0800 - 1100:
Scherer/Scherer homicide investigation with Sergeant J.A. Lacey
Course Decription:
The history of the Scherer/Scherer homicide investigation and how we were able to solve the murders, through DNA technology.  This also lead us to help tie our investigation with other homicides and sexual assaults throughout the United States.  

1100 - 1200:
Communicating with the Media in a Major Incident with Kathy Sweeney

Course Decription:
Kathy Sweeney with KFVS-12 talks about how working with a trusted media partner can help your department share critical information with residents, head off social media rumors, and highlight positive public safety changes in your community. 

I have worked with most of the law enforcement agencies in southeast Missouri over the past three decades and can tell you—simply saying "No comment" or ignoring a reporter's call when something challenging happens in your community can often backfire and hurt your department's relationship with your community. I will show you examples of local stories where sheriffs and chiefs have taken a "negative" story or issue and turned it into a positive, simply by taking the time to speak to a trusted media partner. I will also talk candidly about the best ways to develop that relationship, who you might want to avoid, and why it still makes sense to be seen and heard—and not just in a social media post. I also want to answer any questions you have about working with local media—good and bad.

1200-1300: LUNCH

1300-1700:
Yogurt Shop Murders  with Detective Dan Jackson.

Course Description:

On December 6, 1991, firefighters responded to a fire in an Austin, Texas neighborhood strip center where they unexpectedly found the burned bodies of four teenage girls in a yogurt shop. The girls, Amy Ayers (13), Sarah Harbison (15), Jennifer Harbison (17), and Eliza Thomas (17), were nude, bound and gagged with their clothing, and all four were shot in the head. The horrific crime shocked the Austin community, and law enforcement worked around the clock to try to develop leads in the case. It would not be until 1999 when law enforcement felt they had finally solved the quadruple homicide and arrested four men after securing confessions from two of the four suspects. The two suspects who confessed, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, were later tried by separate juries for the murders and both convicted of the crimes. Robert Springsteen was sentenced to death row, and Michael Scott was sentenced to life in prison. A few years later, a series of legal rulings would undo the convictions and send the cases back for new trials. 

While prosecutors prepared to retry the cases, they submitted evidence for testing using newer DNA technology and uncovered an unknown male DNA profile from the sexual assault evidence recovered from the youngest victim, 13-year-old Amy Ayers. The DNA profile did not match any of the original 4 suspects, and eventually the charges against Springsteen and Scott were dismissed. Law enforcement would spend the next 15 years testing hundreds of individuals trying to identify the unknown DNA profile and trying to develop new leads in the case. The murders remained unsolved until 2025 when new DNA evidence, a stroke of good timing and luck, and traditional police work would link the crimes to a known serial killer across the country.

This presentation will cover the initial investigation, the turbulent path the case took through the legal system, how the case was eventually solved, and how the families of the victims fought to keep the case moving. 

1700-0000: HOSPITALITY ROOM

TBA

1200-1300: LUNCH

1300-1700: 

TBA