A 1991 murder of four teenage girls: Liza Thomas (17), Amy Ayers (13) and sisters Jennifer (17) and Sara Harbison (15) at a frozen Yogurt store called ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt!’ in North Austin, became one of the most horrific crimes of the city’s history. The victims were first shot and then burnt. Even after nearly 34 years, the case remains a mystery.
The case became an inspiration to HBO’s new four-part docuseries ‘The Yogurt Shop Murders’ which was released on August 3 and will air on Sundays at 10om ET/PT. The show is produced by Emma Stone and her husband Dave McCary along with filmmaker Margaret Brown at the helm.
The manager of the shop, named Reese Price recalled the trauma of identifying the girls so their families won’t have to, in the docuseries. She was only 24 when the tragedy took place. “There wasn’t anything there to identify,” she said. “Fire is very destructive; it’s not forgiving.”
Director Brown, who shifted to Austin in the late 90s remembers billboards seeking information about the case. Her motivation to join the project partly comes from her peers. “A lot of my friends who are crime reporters said this is the most interesting crime that exists,” she said. “There is not one with rabbit holes, this is the mothership of interesting crimes.”
She adds, “The docuseries includes exclusive interviews and facts that have never been explored before. These people went through something awful.” She further states that this case is a fine example to learn to deal with something this hard.
She talks about the rumours that still flood the town. “Before I talked to you, a woman texted me on Instagram saying she solved it!” Brown said. “People are obsessed with it.”
Detective Dan Jackson was assigned the case i 2022, his very first day with the Austin police Department’s cold unit. He was born about 30 miles away from Austin and vividly remembers the hearing of murders during his childhood. “It’s such a huge case,” he quoted to USA TODAY. “I sort of knew at that point I would be with it forever.”
Jackson firmly believes that the crime scene could have helped with the case, but the fire eliminated all evidence, and thus the case remains unsolved to date.
In the early 2000s, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, two men, were convicted of the murders. Springsteen was sentenced to death for the murder of Amy Ayres while Scott was sentenced to life imprisonment the following year of her death. However, later, both his convictions were overturned.
None of these men featured in the docuseries. Springsteen, however, appears in an old video from a separate project around 2009 where he tells a clothing worker in a scene, “I’m sure you probably think it’s really funny, but we’re doing a documentary because I got off the hook”
The DNA evidence found at the crime scene also did not match any of these men. Detective Jackson is now building a profile from the unidentified sample. “One of the things that we want the public to know is that this case is active,” Jackson emphasized.
he remains optimistic that the developments in forensic science are the key to solving the case. He said, ‘I am confident I will solve this case.” Jackson also believes that the attention from the docuseries may bring out someone with any information that might help in the unravelling of the mystery. “People may not have been willing to come forward years ago for whatever reason, but now feel more comfortable. Or they thought it was something small and didn’t ever say anything, and they’re like, well, maybe I should call in this time and mention it. Who knows? It could be the break we need.”
