The yogurt shop murders: Families, investigators remain haunted by unsolved case
CBSN
Three decades ago, four teenage girls were brutally murdered in an I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! shop in Austin, Texas. The horrific crime has haunted their families, the city, and the investigators who chased every lead in the case to a dead end. Could new information finally help solve the case? JOHN JONES: What do you'll got out there? I'm en route … airport 35. JOHN JONES (on radio): What place of business is this at? JOHN JONES: Let me just say this, whoever you are out there, you are going to be mine one of these days…. DET. MIKE HUCKABAY [at roundtable, 1992]: They're into vampires, the occult, graveyard rites. … They go out and dance and take pictures on tombstones. RADIO NEWS REPORT: Some breaking news — Austin police have arrested four men in connection with the yogurt shop murders of 1991. NEWS REPORT: After nearly eight years, Austinites are getting some answers in the case of the yogurt shop murders… MAYOR KIRK WATSON (at press conference): Sarah, Jennifer, Amy, Eliza, we did not forget. OFFICER (1999 interrogation): Come on Michael, you're doing good. Tell us. Let's do this today. Let's do it. MICHAEL SCOTT (interrogation): I hear the gun go off. I only pulled the trigger once…. I hear another gun go off. OFFICER (interrogation): You f------g know if you f------g raped her, just say it. OFFICER (INTERROGATION): Is that the gun you shot somebody with, Mike? Is that the gun you walked up behind somebody with and shot in the head? JURY FOREPERSON: We the jury find the defendant Robert Springsteen IV guilty of the offense of capital murder … NEWS REPORT: In a 5-4 decision, the court behind me said that Michael Scott's constitutional rights were violated during his trial and therefore should get a new one. ROSEMARY LEHMBERG (at press conference): This was a difficult decision and one I'd rather not have to make.
"I can see them, I can still see the inside of that place," John Jones, the first investigator on the case, tells "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty. "That stuff's … indelibly burned in my mind." DISPATCH: We've got a fire … DISPATCH: It's the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt. MAYOR KIRK WATSON (at 1999 press conference): I want to start off by thanking y'all for joining us here today. … For almost eight years, we've all waited to hear the words that our police department is close to a point of solving a crime that has haunted our very souls. … Today, we finally get to hear those words. MICHAEL SCOTT: I remember seeing girls. … I remember one girl screaming, terrified. ROBERT SPRINGSTEEN: I stuck my d--- in her p---- and I raped her.
The story starts on December 6, 1991, when Eliza Thomas, Sarah and Jennifer Harbison and Amy Ayers were tied up and shot. The yogurt shop was then set on fire. For decades, investigators worked to find suspects. There were eventually arrests and even convictions. But those convictions were overturned, leaving the case unsolved today. JOHN JONES (1991 on radio): OK. I'm copying the fire part, but you cut out on the first part of that though. JOHN JONES: OK.
