HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!Hello and welcome… to EPISODE 52, of WHO KILLED…?PURCHASE WHO KILLED THESE GIRLS? BY BEVERLY LOWRYThank you to Nic from the True Crime Garage Podcast. He is a library full of information about this case. Don’t forget if you’re going to CrimeCon 2020 in Orlando please use my PROMO Code AMY2020. I am your host Bill Huffman and on this week’s show, I will begin the arduous task of covering an infamous case out of Austin, Texas, the yogurt shop murders.This case has been covered by the likes of 48 Hours a number of times. Inside Edition and a plethora of podcasts.The reason I wanted to take a look at this case is I just finished Beverly Lowry’s book, Who Killed these girls? and it reinvigorated my interest in the case. I will do my best to do it justice and next week I may even have a special guest to discuss the case.Let’s get this week’s episode rolling, Who Killed the Yogurt Shop 4?December 6, 1991 started off like most days in Austin, Texas for Sarah and Jennifer Harbison. They got ready for school, packed their book bags and headed off for the day. It was an overcast day for the city, with temperatures maxing out around 72; a cool Texas Friday. Austin, Texas in 1991 was just coming into its own as a nationally known place where creativity can thrive.Not only is Austin, the capital of Texas, but it also holds the title of Live Music Capital of the World.In 1994, the city created the Austin Film Festival and filmmakers and actors such as Mike Judge, Richard Linklater, and Matthew McConaughey call Austin home.In 2002, Austin City Limits was founded and became one of the premier live events in the U-S drawing groups from all over the world to perform.Sarah would be working that’s night shift so her plans were already set. She would be working with Eliza Thomas, another classmate at Lanier high school. For Sarah and Eliza their shift was going to be just like any other Friday night they worked together at the I Can’t Believe it’s Not Yogurt shop. And the shift started exactly that way. This was 1992 and the frozen yogurt fad was still in full swing; with lines at most times. The chain the girls worked for had hundreds of stores in multiple states. Amy Ayers, a friend of the girls, and Jennifer Harbison, Sarah’s little sister came up to the shop to hang out. A normal routine for any teenager who has friends working by themselves. Their place of employment can become an ideal new hangout spot... We’ve all been there. As the shift progressed, patrons came and went. It was a Friday night so the store was busy and the girls would be closing late. Around 11:45 PM that same night a local police officer was on patrol when he took notice to smoke coming from the yogurt shop. As the call went out to the fire department the blaze quickly became a two-alarm fire, requiring assistance from other departments to extinguish the fire. In all, some fifty firefighters were needed to get the fire under control and prevent it from spreading to other stores.What started off like any other day ended in horror for the four girls at the shop, the families, friends, the first responders and the community of Austin.As the fire was being put out, nobody on the scene had any idea what they were about to find. As the firemen moved into the building to finish extinguishing the hot spots, and any other little fires only to find something… I am sure they wish they could all forget.In the back of the store, near the exit they found bodies piled on one another.As the medical examiners were called in the grief the first responders were going through was clear. It was also obvious something horrible had occurred as the firefighters emerged dazed and confused.One veteran police officer said he was stunned by the senseless killings of four teenage girls, all of whom were shot twice in the back of the head in a yogurt shop that was then set afire. "I've been on the force 10 years and lived in Austin 20 years and this is the worst I remember,"...
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