TX TX - Yogurt Shop Murders, Austin, 06-Dec-1991

[no greed]

I do feel Frank Suraci should be investigated by LE based on statistics. He probably has been investigated. It is a fact that a high percentage of homicides are committed by family and friends. Family members have often been accused wrongly by LE, because they look at them first. I am sure LE has sometimes charged others, when family has been involved. Statistically step fathers are involved in the homicides of their children at a much greater rate than are biological parents. When you exclude cases of murder/suicide in these homicides, the statistical involvement of step parents is remarkably greater. Then if you consider the statistical chance of someone like Frank having family members killed in two separate unsolved homicides by gun and then having the crime scenes burned, I would assume it would be worth investigating. You could even throw in to the statistical mix that his brother in law Tom Adkins M.D., committed suicide by two gun shot wounds to his abdomen. The fact that there has been a lot of trauma in his life does not make him guilty of anything. I would assume that the statistical chance of these incidents would at least force LE to rule him out as a suspect in either cold case.

[no greed]

Michael Hall, Jordan Smith, and Corey Mitchell are all writers who have investigated the YSM's and have expressed reservations about the guilt of Springsteen and Scott. They were both convicted of the murders. Two of their friends were suspected, arrested, spent considerable time in jail, but were never charged. The families of the victims seem convinced that they are guilty. I do know that they closely fit the FBI profile of probable perpetrators. I am also aware that they were possibly under the influence of alcohol and LSD on the day of the murders. I do not think they are guilty. Lack of any physical evidence, and the conduct of their lives after the murders are the primary reasons I doubt their guilt. There seems to be considerable evidence that there confessions were given and coerced by LE officers that used some sophisticated tactics on weak individuals who did not understand their rights. I agree with the Safety Commission that it would be advisable for the Austin PD to have a outside LE input on this and other cold cases.

[no greed]

Kenneth McDuth, a convicted serial murderer and rapist, allegedly confessed to the YSM's on the day of his execution. Glen Castleberry, a spokesman for TX Dept of Criminal Justice denied that McDuff confessed to the YSM's. The confession was reported by several local news outlets. Anonymous LE told KVUE news that McDuffs confession was not believed because he got key details wrong. I hope that LE has compared his DNA to the DNA at the YSM crime scene. It is known that he was guilty of an abduction, rape, murder, of a young female in Austin within days of the YSM's. He had an accomplice in that case. I would like to believe that the number of people capable of such brutal crimes are quite small.

[Snoopster]

I was not familiar with this case before today. What a brutal crime.

Here is a fairly detailed and critical article about failed efforts to solve the case from about one year ago.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/...-of-the-crime/

Revisiting the yogurt shop murders: A cold case reconsideration of the 1991 crime points away from the prosecution's assumptions and conclusions

There are a couple of interesting images at the link.

There is a diagram of the layout of the entire shop, including the location of the girls' bodies. (I didn't post it here since it will likely blow the margins.


And a photo of the interior of the front part of the shop.

The account given by witnesses comports with crime scene photos, says Garcia – and with the couple's account of the two men in the shop just before closing – including photos that Garcia admits did not capture his attention during Scott's first trial. In two photos of the shop's dining room, one table stands out: a booth where the napkin dispenser is empty and there is no chair turned up on the table top, unlike every other table in the store. That is the table, the defense lawyers believe, where the killers sat.

[teedie2]

All four girls were raped? Only Amy had dna in her?