Original subtitles

(solemn music)

- [Narrator] Amy Ayers, Sarah Harbison, Jennifer Harbison,

and Eliza Thomas, all heartfelt,

nature-loving teenagers were wonderful

and immeasurable young girls from Austin, Texas.

Their undying friendship and shared passion

for all living things was cut short by unsolved murders

in the waning hours of December 6th, 1991,

leaving all who knew them across the Texas Capitol

and the entire state-at-large grasping for answers

in a sea of evidence that drowned us all in doubt.

As a hope to provide more substantial reasoning,

built upon observable evidence and situational analysis,

this is an examination

of the 1991 Austin yogurt shop murders,

and the horrifying tragedy left

in the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt story.

This is Cold Case Detective.

(solemn music)

(country music)

The youngest of the four girls was Amy Leigh Ayers,

born on the final day of January in the winter of 1978.

She was quickly introduced

into the ranching culture and cowgirl lifestyle

that the open plains of Texas can inspire.

From a young age, she became obsessed with the outdoors

and all that Mother Nature had to offer,

finding a special affinity for animals,

and associating with them in her free time.

Her two major interests were fishing and horses,

falling in love with competition shows.

As young as three years old, Amy excelled in horse shows

across the state of Texas.

She even learned the art of cutting horses

in which a horse and its rider attempt to separate

a cow from its herd, and keep it singled out.

It was a fine, equestrian skill to master,

let alone for a young girl.

In short, Amy was born to be a horse whisperer.

These deep-rooted passions carried on

into her adolescent years as well.

When she wasn't hanging around the horse barn,

she was training her dogs new tricks, or making friends

with strangers' pets, withholding the uncanny ability

to attract animals on the fly, as if her energy

and spirit made them draw near.

She took this spirit wherever she went, whether it was

to the rodeo to support her brother, Shawn,

or to her meetings with the fellow yearbook staff

at Burnett Middle School.

After classes ended, Amy would venture

to Lanier High School's Junior Future Farmers of America,

where she served as vice president,

or to the Travis County Livestock Show where she would show

hogs, and join arts and crafts programs.

It was all prep for her master plan, as Amy dreamt

of one day owning horses on open farmland, while tending

to animals as a veterinarian.

With so much natural talent, we can be sure

that these dreams would have materialized had it not been

for that fateful final journey to the yogurt shop

with a friend in late 1991.

The next youngest victim,

Amy Ayers' aforementioned best friend, was

15-year-old Sarah Harbison, born on October 28th, 1976.

Sarah was the younger of two daughters

belonging to stepfather, Frank,

and birth mother Barbara Harbison.

In 1979, Barbara and her daughters moved to Austin,

and Sarah never looked back.

Much like her future best friend, Amy, Sarah displayed

a love for outdoor activities, and wielded

a competitive spirit at an early age.

She loved playing sports, especially basketball.

She just loved being a part of something, and forcing

herself to be better at whatever she set her mind on.

Sarah never slowed down either,

taking on as many activities as she could.

Alongside basketball, Sarah also joined

the cheerleading squad, and would cheer

directly after her own basketball game,

supporting the boys' teams too.

When she got into high school, she also excelled

on the freshmen volleyball squad too.

This hectic lifestyle didn't bother Mr. and Mrs. Harbison,

though, as they pushed Sarah to achieve greatness,

and follow her passions.

Thus, Sarah joined other organizations at school,

such as the Lanier FFA Chapter, and became a representative

on her high school's student council.

But her very favorite extracurricular activity,

showing sheep at local county fair competitions was shared

with her older sister, Jennifer, another victim

of the yogurt shop mystery.

Jennifer Harbison, the eldest child

of Barbara Harbison was born on May 9th, 1974,

two and a half years prior to Sarah.

She, her mother, and her sister had

an inseparable bond growing up.

In 1980, Barbara married Frank, and the family of three grew

to four, cemented with true happiness

and consistent support.

Through the support, Jennifer was much like

her younger sister in that she was encouraged

to live up to her imaginations.

She was short and petite, quick and clever,

but equally as confidence and athletic.

She loved to remain social at school, also channeling

most of her energy into sports,

and the Future Farmers of America program,

where she served as president of the local chapter,

and vice president of the district.

She led the sports fandom between her and Sarah,

playing T-ball as a youngster, before becoming

a stellar track and field star in high school.

She used her athletic abilities to ready herself

for a future career in rodeo barrel races,

the perfect dream for a girl with her interests.

Without a doubt, she and Sarah held many similarities

in their close relationship, their mother describing them

as wonderfully unique, faithful,

and most of all, mature for their age.

It was Jennifer's maturity that prodded Barbara to allow her

to work part time late-night shifts at a minimum wage job

at the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt Shop

so she could help pay for a navy blue Chevy S-10 truck

her birth father was wrangling for her.

In a heartbreaking twist, it was this innocent plan that led

into darkness after a few months on the job for Jennifer,

and her older coworker, Eliza Thomas.

Eliza Thomas was born on May 16th, 1974

in Travis County, Texas.

Her parents divorced when she was only a child,

but she remained tight-knit with her birth mother Maria,

and grew up with a younger sister, Sonora Thomas.

Like many of her friends and fellow mid-Texas natives,

Eliza was fond of country music and dancing.

When she became a teenager, Eliza and her best friend

at the time, Michelle would go out together to dance events.

Maria Thomas would tell reporter Dick Ellis

after the murders, that her favorite memories

of her late daughter were the times when Eliza

and Michelle would meet up before or after dancing,

get dressed up with nice clothes and makeup,

and laugh through the homemade photo shoots.

It was this youthful ritual that inspired Eliza to dream

of becoming a model someday, with her expertise

in beauty products a facet of her career goals.

When she wasn't collecting tubes of lipstick,

she was looking for the newest little knickknacks to add

to her miniature collection,

mostly made up of cats figurines.

Much like her friends, Jennifer, Sarah, and Amy,

she too loved animals,

and the Future Farmers of America program.

In fact, she used these activities to support

her modeling aspirations, selling the pigs she would show

at county competitions to fund her first modeling portfolio.

It was also a big reason why she also got a job

as the night shift closer at the local yogurt shop,

and sadly, why she passed away far too soon,

along with the three other innocent girls of Austin,

Texas in December of 1991.

Let's now turn to the timeline of events leading up

to the Austin yogurt shop murders.

(suspenseful music)

At around 4:30 PM on Friday, December 6th, 1991,

Barbara Harbison returns home from work to find

her youngest daughter, Sarah Harbison, sitting

on the couch, eating a snack.

Sarah informs her mother that she's going out that night

with her friend, Amy Ayers, and asks if Amy can spend

the night with them.

Barbara agrees, and tell Sarah she and Amy can get a ride

from her eldest daughter Jennifer Harbison to a mall

near Jennifer's work, and then a ride home

after her shift ends.

A few minutes later, Jennifer returns home from school

to prep for work.

Her mother and sister tell her of their plan,

and she happily agrees.

Sometime after 5:00 PM, Jennifer and Sarah depart

the Harbison household for the Austin shopping complex,

the last time Barbara sees her children.

Jennifer drops off Sarah and Amy at the mall,

and clocks in for the closing shift

at the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop

at 2949 W. Anderson Lane with her coworker, Eliza Thomas.

Over the next four hours or so, the night shift

at the yogurt shop operates as usual.

At around 10:00 PM, customers at the store report seeing

all the girls inside happy and acting normally.

This would be the last confirmed time that Eliza, Jennifer,

Sarah, and Amy seen alive.

Sometime within the next hour and 47 minutes,

assumed to be around 11:00 PM,

the four friends are entrapped at the yogurt store

by multiple assailants.

The offenders gag, sexually assault, and eventually murder

the girls in cold blood via gunshots to the head

with .22 caliber lead bullets.

They stack the bodies in the shop storeroom,

pour accelerants around the crime scene,

light it all on fire, and escape into the thick of night.

At exactly 611:47 PM the same night,

Austin Police Officer Troy Gay patrols

the Anderson line, north Austin area.

He spots a fire burning

at the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop,

and calls it in to his dispatcher.

Austin Police backup arrive on the scene,

and just after midnight on Saturday, December 7th,

authorities discover the dead bodies

of Eliza, Jennifer, Sarah, and Amy.

Eliza and Sarah are found with their wrists tied,

with Jennifer's unbound,

but her hands positioned behind her back.

Their corpses are nude, and charred

almost beyond recognition.

Amy's body is found in another section of the store,

a sock-like cloth tied around her neck,

with second degree burns on about 30% of her body.

It's theorized the bodies were stacked on top of each other,

with Amy escaping the pile, and crawling away

before being shot once more.

All the girls are presumed to have died before being burned.

A few days later on Monday, December 9th,

law enforcement confirms reports that there were

multiple people involved in the robbery turned homicide,

and there were no signs of forced entry,

and that the items used to tie up the four girls were

all found in the store that night.

The following day on Tuesday, December 10th,

the city of Austin, Texas grieves with the various parents

over the loss of their four children.

A funeral is held and it is attended by over 1,500 citizens.

On Thursday, December 12th,

state district Judge Jon Wisser seals the autopsy reports

to sustain the evidence's confidentiality,

and protect the investigation.

At North Cross Mall on Saturday, December 14th,

a man by the name of Maurice Pierce is arrested

for possession of a .22 caliber gun and bullets.

Austin Police Detective Hector Polanco brings him

into question in regards to the yogurt shop murders,

and Pierce eventually tells the detective that

his friend Forrest Welborn used the .22 gun

in the four girls' murders.

Despite this development, police report that they have

few leads on December 23rd, after a false confession

by an anonymous teenage girl

and her boyfriend are proven untrue.

To make matters worse, the Maurice Pierce tip is buried

in case files after the interrogating officer,

Detective Polanco is removed from the investigation

due to his dirty past in coercing false confessions

from suspects on March 23rd, 1992.

Seven months later in October, 1992,

the next best lead evaporates when Porfirio Villa Saavedra,

a suspect that Mexican police say confessed

to his involvements, recants his testimony,

telling American authorities

that Mexican federal agents tortured him into coercion.

Over the next three to four years, leads pour in

to the Austin Police Department, but no arrests are made,

and the yogurt shop murders quickly begin to devolve

into a tragic, cold case.

However, sometime at the end of 1996, or the beginning

of 1997, APD Detective Paul Johnson is newly assigned

to tackle the murders, and pulls

the old Maurice Pierce tip case file for closer inspection.

The testimony isn't acted upon until early 1999,

when forensic officers test Pierce's .22 caliber gun

against the crime scene evidence.

They find it does not match the weapon used

at the yogurt shop.

Nevertheless, police bring in one

of Maurice Pierce's alleged cohorts, Michael Scott

multiple times between September 9th and 14th, 1999.

After over 20 hours of intense interrogations,

Scott confesses to playing a role in the murders.

On September 15th, Austin police traveled to Charleston,

West Virginia, where they interview another alleged cohort,

Robert Burns Springsteen IV.

Springsteen is interrogated under scrutiny for five hours

before admitting to raping Amy Ayers,

and helping kill the others.

A couple of weeks later on October 5th, 1999,

Austin Judge Mike Lynch signs the arrest warrants

for Scott, Springsteen, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn.

They are officially arrested the following day

on October 6th for capital murder.

Later that year on December 1st, police collect

the four suspects' blood and DNA samples

for crime scene analysis.

Eight days later on December 9th, another judge rules

Pierce and Wellborn will be tried as adults,

despite being just 15 and 16.

On December 14th, Robert Springsteen is indicted

by a grand jury, followed by Michael Scott,

and Maurice Pierce on December 28th.

The district attorney, Ronnie Earle says he will seek

the death penalty for both Springsteen and Scott.

In another twist though, a different judge dismisses

the capital murder charge against Forrest Welborn

on June 30th, 2000 after a second jury fails to indict him.

Despite the lack of physical evidence against him,

prosecutors continue with their case

against Robert Springsteen in April of 2001.

At the conclusion of the trial, the jury finds

Springsteen guilty of murder, and in June of 2001,

Springsteen is sentenced to death.

16 months passed by, and a similar conclusion

to Michael Scott's trial is reached when he's found guilty

of murder on September 22nd, 2002, and sentenced

to life in prison on September the 24th.

However, a few months later on January 28th, 2003,

District Attorney Ronnie Earle asked for a dismissal

of the charges against Maurice Pierce, claiming

there wasn't enough evidence to convict him in the moment,

and Pierce is released after spending

over three years in prison.

It wouldn't be until three years later on May 30th, 2006,

when the Texas Court of Criminal appeals overturned

Springsteen's conviction, claiming that

the written confession of Michael Scott was improperly used

against Springsteen in his own testimony.

This exact same reasoning is used again on June 6th, 2007,

when the courts overturned Scott's conviction as well.

In a bombshell announcement by prosecutors

in the spring of 2008, they report that advances

in DNA technology have revealed that

a previous piece of undetected DNA

from an unknown male subject was discovered

on a vaginal swab taken from Amy Ayers' body.

This DNA profile does not match any

of the four original suspects.

This same DNA profile is found on the body of one

of the Harbison sisters in June of 2009,

and matches none of the over 100 suspects

the police have looked into thus far,

nor any of the forensic officers or medical personnel

who had dealt with the corpses

in the years since December, 1991.

Later that month on June 24th, 2009,

the DA's Office tells a Travis County judge that

they are no longer prepared for a retrial

against Michael Scott or Robert Springsteen

without the identity of the man to whom the new DNA belongs.

At 2:50 PM, the two men walk out of the courthouse

with their attorneys, finally free men.

In October of 2009, all charges are officially dropped

against Scott and Springsteen.

In the 11 plus years since the wrongful arrests

of Maurice Pierce, Forrest Welborn, Michael Scott,

and Robert Springsteen, and almost 19 years

since the tragic assaults and murders of Amy Ayers,

Sarah Harbison, Jennifer Harbison, and Eliza Thomas,

no matches of the DNA samples found

at the yogurt crime scene have been announced,

and there are currently no known active leads

in the investigation.

(suspenseful music)

Without a doubt, the biggest piece of evidence discovered

in the yogurt shop murder investigation is

the mysterious DNA profile belonging to an unidentified male

found on two of the four bodies

after DNA technology expanded at the turn of the millennium.

While not much is known about the sample outside

of the gender of its donor, it's been announced

that the profile does not match any

of the tested suspects police have compiled

since their manhunt began, nor does it match

hundreds of associates of the prime suspects listed

by the Austin Police Department thus far.

Technicians have been ruled out,

fellow law enforcement officers have been ruled out,

the first responders have been ruled out.

This means the DNA most certainly belongs to one of the men

responsible for these harrowing acts of rape and murder.

As we await the results of further testing,

and for a match to be uncovered, another set of points

to the case are critical in understanding how hurtful

the authorities were in their brutal mishandling

of suspects early on, and how the deception

of the police may have derailed the entire investigation

through their despicable use of coercion

and eliciting false confessions.

Had detective Hector Polanco not intimidated

Maurice Pierce into claiming his .22 caliber gun was the one

used in the homicides by his friend Forrest Welborn,

investigators would never have followed up this false lead,

and would never have arrested two innocent men

along with their supposed cohorts,

Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen.

Instead, they could have focused their time, money,

and energies into finding a viable suspect.

Police and prosecutors alike knew the four men had

no physical connection to the yogurt shop,

as well as having the knowledge that Pierce's gun wasn't

the murder weapon, so to cover up that ineptitude,

they turned to the bad cop routine.

It is a tale we have seen far too often.

If you want a better idea of how detectives coerced

false confessions from four young boys,

hampering the search for true justice, and destroying

four more innocent lives in the process,

you can listen to clips of these coerced confessions

by following the link in the show notes.

You'll hear audio clips from the elongated interrogations

full of persuasive tactics utilized by cops who want

pleas of guilt to spill out of the tired minds

of innocent people.

- [Police] Mike, look at me.

You're remembering what happened, because you were

inside there, right?

- [Mike] I don't.

- [Police] You're remembering what happened.

- [Mike] I don't actually remember going in the building.

- [Narrator] Imagine being an under-aged boy brought

in by police officers for a crime you didn't commit,

cornered in a windowless, low-lit room by men

twice your size, demanding you say what they want to hear,

bullying images into your malleable mind,

forcing false memories upon you.

- [Police] Is that the gun you walked up

behind somebody with and shot in the head?

- [Narrator] Not only that, but the officers used

each man's false confession against the other,

tricking them into believing that their friend was right,

and to deny it would be to deny

the other's seemingly true story.

It's a crippling, debilitating sensation, and one that took

precious years away from a proper investigation

into finding the real killers.

The Austin Police Department

and Travis County Prosecutor's Office should be ashamed

to the highest degree, and must take the blame.

Their rush to create answers where there obviously were

none cost the victims' families the justice they deserved.

It is inexcusable and disgusting behavior,

yet vital to understand in grasping the entire picture

of the failed and fractured yogurt shop case files.

We can now turn to the most prominent theories surrounding

the mystery of the Austin yogurt shop murders.

- [Police] You're the coldest guy I've talked to in my life.

Are you a cold-blooded murderer?

- [Suspect] No sir, I'm not.

- [Police] I think you are.

I think, Maurice, it's absolutely true about you.

(suspenseful music)

- [Narrator] The wildest part about the yogurt shop murders

and its notoriety for the coerced confessions is that

it didn't stop with the four main suspects believed

to be responsible for years until DNA cleared their names.

In fact, investigators heard over 50 false confessions

related to the case, including one

from infamous serial killer, Kenneth Allen McDuff.

McDuff's testimony, coming the day of his execution, was

at first seriously considered by police when they realized

he was in the Austin area around the time

of the yogurt shop massacre, murdering Colleen Reed

with accomplice Alva Hank Worley on December 29th, 1991.

However, after exhaustive investigative measures were taken,

it was found that these claims by McDuff were false,

a disturbing trend for a case lacking more

and more clarity by the day.

So why did so many people come forward with fake motives

and lead authorities astray, distracting everyone

from the real culprit still running free?

For some, like McDuff, it was perfect fodder to receive

their twisted 15 minutes of fame.

These instigators deserve absolutely no recognition,

and should not be named, as their falsifications take away

from the serious matter at hand.

For others, false confessions might have come

from further malpractices taken by Austin Police

and case detectives who had the previously mentioned history

in pulling the trigger on coercion.

If the four boys were manipulated into confessing

for the case to be fast-tracked to the solved folder,

it's not out of the realm of possibility

that others were subjected to similar tactics.

Again, it goes without saying

these awful investigative patterns damaged the case,

and the police who took them were criminals

in their own right.

So while the police were wasting time putting figurative

and even literal guns to the heads of innocent parties,

what other theories were discussed among case followers

and armchair sleuths?

The craziest and most ill-advised theory was purported

in courts by the prosecutor's office

after Pierce, Welborn, Scott, and Springsteen were cleared

by DNA evidence.

They claimed that they still believed the four men were

guilty, but that a mysterious fifth cohorts was the donor

of the DNA profile.

This theory was nothing but a desperate attempt by APD

and the district attorney to save face

in an obviously bungled prosecution effort

that shouldn't be considered further as anything

but a coward's last attempt to frame four innocent men.

Another string of theories discussed

across the message boards and email chains revolved

around possible serial killer suspects.

After Kenneth McDuff was ruled out, sleuths started pointing

out other murderers with similar MOs.

The most frequently mentioned was Paul Dennis Reid,

also known as the fast food killer, convicted

of seven murders over a string

of three fast food chain robberies

from February to April of 1997.

Reid killed his victims in a similar fashion

to the yogurt shop murderer, bringing them

to the building storeroom, binding them at the wrists,

and shooting them in the head, execution style.

While these slayings happened in Nashville, Tennessee,

Reid had a criminal history in Texas dating

all the way back to 1983, getting out of prison

for an armed robbery charge in 1990.

However, because Reid was eventually apprehended,

his DNA records would have been entered

into a criminal database, and subsequently ruled out

as a match to the yogurt shop murders.

Reid also operated alone, and dealt

with mental disabilities according to his family,

going against yogurt shop crime scene evidence that

there were multiple offenders who were

likely skilled criminals, operating with precision.

These data points also most likely rule out involvements

of the gunman in the Lane Bryant shooting mystery

that took place on February 22nd, 2008.

Despite the vast amount of time between the Lane Bryant case

and the yogurt shop case, it's hard for people to ignore

the similarities in crime scenes.

The Lane Bryant shootings also involved all female victims

who were executed via gunshots to the head

after being trapped in the back of their store.

Ultimately, there was one victim who survived,

and told police that the gunman was working alone,

and for a case that took place in Illinois,

a thousand miles away, and 17 years apart

from the yogurt shop case,

a link between the two is highly improbable.

Of all the theories put forth by the community

surrounding the case, there is one hypothesis that stands

out from the rest, an idea about who the killers might be,

built from a couple of eyewitness testimonies gathered

by the consumers at the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop

the night of the massacre.

These statements place two unidentified men sitting

at a booth after 10:00 PM coming across as odd,

and emitting a peculiar aura.

The first man was described as white, standing

at around five feet, six inches in his late twenties

or early thirties, sporting dirty blonde hair,

and a large, black jacket.

The second figure was described as much bigger,

a six foot white male of average build with darker hair,

and an elongated, pointy nose,

sporting a green military fatigue-type jacket.

He spoke with a deep, yet crystal clear voice.

The first customer to speak out against the two men was

Dearl Croft, who testified for defense lawyers

in Michael Scott's criminal trial in 2002.

Croft, a former police officer and security manager

in 1991, had visited the Austin yogurt shop

at just about 10:00 PM on December 6th with two friends.

He recollected how, when he went to go stand in line,

a man wearing a green military fatigue jacket

matching the description of the second man was loitering,

asking other customers to go in front of him

so he'd be at the back of the line.

When he approached Croft, he actually asked him if he was

a former cop, and if he'd jump ahead of him in line.

Croft denied his bizarre request, and monitored

the man as he made his way to the counter

and ordered a soft drink.

Once he paid for the beverage, the man then slinked

around the counter, and walked into the back of the store.

Croft, growing more and more suspicious, asked Eliza Thomas,

who was working the cash register,

why the man was allowed back there.

She informed Croft that the man had asked to use

their restroom, and she gave him permission,

acting as the shift supervisor, but Croft couldn't shake

the strangeness of the incident, and waited

around the front counter for a few minutes longer

than normal, waiting to see if the man

in the green jacket returned.

When he failed to show up, Croft left the store

with his friends that reported the description of the man

to the police a few days after the murders were reported on.

For reasons unknown, a police sketch of the man

in the military jacket was never procured,

and Croft failed to pick a recognizable face

out of a couple of suspect lineups in the aftermath,

lineups that included the four innocent boys.

The other major testimony regarding the two men was pulled

from old police statements by the Austin Chronicle

for a story published by reporter Jordan Smith

in December of 2011.

These statements came from a female customer

who told police she and her husband were two

of the last customers at the yogurt shop just before closing

at 11:00 PM on the night of December 6th.

They reported seeing the same two jacketed men sitting

in a booth, acting in a way that made

the woman's skin crawl.

She watched them in the reflection

of the shop's front window as the girls began to close up

the shop by refilling napkin holders, cleaning floors,

and flipping chairs on top of tables.

Even as the couple left, the two men remained

in their seats, acting as if they weren't going anywhere

soon, as Jennifer Harbison locked the door

and flipped the sign to read closed, as to dissuade

any new customers from entering.

The girls inside acted normally, but according

to the couple, the men did not.

It's hard not to find these shared experiences

rather intriguing.

These two men have not been named or cleared by authorities.

For all we know, they were never tracked down

by police, nor interviewed.

Law enforcement has stated that they are interested

in speaking to the two men, but as witnesses,

rather than suspects.

However, considering their uncomfortable vibes

and peculiar behavior, those who consider them suspects have

good reason to do so.

In one of the crime scene photographs taken

the morning after the murders, you can see a booth

in the background of the dining area that has

an empty napkin dispenser and cleared tabletop.

When customers were shown the photo, they agreed

it was likely the booth the two suspicious men sat at.

This means that the murders happened

in between the men leaving and the girls being able

to finish up closing their booth, a very slim amount

of time, considering they were in the middle

of clearing the tables.

Thus, if the two men aren't responsible,

they at least had the best shot

at spotting the real killers, making the mystery

of the unidentified male closing customers

the most puzzling and important of all.

(suspenseful music)

Before we divulge our hypothesis

of the 1991 Austin yogurt shop unsolved murders,

we want to make it known our conclusions presented

in Cold Case Detective are purely logical speculation

based on evidence, circumstance, and factual subtext.

We are only privy to the same information presented

in each video, and we do not attempt to promise certainty

or an expert guarantee on the findings we reach in closing.

We simply observe, research, and report.

For starters, we believe that these murders were indeed

the actions of multiple assailants or a killer

with at least one other accomplice.

The evidence hides in the simple fact it would be

next to impossible for a single perpetrator to subdue

all four girls by themselves, take them

to the back storage room, tie them up, and set

the entire place on fire without causing a ruckus.

There are two key pieces of data to support this.

Remember, none of the neighboring businesses

at the strip mall where the yogurt shop was located reported

hearing anything to suggest murder

the night of December 6th.

One business did say they heard a few popping noises,

most likely the gunshots, but nobody heard screaming,

or shouting, or banging, or anything to suggest

a desperate fight was put up.

If there were multiple offenders, keeping everything quiet

would have been a much easier task.

The young girls' friends and families agree with this,

stating that their courage

and tough mudder personalities would be too much

for one person with one gun to overcome.

Secondly, we are confident that

these murders were orchestrated by career criminals,

and likely sociopaths who were seeking to attack women,

with the resources to do so without detection.

These horrific crimes were not carried out

by high school boys attempting to rob

the neighborhood yogurt stand.

Rather, they were pre-meditated acts of violence,

people who sought to harm, and strike fear in their victims.

The reason the killings are more than likely not

a simple robbery gone wrong is the presence

of an accelerant around the storeroom

after the fire was put out.

Most criminals do not bring lighter fluid along

with their robberies, usually seeking to run in and out

of their targets and leave without physical conflicts,

plus there were plenty of other shops around the area

that would have provided much more cash

than the yogurt shop did.

No, we believe these murders were intentional

from the beginning.

It is highly possible that the men who murdered

the girls were watching one of them from afar,

maybe even prior to December 6th.

They could have made Amy and Sarah targets

after spotting them at the mall

without parental supervision, a popular spot

for offenders to track unsuspecting women.

While there is no evidence to suggest this,

it cannot be ruled out when considering these killers were

concise in how they acted, and the history of violence

against young women in general.

So who could the killers be?

While it is impossible to know for sure, we believe

those two jacketed men previously mentioned are

the most fitting suspects.

They were acting suspiciously, bothersome

to multiple customers, and were the only two

of over 50 customers that evening

that have yet to be accounted for.

Not only that, but the story by Dearl Croft leaves us

wondering if that tall man

in the green jacket wasn't just going back to use

the restroom, but rather scoping the shop for cameras,

or worse, a place to commit a future assault.

They were the last two people seen with the girls,

and wearing clothes that could have concealed weapons.

Of course, this is all circumstantial evidence.

However, it is also curious that

the two men who were lurking in the booth

at the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop

on December 6th have not come forward to absolve

themselves of any further suspicion.

They could have effortlessly cleared their names

and identities through science, submitting DNA

to be compared to the sample obtained by police.

Until that happens, they are the greatest suspects we have,

and must be found to unlock further answers

regarding the entire mystery.

Until then, we must keep the faith that

the DNA profile currently held in evidence can be used

to help aid investigators.

Sadly, the type of DNA sample received a, YSTR strand,

also known as mitochondrial DNA, isn't the kind

one can simply input into a genealogy database,

and connect it to relatives.

While it can rule out suspects when compared

with direct DNA donations, it's hard to be used

as a backwards investigative tool, like the DNA was used

for cases in the Golden State killer investigation.

Not only this, but the FBI has withheld the DNA sample

from such genealogy studies anyway, claiming privacy laws

to be complicating its potential use

in further DNA campaigns.

Still, we will hold out hope that a breakthrough is

just around the corner, and in the meantime,

we will celebrate the lives of Amy Ayers, Sarah Harbison,

Jennifer Harbison, and Eliza Thomas.

We will champion their unique personalities,

shared passions, and their unparalleled drive

to be nothing but unapologetically themselves.

We will spread the hope, and happiness,

and heartfelt courage those four girls emanated

in their daily lives, never missing an opportunity

to inspire those around them.

We will remember their athletic feats,

their unmatched equestrian skillsets,

their farming expertise, and their community-driven spirits.

We will remind the world that these were four young women

full of promise, navigating their mid-Texas neighborhoods

so that one day they could move out to new pastures,

and shape the world at large for the better.

The tragic rape and murder

at the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop on the night

of December 6th, 1991 will not be the defining legacies

of Amy, Sarah, Jennifer, and Eliza.

Their legacies are defined by every positive

and life-affirming moment before, defined by their love

for both nature and humanity.

This is a type of love that is not burned or broken,

no matter the circumstances of their final moments.

It is the reason their memory will never perish

as we continue a search for their justice

into the infinite night.

This is Cold Case Detective.

(suspenseful music)