The 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders in Austin, Texas

Last month I read this review of a four-part HBO MAX series called The Yogurt Shop Murders in Texas Monthly about the unsolved, 34-year-old, quadruple homicide of four girls. Austin firefighters responded to a fire at a yogurt shop and discovered it was started to try to hide the murder of four teen girls, two of whom worked there and one teen’s younger sister and her friend.

Austin firefighters found the nude, charred bodies of four girls ages 13-17 in the store. They had all been executed with a shot to the back of the head. Investigators would later learn the 13-year-old had been raped.

As the review describes, this crime was described as the point where Austin, Texas lost its innocence. That struck a chord with me because not only were there (at least) four victims in the OCCK case, these four killings were certainly the point where Oakland County could no longer pretend any innocence. Whereas the series uses images of “We will never forget” in the wake of the murder of the girls in Austin, law enforcement and the prosecutor in Oakland County were more than happy to facilitate amnesia.

You should be able to read the Texas Monthly review and at least one more article free of charge. I ended up subscribing because their crime writing is pretty amazing. Texas has its share of bizarre crimes and more than its share of coerced confessions. Their writers do a great job.

I agree with the reviewer that this recent documentary series is a thoughtful meditation on grief and trauma as it examines the impact of these murders on the families and the community. Episode 4 explains how the evidence has been evaluated over the years in this cold case and how DNA testing is the last, best hope.

In 1991 testing yielded no foreign DNA on or in the girls’ bodies. Evidence was retested when two men convicted for the crimes were granted new trials. Scientists found a full Y-str profile in the 13-year-old victim and on other evidence that did not match any of the four defendants in this case.

There is no database for Y-str DNA. The state, hoping that the retest would incriminate one of the defendants, argued that there was somehow contamination due to evidence procedures used in 1991. So they tested every firefighter who was on the scene that night–over 50 men. They tested another 150 men–any officers/law enforcement, the medical examiner and male family members of the victims; any male who was anywhere near any of the girls’ bodies. That’s over 200 men. No one was a match. They fucking tested everyone who was near the bodies of the four girls.

The prosecutor wisely declined to go forward with retrials until the source of this DNA evidence is revealed. While contamination was a possibility, one of the defendant’s attorneys opines on screen that it is not a probability. “A full profile inside a vaginal swab of the youngest victim? No, that’s not contamination, that’s your killer.” (Episode 4, at -50:06). You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to come to this conclusion.

The Y-str DNA profile developed from Kristine Mihelich’s vaginal swab was not a full profile. As described in The Snow Killings, MSP scientists said there were enough markers to exclude or not exclude suspects. (Page 240). The suspects police have DNA for in this case have been eliminated as sources of this Y-str DNA, as have family members and a few sources of possible contamination and a few men who were considered using genetic genealogy.

As I have written before, three-plus years ago the state refused further testing with a third party lab to attempt to get a better profile and to eliminate false positives. While I never get a completely straight answer, my understanding is that the lab is not going forward with additional testing on anything other than four hair samples (well, three samples and the extract from a fourth) at this time. The Y-str? Nothing to see here.

No one in law enforcement has commented on how male DNA ended up on a vaginal swab in the OCCK case. No one has commented on this affects their view about how “difficult” this case is because the two girls were not sexually assaulted and the boys were. No one has expressed willingness to retest the kids’ underwear and clothing and no one will get the sentence out of their damn mouth about why this is the case. Fucking say it.

Contrast the sit down a detective with the Austin PD Cold Case Unit has with the families in the Yogurt Shop case, as documented in Episode 4. He introduces himself, explains the DNA evidence, the decisions involved in testing when there is a finite amount of DNA that could be extinguished during a round of testing, and whether to wait for more sophisticated testing down the road. He gives them a tour of their office, including framed biographies of the four girls whose murders he is attempting to solve.

He states they are continuing to reevaluate every piece of evidence. Each time you talk to one of these third party labs, he explains, they are able to do more with less evidence. He states “We are going to solve this case some day. I want the public to know that.” He sat in a room with the families, explained what was going on with the DNA testing and asked if they had questions.

We were supposedly oh-so-close to a meeting where our questions could be answered by the state lab, to be arranged by the OCP because the MSP “doesn’t” meet with families of victims and the OC FBI office doesn’t “let the tail wag the dog.” These chip-on-the-shoulders agencies focus on the “don’ts,” not the “do’s.” And, as is always the case, they have again gone dark. This isn’t so much protocol as it is cowardice.

We are told an FBI agent is “working the case.” Why is the FBI again the go-between with possible third-party labs? Why didn’t the state lab prepare and send off the hair evidence? That’s all they are considering retesting. Another summer come and gone and total foot-dragging. They’ve known about Astrea Forensics since 2019.

Every minute of Episode 4 of this documentary made my stomach ache. The contrast between the OCCK investigation and the Yogurt Shop investigation and the community responses could not be greater.

Oakland County and the Michigan State Police wanted everyone to believe the OCCK case was the perfect set of crimes and that the cases were unsolvable. Complete bullshit and a convenient way to avoid any blame.

Because DNA advances mean even allegedly “unsolvable” cases can in fact be solved, these agencies want to shut down the narrative and refuse communication. They continue to swallow this case whole and keep the public and the families in the dark. It is utterly shameful and reprehensible.