The Austin Yogurt Shop Murders

Part One: Innocence

On the evening of December 6th, 1991, tragedy would strike the capital of Texas.

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Austin is a large city in central Texas: located about 80 miles northeast of San Antonio and about 200 miles south of Dallas, with a population that currently lingers at around one million. Even though Austin has been a large city for some time now, in the early 1990s, it certainly didn't feel like it.

To many, Austin was almost like its own little bubble inside of Texas. A surprisingly liberal city in a traditionally-conservative state, Austin had a reputation for being home to the area's more progressive voices, which made sense to some; it is the state's capital, after all. But for many decades, Austin seemed to pale in comparison to the state's other large cities, which included the aforementioned San Antonio and Dallas, as well as Houston.

For many Texans, Austin was a nice and quiet place where you could raise a family, and wouldn't have to worry about the downsides of large cities: namely violent crime, which was unheard of in large parts of Austin.

On the evening of December 6th, 1991, Austin Police Sergeant John Jones Jr. signed onto duty, well aware that he was the only homicide detective on-duty. He was being filmed that night by a local CBS affiliate, who were following around homicide detectives in Texas to see what it was like for police in the larger cities. However, Sergeant Jones - a respected veteran of the Austin Police Department - was fully prepared for the production crew to leave empty-handed that weekend. As were they.

Both Sergeant Jones and the production crew were settling in for what appeared to be a quiet night when a call came in over his police radio.

An APD officer had called into dispatch that evening, just before midnight, informing them that a fire appeared to be coming from a frozen yogurt shop along a sleepy street in northwestern Austin. Fire crews would arrive at the scene a short time later to extinguish the blaze, but inside, would make a heinous discovery: the bodies of four teenage girls, who had been shot execution-style and then intentionally set on fire. The blaze had been started to cover up the savage crime and would leave behind a chaotic scene that ultimately raised more questions than answers.

This is the story of the Austin Yogurt Shop Murders.

Jennifer Ann Harbison was born on May 9th, 1974 to her parents Mike and Barbara Harbison. She would be followed just a couple of years later by a younger sister named Sarah Louise, who was born on October 28th, 1976.

For the first few years of the girls' lives, they lived with their parents in the region of Texarkana (which is right along the Texas/Louisiana/Arkansas border, hence the amalgamated name - 'Texarkana' - which combines elements from all three states). But when the girls were young (Jennifer was 5 and Sarah was just 2), their mother would separate from their father and relocate to the region of Austin, Texas.

There, in Austin, their mother Barbara would begin a new life for herself, and eventually meet Frank Suraci, a computer technician for Dell that everyone called "Skip." The two would eventually marry, with Barbara taking on the surname Suraci and the girls gaining a stepfather. Meanwhile, their father Mike Harbison would remain behind in New Boston, a small town in Texas near the Arkansas border, where he would live with his new wife, Debby. Even though he lived several hours away from the girls, he would remain close with them throughout their lives.

Jennifer and Sarah would grow up in their mother and stepfather's home, in the sprawling suburbs on the northern side of town. Both attended private Christian school throughout middle school, at the same place they attended weekend mass, St. Louis Catholic Church. But both girls were eager to attend public high school so that they could live out the full teenage experience.

Jennifer was the first to attend Lanier High School, where she would eventually serve as the president for the school's chapter of the FFA (Future Farmers of America). She also ran the 400 and 1600 meter relay for the school's track team and served as the student speaker of the house. Amber Sweeney, a classmate in Jennifer's government class, told the Austin American-Statesman that:

"Jennifer was very opinionated. She wouldn't be afraid to say how she felt. I know I'll always remember that, along with her corny jokes."

Jennifer was well-liked by all of her teachers and the staff members she interacted with, including geography teacher Ed Gifford, who later wrote about her:

"She brought joy into the classroom. She was more excited about life than any kid I've ever known. She was one of the best that Lanier has ever had."

Jennifer was in her senior year at Lanier High when her younger sister, Sarah, finally managed to join her. Sarah had graduated from St. Louis Catholic School the prior spring, on a humanitarian scholarship, and had carried on that momentum to Lanier High, where she excelled not only as a student but as a student-athlete and an overachiever. She competed fiercely on the school's volleyball and basketball teams, was the leader of the school's J.V. cheerleading squad, and was also a student council representative. Like Jennifer, Sarah was also heavily involved in the school's chapter of the FFA.

Even though she was only in her freshman year of high school, she had made an immediate impact on those around her. Lanier principal Paul Turner later said about Sarah:

"She had already established herself as assertive and enthusiastic, a vital member of the freshman class. She was a leader, clearly a kid who was going to make a mark on the place."

While Sarah was just beginning her high school career, Jennifer was preparing for what laid beyond. Even though her mother wanted her to fully enjoy her teenage years, Jennifer had wanted to make some money for herself so that she could fully prepare for college. Her father had also recently purchased a Chevy S-10 for Jennifer under the stipulation that she A.) help make the payments, and B.) drive around her younger sister on occasion. Jennifer was more than happy to accommodate the latter, since Sarah and she got along very well for teenage sisters but required her to keep regular employment to help pay for the truck.

Jennifer first worked at an Albertson's grocery store nearby, but then took a job at an 'I Can't Believe It's Yogurt' frozen yogurt shop, at the recommendation of her best friend, Eliza, who told her what a great job it was.

Eliza Hope Thomas was born on May 16th, 1974, to her parents James and Maria Thomas. Like Jennifer and Sarah, Eliza would grow up in the Austin region; and like them, as well, would have a single sister, named Sonora.

In 1981, when Eliza was just 7 or 8 years old, her parents would separate and eventually file for divorce. Her father, James - a social worker - would eventually remarry a woman named Norma Fowler, who worked as a professor at the University of Texas. The two sisters would split time between their parents, and in December of 1991, Eliza was staying with their mother while Sonora, her younger sister, was staying with their father (conveniently, just a few blocks away from the yogurt shop that Eliza worked part-time at).

Like the Harbison sisters, Eliza Thomas also attended Lanier High School. She had previously attended McCallum High School throughout her sophomore year but transferred to Lanier because she wanted to get involved in their FFA chapter. She loved working with and caring for animals and planned to become a veterinarian after high school. James, Eliza's father, would later state that she had always been "nuts about animals," and in the past, had kept crayfish and rats in her bedroom; the latter of which, James described as "ugly," but showed how Eliza could care for any animal, no matter how big or small. It was Eliza's involvement in FFA that brought her close to the oldest Harbison sister, Jennifer, who was in the same grade as Eliza. The two became fast friends, and would both be nominated for FFA queen in their senior year, which became an exciting topic of conversation whenever it got brought up to either.

In addition to being involved in Lanier's chapter of the Future Farmers of America, Eliza was also very mechanically-inclined. She excelled in the school's welding and small engine repair classes and participated in the agriculture mechanic program. She seemed to be a natural when it came to fixing up anything with parts, which aided her well when she finally purchased her first car: a homely-looking 1971 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, which was a bright green that Eliza likened to her birthstone, emerald. Even though others found the car rather-ugly, Eliza adored it, and tried to use her mechanical skills to upgrade it whenever possible; in fact, in December of 1991 - as Christmas approached - Eliza asked for little more than a plethora of car parts, which she planned to replace by herself.

Eliza had managed to buy the car after starting her job at the "I Can't Believe It's Yogurt" shop in the Hillside Center strip mall, in the northwestern corner of Austin. She had been working there for months when she managed to convince her best friend, Jennifer Harbison, to apply as well. The yogurt shop was one of the few jobs that allowed teenagers to have real responsibility, and they were able to work unsupervised. Eliza had a few weekday shifts, but the two generally worked together on the weekends, when they were allowed to gossip for hours; oftentimes closing the shop by themselves.

Amy Leigh Ayers was born on January 31st, 1978 to her parents, Robert and Pam Ayers. She was the second child of the family, following her older brother, Shawn.

Growing up in Texas, Amy became a huge country music fan, who would later be remembered for having a crush on country music icon George Strait. She was also an animal lover, who adored cat, but was friendly towards all. Having grown up on a ranch, Amy had become used to farming culture early on and had been riding horses since the age of 3. When asked whether she was part-cowgirl, Amy's father Robert responded that she wasn't; Amy was all cowgirl.

Amy's older brother Shawn had participated in FFA himself and helped get Amy involved in the group early on. However, Amy didn't need much nudging; she was already regularly wearing a cowboy hat to school and was a natural fit in the Future Farmers of America.

Even though she was younger than the other girls, Amy became fast friends with Jennifer, Eliza, and Sarah, who were all in the same FFA chapter. Amy attended Burnet Middle School but participated in the FFA chapter at Lanier High School, where she was already a junior member and incoming vice-president. She was planning to continue involvement in the coming years, as she moved on from middle school to Lanier High.

Through her involvement in this FFA chapter, Amy became best friends with Sarah Harbison; whom she, unfortunately, didn't get to see much of, due to the two attending separate schools. But on the first weekend of December, the two planned on having a sleepover, where they'd get to catch up on each others' lives from the past few weeks.

December 6th, 1991 was a particularly gray day in a series of them. It was the second-to-last Friday of the school semester, and kids throughout the Austin area were already preparing for the upcoming winter break.

After leaving school that afternoon, 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison stopped by the apartment where her high school boyfriend, Sammy Buchanan, lived. Sammy had not been at school that day, due to him having attended a family member's funeral, and the two would hang out for a few hours at the apartment. Jennifer would return home at around 7:00 PM to pick up her work clothes and then started heading to work. First, however, she had to pick up Sarah's best friend, Amy Ayers, and drop off the two at the mall just down the road from the yogurt shop. On the weekends, the mall was usually crawling with teenage boys and girls; those of the mallrat generation.

15-year-old Sarah and 13-year-old Amy would end up spending the evening at the Northcross Mall, which - as I said - was just down the road from the yogurt shop that Jennifer worked at (less than half-a-mile away). At the time, the mall was one of the go-to hotspots for the area's teens, in the relatively affluent northwestern corner of Austin, which was known for its movie theater and ice rink (both of which were staples of the teenage masses that would gather on Fridays and Saturdays). This was actually the first time that either Sarah or Amy had been able to go to the mall by themselves, without older siblings or parents, and the two were planning to have a sleepover at Sarah's house that evening, riding back with Jennifer when she got off of work.

That night, best friends Jennifer Harbison and Eliza Thomas - who were both 17 years old - were working the evening shift at 'I Can't Believe It's Yogurt.' Eliza started her shift at 7:00, and Jennifer started at 8:00, and the two would be responsible for closing that store that evening.

Over the next several hours, multiple customers would come and go from the yogurt shop, leaving behind scattered breadcrumbs of witness sightings that police would later have to compile together.

Between 8:15 and 8:30, a woman named Lusella Jones dropped by the yogurt shop, picking up some frozen yogurt for her husband (who had just had dental surgery). She would later recall seeing two teenage boys sitting in a booth near the front door, who were the only two customers in the shop at the time. They seemed to be engrossed in an item that was in the middle of the table, which seemed to be in a bag or a sack of sorts, which could have been anything (the popular theory is that it was a sack of marbles). Both were regular-looking teenagers, but in this affluent corner of town, they appeared to be hoodlums. Jones would later describe them as having long, unkempt hair, and appearing to be of Hispanic origins, although she couldn't be sure of their race. All she knew is that the two teenagers gave her a sense of unease, which would multiply in the years to come.

At around 9:00, 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison took a short break and drove down the street, picking up her sister and sister's friend from the Northcross Mall, which was closing. Sarah and Amy returned to the yogurt shop with Jennifer, but would walk down a few doors to a nearby pizza shop, called Mr. Gatti's Pizza, which was closing at 10:00. They bought a pizza and brought it back to the yogurt shop, where multiple witnesses would recall seeing them over the next hour or so, eating the pizza in the lobby and being caught up in their conversation.

At approximately 9:30, Eliza's mother Maria Thomas dropped by the yogurt shop, as she (and the other parents) regularly did during the teens' weekend work-shifts. She stayed there for a few minutes, bought some yogurt, and then left, believing that everything was fine. There were no other customers in the store at the time, and nothing seemed to be out-of-the-ordinary when she left.

At some point between 9:30 and 10:00, a former military policeman and owner of a security firm named Dearl Croft dropped by with a couple of acquaintances. Inside the yogurt shop, Croft noticed two separate young couples, as well as an individual young man, who appeared to be alone. Croft described the young man - who had a deep voice and a large nose - as being "fidgety," especially when he spoke to Croft. The young man seemed perplexed by the vehicle Croft had parked in front of the yogurt shop (a security vehicle that had lights similar to a police cruiser), and the young man would express some weird behavior when placing his order: ordering a single can of soda, which he then took with him towards the bathroom in the back of the store, which Croft claims, he never saw him leave by the time he left himself, minutes later.

Speaking to police at a later date, Dearl Croft would be unable to provide much more information about this young man or identify him in any kind of photo lineup. But he did claim that the young man was wearing a green jacket, which looked like something that had been picked up from a military surplus store.

Between 10:00 and 11:00, multiple witnesses would come into 'I Can't Believe It's Yogurt,' but the final sale was registered at 10:42 to a couple that had just gotten out of a movie, and wanted to grab some dessert before heading home. While purchasing their yogurt, this couple would report seeing a couple of individuals - who they believed to be men - sitting at the table closest to the cash register. Both were wearing jackets or thick sweatshirts, which obscured their faces; but one appeared to be bigger or more muscular, while the other appeared to be skinnier, with thin features. Unfortunately, the couple would not get a good look at the pair but had little reason to believe they needed to.

The yogurt shop was scheduled to close at 11:00, and by the time these two witnesses left - at approximately 10:47 - one of the teenage employees had already started to wipe down tables and place chairs on top of the tables. It would later be reported that the two chairs that the obscured men were sitting in, close to the cash register, would be the only chairs that remained on the floor.

While Jennifer and Eliza were the only employees working that evening, it is believed that Sarah and Amy - Jennifer's younger sister and her friend - were helping out so that the teens could leave on-time. The two were going to catching a ride with Jennifer, anyhow, and likely wanted to get on with their sleepover. Besides, the two were regulars at the frozen yogurt shop and were already accustomed to helping out when they could.

Witnesses did not recall seeing Sarah and Amy out in the lobby during the last half-hour or so of the store's open hours, but it was believed that they might have moved to the back of the store, to begin cleaning up there. That was where their pizza box would later be found, indicating that they had relocated to the back kitchen for at least a little while.

The yogurt shop was scheduled to close at 11:00 PM, and as the clock continued to creep closer to midnight, the teens' parents had no reason to suspect that anything had happened to them. After all, the four girls were in the same FFA chapter at Lanier High and regularly stopped by the school's off-campus site on North Lamar Boulevard to say goodnight to the animals they were raising. Eliza was raising a pig, while the Harbison sisters were raising lambs. The teens dropped by at least twice a day - once in the morning and once in the evening - and it was believed that they might have dropped by the animal pens to care for them before heading home.

Just before midnight, Troy Gay - a young police officer with the APD that was patrolling northwest Austin on the lookout for DWI's - happened upon the Hillside Center strip mall that 'I Can't Believe It's Yogurt' was located in. Almost immediately, he noticed that smoke was coming from the yogurt shop itself, and he would call in to dispatch at 11:47 PM. Even though it was believed that this might be a simple kitchen fire, the call would spark an immediate response, as not much else was going on in Austin that Friday evening.

Fire crews would arrive at the location a short time later, with Rene Garza being one of the firefighters on-duty that weekend. Garza would later testify to showing up at the scene, and noticing that the lights of the yogurt shop were off with a "CLOSED" sign facing outward. As he approached the front door, though, he could see the blaze burning inside, with the black smoke filling in the confined space of the yogurt shop, obscuring everything in the building.

As Garza and his fellow firemen prepared to move in, they popped open the front door with a crowbar, gaining access to the yogurt shop. They then began battling the flames, which - thankfully - had been confined to a small enough location. Firefighters regarded the incident as a two-alarm fire, meaning that it was moderate enough to warrant a cautious response, but wasn't intense enough to begin spiraling out-of-control. Within a couple of minutes, the firefighters had started to quell the fire with water from their hoses, and began to gain more visibility towards the back of the store.

As the flames started to dwindle, Rene Garza's partner, David Deveau, grabbed him and pointed towards an object in the back of the yogurt shop, asking:

"Is that a foot?"

It was then that a horrifying discovery would be made, which would change not only the lives of everyone involved but the city of Austin itself.

Police officers at the scene made the call into authorities, eventually calling in Sergeant John Jones, who was being filmed inside of his vehicle by a local news network at the time.

Even though the original call that came into dispatchers informed them that two bodies had been found, that would quickly be amended to three bodies. And then, by the time that Sergeant Jones arrived at the scene, four bodies. All had been discovered near the back door, with three of the bodies having been stacked on top of one another, and then set ablaze. The fourth had been found just a few feet away, separated for some unknown reason.

Even though the four bodies had been burned severely - to the point of being unrecognizable - it was clear that all four had been young women. Before being burned, they had been forced to undress, and then bound and gagged with their own clothing, before being shot in the head, execution-style. It was unknown if all had been dead at the time they were set on fire, but that was the belief at the crime scene.

Sergeant Jones, who had been the only homicide detective on-duty that evening, was the first detective to arrive at the crime scene. It was now his case to handle, and after viewing the scene for just a moment, he stepped back outside to speak to the same camera crew that had been filming with him that evening. He would have a hard time answering any of their questions, as the severity of the crime scene began to dawn on him and the rest of the first responders.

The victims would be identified as the four teenage girls that had been inside of the yogurt shop that evening: Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ayers. Police were able to identify Jennifer and Eliza through their vehicles in the yogurt shop parking lot, and then Sarah and Amy through simple process-of-elimination.

Over the next couple of days, it would be reported in the press that the four victims had been teenage girls, which undoubtedly added to the terrifying nature of the crime. Everyone saw their loved ones in the victims: their daughters, sisters, neighbors, classmates, or even themselves.

In the years to come, many people would look back at this incident - which reporters soon began referring to as the "Austin Yogurt Shop Murders" - as a turning point for the entire city of Austin. The idea that the city itself lost its innocence that weekend remains a topic of discussion among locals, who all believe it to be true to this day.

This crime was shocking to everyone in the area, but was especially shocking to the members of the Austin Police Department, who had investigated similar crimes in the past, but nothing quite as brazen or as shocking as this.

Sergeant Scott Cary, of the APD, told reporters that weekend:

"I've been on the force 10 years and lived in Austin 20 years and this is the worst I remember."

At the crime scene, it was quickly discovered that the back door into the yogurt shop had been left unlocked. That was likely how the culprit(s) had made their getaway since the front door had been locked and the keys later found inside.

Police would not say whether or not the register had been tampered with - or how - but it was later confirmed that a robbery had taken place. Following an audit, it would be determined that roughly $540 had been stolen from the yogurt shop, most of which came from the cash register itself.

The last transaction in the register's log had come at 11:03 PM: 3 minutes after the shop was supposed to have been closed, and 13 minutes after the front doors were usually locked. This transaction was a "No Sale," which indicated that the transaction had either been canceled or the "No Sale" button had been pushed to simply open up the register drawer. This was likely when the shop had been robbed and had either been done by one of the teenage employees or the culprit(s) themselves.

A full-scale arson investigation would take place that weekend, which hoped to determine when exactly the fire had been started, and how. It was reported that the fire had been started in the kitchen area, which is where the girls' bodies had been found. AFD arson investigator Melvin Stahl was tasked with investigating the fire itself and would state in his official report (dated December 7th) that the fire had been started at approximately 11:42 PM, more than 40 minutes after the store was supposed to have been closed and exactly 39 minutes after the "No Sale" had been recorded on the cash register. This implied that the culprit(s) had remained in the building for about an hour before starting the fire that would end up destroying or contaminating most of the crime scene.

It would be reported that the fire had been burning so intensely - and so hot - that one of the victim's teeth had started to burn away. It would also be reported that the victims' bodies had started to melt onto the floor of the yogurt shop, which makes it so miraculous that firefighters were able to squash it so quickly before it spread into neighboring businesses or further destroyed the crime scene. The fire had even managed to melt some of the victims' jewelry, as well as containers of cleaning supplies and paint cans in the back storage room.

However, because the firefighters had needed to use an excessive amount of water to kill the fire, a large amount of physical evidence had been essentially washed away from the victims and the scene itself. This would cause an untold amount of damage to the investigation, but that's something we'll explore later.

It would later be theorized that styrofoam cups full of lighter fluid had been placed on or near the bodies, which helped light the fire and increase the spread of the flames. Styrofoam itself is (or was) incredibly flammable, and when set on fire, would create an almost-napalm-like substance, which would burn incredibly hot and stick like tar to whatever it was placed on top of. In this case, that was the bodies of the four murdered teenagers. In the years since, it has been speculated that lighter fluid wasn't even necessarily used at the crime scene since the styrofoam itself - when stacked together and set on fire - would create an effect similar to lighter fluid. The burn marks discovered on the floor of the yogurt shop, which investigators attributed to lighter fluid, might have simply been the after-effects of old styrofoam burning intensely.

It was believed that the person(s) responsible for this crime had started the fire knowing full-well what the substances involved would do to the crime scene, indicating some prior experience with starting fires. As you can imagine, that information would impact a large chunk of the investigation moving forward.

In addition to lighting a fire to destroy whatever physical evidence had been left behind, police would learn that the culprit(s) had done whatever they could to contaminate the crime scene. On the bodies of the four murdered teenagers, the responsible parties had stacked a large number of paper cups and bowls from the yogurt shop, which acted as an accelerant for the flames. But in addition to that, police also discovered that chocolate syrup and other yogurt ingredients had been placed on/around the bodies, likely meant to mix with the blood and contaminate the crime scene. It would even be theorized that this might have been some kind of sick joke by the killer(s).

Police speculated that this crime had started as a robbery, which had taken place during the closing of the yogurt shop. Investigators came to this conclusion due to the cleaning supplies that had been seemingly abandoned in the middle of the store's closing procedures. One of the rags that one of the teens had been using to wipe down the tables had been seemingly dropped and forgotten about, and the same thing had happened to one of the frozen yogurt dispensers, which were changed every night during closing.

Sergeant Mike Huckabay of the Austin Police Department verified this two days after the murders, on December 8th, when he told reporters:

"It appears they were closing and in the process of cleaning up. I would say they were probably killed one after another... they appeared to be where they were shot..."

Despite the victims being found undressed and bound in their own clothing, it was not believed that any had been sexually assaulted. At least, not in the early days of the investigation, as the autopsies were carried out by local medical examiners. As the autopsies themselves took place, district attorneys moved quickly to seal those reports, hoping to keep specific details from being released to the public.

Despite that, though, it was publicly theorized that more than one culprit had been involved in the commission of this crime. Evidence left behind at the crime scene indicated more than one offender, which they had tried to destroy with the fire. But according to APD Lieutenant Andrew Waters, they had been unsuccessful in destroying all of the physical evidence. For example, police had learned that more than one firearm had been used in the commission of this crime, small caliber weapons, and that the fire had been started with materials found inside the store. Additionally, it was not believed that the offenders had forced their way inside, meaning that they had likely been inside of the yogurt shop near its closing time, which would narrow in a timeline for investigators.

Police began reaching out to people in the area, that might have seen or heard something from the evening in question. They were also hoping that those that had been in the yogurt shop in the hours before its closure would come forward, as they might have encountered the offender(s) and could provide information that was invaluable to them and the victims' loved ones.

In the days after this crime, Brice Foods - the company that owned the 'I Can't Believe It's Yogurt' chain of restaurants - put together a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those that had committed this heinous crime. The owners would even meet with the victims' families that weekend, hoping to do whatever they could to support them through this tragic time.

By Monday, word had spread throughout the area, and Lanier High School - which was attended by 3 out of the 4 victims - had lost its cheerful edge. Students that had been excited about winter break just days prior now had to adjust to life without three of their peers, all of whom had been lost in a single vicious and unexplained stroke.

Counselors met with students on their first days back to school and were greeted by a lot of anger and frustration, as these teenagers struggled to come to grips with this new reality. Paul Turner, the principal of Lanier, told the press that week that:

"This is something that's going to reach far. There were two seniors and one freshman, so it's going to hit a good number of kids.

"They will be grieving, they will be angry. There will be different feelings that they have and we want to be ready to work with them in a compassionate and understanding way."

Even though Burnet Middle School was less-heavily impacted, the loss of 13-year-old Amy Ayers left a gaping hole in the hearts of her friends and teachers, who just couldn't believe that she was truly gone. One of Amy's friends, 14-year-old Terri Becker, told reporters with the Austin American-Statesman that she hadn't believed the news, and had gone to the yogurt shop that Saturday, only to be greeted by the bustling crime scene.

"When I went to the yogurt shop it was like a hole being driven into my heart. I've lost one of my closest friends and I'll never see her again."

Like Lanier High, Burnet Middle School had counselors on-hand for the week after the murders, in order to provide support that those that might need it. A vigil for all four victims was held that Monday, December 9th, at the St. Louis Catholic Church that all four girls had attended prior. More than 1000 people showed up from the area to show support and love for the victims' families, who struggled to come to grips with this immense loss in their lives.

A second vigil would take place exactly one week after the murders themselves, at the yogurt shop itself. Those in-attendance recognized a moment-of-silence and paid their respects to the four victims, whose deaths were still clouded in mystery.

In the days after the murders, police had been inundated with tips from the public. This was both pertinent and non-essential information, from people who believed they knew something. Of those tips, police decided to narrow in on people that had been on the yogurt shop in the hours before the crime itself took place, and began to arrange interviews with those witnesses.

In the meantime, police began to explore the backstories of the four victims themselves, curious to see if any of the four teenagers had any kind of skeletons in their closets: anything like a jealous older ex-boyfriend, or anything like that. However, there was nothing like that for any of the victims; all four were squeaky clean, good girls that worked hard and had promising futures ahead of them. Police could find absolutely nothing indicating any kind of connection to suspicious individuals. Whatever had happened that night seemed to have been completely random.

As police began to extend their search for witnesses, they began to learn more about what had happened that night to the four girls. After several days, the Tarrant County medical examiner's office finished up their autopsy and released their findings to investigators.

It was revealed that three bodies were burned beyond recognition. These were the three bodies that had been stacked atop of one another, which were believed to be the three oldest victims: Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, as well as Eliza Thomas. Even though their bodies had been burned severely, M.E.'s were able to identify them through dental records.

In their findings, it was also revealed that the youngest victim, Amy Ayers, had been the victim found several feet away from the others. According to some reports, she had been alive at the time firefighters arrived at the scene, but just barely; perishing just moments after they arrived. Supposedly, she had been attempting to crawl away from the flames, towards the back door, where she was eventually found, but her injuries were just too much to bear.

Each of the victims had been shot at least once in the head, execution-style, but it was later determined that the youngest victim, Amy Ayers, had been shot twice in the back of the head. Most peculiarly, she had been shot with a different caliber weapon than the others, which cemented the notion that at least two separate individuals had been involved in this crime.

Even though the original police report indicated that this was a simple robbery-murder, with no kind of sexual component, it has been theorized over the years that at least one of the victims had been raped before their murders. It was speculated that this had been the youngest victim, Amy Ayers, whose body was found away from the others; but over the years, this has continued to evolve, to the theory that more than one victim had been sexually assaulted at the scene. It would later come to light that investigators had questioned Jennifer Harbison's boyfriend, Sammy Buchanan because they found his DNA at the crime scene. However, it would later be determined that he and Jennifer had started having sex in the weeks before her murder, and the two had done so right before she went to work.

A lot of this information - which came from the autopsy findings - would be revealed years later, after the case had already gone cold. That's because, from the very beginning of this investigation, the Travis County District Attorney had petitioned for the autopsy results to be sealed. They believed that the information from the autopsy could be used to confirm or reject potential confessions - which always come flooding in after high-profile cases reach the media - and it was believed that this was necessary in this case; especially since a lot of the physical evidence had been destroyed by the fire and then further contaminated by the water from the fire-hoses.

Travis County District Judge Jon Wisser allowed the reports to be sealed so that confidentiality could be preserved; not only for the victims and their loved ones but so that the investigation itself could become insulated by outside influences. He allowed the reports to be sealed until someone was arrested and charged with the murders, which would prove to be in the distant future.

Police began to expand their search out into the local area, wondering if perhaps this crime was connected to others from the neighborhood.

In the months prior, multiple robberies had taken place in the Hillside Center strip mall that 'I Can't Believe It's Yogurt' was located in. This included multiple robberies at Suzanne's, a clothing store next door, which had been broken into approximately 8 times in the preceding months. It had become such a problem that Suzanne's had to put bars on their windows to prevent further burglaries.

Sandra Tash, the owner of a pet grooming salon a few doors down, believed that the area's robberies had likely played a part in the yogurt shop murders, as it was one of the few remaining shops open in the area at that late hour. She theorized that the culprits had likely ended up there because all of the neighboring businesses were closed.

Police also looked into the possible connections to a murder that had taken place a few months prior. In that case, a woman from Buda had been abducted outside of a country-western nightclub about two blocks away from the yogurt shop, and her body was later found. That case was still unsolved at the time, and police unsuccessfully tried to link the two together.

It was even reported that investigators in Austin had reached out to officials in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where a similar crime had unfolded at a bowling alley the year prior (1990). I covered that incident (Las Cruces Bowling Alley Massacre) in an episode of Unresolved last year and explored all of its gory, tragic details: the brutal shooting deaths of multiple victims, who had been shot in the head and left for dead. Just like in this case, the offenders had started a fire to cover up the crime by destroying any evidence, while the culprits made off with cash from the robbery. Just like this case, it remains unsolved to this day.

But the theory that proliferated most of the early reporting on this was the possibility that this crime had some kind of drug connection. Speaking to KLBJ Radio that first weekend, Sergeant John Jones - the detective overseeing the case - speculated that most of the police department agreed that the girls were robbed at around closing time and that drugs had played a part in that. He theorized that the offenders might have been high at the time, because of the chaotic crime scene they left behind.

This would be repeated by APD Sergeant Mike Huckabay that same weekend, who spoke to reporters on December 8th. Just like Sergeant Jones, Huckabay believed that the culprits had either been under the influence of narcotics at the time of the crime or hoped to use the profits from it to procure them:

"The first thing that comes to mind is crack cocaine. I've been in homicide a pretty good time and this is the worst one I've seen, considering it involved four young ladies at the same time."

In the latter half of December, police released a profile of the killers, which had been created with help from the FBI. This profile, which explored who the potential culprits might have been, also explained whether or not the public was at-risk for any kind of follow-up crimes.

According to the profile, the culprit(s) of this crime did not plan it out, but they were familiar with the area (due to their quick getaway and their ability to successfully navigate away from the crime scene without alerting the police). They were not at-risk to strike again but were dangerous enough to commit this crime when desperate.

At least two individuals had been involved in the commission of this crime, with the leader of the group being a dominant personality: someone that was able to coax at least one other individual into participating. That person - the follower - was likely to be extremely remorseful, and was likely to come forward with answers in the future.

It was also likely the offender(s) had a history of other fire-related crimes, at times using arson to cover up other violent incidents. They undoubtedly had a history of starting fires, and probably had a criminal record reflecting that.

In the weeks after the murders, it seemed like Austin itself had lost its innocence. At least, that's what people in the area would say repeatedly, as they struggled to come to grips with what had happened.

The lives of four teenagers had been lost in a single night, and to many people in Austin (who had grown up in the area, or had relocated from other high-population areas to get away from violent crime), this was a drastic wake-up call. It was a reminder that incidents like this could happen anywhere, including Austin - which had a population of around 500,000 people at the time but never felt like it.

Now, the veneer of safety was gone. Something like this had happened in a relatively affluent area, and it had happened to the most vulnerable population among us: children. Because of that, panic began to creep into the bones of everyone in the area; especially in other businesses, where teenagers worked similar hours at similar jobs. Parents that had once pressured kids into this late-hour jobs, to try and teach them responsibility, began to regret their decisions immediately.

Businesses in the area began to ramp up their safety standards, not allowing employees to walk out to their cars alone after dark. Other employers began to lock exterior doors close to closing time, increased the number of employees during night shifts, and began overhauling regular procedures to make it safer for everyone (not just their younger female employees). In some cases, businesses began to employ security guards, who were being hired in record numbers throughout Austin. Even gun shop owners, who had started selling an influx of firearms, were being inundated with calls from local business owners asking about the legality of keeping a weapon in their store.

Statistically, Austin was much safer than many other areas in the U.S. To this day, it is widely regarded as a safe city... but that is not what many people in Austin felt at the time. Barbara Suraci, the mother of victims Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, spoke to People magazine in 1992 and asked:

"What did we do wrong here? We moved to a nice house in a nice neighborhood. We did all the middle-class American things that you can do to protect your family and make it wholesome and right. If this can happen to us, it can happen to anyone."

People in Austin felt like this crime had changed the city, and that sentiment is shared to this day. To many, the sense of innocence that they once felt living in the middle of Texas was forever shattered, and they began waiting for detectives to present answers in the form of a suspect that the city could band together against. But as weeks began to stretch into months, it became clear that answers were not readily available, and the uneasiness that this case inspired would continue to linger.

To be continued on the next episode of Unresolved.

continue to part two

Episode Information

Writing, research, hosting, and production by Micheal Whelan

Published on on March 22nd, 2020

Producers: Maggyjames, Roberta Janson, Ben Krokum, Quil Carter, Peggy Belarde, Laura Hannan, Damion Moore, Amy Hampton, Scott Meesey, Steven Wilson, Scott Patzold, Marie Vanglund, Astrid Kneier, Lori Rodriguez, Victoria Reid, Gabriella Bromley, Jessica Yount, Aimee McGregor, Danny Williams, Sue Kirk, Sara Moscaritolo, Thomas Ahearn, Sydney Scotton, Marion Welsh, Seth Morgan, Alyssa Lawton, Kelly Jo Hapgood, Patrick Laakso, Meadow Landry, Rebecca Miller, and Tatum Bautista