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USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Detective on 'Yogurt Shop Murders' is 'confident' he'll solve 34-year-old cold case
In 1991, four teenage girls were killed at a frozen yogurt shop in Austin, then roughly half the size the booming city is now. Eliza Thomas, 17, Amy Ayers, 13, and sisters Jennifer Harbison, 17, and Sarah Harbison, 15, were fatally shot at I Can't Believe It's Yogurt!, formerly located in North Austin. The girls were then set on fire. Nearly 34 years later, the case remains unsolved, and the person(s) responsible walk free, if they're even alive. The grizzly crime, its impact on the victims' families and the decades-long search for the perpetrator(s) are chronicled in HBO's four-part docuseries, 'The Yogurt Shop Murders,' that premiered Aug. 3 (weekly Sundays, 10 ET/PT). Academy Award-winning actor Emma Stone and her husband Dave McCary are executive producers of the project directed by Margaret Brown. Reese Price, the shop's manager recalls the horror of identifying the girls so their families wouldn't have to. Price was just 24 at the time. 'There wasn't anything there to identify,' she remembers in the docuseries. 'Fire is very destructive. It's not forgiving.' Archival footage puts viewers at the yogurt shop on the night of the killings, and Brown says there are 'characters in our show (who) have never talked to anyone else, and we have some facts in our show that have never been explored.' She adds, 'These people went through something so specifically awful, but I do think there's something in that for everyone. We're all going to experience pain, and I felt like for me, this was a way to look at this fascinating case, at the same time an exploration of how do people deal with something this hard (and) what can we learn from that?' Brown remembers when she moved to Austin in the late '90s when she says billboards asking for information on the case plastered the sky. One of the reasons she signed on for the project is 'because a lot of my friends who are crime reporters said this is the most interesting crime that exists,' Brown says in an interview. 'There's not one with more rabbit holes. This is the mothership of interesting crime.' Rumors linger in the city like Texas summer heat, Brown says. 'Before I talked to you, some woman wrote me on Instagram (saying) she solved it,' Brown says. 'I think that people are obsessed with it.' In 2022, Detective Dan Jackson was assigned the case on his first day with the Austin Police Department's cold case unit. The 45-year-old who was raised about 30 miles southwest of Austin in San Marcos remembers hearing about the murders as a child. 'It's such a huge case,' Jackson tells USA TODAY. 'I sort of knew at that point I would be with it forever.' When asked about why the case remains open today Jackson points to the crime scene and potential evidence scorched by fire and drenched by hoses to extinguish the blaze. Two men were previously found guilty in connection to the crimes. Robert Springsteen received a death sentence in 2001 for killing Ayers, and Michael Scott was sentenced to life for the death of Ayers the following year. But their convictions were overturned. Scott and Springsteen declined to be in the docuseries, Brown says. But Springsteen is captured in footage previously filmed for another project around 2009. Springsteen shocks a sales associate helping him find clothes for an interview and court when he says, 'I'm sure you probably think it's really funny, but we're doing a documentary because I just got off death row.' A DNA sample from the crime scene belongs to neither Scott nor Springsteen. Jackson is hoping to build a profile from the sample that leads him to a suspect. 'One of the things that we want the public to know is that this case is active,' he says. 'It's constantly worked on.' And Jackson remains optimistic as forensic technology continues to improve. 'If I didn't think I could solve it then why get up every day?' he says. 'I think that with new technology, new information that we have − that I can't go into − even since I've taken the case over, the ability to do more with less when it comes to forensics is light years ahead than it was a few years ago. When I started, we needed a certain amount (of DNA). We weren't even close to it, but that amount that you need is so much less now.' He adds, 'I am confident that I will solve this.' He's also hopeful that the docuseries could lead to the tip that cracks open the case. 'Somebody out there knows something,' he says. 'That's one of the things with cold cases is that you do get people overtime that, for whatever reason, may not have been willing to come forward years ago that now feel more comfortable. Or they thought it was something small and didn't ever say anything and they're like well, maybe I should call in this time and mention it. Who knows? It could be the break we need.' If you have any information about the case, visit or send an email to yogurtshop@
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ghislaine Maxwell pleads with Supreme Court, Trump to intervene in criminal case
Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, urged the Supreme Court on Monday to overturn her sex trafficking conviction as her attorney simultaneously made overtures to President Trump. 'We are appealing not only to the Supreme Court but to the President himself to recognize how profoundly unjust it is to scapegoat Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein's crimes, especially when the government promised she would not be prosecuted,' attorney David Oscar Markus said in a statement. With pressure growing on the administration to release more information from the Epstein files, Trump has punted on whether he would pardon Maxwell. Trump said Monday that 'I'm allowed to give her' a pardon, but 'nobody's approached me.' Markus's latest comments mark his most direct suggestion yet of Trump intervening. Markus said Friday he hadn't spoken to the president yet about a pardon and 'we're going to take one day at a time.' The new statement came as Maxwell made her final plea to the Supreme Court on Monday before the justices decide whether to take up her case. Maxwell filed the appeal in April, and the justices are poised to consider it upon returning from their summer recess. Maxwell argues her conviction violates a nonprosecution agreement Epstein signed with federal prosecutors. The appeal turns on the scope of the 2007 deal, which let Epstein avoid federal charges for pleading guilty to state-level sex crimes in Florida and serving 18 months in prison. The deal was signed by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Lower courts ruled the deal only covers that district and doesn't apply to federal prosecutors in New York, where Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for aiding Epstein in abusing underage girls. 'Rather than grapple with the core principles of plea agreements, the government tries to distract by reciting a lurid and irrelevant account of Jeffrey Epstein's misconduct,' Markus wrote in the new brief. 'But this case is about what the government promised, not what Epstein did.' Last week, Maxwell sat for a two-day interview with the Justice Department's No. 2 official, Todd Blanche. The Justice Department has opposed Maxwell's Supreme Court appeal, rejecting the notion that the nonprosecution agreement spans any judicial district in the country. 'That contention is incorrect, and petitioner does not show that it would succeed in any court of appeals,' Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in court filings. 'This case would also be an unsuitable vehicle for addressing the matters raised.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
New York Post
7 hours ago
- New York Post
Israel arming anti-Hamas Gaza clans, including leader accused of looting aid trucks: reports
Israel is arming local gangs in the Gaza Strip to weaken Hamas, but the efforts are propping up a man accused of looting aid trucks, according to a new report. Yasser Abu Shabab, whose 'Popular Forces' militia is active in southern Gaza, has openly challenged Hamas and touted himself as a liberator overseeing the humanitarian aid distribution within his territory. 'He has a full-glide militia up and running, fully backed by Israel,' a UN official told the Washington Post. 5 Yasser Abu Shabab, who operates a militia inside Gaza, has openly challenged Hamas and polices aid as it arrives in his territory. Yasser Abu Shabab/Facebook 5 Humanitarian groups say they don't recognize the armed men, but are forced to deal with them as they hold several inspection points in southern Gaza. AFP via Getty Images Shabab, who regularly shares video of his forces on social media, declared the eastern section of Rafah as his domain last month, where 2,000 refugees reportedly live under his group's care. The set up came around the same time Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that his military was actively arming influential gangs in Gaza as a way to 'oppose' Hamas. While Netanyahu didn't name Shabab's group directly, the clan leader's base is in an area controlled by the Israeli Defense Forces, with his militia caught on video several times operating alongside the IDF. One of the videos was verified by the Guardian, showing the armed men working with IDF soldiers at the Kerem Shalom crossing despite the gang not being recognized by any independent humanitarian group operating in Gaza. 5 Shabab has denied allegations that his group works directly with the Israeli military, which has begun providing arms to local clan leaders. Yasser Abu Shabab/Facebook 5 Shabab's militia had been accused of being behind the systematic looting aid meant to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. AFP via Getty Images The IDF has also notably steered clear of conflict with the armed militia after returning to war in March, allowing the group to set up checkpoints and inspect the aid going to Rafah, the UN and humanitarian groups said. Shabab has repeatedly denied the allegations that he works with the Israeli military, slamming them as nothing more than Hamas propaganda. Despite Shabab's efforts to distance himself from the Jewish state, Israeli media has propped him as the man who can succeed Hamas and steer Gaza in a new direction following Netanyahu's proposal to have the Strip led by local leaders approved by Israel. 5 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the policy of arming local clans as a way to weaken Hamas and save the lives of Israeli soldiers. REUTERS Shabab's rise to prominence, however, has been marred by repeated allegations that his group was behind the armed robberies of aid trucks in southern Gaza. International aid groups that operated in the Strip had accused Shabab and his armed men of systematically looting the trucks delivering food and essential items enroute to refugees. While Shabab initially denied the claims, he later admitted that his men raided half a dozen aid trucks out of desperation, The New York Times reported. Both Shabab and Israel had claimed that Hamas was behind the systematic looting of humanitarian aid in Gaza, but the IDF acknowledged last week that it had no evidence to support the claim. Shabab has also been accused of smuggling drugs and weapons out of Gaza before the war began, with his associates conducting business with the Islamic State branch based in Sinai, according to the WaPo. Israel's plan to bolster local clans is reminiscent of its failed 'Village League' strategy in the West Bank during the 70s and 80s, where the Jewish state gave money and privileges to carry arms to local clan leaders to oppose the Palestine Liberation Organization.
