Hardesty: That’s (b.s.) That’s not what we want. And that’s not how this case is going to get cleared. OK? It is going to be cleared, but not that way. It’s going to be cleared from – with the truth. Myself and Ron have a pretty good idea now of what the truth is.
Scott: OK
Hardesty: And you’re involved in the truth and you know you are Michael…But this thing is snowballing, it’s coming to a head, this investigation. Do you know what that means? One thing it means is grand jury.
…
Hardesty: You know what’s amazing? You can keep holding all this stuff and this hole is going to get much deeper, and then you’re … jammed up with everything with us, with the grand jury, with the citizens of Austin. Do you know what they feel? How they feel about this homicide? All you got to do is come out the rest of the day with the truth and that’s it, you’re done. We’ll put in our report 'Mike told us what we needed to know, what the truth was,' because we need to know what you know. It’s so easy. You’re free and clear.
…
Lara: You know what you’re doing to yourself is putting yourself in a predicament that you’re just digging a deeper and deeper hole.
Scott: Guys, I’m beating myself over the head trying to remember who said what.
…
Hardesty: This is the day. This is the opportunity (to confess). This is it. You tell us what happened today and we’ll type it up and that’s it. These guys are not going to hurt you. These guys are punks. None of these guys put a life together like you have. Listen to me. None of these guys have put a life together like you’ve got with your wife and your little girl. Your wife’s got a great job. You’re doing continuing education. You’re building for your future.
…
Lara: And out of the whole bunch, I would much rather see you help yourself out than any of the other guys.
…
Hardesty: C’mon Mike. We’re almost there. Don’t you want this over with? Don’t you want it gone? You were out smoking around here talking about your nightmares. That’s…horrible. You can get this out and get some counseling. You asked me, ‘Can I have some counseling because of all of this?’ And I said, ‘Yes’ didn’t I?
…
Hardesty: Michael, we talked to other folks. People are going to be arrested on this.
Scott: OK
Hardesty: You don’t want it to be you, do you? I don’t think you shot any four of these girls.
….
Hardesty: Micahel, what do you think they’re going to do? They’re (Springsteen and Pierce) rats. What do you think they’re going to tell us?
Scott: Find the easiest scapegoat.
Hardesty: That’s exactly right.
Scott: And I was the nice guy.
Hardesty: You were the nice guy.
…
Scott: What’s fixing to come down? Ya’ll have figured out who done it and who was there. Now you’re just getting all your little ducks in a row.
Hardesty: Michael, you’re a big duck. You’re not a little duck.
Scott: Yeah, I’m a big duck.
Hardesty: Don’t you want…
Scott: I can’t figure this out.
Lara: Don’t you want to help yourself?
Scott: Yes, I do.
…
Detectives showed Scott a yearbook and asked him to pick out a boy he said was with him on the night of the murders because Scott can’t remember his name.
“I couldn’t afford to buy one,” he said of his McCallum high school yearbook from his freshman year.
…
Scott asks detectives to review his previous statements before saying too much more. “We’ll get to that later” one of them tells him.
…
The detectives always refer to the yogurt shop as ICBY. Trying to follow suit Scott called it the “TYBC” and “IBCY.”
…
“This girl (Ayers) was 13 years old. Her daddy doesn’t have her anymore. Maybe he doesn’t get to go to graduation and see her boyfriends come over … and see her getting married,” a detective told Scott. “What those parents are feeling. It eats at them every day. And I imagine it eats at the people who did this every day.”
…
Hardesty: What do you think they’re (Springsteen and Pierce) doing to cover their ass?
Scott: Somebody did something they weren’t supposed to or seen it.
Hardesty: How do you think they’re covering their ass?
Scott: Either lying or trying to pin it on somebody else … And let me guess ... I’m it.
Hardesty: There you go.
Lara: You got it.
Scott: Maurice is a sponge. He’ll do anything to save his own ass. Springsteen is a sponge, a lying sack of s---. He stole from me. He stole from his parents.
…
Detective: Did Maurice kill those girls?
Scott: I don’t know.
Detective: Yeah you do.
Scott: I don’t know. … He didn’t’ specifically say he did. I think he said I know who did it. But that’s what I remember.
Detective: Did Robert kill those girls?
Scott: I don’t’ think so.
Detective: Did you kill those girls?
Scott: No.
…
Scott: I’m scared I have information and I don’t know I have information.
Detective: Don’t play that cannabis head trick with me. Stop the lying game and tell us what happened.
…
Scott: What am I missing?
Lara: Your involvement. Your involvement, Micahel.
Hardesty: Man don’t stare off into space. It’s not cutting the ice with us.
Scott: No gentlemen, I’m trying to put this together…
…
Bruce Stevenson, who pretends to be a polygraph examiner comes into the room to interview Scott.
Detective: Did you shoot anybody? Do you know for sure who shot any of those girls?
Scott: No.
Detective: Did you participate in anyway in those murders?
Scott: No.
…
Scott says he saw a CrimeStoppers segment on a unrelated crime and it made him think about coming forward to say what he knows of the yogurt shop.
…
Scott: I heard a wild theory. One I heard in school that two of the girls were having an affair with police officers and the police did it.
Detective: You think that’s funny?
Scott: They wouldn’t have left any evidence behind.
…
Scott tells the story of the crime, saying he was the lookout man and getaway driver while Springsteen and Pierce went into the yogurt shop.
Detective: What else did they say? What else did they tell you they did?
Scott: Alls [sic] I remember them saying is, ‘We got what we came for (money).’
…
Jeannine Scott, the defendant’s wife, left the courtroom in tears.
…
Scott: I don’t want to go to jail.
Detective: Then tell us everything you know. Every single detail.
…
Detective: Did (Pierce and Springsteen) know who was gonna’ be in that business. Did they go in there before?
Scott: I think Robert and Maurice may have gone in earlier to buy yogurt.
Detective: Were you with them?
Scott: I think I was … I remember being in there guys.
Detective: Did they buy yogurt?
Scott: I remember eating and buying yogurt.
Detective: Did you go in there with them?
Scott: I don’t think so. I was drunk. I bought yogurt. I think it was still dark or daylight. … Eliza may have been (working). I don’t remember. I think I was served by Eliza.
…
Scott told the detectives they decided on the yogurt shop because the back door was “propped” open. Later he says it wasn’t really propped open, just open. He also says that Pierce and Springsteen decided earlier in the day to rob the yogurt shop.
…
“I kind of remember them getting out of the vehicle and Maurice telling me to get in the front and keep the car running,” Scott said.
…
Detective: Was Maurice the leader?
Scott: Yeah, more or less. He had a car … I was the nice quiet guy who went along for the ride.
Detective: Who threatened you?
Scott: Maurice did. He said, ‘If you open your mouth, I’ll kill you.’
…
Detectives asked why the boys went to the yogurt shop. Pierce needed money, Scott said. He said they choose the yogurt shop because there would be few people. He said right before they went in they drove around discussing exit points.
Scott: They just wanted money.
Detective: Things just got out of hand, I guess.
Scott: I guess so.
…
Detective: Did you shoot anybody?
Scott: No.
(The detective reminds Scott of the upcoming polygraph test.)
Scott: I was not inside the shop at the time the murders happened.
…
Scott: I’m scared. I mean guys I’m scared. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. We went to the shop earlier. I remember getting a yogurt: banana and chocolate, I think. … my favorite flavor. I was there to buy yogurt. I think (Springsteen and Pierce) were there to case the place.
…
Lara: What you need to do stop doing is minimizing your involvement, OK. We know you were involved. OK? We knew that before you even came over here. OK? Don’t make yourself look any more ignorant by telling us these little things, OK?
…
The detectives tell Scott he should get mad at the others for framing him and he should give them up.
…
Scott: I think I saw an open door. I drove up and stopped. Robert and Maurice discussed what they were going to do and looked at me and said alls [sic] you have to do is sit in the car. If anybody comes up honk the horn. And I sat in the car.
…
(Back to casing the shop)
Scott: I got yogurt in a cup.
Detective: And you remembered what you ordered?
Scott: Swirl. Like banana or vanilla and chocolate, my favorite. … I remember eating French fries (at Northcross Mall).
…
Scott: I can tell ya’ll what I keep seeing in my head. I keep seeing the girls get shot.
Detective: Tell us.
Scott: I remember one of the girls screaming, terrified. I don’t know if this is real or not.
Detective: Michael, this is real.
Scott: I remember hearing the girls scream and run off.
Detective: Which way did she run?
Scott: She run [sic] toward the front of the store. Robert went over there and grabbed her. … I remember getting the girl to stand on her knees.
Detective: Which girl was it? Look at it real hard (photos of the girls are on the table). It’s a face you won’t forget … You remember what happened because you were inside there. … Did you shoot any of the girls?
Scott: No.
Detective: Then tell us what happened.
Scott: I think it was Maurice who went to the register and opened it and asked her where the rest of the money was. One of the girls said there isn’t any more, they’ve already made their drop. I remember Maurice getting pissed and losing his temper. … I remember him pointing the gun at one of the girls’ head. (Maurice asked where’s the money.) She said she doesn’t know. I guess he pulled the trigger. He pulled the trigger. Then he looked at the next girl, ‘Where’s the money?’ She said the same thing and he pulled the trigger.
Detective: What happened then?
Scott: I seen [sic] the first two girls get it.
Detective: Who shot them?
Scott: Maurice ….
Detective: What happened to the others?
…
At this point Scott jumps around saying that the other two girls were shot in the head, probably the temple area. He said he couldn’t remember if Springsteen had a gun. He backtracked and said he remembered the girls were tied up but couldn’t remember what was used to restrain them. He then backtracks when questions turn to the other two girls. “I remember Forrest sitting in the car and me sitting in the back seat.”
…
Questions turn to how the girls were restrained.
Scott: I wanna’ say an extension cord.
Detective: How do you use that?
Scott: I remember it was white, something white. No. Napkins.
Detective: Give me a break…
Scott: I want to tell you. I can’t remember what happened. Something white …
Detective: You’re damn right. What was it?
Scott: Was it an electrical cord?
Detective: You tell us.
Scott: I can’t remember.
Detective: The girls are in the back. What did Maurice and Rob make the girls do?
Scott: As far as I can remember, he made them get down on their knees. … I remember Maurice asking where’s the rest of the money. And the other girls were screaming. Two of them were crying and one of them was just in shock.
Detective: And when did he shoot the first girl?
Scott: He shot her when he didn’t get the answer he wanted….
Detective: Was she one of the girls crying or, the one in shock?
Scott: She cried a little bit. ‘The money’s not here. What’s in the register is all that’s here.’ Maurice said there has to be more than that. The business day is over. She said she already made the drop. He asked her again and I think he shot her. I think he shot her in the head. I don’t remember specifically. I remember she was shot in the head. ‘The money’s not here. You can’t get to the money,’ the second girl said. I start to see the hammer fall and then she fell. He shot her in the head. … (Of the two remaining girls) They were scared. They were crying one of them said, ‘I don’t want to die.’
…
Detective: What did you tie them up Michael?
Scott: I think it was T-shirts … and I want to say electrical cords.
Detective: I’m not going to tell you. … I want to hear it from you.
Scott: T-shirts and something else.
Detective: You and Rob tied them?
Scott: I guess we used their own clothes to tie them up.
(Forensic evidence shows that only the girls clothes and underwear were used to tie their hands behind their backs.
…
Scott: I think Rob shot the second one.
Detective: What happened to the others?
Scott: I think he (Springsteen) was hitting her in the head … she had bruises on the back of her head.
(The medical examiner said that Ayers had unexplained bruises on her head around a gunshot wound)
Scott: I think one of (Springsteen or Pierce) told me to start kicking them. I didn’t choke one of them. … I’m trying to cut through a fog. … I remember hurting the other one. I don’t think I raped them. I think one of them got raped…
…
Detective: How were the others killed?
Scott: I think one was strangled to death.
(Ayers showed signs of strangulation, according to the medical examiner.)
…
Detective: What happened to those two girls?
Scott: I think they made me bludgeon them.
Detective: What did they make you do?
Scott: I didn’t rape them. … I’m trying to pull out of my head what the hell happened. I had a pocketknife on me.
Detective: No.
Scott: That’s not right.
…
Scott: They didn’t make me shoot them did they?
Detective: I wanna’ hear it. Did they?
Scott: I think so. I don’t know. … I don’t remember. … Maurice handed me the gun. It was a revolver. The same revolver (he used).
Detective: And what did he make you do?
Scott: I think he made me shoot them … A quick and easy kill in the back of the head and temple, I think so. Both of them or one of them. Maurice gave me the (gun) … and he said you shoot them and I said no. And he said … we’re all in this neck deep.
Detective: And what happened? Were you scared? What did you do?
Scott: I shot them.
Detective: Both of them?
Scott: Yeah.
…
He said Springsteen was watching him with a gun in his hand. He said, “Do it or you’re next.” … He said Springsteen shot one of the girls with his gun because one of the girls that Scott shot didn’t die. Only Ayers had two gunshot wounds, the medical examiner testified. He said the first bullet, lodged in her skull, did not kill Ayers. But the second one was instantly fatal.
…
Scott then said Springteen gathered paper products from the store and lit them on fire.
…
The detectives say they are confused because Scott says the girls were killed behind the counter. But the forensic evidence shows they were killed in the backroom of the yogurt shop. The asked him to explain. “I can’t separate it form the nightmares dude. The nightmare is walking down this hallway into the store and seeing the those two girls. Seeing them get shot … looking down the hallway and out the car and then I wake up,” he said.
Scott said he could remember more if they took him to the yogurt shop.
“I remember from the front of the store a counter. I’d really like to look in the store, to look at the layout,” he said.
“It’s probably not there anymore,” one of the detectives said.
