WEBVTT 1 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:30.239 Welcome back to part three of our series about the 2 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:33.159 Austin yogurt shot murders. We will finally be talking about 3 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:36.759 how this case was solved. And then things got really 4 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:39.880 ridiculous because in October of two thousand and three, several 5 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:43.280 months after the charges were dropped against Maurice, they decided 6 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:46.840 to charge Michael Scott's best friend Patrick Davison on the 7 00:00:46.920 --> 00:00:50.039 charges of being an accessory after the fact, failing to 8 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:53.240 report a felony, making a false statement, and obstruction of 9 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:57.399 justice because during his original confession, Michael had claimed that 10 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:00.840 he had given Patrick a paper bag containing the pistol 11 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:03.439 used in the murders and told them to hide it. 12 00:01:04.040 --> 00:01:07.200 And I know that after Michael confessed, he supposedly called 13 00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:09.920 Patrick and told him to tell police about the gun 14 00:01:10.359 --> 00:01:13.439 if they asked. And Patrick was questioned by investigators a 15 00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:15.519 few days later, and he recalled that, oh yeah, I 16 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:18.400 kind of remember back in nineteen ninety one, Mike gave 17 00:01:18.439 --> 00:01:20.159 me a paper bag and I threw it in a 18 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:23.400 trash container at his apartment complex. But he kept changing 19 00:01:23.400 --> 00:01:25.920 his story over the next few years. He said he 20 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:29.959 couldn't really remember, and then when Mike went on trial, 21 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:33.120 the official story presented was that Patrick had tossed the 22 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:37.159 three eighty gun into Lake Austin. So by the time 23 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:40.439 Patrick was indicted on these new charges, he finally said that, no, 24 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:43.120 Michael never gave me a gun. I did not dispose 25 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:45.799 of it. But they pretty much told him that you 26 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:48.519 could face twenty years in federal prison and a million 27 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:51.680 dollar fine if you go on trial. So Patrick agreed 28 00:01:51.719 --> 00:01:53.719 to a plea deal in which he could plead guilty 29 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:57.439 to lesser charges in exchange for only one year in prison. 30 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:00.519 And many people suspected that this was sour rapes, that 31 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:03.640 because they couldn't get a conviction against Maurice Pierce, they 32 00:02:03.640 --> 00:02:06.680 were going after this so called accessory who had disposed 33 00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:09.240 of the murder weapon. But now we know that these 34 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:12.639 four guys didn't do it. So Patrick never likely never 35 00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:14.960 got rid of a gun, and it turns out he 36 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:17.120 accepted a plea deal and spent a year in prison 37 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:17.719 for nothing. 38 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:21.919 This case is a nightmare. But honestly, all of these 39 00:02:21.960 --> 00:02:25.759 innocent people being railroaded and they're thinking that they're getting 40 00:02:25.800 --> 00:02:28.680 some kind of justice, Like you really have to question 41 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:32.120 if the investigators really and truly believe this. You're trying 42 00:02:32.120 --> 00:02:34.759 to shore up your case more by going in charge 43 00:02:34.759 --> 00:02:37.840 of him like way after the facts. I don't understand, 44 00:02:38.039 --> 00:02:40.439 is it because you couldn't get convictions with Maurice and 45 00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:43.280 Forrest that you're just trying to make it look like 46 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:46.919 this is a real sure thing, that like you did 47 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:49.639 the right thing and all of these people who are 48 00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:54.199 tangentially involved are then going to be held responsible. It 49 00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:55.439 seems like overkill. 50 00:02:56.039 --> 00:02:58.120 It pretty much was, yeah, that they were just trying 51 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:01.159 to get vengeance on everyone they could. And I couldn't 52 00:03:01.159 --> 00:03:04.400 even understand Patrick's decision because he's pretty much told you 53 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:07.520 can face twenty years in prison, but if you plead guilty, 54 00:03:07.879 --> 00:03:10.080 you'll only get one year. So even if he's innocence, 55 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:12.360 he's probably thinking to myself, if I take a chance 56 00:03:12.360 --> 00:03:15.039 at trial, I've already seen two of my friends go 57 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:17.159 to prison and one of them is on death row. 58 00:03:17.319 --> 00:03:19.759 I'm going to take the plea even though it turned 59 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:21.960 out all along that he was completely innocent and that 60 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:25.080 this charge of him disposing of the gun was completely bogus. 61 00:03:26.199 --> 00:03:28.800 So in two thousand and five, the United States Supreme 62 00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:31.960 Court had a new ruling that juveniles should not be 63 00:03:32.039 --> 00:03:35.000 executed for crimes they committed well under the age of eighteen, 64 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:37.919 and since Robert had been seventeen at the time that 65 00:03:37.960 --> 00:03:41.120 the Yeowart Shop murders occurred, his death sentence was commuted 66 00:03:41.159 --> 00:03:44.520 to a life imprisonment. But more things would happen with 67 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:46.280 the case because it would be heard in front of 68 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:48.800 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and in May of 69 00:03:48.840 --> 00:03:51.759 two thousand and six they voted by a decision of 70 00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:55.560 five to four to overturn his conviction. And in their eyes, 71 00:03:55.639 --> 00:03:58.960 the state's decision to use excerpts of Mike's confession at 72 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:04.159 Rob's trial without having Mike testify violated the confrontation clause 73 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:07.240 of the sixth Amendment of the Constitution, because the exact 74 00:04:07.240 --> 00:04:11.159 wording is quote in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall 75 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:14.159 enjoy the right to be confronted with the witnesses against them. 76 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:17.360 And they figured because some light cannot be called to 77 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:20.360 the witness stand to be questioned about things in his 78 00:04:20.439 --> 00:04:24.480 written confession, that meant that Robert received an unfair trial. 79 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:27.399 And the following year they did the exact same thing 80 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:31.120 with Mike's conviction, where they said, because you presented Robert's 81 00:04:31.160 --> 00:04:33.639 confession is evidence, but you do not have Robert take 82 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:36.720 the witness stand to be cross examined. You did not 83 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:40.120 receive a fair trial, so his conviction was also overturned. 84 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:43.240 Well, you've got the right to confront your accuser, so 85 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:45.800 it kind of shocks me that they went ahead with 86 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:46.639 that anyways. 87 00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:49.279 Yeah, I was thinking that they should have looked this 88 00:04:49.399 --> 00:04:53.000 up before the trials and was not wasted everyone's time 89 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:54.959 and stuff. But it just seems like such a flag 90 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:58.439 and violation that someone can make accusations against them and 91 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:00.800 you can read their statement in court, but your defense 92 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:05.040 attorney can't cross examine them and try to destroy their credibility. 93 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:08.160 I feel like we've all watched enough law and order 94 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:11.360 by that point that you'd know that somebody can't just 95 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:13.959 go ahead and say anything in a confession and without 96 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:18.000 that cross examination option. The fact that that wasn't brought 97 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:21.519 up by the defense during the trial for either of 98 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:22.800 them is shocking to me. 99 00:05:23.639 --> 00:05:26.199 It is. Yeah, I think they both got public defenders 100 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:29.000 just because they were not wealthy people. They couldn't afford 101 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:31.519 hard price to attorneys, and they probably just didn't even 102 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:33.879 think about that. But I'm thinking that if they had 103 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:36.519 gotten a more skilled lawyer, then the charges may have 104 00:05:36.519 --> 00:05:38.560 been dropped against them before they even went to trial, 105 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:41.519 because if they couldn't use the other confessions, their case 106 00:05:41.560 --> 00:05:43.199 would have had some huge damage to it. 107 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:46.519 What year were these trials taking place? Two thousand? 108 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:49.959 Ah, Yes, the first one was in two thousand and 109 00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:52.560 the next one was in two thousand and two. 110 00:05:53.399 --> 00:05:57.319 I would just think from watching legal procedural dramas that 111 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:02.800 just any average person by the year two thousand would think, Okay, 112 00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:06.079 like this is something that is necessary. You got the 113 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:08.759 right to confront your accuser. And so the fact that 114 00:06:08.839 --> 00:06:13.360 not one but two lawyers, whether they're public defenders or not, 115 00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:16.800 that is so shocking to me that that wasn't addressed 116 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:20.879 at the time. That seems like that's ineffective. 117 00:06:20.279 --> 00:06:23.360 Counsel pretty much. Yeah, so they would have had lots 118 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:25.759 of grounds in order to have their conviction overturns. And 119 00:06:25.800 --> 00:06:27.839 I think that if they ever had gone to trial again, 120 00:06:27.879 --> 00:06:30.399 I think some lawyer would have represented them pro bono, 121 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:32.959 thinking this case is outrageous and I want to help 122 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:33.439 you guys. 123 00:06:34.199 --> 00:06:37.160 Yeah, you'd think like the Innocence Project, any number of 124 00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:40.519 iterations of what the innocence project is in different states 125 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:43.959 could have helped them out because it's very clear that 126 00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:47.040 the evidence here was very, very thin. 127 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:51.279 Pretty much. Yeah. So, back in nineteen ninety one, and 128 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:54.000 even in nineteen ninety nine when they originally charged, the 129 00:06:54.120 --> 00:06:57.439 DNA testing in criminal cases was not yet a common thing. 130 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:01.680 So while both defendants were in prison and the defense said, 131 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:04.600 can we test the DNA, and of course the state thought, 132 00:07:04.600 --> 00:07:07.000 well this could further our case, go right ahead and 133 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:09.120 do it. And of course this is going to turn 134 00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:12.639 out bad for them. So the bodies have been set 135 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:15.120 on fire, and because water had been used, a lot 136 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:17.839 of the physical evidence was destroyed, so they were unable 137 00:07:17.879 --> 00:07:20.720 to get a full DNA profile, but they were able 138 00:07:20.759 --> 00:07:23.639 to get it by doing vaginal swabs, and since the 139 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:26.600 evidence was going to contain mixtures of male DNA and 140 00:07:26.680 --> 00:07:31.399 female DNA, the an independent lab would perform y STR testing, 141 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:35.120 which is short tandem repeat testing specific to the male 142 00:07:35.319 --> 00:07:38.639 Y chromosome. So they wound up finding a semen sample 143 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:41.680 from Jennifer's body and it actually matched the DNA of 144 00:07:41.720 --> 00:07:45.160 her boyfriend at the time, Sammy Buchanan. But it turned 145 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:48.399 out this was because they had consensual sex a couple 146 00:07:48.439 --> 00:07:51.759 hours before shift began at home. But of course they 147 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:55.439 found traces of Sammy's DNA on Sarah's body, which meant 148 00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:58.839 that someone else had raped her and then somehow transferred 149 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:02.439 traces of Sammy's d DNA on to Sarah, so obviously 150 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:05.519 the presence of his DNA did not mean that the 151 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:08.759 perpetrator didn't leave it behind. They also found a y 152 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:12.160 sdr strand a male DNA on a vaginal swab taken 153 00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:14.680 from Amy, and of course she was thirteen years old 154 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:16.560 at the time, so they're not going to use the 155 00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:19.800 consensual sex thing for her and say that it belonged 156 00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:23.079 to someone else. And because they also found this same 157 00:08:23.160 --> 00:08:26.879 individual's DNA on Jennifer, they were able to establish that 158 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:31.000 unlikely belonged to one of the perpetrators. And surprise, surprise, 159 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:33.480 it turned out that the DNA did not match Robert 160 00:08:33.639 --> 00:08:37.960 Michael forrest Or Maurice. And of course, the state completely 161 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:40.039 admitted their mistake and said they were wrong all along. 162 00:08:40.440 --> 00:08:42.840 Not yeah, not a shocker. 163 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:46.720 No, Instead, they said that, oh, maybe these four men 164 00:08:46.759 --> 00:08:49.480 had a fifth conspirator who assisted with the crime, and 165 00:08:49.559 --> 00:08:51.600 he was the one who raped the girl and left 166 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:55.519 the DNA behind, which the defense found completely ridiculous, saying 167 00:08:55.559 --> 00:08:58.799 that Robert and Michael made these very detailed confessions, yet 168 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:00.919 they're somehow going to fail to mentioned that they had 169 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:03.759 a fifth co conspirator, the. 170 00:09:03.639 --> 00:09:08.919 Good old unindicted co conspirator slash ejaculator theory. When it 171 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:11.440 doesn't work out and they have those four, let's just 172 00:09:11.559 --> 00:09:13.799 add on that there's got to be another person, rather 173 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:18.039 than examined that, Okay, these guys, they might be innocent. 174 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:20.919 It's like that whole sunken cost fallacy. We've already put 175 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:25.080 so much energy and time and our reputations into these 176 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:28.159 cases that it's not possible that it could be somebody else. 177 00:09:28.279 --> 00:09:31.480 What's more possible is there is an additional person. 178 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.480 What, Yeah, pretty much, we're just I've seen this in 179 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:37.519 a lot of other cases where you talked about the 180 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:40.600 unindicted co ejaculator, where they'll just say, oh, they still 181 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:43.039 committed the murder, but they had this accomplice who committed 182 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:45.080 the rape and left the semen behind, even though we've 183 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:48.559 never mentioned this at all before this DNA testing. So 184 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:51.720 they will go to great lengths to avoid admitting the 185 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:55.000 wrong and they would try another strategy like this because 186 00:09:55.039 --> 00:09:57.960 then they would say, oh, maybe it was cross contamination 187 00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:01.480 and the DNA belongs to an evidence to technician or something. Well, 188 00:10:02.200 --> 00:10:04.480 the defense tried to call their bluff because they kind 189 00:10:04.519 --> 00:10:07.919 elected DNA samples from pretty much everyone who was at 190 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:11.440 the crime scene that night, like the firefighters, the police officers, 191 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:14.799 the evidence technicians, former employees from the shop, even friends 192 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:18.000 and acquaintances of the victims, and the DNA match none 193 00:10:18.039 --> 00:10:20.360 of them. So it seemed pretty clear cut that this 194 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:24.039 DNA sample belonged to the real perpetrator, and because it 195 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:26.679 did not match any of the four defendants, that means 196 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:29.679 that they couldn't have done it. So finally, they had 197 00:10:29.720 --> 00:10:32.840 been in jail like for years waiting for this DNA testing. 198 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:35.519 But in October of two thousand and nine, the state 199 00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:38.120 finally said, well, with the evidence we have, there's no 200 00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:41.200 way we can take Michael or Robert back to trial again, 201 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:44.720 so we're finally going to release them and drop the charges. 202 00:10:44.759 --> 00:10:46.720 But by this point they had been locked up for 203 00:10:46.840 --> 00:10:49.879 ten years, and it took forever to reach this point, 204 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:52.200 and at. 205 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:54.639 This point it's not like they're saying that they're innocent, 206 00:10:54.879 --> 00:10:57.360 So to be able to go after the state and 207 00:10:57.399 --> 00:11:00.440 to get any kind of compensation would be exceedingly difficult. 208 00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:02.799 Would it not pretty much? Yeah, I was just going 209 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:05.840 to talk about that. They tried to seek compensation for 210 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:10.279 the wrongful convictions, but they technically weren't exonerated. They only 211 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:13.200 had the charges dropped, so they pretty much the court says, 212 00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:16.759 we cannot give you compensation until you prove your innocence, 213 00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:20.200 and even though we have DNA that does not belong 214 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:23.039 to you, there are all these other possibilities like you 215 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:26.480 having an accomplice, which means we can't prove you didn't 216 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:28.639 do it. So they were pretty much trapped in limbo. 217 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:32.039 And even though they are often listed on websites like 218 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:34.720 the Innocence Project, they were still recognized by the law 219 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:38.080 ask convicted murderers until they finally resolved this case a 220 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:38.639 month ago. 221 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:41.960 That is so wild to me. The system is totally 222 00:11:42.039 --> 00:11:46.720 rigged to think that these individuals can do all of 223 00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:50.039 this time behind bars, and you essentially have to prove 224 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:53.720 that you're innocent, which is damn near impossible unless you 225 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:57.360 find out who the actual killer is. But to task 226 00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:01.480 a person who you've wrongfully incarcerated with something so weighty 227 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:05.799 when investigators couldn't even figure it out, prosecutors couldn't figure 228 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:08.759 it out, but you're going to expect this person. In 229 00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:11.919 order for them to become an exonery, they've got to 230 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:15.720 solve the murder. Like the burden is insane. 231 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:18.519 That's pretty much it, because by that point they were released, 232 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:21.039 it was eighteen years since the crime was committed and 233 00:12:21.080 --> 00:12:23.840 they still had not found the real killers. But it 234 00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:26.200 became apparent that the only way they would ever be 235 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:29.759 officially exonerated is if they finally identified who was the 236 00:12:29.799 --> 00:12:33.360 source of that DNA. And there would be a sad 237 00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:36.759 PostScript to Maurice Pearce because since he was released in 238 00:12:36.759 --> 00:12:39.480 two thousand and three after the charges were dropped, he 239 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:43.120 apparently became very paranoid that the Austin police route to 240 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:45.240 get him and would do something bad to him as 241 00:12:45.320 --> 00:12:48.440 revenge for not being able to get a conviction. So 242 00:12:48.679 --> 00:12:51.879 on December twenty third, twenty ten, Maurice was pulled over 243 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:55.000 for a seemingly routine traffic stop after he failed to 244 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:57.879 properly stop at a stop sign, and while it was 245 00:12:57.919 --> 00:12:59.759 going on, he was speaking to his daughter in his 246 00:12:59.799 --> 00:13:03.000 solfe in the last words he said were quote, they're 247 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:05.720 after me again, before telling his daughter he loved her 248 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:07.679 and that he would never see her again before he 249 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:11.720 hung up, and almost immediately Maurice attempted to flee the 250 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:14.799 scene on foot until one of the officers, Frank Wilson, 251 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:17.600 caught up with them and he struggle ensued, in which 252 00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:20.960 Maurice removed her utility knife from Wilson's belt and stabbed 253 00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:23.759 him in the neck, so Wilson responded by pulling out 254 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:28.000 his gun and fatally shooting Maurice, and a toxicology report 255 00:13:28.039 --> 00:13:30.600 would show that Maurice had a blood alcohol level of 256 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:33.159 zero point one point four at that time, which was 257 00:13:33.559 --> 00:13:37.080 over the legal a limit, and Wilson survived his injuries, 258 00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:40.639 and an internal investigation ruled that the shooting was justified, 259 00:13:41.240 --> 00:13:44.320 and even though conspirators have said that they deliberately killed 260 00:13:44.360 --> 00:13:47.360 him as revenge for the Yogurt shot murders, Wilson did 261 00:13:47.399 --> 00:13:49.480 say I had no idea who this guy was when 262 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:51.080 I pulled them over. I just thought it was a 263 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:54.960 routine traffic stop and he ran away and attacked me unprovoked. 264 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:57.720 So I do believe him that the shooting was justified, 265 00:13:57.720 --> 00:14:00.399 that he had no choice. But I think Maurice, because 266 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:03.200 of all the paranoia and his mental health struggles from 267 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:05.159 thinking that he was going to be re arrested for 268 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:08.399 the Yogret shot murders at any time, just snapped and 269 00:14:08.440 --> 00:14:10.480 then just decided to attack this officer. 270 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:14.879 Oh, poor Maurice, And I feel bad for his daughter 271 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:18.600 who's on the phone he's essentially saying goodbye. It almost 272 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:22.240 becomes like a self fulfilling prophecy that you believe that 273 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:25.039 they're after you, and so you end up putting yourself 274 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:29.120 in a situation where he could have got away without 275 00:14:29.159 --> 00:14:32.320 injury or without injuring somebody else. But because he was 276 00:14:32.360 --> 00:14:34.559 so paranoid, and I'm sure all of those years that 277 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:37.440 he had to deal with all of this is just 278 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:40.919 such a weight on his shoulders, on his mental health. 279 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:43.919 To think that everywhere you look, when you're seeing police, 280 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:46.480 you're seeing somebody who you think is there to screw 281 00:14:46.519 --> 00:14:49.159 you over. They're there to throw you behind bars, they're 282 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:52.399 there to hurt you. It's just one of the tragedies 283 00:14:52.440 --> 00:14:56.320 of this story. We see the deaths of Sarah, Amy, Eliza, 284 00:14:56.360 --> 00:14:59.519 and Jennifer, but then we also see this tragedy with Maurice, 285 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:02.879 and and we see what happened with Forrest and Robert 286 00:15:02.919 --> 00:15:06.399 and Michael, and there's a lot of victims in this case. 287 00:15:06.919 --> 00:15:09.960 Oh definitely, and just you can only imagine how the 288 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:13.840 victims' families felt when Robert and Michael were released from prison. 289 00:15:14.200 --> 00:15:16.799 I remember watching like a forty eight Hours episode from 290 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:20.480 that era where they reported on the release from prison 291 00:15:20.519 --> 00:15:23.000 and they interviewed some of the victims' family members and 292 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:25.879 they still said, we believe that these guys are guilty. 293 00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:28.720 We don't care what the DNA says. They confess, like 294 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:31.080 how could they not have done it? And of course 295 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:33.919 you can't really blame them because they've been manipulated so much, 296 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:36.000 told that we got the right guys, and now they're 297 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:38.440 seeing them walk free from prison. And one of the 298 00:15:38.440 --> 00:15:40.799 women who one of the family members who was most 299 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:44.080 outspoken was Eliza's mother, Maria Thomas, where she went on 300 00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:47.240 this angry interview on forty eight Hours saying they've been 301 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:49.600 released because they said the rights were violated, But what 302 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:52.399 about my daughter's rights? What about the other victims' rights? 303 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:55.600 Like who cares about them? And even though like she's 304 00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:58.559 totally wrong on this, you could understand her frustration because 305 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:01.200 she's probably not going to understand like why these people 306 00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:05.000 that she's been convinced are guilty are suddenly walking free. 307 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:08.360 And sadly, Maria wound up passing away in March of 308 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:11.519 twenty fifteen at the age of sixty and was one 309 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:13.320 of the parents who did not live long enough to 310 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:15.200 finally see a resolution in this case. 311 00:16:16.200 --> 00:16:18.600 It's so sad, like it's such a tragedy for all 312 00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:21.759 the families having to deal with this and not have 313 00:16:21.879 --> 00:16:27.039 this resolution. I'm happy that the case eventually did get solved, 314 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:30.799 but so many years went by and so many lives 315 00:16:30.840 --> 00:16:32.519 were destroyed in the process. 316 00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:35.639 Yeah, and another one who passed away was Jennifer and 317 00:16:35.720 --> 00:16:39.200 Sarah's father, Michael. He passed away last year in October 318 00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:41.840 of twenty twenty four, and he was the one who 319 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:44.679 lost both of his children, his only children, and he 320 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:47.600 died well less than a year before they finally had 321 00:16:47.639 --> 00:16:49.639 a resolution in the case. And it just makes me 322 00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:51.879 so sad when I see the parents of missing and 323 00:16:51.960 --> 00:16:55.840 murdered children have to pass away without receiving conclusive answers. 324 00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:59.120 We see it so often though, I think that the 325 00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:03.240 trauma and the physical at the emotional told that the 326 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:07.359 death of a child takes specifically when it's an unsolved 327 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:10.400 murder and when you have two daughters that have been 328 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:13.279 murdered and you don't have a resolution and you don't 329 00:17:13.319 --> 00:17:17.319 have any kind of justice because you feel like these 330 00:17:17.319 --> 00:17:19.880 guys have been released. I don't know how Michael viewed 331 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:22.920 all of the evidence, if it was like these guys 332 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:25.000 could be innocent, or if he believed that they were 333 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:28.720 truly the guilty parties. But it's so sad that he 334 00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:31.720 died just before the case was solved. 335 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:35.960 Yeah, it just so sad to see that. But thankfully, 336 00:17:36.039 --> 00:17:38.119 I think they finally got more people in charge who 337 00:17:38.119 --> 00:17:40.920 finally stopped going with the mentality that these four guys 338 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:42.960 did it and tried to look at other options and 339 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:46.200 tried to figure out who actually committed this crime. Because 340 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:50.599 in twenty seventeen, the DNA sample from Amy's vaginal swab 341 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:55.039 was entered into a public academic y SDR database from 342 00:17:55.079 --> 00:17:59.400 the University of Central Florida's National Center for Forensic Science, 343 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:02.480 and it found up matching a male DNA sample which 344 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:05.880 had been anonymously submitted into the database by the FBI. 345 00:18:06.440 --> 00:18:08.559 It had no name attached to it, and the FBI 346 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:11.000 declined to reveal the identity of the man because of 347 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:13.720 privacy laws, but it could have belonged to a federally 348 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:17.359 convicted offender. But the big problem is that the DNA 349 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:20.480 sample was not a complete profile because it only had 350 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:25.160 sixteen markers, whereas whenever genetic genealogy is used to help 351 00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:28.279 solve a cold case, it usually involves DNA profiles which 352 00:18:28.279 --> 00:18:31.480 have between sixty seven and one hundred and eleven markers. 353 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:34.119 So even though this DNA sample matched the guy in 354 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:37.079 the database, it could also potentially match thousands or even 355 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:40.839 millions of individuals. But they did perform further testing the 356 00:18:40.920 --> 00:18:44.279 FBI in twenty twenty and they were able to produce 357 00:18:44.359 --> 00:18:46.559 nine new markers on the sample, which brought it up 358 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:50.319 to twenty five and this time they resubmitted it into 359 00:18:50.359 --> 00:18:53.359 the database to compare it to this offender, and one 360 00:18:53.400 --> 00:18:55.519 of the markers was not a match, so they were 361 00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:58.480 able to exclude this guy from being the perpetrator. And 362 00:18:58.519 --> 00:19:00.799 you can see what's so frustrating about this, because even 363 00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:04.079 though this profile is good for excluding potential offenders, you 364 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:07.279 can't really make a definitive match unless you have a 365 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:09.480 lot more markers. So it just seemed like they were 366 00:19:09.480 --> 00:19:10.640 back to square one. 367 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:14.039 Yeah, that must have been really disappointing. They probably thought 368 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:16.359 like we've got our guy here. All we have to 369 00:19:16.359 --> 00:19:19.240 do is just wait for more sophisticated testing. And then 370 00:19:19.240 --> 00:19:21.400 they had those twenty five markers and then they run 371 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:24.200 it against him and it's not a match like that 372 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:26.880 would be incredibly, incredibly deflating. 373 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:30.480 Well, thankfully they did not give up. They still tried 374 00:19:30.519 --> 00:19:33.559 to use that DNA to try to match to an offender, 375 00:19:34.279 --> 00:19:36.759 and earlier this year they finally got a good break 376 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:39.200 when they entered it into a database and it wound 377 00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:43.559 up matching DNA from another unsolved homicide which took place 378 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:47.359 in South Carolina in nineteen ninety and they're thinking, well, 379 00:19:47.640 --> 00:19:50.759 this doesn't prove that who was responsible for this crime 380 00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:54.279 was the responsible for the yogurt chop murders, but if 381 00:19:54.279 --> 00:19:56.799 we keep looking at this lead, then we may have 382 00:19:56.920 --> 00:20:00.319 something to work with here. So they found out that. 383 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:04.359 Eventually they solved this crimes from South Carolina and matched 384 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:08.000 it to an offender named Robert Eugene Brashers. But of 385 00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:10.279 course the problem was is that he had been dead 386 00:20:10.359 --> 00:20:13.799 since January of nineteen ninety nine. So it turned out 387 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:15.839 this guy was a serial killer, but at the time 388 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:18.559 he died, they didn't know he was a serial killer, 389 00:20:18.599 --> 00:20:22.599 and in recent years, geneic genealogy has wound up matching 390 00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:25.319 him to so many different murders and he seems like 391 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:29.440 a complete monster. But the first known crime that Brashers 392 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:32.319 committed was in November of nineteen eighty five in Port 393 00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:36.759 Saint Lucie, Florida, where he sexually assaulted a twenty four 394 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:39.799 year old woman named Michelle Wilkerson, and when she tried 395 00:20:39.799 --> 00:20:42.160 to fight him off, he shot her twice in the 396 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:45.960 neck and the head, and righteously she survived and managed 397 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:48.799 to escape from him, and because of a bad break 398 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:51.359 for him, he actually chased after on a beach and 399 00:20:51.400 --> 00:20:54.440 got his truck stuck in the sand, so by the 400 00:20:54.519 --> 00:20:57.079 time she was able to get help, he was still 401 00:20:57.079 --> 00:20:59.440