A
A FIGHT
A FIGHT BETWEEN THE FBI AND LOCAL INVESTIGATORS IN ONE OF AUSTIN'S
MOST INFAMOUS UNSOLVED MURDERS
--
-- AND
-- AND WHETHER THE FEDS HAVE INFORMATION THAT COULD FINALLY UNLOCK THE
NEARLY 30-YEAR-OLD YOGURT SHOP
MURDER MYSTERY.
HERE'S KVUE SENIOR REPORTER,
TONY
TONY PLOHETSKI, WITH PHOTOJOURNALIST BRIAN BELL. "OUR LIFE WAS CHANGED FOREVER,
THAT ONE NIGHT."
"I THOUGHT THIS WAS REALLY GOING
TO BE THE BREAK THAT WOULD HELP
US. AND WHAT DO WE DO? WE GET
SLAPPED IN THE FACE BY THE FBI."
"WE
"WE OWE
"WE OWE OURSELVES AS A COMMUNITY A RESOLUTION TO
THIS
THIS CASE
THIS CASE IF IT CAN BE REACHED." "IT'S SO FRUSTRATING. IT'S FRUSTRATING THAT WE ARE SO
CLOSE."
CLOSE."
"EVERYBODY SAYS IT GETS BETTER WITH TIME. BULLSHIT. IT DON'T GET NO BETTER."
IT
IT WAS
IT WAS A
IT WAS A CRIME THAT BOTH HORRIFIED -- YOU DON'T EVER THINK ANYBODY IS
GOING TO EVER COME INTO A
YOGURT PLACE AND SHOOT YOU.
--
-- AND
-- AND BROKE THE HEART OF CENTRAL TEXAS. FOUR TEENAGE GIRLS -- SHOT IN
THE HEAD AT AN I CAN'T BELIEVE
IT'S YOGURT SHOP DECEMBER 6TH,
1991 -- THE
BUILDING TORCHED -- AND FIRE
DESTROYED
DESTROYED
MOST
MOST OF
MOST OF THE EVIDENCE. EIGHT PAINFUL YEARS PASSED BEFORE POLICE ARRESTED FOUR
MEN AND CHARGED THEM WITH
CAPITAL MURDER.
CAPITAL MURDER.
THEN
THEN THE
THEN THE CASES -- CRUMBLED. TWO OF THE SUSPECTS -- FORREST WELLBORN AND
WELLBORN AND
MAURICE
MAURICE PIERCE -- NEVER WENT TO TRIAL -- THE CHARGES AGAINST THEM DROPPED. TWO OTHERS
--
-- ROBERT
-- ROBERT SPRINGSTEEN AND MICHAEL SCOTT -- WERE CONVICTED--
"WE FINALLY GOT ANSWERS.
SOMEBODY IS GOING TO PAY FOR
THE
THE CRIME. THOSE GIRLS ARE GONE, IT'S NOT GOING TO BRING THEM BACK,
BUT THOSE GUYS AREN'T WALKING
AROUND ON THE STREET."
--
-- BUT
-- BUT COURTS LATER OVERTURNED THOSE CONVICTIONS.
THOSE CONVICTIONS.
CONVICTIONS.
"BACK
"BACK TO
"BACK TO DAY ONE. IT IS LIKE THE MURDERS HAPPENED ALL OVER AGAIN."
OVER AGAIN."
PROSECUTORS TOOK SCOTT AND SPRINGSTEEN TO TRIAL WITH NO FORENSIC
EVIDENCE.
INVESTIGATORS HAD WORKED FOR
YEARS TO GET ANY KIND OF
DNA PROFILE FROM THE CRIME
SCENE, BUT SAMPLES
REVEALED NOTHING.
THEN IN 2008 -- AS TECHNOLOGY
ADVANCED -- POLICE LEARNED
THAT SCIENTISTS HAD BEGUN NEW
TESTING THAT COULD AT LEAST
REVEAL
REVEAL A
REVEAL A MALE-ONLY DNA STRAND. UNLIKE TRADITIONAL DNA THAT CAN PROVE ONE
PERSON'S IDENTITY, THIS TYPE OF
PROFILE --
CALLED Y-STR -- SHOWS AN ENTIRE
FAMILY LINE OF MEN.
COUSINS, BROTHERS, UNCLES AND
FATHERS MAY
ALL SHARE THE SAME STRAND.
WHEN DETECTIVES SENT A SAMPLE
FROM VICTIM
AMY AYERS' BODY FOR TESTING --
THE PROFILE THEY
GOT BACK MATCHED NONE OF THE
FOUR SUSPECTS -- A
FACT THAT LED PROSECUTORS NOT TO
RETRY SCOTT OR
SPRINGSTEEN.
IT WOULD NOT BE PRUDENT TO RISK
A TRIAL UNTIL WE KNOW THE NATURE
OF THE INVOLVEMENT OF THIS
UNKNOWN MALE.
UNKNOWN MALE.
ALMOST
ALMOST A
ALMOST A DECADE LATER -- IN EARLY 2017 -- AN AUSTIN POLICE DETECTIVE LEARNED ABOUT A
GROWING
NUMBER OF MALE-ONLY DNA
DATABASES, INCLUDING ONE
AT THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR
FORENSIC SCIENCE AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA. THE COLD CASE DETECTIVE ENTERED THE PROFILE INTO
THAT DATABASE. AND WHEN HE GOT A
MATCH, INVESTIGATORS
BELIEVED THE YOGURT SHOP
INVESTIGATION WAS ABOUT TO
GET NEW MOMENTUM.
"THEY HAD A HIT, BUT NOW WE NEED
TO KNOW WHO THE HIT IS."
"IT WAS VERY EXCITING THAT WE
HAD SOMETHING TO PURSUE. WE KNEW
IT WOULD STILL BE A LONG ROAD TO
GET TO A RESOLUTION, BUT
HAVING A LEAD AT ALL WAS VERY
GOOD NEWS."
INVESTIGATORS SAY THEY REALIZED
THE PERSON LINKED
TO THE PROFILE MAY HAVE HUNDREDS
OR THOUSANDS OF
MALE FAMILY MEMBERS. STILL, IT
WAS THE BIGGEST CLUE
THEY'D GOTTEN IN A DECADE.
THEY
THEY WERE
THEY WERE ECSTATIC TO LEARN THE FLORIDA DATABASE HAD GOTTEN THE SAMPLE
FROM THE FBI.
"WE THOUGHT NOW THAT IS REALLY
EXCITING
EXCITING NEWS, BECAUSE THAT IS A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY, SURELY WE WILL GET FULL
COOPERATION IN SEEING WHAT WE
CAN LEARN FROM THIS PIECE OF
DNA."
BUT OVER THE PAST NEARLY THREE
YEARS -- THE FBI HAS
SAID NO.
"BY LAW, IF THIS CAN'T BE DONE,
I THINK IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE
IN
THE LAWS."
THE FBI CITES THIS FEDERAL LAW
SAYING THE AGENCY CAN
LEGALLY PROVIDE SAMPLES TO
RESEARCH
DATABASES FOR POPULATION STUDIES
-- AS IT DID TO THE
FLORIDA DATABASE IN 2013 -- "IF
PERSONALLY
IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION IS
REMOVED."
THE AGENCY SAID THAT SUCH
PROFILES "ARE NOT SUITABLE
FOR MATCHING TO AN INDIVIDUAL."
"WE THOUGHT SURELY YOU CAN'T
MEAN
MEAN THIS. YOU CAN'T MEAN THAT YOU COULD TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT THIS DNA AND YOU WILL NOT
SHARE IT WITH US."
AND THE FLORIDA DATABASE HAS
THIS DISCLAIMER, SAYING IT
"CANNOT BE USED TO
IDENTIFY A PARTICULAR INDIVIDUAL
WHOSE SAMPLE
IS IN THE DATABASE. ALL DONORS
ARE ANONYMOUS,
AND SAMPLES CAN'T BE TRACED BACK
TO SPECIFIC
INDIVIDUALS."
THE RESULT IS A STALEMATE
BETWEEN LOCAL INVESTIGATORS
AND THE FBI -- A POTENTIAL
ROADBLOCK TO JUSTICE THAT IS NOW
DRAWING INTEREST FROM
CONGRESSMEN FROM AUSTIN TO
WASHINGTON.
LAST WEEK, U-S REPRESENTATIV E
MICHAEL MCCAUL SENT
THIS
THIS LETTER TO THE FBI, URGING THEM TO WORK WITH INVESTIGATORS AND RELEASE WHAT
INFORMATION
THEY CAN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
"TO THEM IT MAY NOT BE
INFORMATION THAT THEY THINK
WOULD
BE HELPFUL TO US, BUT THEY DON'T
KNOW ALL THE DETAILS OF OUR
CASE
CASE EITHER. FOR THE FAMILIES OF AUSTIN'S YOGURT SHOP
VICTIMS -- AMY AYERS, ELIZA
THOMAS AND SISTERS SARAH
AND JENNIFER HARBISON -- WHAT IS
HAPPENING NOW
THE LATEST IN A STRING OF
HEARTBREAKS THAT BEGAN
THAT NIGHT NEARLY THREE DECADES
AGO.
"THERE ARE FOUR DEAD GIRLS. FOUR
FAMILIES THAT HAVE GONE
THROUGH
THROUGH 29 YEARS OF HELL AND YOU ARE SITTING ON THE INFORMATION, AND IT IS VERY VERY
HEARTBREAKING."
HEARTBREAKING."
AND
AND WITH
AND WITH EVERY YEAR THAT PASSES -- THE FAMILIES OF THE YOUNG WOMEN PRAY FOR A
RESOLUTION NOT ONLY FOR
THEMSELVES -- BUT THE ENTIRE
COMMUNITY.
AN ANSWER -- ONCE AND FOR ALL --
ABOUT WHO CARRIED
OUT ONE OF AUSTIN'S MOST
COLD-BLOODED CRIMES.
"I WILL NOT DIE UNTIL THIS IS
SOLVED. I'LL SAY IT AGAIN. I
WILL NOT
DIE UNTIL THIS IS SOLVED."
"THIS IS MY LITTLE GIRL. AND I
WANT JUSTICE."
WANT JUSTICE."
TRAVIS
TRAVIS COUNTY PROSECUTORS, AUSTIN POLICE AND THE FAMILIES OF THE YOGURT SHOP
VICTIMS SAY THEY ARE NOW
GOING PUBLIC WITH THIS ISSUE TO
TRY A NEW WAY TO GET THE
INFORMATION IN THEIR HANDS.
THEY SAY THEY ALSO ARE
CONSIDERING TAKING THIS
MATTER TO COURT -- WHICH THEY
FEAR COULD SLOW
THIS INVESTIGATION DOWN FOR
YEARS TO COME.
TONY
TONY PLOHETSKI, KVUE NEWS. KVUE'S COVERAGE OF THIS CASE HAS SPANNED DECADES.
LAST YEAR -- WE HIGHLIGHTED IT
IN OUR KVUE CRIME FILES SERIES.
YOU
CAN GET CAUGHT UP ON THE
BACKGROUND OF THIS CASE ON
KVUE-DOT-COM OR ON OUR YOUTUBE
CHANNEL.
CHANNEL.