the death penalty
00:10:49
and Scott got life in prison but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned their convictions ruling that
00:10:56
their confessions were improperly used against each other at trial Springstein and Scott were released from prison and
00:11:04
prosecutors dismissed all charges against them in 2017 another potential breakthrough
00:11:10
emerged an Austin detective submitted DNA evidence found in one of the victims into a database that searches yst DNA
00:11:20
samples a type of DNA profile that forensic investigators use to identify male relatives of suspects a match was
00:11:29
found the Austin Police Department requested more information about the identity of the matching donor but the
00:11:37
FBI has refused to release any information saying a federal statute prohibits it from disclosing identities
00:11:45
of anonymous donors despite these hurdles the families have continued to work to keep the case in the Forefront
00:11:53
their efforts have led to new crime fighting initiatives at the state and federal levels quote when I heard there
00:12:01
were over 19,000 unsolved homicides in Texas I was really taken aback by that and I think most people are when they
00:12:10
hear that number when you think about each of those cases there's a family associated with that said Mindy Montford
00:12:19
who was the first assistant district attorney for Travis County and one of the prosecutors assigned to the yogurt
00:12:25
shop murders case for 4 years the yogurt shop murders LED Montford to work with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to
00:12:33
form the state Cold Case and missing persons unit on October 19th the unit will Aid and support law
00:12:41
enforcement agencies across the state in the investigation and prosecution of Unsolved cases Montford serves as senior
00:12:50
councel for the unit Angie and Shan SS the brother of the youngest victim sit on its advisory committee the yogurt
00:12:59
shop victims families have been pushing to affect change on a national level in May of
00:13:06
2021 the bipartisan homicide victims families Rights Act was reintroduced US Representative Mike
00:13:15
McCall said quote if a case has been cold for 3 years it gives the victims the right to petition the local district
00:13:22
attorney to reexamine the cold case and take another look at it it's very much empowering to the the families of the
00:13:30
victims and particularly the case like the yogurt shop killings many remember the yogurt shop murders as a defining
00:13:37
moment in Austin which was about half its current size and not yet a tech or tourist Hub the 30th anniversary of the
00:13:45
yogurt shop murders brings up painful memories for those who tried to solve the crime Austin Police Sergeant JN
00:13:53
Jones who was the lead investigator assigned to the case at the time of the murders said quote there's no statute of
00:14:01
limitations on murder then there shouldn't be any limitation on doing what one can to try to get it solved and
00:14:08
that sometimes means having to relive that pain and answer questions my theory is if me talking about it to you or
00:14:17
anybody else can jog somebody's memory out there to perhaps get this thing solved then it's worth reliving that
00:14:24
night the girls families believe that the case will be solved and we here in the garage hope so as well we covered
00:14:32
this case rather extensively in early 2017 in True Crime garage episodes 81 and 82 now you don't need to stop these
00:14:41
episodes and go back these episodes with this information and Nick's research will stand on its own yeah just know
00:14:48
that this week's shows will be different from those episodes and they are there to listen to should you want to hear the
00:14:55
case as it were back in early 2017 then Captain we gave a detailed description of the events and the facts
00:15:04
of the case followed by the arrest of four persons nearly 8 years later two were convicted because they air quotes
00:15:12
here confessed and the two others saw their charges dropped due to a lack of evidence Rob Springsteen and Michael
00:15:19
James Scott as we said both went to prison Rob sentenced to death Michael to life imprisonment they both confessed
00:15:27
that they along with Maurice Pierce and Forest wilborne went to rob the store and killed all four girls the strange
00:15:35
thing here is obvious the two that ended up with charges dropped due to insufficient evidence did not confess
00:15:43
yet if we were to believe that the confessions of the two that the state convicted are correct well then all four
00:15:51
are guilty of the yogurt shop murders so to me Captain I've always felt like this
00:15:57
should be an all or nothing situation for these four suspects absolutely it's almost as if the prosecution didn't
00:16:04
believe law enforcement's confessions that they received now when we covered the case we spent a lot of time covering
00:16:12
the case against these four individuals the two trials and later their release we won't spend a lot of time on that
00:16:20
this time around we also covered some other good suspects and spent a lot of time on what is most likely the best
00:16:27
theory out there so as you can see this is a rather large case not a short True Crime Story at all and Captain I like
00:16:35
the cut of our jib because I think those episodes were really well done and we told as much of the story as you can in
00:16:42
just two episodes and now as we are approaching the 30-year marker well this is a really good time to revisit the
00:16:50
yogurt shop Let's dive into the facts of this case and the timeline that goes with it we're going to include some
00:16:56
angles theories and leads that perhaps were not pursued as doggedly as the four men that were arrested who were just
00:17:03
teenagers themselves at the time of the murders yes but first some background information Bryce Foods is the company
00:17:10
that owns the icby store I Can't Believe It's Yogurt store and they own dozens of
00:17:16
them Bryce Foods by 1991 had been in business for 14 years and the Bryce Foods firm was started by brother and
00:17:24
sister Bill and Julie Bryce from Dallas in 197 7 Bryce Foods purchased existing yogurt shops I'm not sure Captain if
00:17:33
this location is one of their original stores as said they owned many this location though we know that by 1991 has
00:17:41
been around for years and only two of the four girls that were killed worked there one of the victims 17-year-old
00:17:49
Eliza Thomas started working there in early 1991 it's either January or early February and her friend Sarah Harbison
00:17:59
started working there in July of 1991 the two were friends and they both attended the same high school well since
00:18:06
we've been doing this for 5 years it seems like every time around December when it starts and you start filling
00:18:14
that Christmas holiday there's a couple cases that always come to mind obviously
00:18:18
the John Benet Ramsey case and then this case happening on December 6th 1991 at 6:30 p.m. Eliza drives home and
00:18:29
is getting ready to make her drive to the icby store she was there by 700 p.m. she worked the night before and was said
00:18:38
that she had a difficult shift that night before due to a prank phone call from her exboyfriend Roger cardui and
00:18:46
one of his Pals so at 700 p.m. Eliza is replacing another employee Jorge Barney is closing his
00:18:56
store mind you this is like a shopping plaza so they're we're going to reference some other stores that are
00:19:03
nearby throughout this case and timeline Jorge Barney is closing his store the party house he's the owner of the store
00:19:11
he's owned it for three months at this time he has a Santa on the roof because this is a you know the party house is
00:19:18
where you're going to go get decorations and things for party planning and such and with the Christmas holiday coming up
00:19:25
he's got Santa on the roof and other decorations going on he walks three stores down to another store this is
00:19:33
called Mr Gaddy and he says that he went there to get some pizza it's a pizza place from there he will take his pizza
00:19:40
to go back to his store in his office to eat and do some bookkeeping and watch some TV he's important because his
00:19:48
office shares a wall with the stock room at the icby shop Eliza once she arrives
00:19:55
and she gets into work she places her personal belonging belongings in the store's office which is located in the
00:20:01
back of the store in the area we will refer to as the stock room this stock room is the room behind the sales
00:20:08
counter which is located in the dining room the stock room has a walk-in cooler two bathrooms one designated as men's
00:20:16
and the other as ladies and the Shop's small office in this back corner the office has a locked door and a floor
00:20:24
safe there is a back door to the shop which is located near the door to the office from my understanding captain
00:20:33
that back door to the store is locked via deadbolt and the manager has the only key to this back door that's key to
00:20:45
know because this back door is not used often when the manager with the key is not there because this case is so
00:20:53
perplexing it's been investigated by several detec Ives and several crime shows so I will post all the pictures
00:21:04
that I think are relevant to see in the outside of the building and there's also
00:21:09
a couple diagrams of inside the building obviously we'll post those on social media at True Crime garage Twitter
00:21:17
Facebook or even at the website and the captain's really doing everybody a big service by doing that because I think
00:21:23
it's important here as is in most cases but in this case it's particularly important to understand the layout of
00:21:32
the store because we will be talking about the movements of not only suspects but our victims as well well and anybody
00:21:39
that's worked at a shop knows that you have Closing Time duties that you start preparing even though customers are
00:21:47
still in the store so I think that becomes very important in this case yes we're going to want to keep an eye on
00:21:53
several things the events leading up to that closing time as well as those closing duties like you just pointed out
00:21:59
as well as the customers that are coming and going from the shop leading up to closing time now after placing her
00:22:07
personal belongings in the yogurt Shop's locked office Eliza will then return the
00:22:12
office door key to its designated location which is under the cash register later Eliza Thomas's personal
00:22:22
belongings will be found inside the locked office Eliza at this point in our timeline Captain she is going to be
00:22:31
running the store by herself until 8:00 p.m. this is when her shift mate Jennifer Harbison arrives for the
00:22:39
closing shift before arriving at the shop for her 800 p.m. shift Jennifer Harbison will drive her sister Sarah age
00:22:47
15 and her friend Amy SS age 13 to the North Cross mall so they can hang out with some friends we should also note
00:22:56
for those not familiar with Austin the North Cross mall is relatively close to the yogurt shop I believe it's less than
00:23:04
one mile from the yogurt shop note their ages as well 13 and 15 right one of the
00:23:12
parents would later say that this was the first time that the two good friends were allowed to go to the mall by
00:23:20
themselves I think we all can look back and remember one of those days right when you're a young teenager and maybe
00:23:30
it's the first time that you and a friend are allowed to go somewhere without any type of adult
00:23:35
supervision and you're you're going to the location being driven by your friend's older brother or older sister
00:23:42
who's dropping you off it feels very adultlike right it feels very special to those at that time and I'm sure that's
00:23:51
how Amy and Sarah felt on this Friday night yeah I remember being dropped off at the cinema and
00:23:58
being able to play a couple arcade games before we watch the movie but you're basically just going into a building
00:24:07
watching a movie and coming out it was more rare if they would let you walk around and look at different multiple
00:24:15
shops Jennifer does everything that we just said and then she arrives at the icby store just before her 800 p.m.
00:24:23
shift she Parks her vehicle next to Eliza Thomas's vehicle Eliza will be running the register and
00:24:30
Jennifer will be taking and filling orders the store closes at 11: p.m. Bryce Foods the company has a pretty
00:24:40
detailed closing procedures for the employees and this is important here because of these closing duties and
00:24:48
Jennifer harbison's and Eliza Thomas' work ethic we will get a really good idea of when things went down and how
00:24:57
things may have gone down this is because everyone has stated that Eliza and Jennifer carried out the closing
00:25:05
duties 28 completing each task in the very specific order designated by the Bryce
00:25:13
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back if you're not signed up on the mailing list make sure you go to True Crime garage.com and sign up on the the
00:27:57
mailing list and the next week or so we'll be sending out a nice little promo code for the store page so if you're not
00:28:05
signed up get signed up today all the cool kids are doing it yes cheers to you Captain cheers all right Colonel why
00:28:14
don't you go through a list of the closing duties the yogurt shop closes at 11:00 p.m. so starting at 10 till 11 the
00:28:23
person's working that night they will lock the front door from the inside then they will change the sign from open to
00:28:31
closed and they will leave the key in the lock in the door this is done at this time regardless if there are any
00:28:40
remaining customers in the store or not then they would deposit the money in the
00:28:45
floor safe that is in the locked office and then clean up the store when the store is completely clean they would
00:28:53
remove the key that's in the front door leave through the front door door then they would lock the door from the
00:29:00
outside place the key inside of an envelope and then slide that envelope under the front door the manager with a
00:29:09
key to the store opens the store in the morning and then retrieves the envelope and the key when they arrive let's get
00:29:17
into some of the icby customer testimonials and some of the events that we know happened that night we have
00:29:25
customer Lucilla Jones who arrives at the yogurt shop and says that when she entered the store she noticed two
00:29:32
teenage boys seated at the table nearest the door they were approximately between
00:29:38
the ages of 14 and 17 and she says they had a sort of hippie look to them she describes one of them as being between
00:29:47
5'4 and 5' 7 in tall with medium dark hair 130 to 140 lb possibly Hispanic or Ang
00:29:58
she does not see the face of the other so no description of him is given other than he looks to be older and larger
00:30:06
than the other boy that she just described she would give three different descriptions of the table throughout the
00:30:13
course of the events there will be a trial in the last 30 years one of these descriptions says that the boys were
00:30:21
focusing in on something that may have been a paper bag centered on the table a another description that she gives says
00:30:29
that she did not see any containers on the table and then the third description says she did not have a clear view of
00:30:37
the table itself she says that these boys gave her an uneasy feeling and she didn't think that the boys fit the quote
00:30:45
normal yogurt shop customers she orders a yogurt and pays by check and then leaves the store now we are at 900 p.m.
00:30:55
here Captain this is this is when Jennifer Harbison leaves the yogurt shop she has to go back and pick up her
00:31:02
sister Sarah and her friend Amy from their visit to the mall when the three return Sarah and Amy walk over to Mr
00:31:12
gaddy's to get some pizza the mall closed at 9900 p.m. and Mr gaddy's closes at 10 p.m. so we are very
00:31:20
confident with the times that are provided here at 9:30 p.m. Maria Thomas Eliza's mother arrives at the yogurt
00:31:28
shop Eliza takes a phone call from her younger sister and at some point gives the phone to her mother Amy and Sarah
00:31:36
then arrive at the yogurt shop with their takeout pizza shortly after this Jennifer is going to receive a phone
00:31:43
call from her boyfriend Samy Buchanan around the same time a man named Daryl Croft arrives at the yogurt shop he puts
00:31:52
his arrival time between 9:30 and 10 p.m. he is traveling with two women who stay in croft's vehicle Croft goes into
00:32:01
to order to go desserts for all three of them he says that when he walks into the
00:32:06
yogurt shop he sees two girls working behind the counter Maria again this is Eliza's mother is
00:32:14
standing near the counter there's a man and a woman reviewing the menu standing in front of the counter a young couple
00:32:22
is seated at one of the booths on the right hand side of the dining room and there's a young man in a green army type
00:32:30
jacket this young man is near the counter and near the couple reviewing the menu right he later would describe
00:32:38
this young man as early to mid 20s medium build 150 to 170 lb between 5' 10 and 6' tall and Caucasian he says there
00:32:50
was something off about this man there are two differing descriptions of what this man says and does while in the
00:32:57
store one in Beverly Lowry's book who killed these girls and another in the book murdered Innocents by Corey
00:33:05
Mitchell both of these books are very thorough and very good anyone that is fascinated by this case should read both
00:33:13
of them but rather than ordering the young man says to Croft you go first and then there is this weird awkward
00:33:22
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
00:33:29
sorry you were here before me but it's like Andy and Dwight in that episode where they just kept doing each other
00:33:35
favors over and over again it's weird to me that he has an uneasy feeling from this gentleman that's letting him go
00:33:43
first the guy in the Army jacket is obviously not in a rush and obviously trying to be polite well I think what we
00:33:51
need to keep in mind here is we are reviewing all of these customers and their statements
00:33:57
after the fact and they're giving these statements to police after the murders occurred so I'm thinking what we have
00:34:05
here captain in most of these situations is people are going about their everyday
00:34:10
lives these are all very routine acts uh this Daryl Croft individual he was a regular at the yogurt shop a lot of the
00:34:18
customers coming in that night were regulars to this yogurt shop and so I think when you have regulars one they
00:34:25
seem to notice more that's going on because they're aware that you know this visit's a little different than last one
00:34:32
this time they're really busy this time they're not right I don't think that most of these people are walking into
00:34:39
the yogurt shop that night observing what's going on and going oo something something terrible is here I feel I I
00:34:46
sense a presence a bad element something's Brewing I think that it's you know we know what happened and when
00:34:52
I left or later that night or now that I know the outcome now now that I know that four girls were killed
00:34:59
here I remember this guy something was off about him something was weird about this guy and we're looking for somebody
00:35:07
who killed four people and so here is my information and Daryl Croft again he's a
00:35:13
regular to the yogurt shop he was a security guard at the time he owned a security company a lot of times these
00:35:21
individuals will be hyper Vigilant they will be extra aware of their surroundings and take mental note of
00:35:30
their surroundings so he to me can offer up possibly some better information than maybe just the average
00:35:39
Jane or Joe walking into the shop that night well he's coming in like you said between 9:30 and 10: so this is getting
00:35:47
close to closing time my big issue is that it's December 6th yes I understand that it's in Texas but seems like
00:35:57
there's quite a bit of pockets of people seems like there's quite a bit of people
00:36:03
towards the end of the day yeah so you're going to have this for several reasons one it's a Friday night and the
00:36:10
yogurt shop is open till 11: p.m. yeah good point so this is going to offer up traffic to this store when other stores
00:36:20
are closing for the night remember we already pointed out that Mr gaddy's the pizza place closes at 10:00 well the
00:36:25
mall closes at 9:00 mall closes at 9:00 so we have customers that are coming in maybe from Mr gaddy's after Pizza they
00:36:32
want a little dessert they want the yogurt shop dessert maybe people are leaving a movie we have several
00:36:39
customers that we know went to movies that night and decided to get a dessert on the way home a lot of these customers
00:36:45
too you're going to see some stay there to eat their frozen treats at the shop but also a lot of them are taking things
00:36:55
to go MH they're going in placing their order paying for them and they're leaving and that's what Daryl Croft was
00:37:01
doing here that night I think I have in my notes here and I can't remember where
00:37:06
I got this from but I think that he he and these other people they were they were either out that night and decided
00:37:13
to stop for dessert or he knew Eliza Thomas and Eliza Thomas's mother as well so that's interesting too
00:37:22
that he knows some of the people in the store when he's walking into it uh he knows them very very Loosely they're
00:37:30
like acquaintances because they went to the same gym so darl Croft again a regular to the shop
00:37:37
security guard security company owner remember we said that there will be trials because we know that two
00:37:44
individuals were con convicted in this case and later they were released but at the trial Croft
00:37:53
testified that he visited the shop around 10 p.m. that night in line in front of him was a suspicious looking
00:37:59
man dressed in a green army jacket the man asked him about his security guard car which was parked out front this is
00:38:08
part of that weird exchange where this man sees croft's vehicle and says you know what are you some kind of cop right
00:38:16
which Croft that kind of tickled his spidey sense a little bit because he's like why is this
00:38:22
guy so observant and paying so much attention to me and my vehicle and my vehicle has these lights on it who is
00:38:31
this kid to question me and so the man asked him about his security guard car which was parked out front and then
00:38:38
insisted that Croft should cut in front of him now finally Croft said that the man slipped into the back headed to what
00:38:47
he thought would be the bathroom this is another reason why I think Croft has a vivid memory of this
00:38:56
guy he walks into a busy yogurt shop sees all these customers and this is the only individual that he's going to see
00:39:04
go into the back room now remember the restrooms are back there so that's the assumption that Croft is going to make
00:39:10
well also it seems like there's pairs of people and we don't know if this Army shirt or Army jacket guy is connected to
00:39:20
the couple that he was closest to it almost seems like he's in there by him self yes everything that goes on would
00:39:30
give the appearance that this man is in there by himself so crof says that the man gave him such a funny feeling that
00:39:37
he decided to kind of stick around like linger a bit to see the man return from the back room but eventually you know
00:39:46
he's handed his three desserts that he's ordered he's paid he's made some chitchat tried to hang out a little bit
00:39:52
but eventually Croft will leave now Croft could not identify the suspicious man he saw as
00:40:01
being any of the four suspects that were later arrested and two convicted MH that's
00:40:08
quite interesting to me Croft is sure that he was there at 10 p.m. based off of his testimony and later when shown
00:40:16
pictures of the four guys that were arrested Maurice Michael Robert and forc again Croft does not match the
00:40:23
suspicious person to any of the four now from the book who killed these girls Croft says of green army jacket man his
00:40:32
voice was deep clear and distinctive and that he has a long pointy nose Army jacket man then ordered a seven up and
00:40:41
Eliza explains that they only have Sprite and so he orders a Sprite this before dipping into the back room with
00:40:49
the assumption that he went to the restroom right at 10 p.m. James Thomas this is Eliza Thomas's father stops by
00:40:57
the yogurt shop and says that he sees all four girls there in the store at that time is he stopping by just to
00:41:04
check in on his kids you know sometimes that happens where your parents just drop in on you at work when you're a
00:41:10
teenager or is he getting yogurt this I don't know I do know that both he and his wife stopped by that night his wife
00:41:19
was there just minutes before I think they're traveling separate and I don't know if James was in the process of
00:41:25
picking up Eliza's younger sister who had called earlier that night I think that there
00:41:33
was some chance here captain that Eliza's sister was going to find her way to the yogurt shop and maybe one of the
00:41:40
parents or both of the parents were going to retrieve her there but they very likely stopped in as customers and
00:41:48
to see their daughter at 10:42 p.m. Eliza Thomas rings in the last purchase of the night okay underl that make
00:41:57
mental note don't forget 10:42 p.m. Eliza rings in the last purchase of the night yeah 18 minutes before closing we
00:42:06
have our customers names this is Tim Striker and Margaret Sheen they will later say that when they get there they
00:42:13
notice only two other customers in the store so by this point in our timeline right we have James Thomas we have the
00:42:22
security guard man Daryl Croft all these people have left the store by this time
00:42:29
by this point we have two coming in two customers coming in Tim Striker and Margaret Sheen they say that when they
00:42:35
arrived in the store they only noticed two other customers in the store at that time and they would later describe them
00:42:43
as large people in hooded jackets sitting in the last booth on the left this is the booth nearest the cash
00:42:53
register they said that they saw Eliza by behind the counter she's the one that took and fulfilled their order right and
00:43:00
they see Jennifer cleaning the dining room she's wiping tables refilling napkin holders and placing chairs on the
00:43:08
tables Margaret Sheen does not get a good look at these two customers the two that are described as large people in
00:43:17
hooded jackets now I'm assuming they're just they have hoods on their jackets but their hoods are not up this
00:43:24
description I'm giving Captain is the best one that I have found it's it's extremely vague and limited but I
00:43:32
actually think given some other things that I've seen along the way that that potentially they have these hoods up
00:43:40
that they're wearing the hoods because that's pretty suspicious so Margaret Sheen does not get a good look at these
00:43:46
two customers in fact she says that she's not even certain of the gender for either but based off of their size she
00:43:55
believes that they were both males she says one was larger than the other and the larger
00:44:02
one was wearing a khaki or beige colored padded jacket the other man if it was a
00:44:09
man the other large person let's say was thinner with light brown hair she does not remember seeing any food or drink or
00:44:18
containers on the table where the two were sitting Margaret says that she and Tim left the store
00:44:26
and when they did she looked at her watch and it was 10:47 p.m. so it took him 5 minutes to
00:44:34
place their order get their yogurt they sat down briefly and then decided to take their desserts with them but 5
00:44:40
minutes being in a store where when there's only four individuals working and only two customers other than you
00:44:48
and your date that's a long time to get a perspective of what's happening and to
00:44:56
kind of sense what's going on with inside that shop that's right and note again the time she says was 10:47 p.m.
00:45:03
when they left we also have when it comes to a lot of these customers well all of them anyone that ordered
00:45:10
something and paid for something we will have the register tape later that's going to kind of give us a timeline of
00:45:17
some events as well but we don't know if these two large individuals had any dessert with them or any all we know is
00:45:25
that they at a booth they're at a table it it doesn't mean that they're eating anything exactly in fact we have
00:45:32
Margaret who says one I didn't get a good look at him right here's what I do remember and goes out of her way to say
00:45:41
I don't remember seeing any food drink or containers on their table well and this would be like you said 3 minutes
00:45:48
they're leaving 3 minutes before they're going to go put that key in that door and and lock the door Yes again this is
00:45:54
10:47 pm. M and she says that when she and Tim left the two people sitting in the booth nearest the cash register were
00:46:03
still in the store Margaret says when she arrived and when she left that she noticed a green car in the parking
00:46:13
lot this green car is a tricky little piece of information as we don't know if this is a suspect vehicle right or a car
00:46:23
with no real significance to the Murders At All You tricky little piece of [ __ ]
00:46:30
or if it was one of the girls Vehicles because we know that Eliza drove a bright green Carmen Gia right this is a
00:46:38
pisser here captain and in my opinion a bit of a stumble in the investigation because we can't say if this is a
00:46:46
suspect car or a lies or a vehicle that has nothing to do with the murders at all well but maybe law enforcement knows
00:46:52
and they just haven't shared that information with the public this thing went to trial twice right there's that's
00:46:59
your time to share information with the public when you're going to sentence a man to death and another to life
00:47:06
imprisonment let's lay out the facts of the case yeah but they also charge two individuals that confessed that all four
00:47:14
people were involved and they only charged two people here here's a stumble in the case in my opinion because if if
00:47:20
we truly are still on the hunt for the individuals responsible for these murders
00:47:26
yeah this could be important information again I don't think until we have somebody locked up in the proper person
00:47:34
convicted that we will know for certain if the suspect drove or suspect drove a or suspects drove a green vehicle that
00:47:44
night but the reason why I say that it's a stumble is we could at least eliminate
00:47:50
one possibility and one possibility is that it's Eliza's bright green car Gia a Carmen Gia is a unique looking
00:48:00
vehicle I would have shown Margaret a picture of el Li's Carmen Gia and at the very least try to confirm or rule out
00:48:08
that as a possibility well I agree with you because that makes the most logical sense now we don't know Captain what
00:48:14
happens in the next 3 minutes so our two customers left at 10:47 they say that there are two male customers left in the
00:48:22
store sitting at that Booth nearest to the cash register at the time that they left we don't know
00:48:28
if these men left or if these men stayed there and are responsible for the four murders what we do know is within the
00:48:37
next hour that's 60 minutes all four of the teenage girls will be killed yeah so
00:48:46
for the next 60 Minutes a lot of horrible shit's going to happen one thing we don't know for
00:48:53
certain but can assume based off of manager and co-worker statements Eliza and Jennifer followed the closing
00:49:00
procedures to a te and add to that equation that the two workers are teens right it's late on a Friday night
00:49:10
they're going to want to get everything done and get out of there with the quickness so according to the closing
00:49:17
duties the girls would have at 10 till 11:00 locked the front door from the inside whether or not the store was void
00:49:27
of customers and then flipped the sign from open to close and then continued with their closing duties now our
00:49:35
customers that left at 10:47 did not say that they saw the two younger girls they
00:49:41
only said that they saw the two older girls that were working at the shop that night it's
00:49:48
presumed that Amy and Sarah went to the back room we assume this for two reasons
00:49:55
one it was understood that Sarah would be helping her older sister with the closing duties that night in exchange
00:50:03
for Jennifer driving her and Amy around Amy was scheduled to ride home with the Harbison sisters and stay the night at
00:50:12
their house that night the second reason is later at the crime scene the Mr gadd's Pizza Box is found in the back
00:50:22
room at 11:03 p.m. a no sale was rang in on the register anyone who has worked a register is
00:50:32
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
00:50:41
up so this would be recorded on the register and as we said when we covered this case four years ago it's believed
00:50:50
that this may be the start of the robbery and the start of the horrible events to to come well there's a lot of
00:50:56
evidence where we could go through and and talk about what we think could have happened but let's go through some more
00:51:03
events that we know for sure happen Okay at 11:47 p.m. rookie Austin PD officer Troy gay reports seeing smoke coming
00:51:13
from the rear of the icby store at 11:53 the first truck arrives from the Austin
00:51:20
fire department the response time note is 6 minutes which is long than normal here but at first it looks like they
00:51:28
were going to the wrong address and then the address was corrected on the call while in Route 1 minute later a second
00:51:35
fire engine and then at 11:57 p.m. another fire engine arrives in total captain we're going to have nearly 50
00:51:44
firefighters on scene that will respond to this call yeah later when the bodies are found they will also find Jennifer
00:51:52
harbison's Timex watch not on her she took this off when she and the others were ordered to strip by their Killers
00:52:02
her watch stopped marking the time at 11:48 p.m. when the watch quit working because of the fire now some other
00:52:11
things were found as well that helped to fill in the blanks for us as to what actually happened from
00:52:19
1103 to the time that the firefighters are on the scene so a couple of things here Captain one someone started to
00:52:28
clean out the yogurt dispensers but did not finish one of the girls was wiping the counter but did not finish right a
00:52:36
can of Coca-Cola and a cup of ice is later found on the counter the booth where Margaret Sheen
00:52:44
says the two men were sitting when she and Tim Striker left the yogurt shop at 10:47 p.m. is the only table in the
00:52:52
store's front of the house that does not have have a chair on it the chair is the
00:52:57
universal signal that the table has been cleaned stocked and closed yes this table has an empty napkin holder the
00:53:07
other tables have napkin holders that have been filled well that tells us something though right the other tables
00:53:13
have been cleaned restocked and closed so maybe not 100% but that could mean that these individuals were still in the
00:53:21
shop when the other duties were stopped possibly it tells us it tells us this that th those three items are all things
00:53:30
that should have been completed if they were able to finish their closing duties
00:53:35
right so whatever happened however it happened it took place before these three items could be closed out for the
00:53:44
night the yogurt dispensers were not finished being cleaned the counter was not finished being wiped down and that
00:53:50
table was not closed out for the night indicating either they didn't get to that table or as you said somebody was
00:53:58
sitting there which prevented them from getting to the table the fifth thing that I want to point out here is that
00:54:03
the register drawer was found open and the till removed the till was found on the floor in the back room next to Amy
00:54:12
A's body how much money was taken money taken is an interesting question because when reviewing this
00:54:21
case and reviewing the way that it was handled the investigation was handled it looks to me like robbery was the Genesis
00:54:31
of everything to come that's what they are telling us they being law enforcement and they being the
00:54:37
investigators that have worked this case from Jump Street to me I see something very different I see a situation where
00:54:46
money was involved and part of the crimes committed but I don't know if it's the Genesis I don't know if it's
00:54:53
where this whole attack and the whole nightmare began because when I'm looking at a picture of the crime
00:55:03
Scene It says next to the picture police discovered this register both open and empty with an open bag containing money
00:55:12
underneath so directly under the cash register visible to the naked eye is a bag that contains money that's just
00:55:21
sitting there it's still sitting there the next day while while investigators are going through the crime scene right
00:55:28
now one item that's also in the cash register that's visible again the register drawer is open the till has
00:55:34
been removed they will find the till along with scattered change next to the body of Amy SS in the stock room but you
00:55:42
can see a check that's still sitting in the register anybody that's operated a register knows that there are certain
00:55:49
items that you do not put in the till you put them underneath the till but inside the register drawer things get
00:55:55
really complicated here because I wouldn't expect a person in a robbery to want to grab a check take the check with them
00:56:05
and then later have to cash it somewhere especially when we know that the check is for a small amount this was a
00:56:12
customer check somebody that paid for their yogurt that night using a check well you didn't you say that one lady
00:56:18
paid for her yogurt her and her dates yogurt correct so there was checks left behind there was also a bag of money
00:56:26
underneath the cash register that was not even touched they did take some money and I have in my notes here and I
00:56:33
don't know where this information came from I was trying to track this down last night so I want everybody to take
00:56:39
this with a grain of salt but I have in my notes that $540 is what was determined to be
00:56:51
missing from that night again though one thing that this tells me is either cash is not the main
00:56:59
concern for the offenders or they didn't go around to the back of the counter because this bag of money and I
00:57:10
don't know how much money is in it but there's paper money that's visible at the top of this bag they didn't bother
00:57:16
to take that so either they didn't see it by going around to the back of the counter or money was not the main
00:57:24
concern for them yeah I agree later the detectives would review the closing duties with Bryce Foods company and this
00:57:31
is important here because as we said it's clear that they were not finished closing for the night the door may have
00:57:38
been locked the sales may have been done for the day but the girls were still working when whatever happened went down
00:57:47
now Bryce Foods is not trying to sway any type of opinion they're just simply trying to offer up an alternative here
00:57:56
and one being that the no sale button being pushed at 1103 may not have been the start of the robbery but could
00:58:06
simply have been the start of one of the girls closing out the register another thing that they offered up was that the
00:58:14
cocacola can and the cup of ice found on the counter could have belonged to one of the girls that after closing for the
00:58:22
night they decided to get themselves a drink and set this down on the counter and
00:58:28
then things got bad from there right I appreciate the additional information and the thoroughness of Bryce foods and
00:58:35
their involvement in the investigation but the problem with those two thoughts are a couple of things we
00:58:43
already mentioned the yogurt dispensers someone started cleaning them out but did not finish we also mentioned the
00:58:50
counter somebody was wiping down the counter but did not finish this to me indicates that we got two girls working
00:58:57
two girls trying to complete these closing duties and both of them are interrupted simultaneously so I think we
00:59:05
have a situation where very likely the 1103 pressing of the no sale key is probably the start of the robbery and
00:59:14
this probably took place shortly after one individual orders a Coca-Cola and a a cup of ice sets it down on the C girl
00:59:25
turns around gun in the face open up the register this is a robbery right from there they're probably going to Usher
00:59:32
all of the girls into the back and I say probably because we do not know we do not know the point of entry for the
00:59:39
attackers because at this point we have three possibilities one would be the front
00:59:47
door however the front door is locked so we can go ahead and cross that one out but if if our Killers came through the
00:59:56
front door that means they came through that front door before the girls locked it at 10: till 11: that night and that
01:00:01
means it was the two guys sitting in the booth or the states case against the four guys that they would later arrest
01:00:10
eight years later was that the killers came in through the back of the house through that back door that Robert
01:00:17
Springstein at some point went into the shop and wedged the back door open using
01:00:24
I think it was a empty pack of cigarettes and in his confession states that he Jimmy rigged that door so that
01:00:34
it would remain open that you could pull it open from the outside gaining access
01:00:38
to the store from the back but it was positioned in a way that persons from the inside it would not be obvious to
01:00:46
them that the door was not closed not latched not locked right this is still possible however
01:00:55
this begs the question well then why didn't the perpetrator take that bag of money because now if you have our
01:01:01
Killers our attackers are robbers are are robbers and we're told that the Genesis of everything that's about to
01:01:07
happen starts from a planned robbery from these four young men still boys at this time that they entered through the
01:01:17
back with the main purpose of robbery and then went to the front approached the girls and went to the register
01:01:25
and started taking the till and money from the register the problem with that is then why didn't they take that bag of
01:01:31
money that was sitting underneath the register I don't think that the robbers SLK Killers ever saw that bag of money I
01:01:39
think that the attack came from the other side of the counter the girls were surprised and the girls were coralled
01:01:46
into the back of the store to where our Killers then discovered two additional girls or knew that they were already
01:01:53
back there well well this crime could have been committed by one individual two individuals or or or possibly more I
01:02:00
think sometimes people lean to the fact that there was four attackers involved because we have four victims I would
01:02:08
actually lean towards less uh two individuals even possibly one because if that back door is locked if you're in if
01:02:17
you're in that building be before they lock that door with a weapon or with a gun you can easily control that
01:02:26
situation yes and there's evidence at the scene that will suggest that the number of attackers was either two or
01:02:33
three persons so much more to get to meet us back here in the garage tomorrow and
01:02:53
until then be good be kind and don't [Music] litter is it possible to predict the
01:03:34
unpredictable can 3D printed life-size organ models help to map out complex surgeries ahead of time is it possible
01:03:42
it already is right here Mayo Clinic you know where to go