John Jones was out of options and low on cash. The Austin homicide detective was at a Shepler’s near Highland Mall in 1991 looking for a new shirt. He was going be on TV, but he didn’t want to spend $50 or $60. The bargain rack would have to do. Jones found an option for just $20, an almost DayGlo green and white-striped shirt.
“I just have to assume that whoever designed it was colorblind,” Jones, now retired, said with a laugh. “The truth can be told now. I mean, I didn’t have a lot of money back then, and it was on the sale rack for some reason.”
Jones was gearing up for his shift, where he was going to be followed by a TV crew. He didn’t think this new shirt would become something much bigger than an impulse buy. It would be a sort of totem, a living reminder of something senseless.
That night, Jones got a call from the Austin Fire Department saying he needed to get to the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! shop off Anderson Lane, where crews had responded to a blaze…