This week marks the 15th anniversary of Austin’s infamous yogurt shop murders.
Family and friends lit four candles Wednesday night in remembrance of the four teenage girls found brutally murdered inside an I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! franchise on Anderson Lane.
The victims were Sarah Harbison, 15, her sister Jennifer, 17, Eliza Thomas, 17, and 13-year-old Amy Ayers.
It's the day many say Austin lost its innocence. Bruce Todd had only been Austin's mayor for six months when he got the phone call about the deaths.
"I think people realized more than anything else that it could happen to them. It could happen in the most innocent place to the most innocent people. Some sort of tragic event like that could happen," he said.
True crime author Corey Mitchell wrote a book about the murders. He was finishing up his senior year at the University of Texas at the time.
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15 years later
Many say the brutal murders of four teenage girls on Dec. 6, 1991, is the day Austin lost its innocence.
 
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"I actually went down to the yogurt shop the next day to see the aftermath and was just completely fascinated by the case ever since then," he said.
It was a story Mitchell said he had to tell. The shocking murders of four high schoolers rocked the community.
"You have girls 13 to 17 years old. They are beautiful. They are good girls. They don't get into trouble. They are good students. Just that resonates with people alone," Mitchell said.
When Murdered Innocents was released last year, Mitchell said there was still a divide on if the four men accused of being involved really did it.
"Did the guys do it? We think they are innocent or we absolutely know they are the killers," he said.
There's never been any clear justice against the suspects, Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce and Forrest Welborn, since the yogurt shop was set on fire following the murders.
Springsteen and Scott still await legal appeals and a possible retrial.
Despite the tragedy, the girl's parents have found a way to make a positive change. In 1992 "We Will Not Forget S.A.J.E., Inc." was established. The nonprofit educational organization is committed to promoting teen safety.
"We have produced a video, book about workplace safety for teenagers and tried to get people to start thinking about that when they do send kids off the work. Who's responsibility is it to protect them," Jennifer and Sarah's mother Barbara Ayres-Wilson said.
S.A.J.E. stands for the first initial in each of the girls' names. The murders are still on Austin's radar, and with no resolutions anytime soon, it’s a frustration for the families of the victims and the suspects.
