Reflecting on the Yogurt Shop Murders
- judymaggio
- Sep 28
- 3 min read
Almost 34 years of heartache and dashed hopes have passed since that horrible night at a North Austin yogurt shop. So when Bob and Pam Ayers got word from police they finally had a solid suspect in the murder of their 13 year old daughter, Amy, and her 3 friends in Dec. 1991, they were relieved, but understandably cautious. The families of the girls have suffered through more than three decades of false leads, coerced confessions and even convictions of two men who turned out to be innocent.
“We are still trying to process. We want to make sure this is 100%, because as you know, hopes were high with past arrests.” Bob Ayers was the first person I contacted after KVUE called me at home late Friday afternoon with the news that Austin Police believed the Yogurt Shop Murders had finally been solved. They asked me to be part of their 6pm newscast and offer my perspective as someone who covered the case for many years. I was honored to oblige, but I wanted to make sure a much more vital voice was also provided. That’s why I immediately called Bob Ayers to get his reaction to the news APD had given him and other family members earlier that day.
I’ve kept in touch with the Ayers family over the years. I knew Bob trusted my reporting and he would be open and honest about his feelings. He told me APD investigators drove all the way to Bryan, where the Ayers were visiting to watch their son, Shawn and his wife, Angie, show their horses. He said police wanted the whole family to be together to deliver the words they’ve waited so long to hear: “we know who killed them.” New DNA testing identified the perpetrator as serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers who died by suicide in 1999. Bob told me, “ At first, we just sat in a circle, stunned. Then there were lots of tears. It was a relief…it’s been 34 years.”
Many longtime Austinites view this heinous crime as the day our community lost its innocence. But the families of those four girls lost something much more significant and have endured the endless echo of what could have been. Their pain was back on full display as the Yogurt Shop Murders docu-series aired on HBO this summer. It brought the crime, so familiar and so frightening to our city, into the light for the rest of the country to see.
As the mother of a daughter - now almost 34 years old - I can't begin to comprehend what the parents of Eliza Thomas, Jennifer and Sarah Harbison and Amy Ayers have suffered. I’ve had the joy of watching my own daughter grow into a happy, healthy woman. They never got that chance.
I was on maternity leave when the murders took place. Once I returned to work, in early January 1992, I vividly remember interviewing Barbara Ayres-Wilson at home. She lost both of her daughters (Jennifer and Sarah) on that tragic night. She showed me the girls' bedrooms…full of trophies, ribbons, posters, books and stuffed animals…rooms that seemed frozen in time. Barbara asked me about my baby daughter and I burst into tears. It was just too hard to emotionally separate myself from this story. It hit too close to home (figuratively and literally, close). The I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt shop, where the girls were killed, was less than a mile from the KVUE studios. Many of us frequented the shop. Being very pregnant during a hot Austin summer, I welcomed a cool treat. My husband vividly remembers Eliza and Jennifer behind the counter serving up frozen yogurt. Jennifer’s sister, Sarah, and her friend, Amy, had come up to the yogurt shop after closing time to catch a ride home from nearby Northcross Mall. That’s how all four of them ended up together that night of the murders.
When APD makes its big announcement Monday morning about finally solving the case, there will be countless opinions, some skepticism and a collective sigh of relief in our city. But I ask everyone to please keep the parents, siblings and those who knew and loved Eliza, Jennifer, Sarah and Amy close to your hearts. Hopefully it will help fill some painful gaps and mark a milestone in their healing journey.
Wasn’t it the Harbisons that lost both daughters, not the Ayers?