Greater than 30 years after Austin police discovered 4 teenage women brutally murdered inside an area yogurt store, HBO is re-examining the case in its upcoming documentary sequence The Yogurt Store Murders.
Typically described because the case that stripped Austin of its innocence, the tragic 1991 killings despatched shockwaves by means of the neighborhood for years because the investigation dragged on. To this present day, the affected households search solutions about what actually occurred to Amy Ayers, sisters Jennifer Harbison and Sarah Harbison, and Eliza Thomas.
“I used to be in Austin within the late 90s, and the billboards have been up in all places, and you’ll go to events, and folks would discuss their theories about what occurred,” director Margaret Brown, an Alabama native, tells Deadline.
By way of a mix of archival footage and up to date interviews with the investigative groups, the victims’ mother and father and siblings, and the 2 males who served time for the crime, the sequence raises essential questions on legislation enforcement practices and the facility of public notion in addition to provides a poignant commentary concerning the endurance of grief.
Within the interview beneath, Brown speaks extra concerning the venture.
DEADLINE: I perceive you reside in Austin, so what was your understanding of this case earlier than you took on this documentary?
MARGARET BROWN: I used to be in Austin within the late 90s, and the billboards have been up in all places, and you’ll go to events, and folks would discuss their theories about what occurred. I’ve a number of buddies who’re reporters, and they might all discuss it. My greatest pal is a reporter, and once I advised her I used to be contemplating doing this venture, she was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s the craziest unsolved crime in Texas, and there’s so many twists and turns…’ In Austin, individuals discuss it and have for years. I simply have this reminiscence of seeing these billboards in all places and simply them being actually haunting.
DEADLINE: When you have been on board, how did you begin to determine one of the best ways to inform this story, which as you talked about is already very notorious?
BROWN: I didn’t wish to do the venture till I noticed the archival footage, as a result of, to me, it’s a lot about that point interval. Austin was actually totally different. I imply, I wasn’t there then within the early 90s. I used to be there within the late 90s, [and] it was totally different sufficient then. So I actually wished to verify I had the fabric to type of seize that feeling. They despatched me what that they had, and it was fairly evocative. I instantly felt a transportive type of feeling to the previous. I may hear the music that might go together with these photos, and even how I might mild it. It was such a particular vibe. There was one thing uncanny about it. Then I met the households, and it actually shifted, and I noticed I couldn’t go as stylized as I wished to, as a result of I didn’t wish to take away from the emotional connection. I believed if I’m going too far in that course, it kind of strips away a few of emotions I received once I was simply sitting with them. So I nonetheless stylized it, however I undoubtedly scaled it again.
DEADLINE: The documentary is kind of telling two tales, since you’re explaining the years-long investigation whereas additionally underscoring all the trauma the households have gone by means of during the last three many years. How do you discover the proper stability there?
BROWN: I imply, I simply tried to go in and emotionally reply with out judgment as a lot as I may to regardless of the particular person in entrance of me was saying. I used to be actually taken by how affected individuals have been by this particular occasion. Claire Huey, who made the the movie that by no means received completed, she was one of many first individuals I met. She gave us all that. She gave the manufacturing all this footage and and it fully modified her life. She was a filmmaker like me, and he or she stopped making motion pictures after that, and that was how a lot the story impacted her. She simply couldn’t get her head round it. I believe that the facility of what occurred actually hit individuals. I simply tried to go in and hear and never decide.
DEADLINE: Talking of Claire, we do hear from her within the documentary. What do you suppose her perspective provides to this story?
BROWN: I imply, I believe it’s a parallel to my expertise. Lots of instances I might watch her footage and I might be like, ‘Oh my God, that’s precisely how I really feel. That is so overwhelming.’ It was a very exhausting sequence to make, and it was simply such a world of darkness. I believe like realizing there was another person who knew what that was like — typically, I might simply name her to speak about it, as a result of she lives across the nook. Now she’s like a meditation instructor. I’m making an attempt to encourage her to make motion pictures, as a result of I believe she’s superb, and he or she’s such a empath, and he or she’s she cares about individuals so deeply. That’s what made it exhausting for her, was as a result of she cared a lot. I believe, additionally, simply being a younger filmmaker, she was making it so a few years in the past, having the boldness to know you’ll be able to put all of it collectively, as a result of it’s overwhelming story, there’s so many twists and turns, and you find yourself kind of again the place you began a number of the time once you’re making an attempt to piece it collectively. I’ve a complete workforce serving to me. She was a former scholar. I simply can’t even think about. It could be so exhausting.
DEADLINE: You go very deeply into the ways in which this case has traumatized the households and others concerned and, for essentially the most half, keep away from any conspiracy theories about what could have occurred. What made you are taking that route? And the way did working with these households form your notion of true crime generally?
BROWN: To be sincere, I don’t watch a complete lot of true crime…I didn’t actually wish to cloud my head by a system. I did hearken to some podcasts, and I used to be so delay by the tone of most true crime. Not all of them, however most true crime podcasts appeared to neglect that these have been individuals.
Whenever you meet the households, I don’t perceive how you might. It’s simply so painful to sit down with individuals who’ve gone by means of this. It actually takes a toll on you. Perhaps it’s as a result of they don’t have to fulfill the individuals after they’re making them, they will simply hear. Individuals prefer to really feel like they’re determining issues. I imply, me too. I’m not making an attempt to say that’s not fascinating to me, as a result of, after all, it’s fascinating to strive to determine a puzzle, however on this particular sequence, I didn’t really feel like that. It’s unattainable, in case you meet these individuals, to make it that approach. You are feeling for them a lot.
DEADLINE: There’s a very affecting second within the ultimate episode the place they dig up the time capsule for Amy Ayers. How was that so that you can witness?
BROWN: In all probability the way it was so that you can watch. I simply so felt for the Ayers household and, I imply, we actually consolidated that scene. They have been making an attempt so exhausting to seek out it. We knew it was there. It grew to become like this kind of bonding expertise that day, as a result of so many individuals confirmed as much as assist. It was really actually transferring how many individuals simply actually cared concerning the Ayers household and them simply getting this ode to their daughter as much as the floor.
DEADLINE: As you set collectively this story, what emerged as essentially the most irritating a part of the case for you?
BROWN: What I’m occupied with is an exploration of what it means to be a human and undergo grief, and the way totally different individuals grieve. Then there’s this insane story of all these twists and turns and rabbit holes, which the true crime viewers is occupied with. I’m not as occupied with that, however I’m occupied with it. You want a narrative to hold your hat on, proper? So this movie wouldn’t exist with out that loopy story. There’s a number of threads on my telephone with the producers and the editorial division and everybody speaking by means of theories. We have been all making an attempt to crack it not directly, or comply with a unique concept, or comply with a unique rabbit gap, nevertheless it’s balancing that search to unravel the crime — which, for me to suppose I can remedy the crime when lots of of police departments and DNA specialists and all these individuals are making an attempt to unravel this crime, for me to suppose I can do that may be a little hubristic, I believe. However after all, we nonetheless wished to. I believe, as I made it, what pulled me by means of the three and a half years of creating it was actually simply sitting with individuals who I believe had a number of knowledge round ache and residing life with ache, which all of us should do. All of us undergo. These individuals have gone by means of some actually f*cking excessive struggling, and I felt like I received loads out of simply listening to those households speak and listening to Claire speak, and listening to a few of the investigators who gave their life and ruined their marriages to this case.
DEADLINE: For the reason that case stays unsolved, the story continues to be ongoing. How do you discover a pure conclusion for the story you are attempting to inform?
BROWN: Effectively, as a result of I used to be occupied with reminiscence and grief… I imply, with out once more giving a spoiler, there are some issues that occur within the fourth episode. I might by no means name it closure, as a result of the households won’t ever have closure. However there are issues that approximate that.
