Who killed these girls?
This is a picture of Amy Ayers, sisters Jennifer Harbison and Sarah Harbison and Eliza Thomas on billboards in Austin, Texas, accompanied by a question asking the public to help resolve their 1991 brutal murder. The final episode of HBO's four-part documentary Yogurt shop murder case The lasting tragedy of the case wrestled with the case thirty years later, and investigators are still seeking to answer the same questions.
Over the course of four episodes, director Margaret Brown simultaneously unearths the twists and turns of the 34-year-old’s cold case, while also focusing on the lasting trauma felt by surviving family members, who try to achieve peace with such unimaginable losses. Of course, the details of the case are shocking, but ultimately, she hopes the series is about “handling the trauma in our lives and how we can’t stick to memory and all aspects of it.”
To complete an in-depth interview with the people most affected by the deaths of Amy, Jennifer, Sarah and Eliza (their parents and siblings).
“It's really hard because you don't know what's going to trigger people, and actually, actually, what's actually triggering everyone…. You start thinking, 'Oh, I can predict that.' You can't.” Brown muses. “One thing I’ve learned is that everyone’s sadness is different.”
Yogurt shop murder case
Provided by HBO
Brown gave up on her expectations and fell into discomfort in the process, and she realized that the most important part of the process was caused by appropriate intentions.
“You have to do this anyway. You might upset someone. They might be yelling at you. You might be saying it wrong.” “As long as you come from a place of real curiosity and care, that's the best you can do, but it's really hard because I do walk because I'm afraid of recreating people. I think often, if I do say something, it's a wrong step…I just say, “I'm sorry.” It usually spreads in some way. ”
While encouraging her family to attend, Brown added that she did not push them like the previous themes, especially Barbara Ayres-Wilson, mother of Jennifer and Sarah Harbison. Although she did eventually get Ayres-Wilson to compete, Brown said she stomped especially lightly when she came to learn what she and other surviving family members suffered.
“I've been talking to Barbara for a long time and I just thought I could never let her do it because she was just done in the media,” Brown said. “When she told me…my producer was like, 'You're going to ask Barbara?” 'I'll feel,'f*ck, no, I won't ask Barbara. They are all her children. ”
If everyone can reach a consensus in this puzzling situation, it is that these families are enough. Over the years, countless breakthroughs seem to be expected to lead to dead ends. Ten years after the murder, two men were imprisoned for crimes and were not released in 2009 until they were overthrown in 2009.
Austin detective Dan Jackson told the deadline that I think, keep families as updated as possible. I think it's just because I think after these 34 years they should know that this is not sitting in the basement, which is something that works positively,” “I'm studying this situation almost every day. ”
Jackson said the families “know that I can’t tell them everything” but everything he can share, he does. He could also be open in a news interview, acknowledging that “we are having other avenues to attack this situation” that he would not be able to share, but he did provide details about the pathways he could: DNA evidence.
Among the leaders Jackson continues to pursue, a small portion of DNA is involved, in which one of the victims’ vaginal swabs remain unidentified. Y-STR tests on a small number of DNA help overturn convictions of previous suspects and are not comparable to anyone known to have been conducted at the crime scene, including investigators. To this day, effective cases still hope to one day help actually resolve it.
DNA testing technology has evolved rapidly since 1991, and soon, Jackson said it is possible to build a more vivid DNA curve with the amount they left from the swab. In murder, this is not even ideal.
“The amount of DNA you need is small compared to a few years ago,” he said. In murders, investigators will need “a blood” to extract a viable amount of DNA to build a profile.
“Now, we've reached a few cells and can even be done with a mixture that we couldn't do a year ago,” he added. “We're cautiously optimistic about what we can do.”
For all the frustrations in the yogurt shop case, the detective showed incredible vision about the DNA composition of the case. The documentary details how the first investigators on the scene convinced the coroner not to move the body until they were wiped with DNA, even if it was related to traditional wisdom at the time.
Brown added: “Facts [the detectives] Convincing them to stay and wipe the body is – thank God, because there is nothing happening now. ”
That's why, despite the reason for being frustrated with the case, Jackson said that there are few answers after 34 years, he is still hopeful and confident that there is more to reveal in the yogurt shop investigation.
“We’ve come so far that we hope we can improve,” he said. “I feel good about it. We can do something here. ”
Detectives are still looking for details of the yogurt shop murder. Encourage any information to contact www.austincrimestoppers.org Or at yogurtshop@austintexas.gov. People can also submit anonymously through the following Crime Blocker QR codes.