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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
CRIME HUNTER: New docuseries shines light on horrific Yogurt Shop Murders
Four kids making a couple extra bucks with part-time jobs at a frozen yogurt joint. Not exactly putting themselves in harm's way, but that is exactly what they were. On Friday, Dec. 6, 1991, Eliza Thomas, 17, Amy Ayers, 13, and sisters Jennifer Harbison, 17, and Sarah Harbison, 15, were shot to death during a botched heist at I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! in Austin, Texas. After the vile killers shot the girls, they set their bodies ablaze. The killers were never caught, and now HBO is offering a new four-part docuseries, The Yogurt Shop Murders. It premiered on Aug. 3. The series pulls back the curtain on the families, cops and community who were shaken to their core by the horrific crimes and the agonizing decades since. It was store manager Reese Price who identified the victims. She volunteered for the macabre duty so the girls' families wouldn't have to endure the horrific sight. 'There wasn't anything there to identify,' Price told series producers. 'Fire is very destructive. It's not forgiving.' The series shows footage of the shop on the night of the murders as the girls' date with monsters unfolds in real time. Director Margaret Brown told USA Today that people who have never spoken publicly before talk to producers. 'These people went through something so specifically awful, but I do think there's something in that for everyone,' Brown said. 'We're all going to experience pain, and I felt like for me, this was a way to look at this fascinating case, at the same time an exploration of how do people deal with something this hard, (and) what can we learn from that?' In the wake of the horrendous slayings, a massive media campaign was unleashed in Austin and beyond, desperately appealing for information on the killers. Billboards with chilling photos of the girls dotted the landscape 'A lot of my friends who are crime reporters said this is the most interesting crime that exists,' Brown told the newspaper. 'There's not one with more rabbit holes. This is the mother ship of interesting crime.' Locals and true crime buffs are obsessed with the vexing case that has been passed from detective to detective as investigators retired over the three-decade course of the investigation. The latest investigator is Det. Dan Jackson, who took stewardship of the thick, cold case file in 2022. It was the first case he was assigned on his first day with the cold case unit. 'It's such a huge case,' Jackson said. 'I sort of knew at that point I would be with it forever.' The detective offers several theories as to why the case was never closed. For starters, the blaze that engulfed the shop and bodies wiped out crucial evidence, either incinerated or soaked with water from fire hoses. Cops believed they had their two killers, and the pair were convicted. Robert Springsteen received a death sentence in 2001 for killing Ayers, and Michael Scott was caged for life for the death of Ayers the following year. And then, their convictions were overturned. The case went cold again. Jackson remains confident he will clear the case. The two men initially convicted of the murders refused to take part in the docuseries. It wasn't always that way. Springsteen participated in another project in 2009. He told a sales clerk helping him find clothes for his appearance: 'I'm sure you probably think it's really funny, but we're doing a documentary because I just got off death row.' Callous attitude aside, a DNA sample that detectives lifted from the crime scene does not belong to either Scott or Springsteen. But with genetic science making quantum leaps, it is not unreasonable for the killers to be identified. 'One of the things that we want the public to know is that this case is active,' Jackson said. 'It's constantly worked on.' Jackson agrees that forensic technology is likely to play a role in bringing the girls' murderers to justice. 'If I didn't think I could solve it, then why get up every day?' he said. 'I think that with new technology, new information that we have − that I can't go into − even since I've taken the case over, the ability to do more with less when it comes to forensics is light-years ahead than it was a few years ago.' 'When I started, we needed a certain amount (of DNA),' Jackson explained. 'We weren't even close to it, but that amount that you need is so much less now.' 'I am confident that I will solve this,' he said. CRIME HUNTER: A true crime cornucopia of American madness and mayhem CRIME HUNTER: Did teen temptress' sex trysts with foster dad lead to murder? CRIME HUNTER: Sex, money behind mystery murder of dentist's wife on safari? Jackson added that human intelligence will also play a role in clearing the case, and he hopes the docuseries will trigger memories and witnesses who may have previously been afraid to talk to police. 'Somebody out there knows something,' Jackson said. 'That's one of the things with cold cases. You do get people over time that, for whatever reason, may not have been willing to come forward years ago that now feel more comfortable. Or they thought it was something small and didn't ever say anything, and they're like, 'Well, maybe I should call in this time and mention it.'' 'Who knows? It could be the break we need,' he said. If you have any information about the case, visit or send an email to yogurtshop@ bhunter@ @HunterTOSun
Forbes
04-08-2025
- Forbes
The Horrific True Story Behind HBO's ‘The Yogurt Shop Murders'
The chilling 1991 murder of four teenage girls at a Texas yogurt shop is the focus of HBO's new docuseries, The Yogurt Shop Murders. More than three decades later, the unsolved crime continues to baffle investigators and haunt the city of Austin. In 1991, Eliza Thomas, 17, Amy Ayers, 13, and sisters Jennifer, 17, and Sarah Harbison, 15, were shot and killed at an Austin frozen yogurt shop called I Can't Believe It's Yogurt!. Their bodies were then set on fire. While two men were initially convicted in connection with the crime, their convictions were later overturned, and lingering questions have continued to puzzle investigators. In Margaret Brown's four-part docuseries, which premiered Sunday, Aug. 3 (with new episodes airing Sundays at 10 p.m. ET), the director spent years interviewing the investigative teams behind the case, along with the victims' parents and siblings. The series also features interrogation room footage of the teenage boys who served time for the crime, as well as rare archival video of the suspects captured by local Austin documentarian Claire Huie. Keep reading to dive into the infamous true crime case, including what investigators believe happened, the theories surrounding the murders and the latest developments in DNA technology that could help solve them. What Happened In The Yogurt Shop Murders? On Dec. 6, 1991, Jennifer Harbison and her co-worker Eliza Thomas were working at I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! in Austin, Texas. Amy Ayers and Sarah Harbison were at the shop waiting to catch a ride with Sarah's older sister, Jennifer. At 11:47 p.m. that night, a patrol officer reported seeing flames inside the northwest Austin yogurt shop. Firefighters arrived at the scene thinking they were responding to a routine fire, but investigators believe the blaze was intentionally set to destroy any evidence left behind. For example, fingerprints were difficult to recover, and the crime scene was soaked with water to extinguish the flames. The four girls were killed and stripped of their clothing in a back room of the yogurt shop. According to the Travis County medical examiner, each of them had been shot twice in the back of the head, and three of the victims were burned beyond recognition. Some of the victims' bodies had been bound. While the front door was locked, the back door was open, Austin Police Lt. Andrew Waters said at the time. Police noted there were no signs of forced entry, but money was missing, according to the Austin American-Statesman, pointing to robbery as a potential motive. "That's the best theory, but it's possible there could have been something else and they attempted to make it look like a robbery," Waters said. Who Were The Prime Suspects In The Yogurt Shop Murders? Eight days after the killings, 16-year-old Maurice Pierce was arrested with a .22-caliber revolver just a few blocks from the yogurt shop. Pierce told police he had loaned the gun to his friend, Forrest Welborn, 15, who used it in the yogurt shop murders and later told him about it. According to Pierce claimed that Forrest asked to borrow his gun and later returned sweaty and smelling of hairspray. The next day, the four boys stole a car and drove to San Antonio to see a girl. After they returned from the trip, Pierce said Forrest asked to borrow the gun again. When Pierce questioned why, Forrest allegedly told him he wanted to kill more girls like he did the night before. Although the claim was investigated, it was ultimately dismissed, and authorities moved on. It wasn't until 1999 — nearly eight years after the brutal murders — that Austin police arrested Pierce, Welborn, and two of their friends, Robert Springsteen IV and Michael Scott. Springsteen and Scott confessed during police interrogations. However, Springsteen and Scott later recanted their confessions, claiming they were coerced during lengthy police interrogations. Despite this, both were found guilty. Springsteen was sentenced to death in 2001, while Scott received a life sentence the following year, according to the Austin American-Statesman. But proving Springsteen and Scott's involvement became increasingly difficult after ballistics tests in 2000 indicated that the gun Pierce had been caught with was likely not used in the murders. Charges against Welborn were dropped that same year after two grand juries declined to indict him. Pierce spent three years in jail before being released in 2003, when prosecutors admitted they didn't have enough evidence to convict him. Then, in June 2009, as prosecutors sought another trial delay, the judge ordered Springsteen and Scott released from jail on bond. The charges were formally dropped after advances in DNA technology revealed that crime scene evidence did not match Springsteen, Scott or the other two suspects. Could DNA Advances Finally Crack the Yogurt Shop Murders? As of Aug. 2025, there have been no new arrests in the case. A fresh team of investigators and prosecutors has been working on the murders, and in 2017, detectives thought they had received a major lead thanks to advancements in DNA technology. Although the fire destroyed much of the forensic evidence, investigators were able to recover a DNA sample from Ayers that could be used to identify the suspect's male lineage. Authorities in Austin matched the sample to one the FBI had uploaded into a public research database operated by the University of Central Florida. However, the FBI was reluctant to share forensic information, leading to a years-long standoff between federal officials and Travis County prosecutors, USA TODAY reported in 2020. The FBI said it was not legally permitted to share information about the sample, such as how or where it was obtained, because the Florida study was anonymous. 'The FBI did not perform forensic DNA testing in this case and cannot speak to this case,' the bureau said in a statement. Frustrated, city officials reached out to U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul, who pressed the FBI on the matter. According to 48 Hours (via CBS News), in early 2020, the FBI agreed to work with the Austin Police Department to determine whether further testing could be conducted on the Y-STR DNA from the crime scene. Unfortunately, the sample did not turn out to be an investigative lead. '48 Hours has learned that initially, the sample from the crime scene was not very detailed and had only 16 markers, but more advanced testing in 2020 came up with an additional nine markers, bringing the total marker count to 25,' CBS News reported. "However, this more advanced testing revealed that the sample from the crime scene no longer proved to be a match to the sample in the public DNA database. What Are The Latest Developments In The Yogurt Shop Murders Case? In 2022, Detective Dan Jackson was assigned to the case and told USA TODAY that he hopes to build a profile from the DNA sample that will lead him to a suspect. He also expressed optimism that advances in forensic technology will help solve the case. 'If I didn't think I could solve it, then why get up every day?' he added. 'I think that with new technology, new information that we have − that I can't go into − even since I've taken the case over, the ability to do more with less when it comes to forensics is light-years ahead than it was a few years ago. When I started, we needed a certain amount (of DNA). We weren't even close to it, but that amount that you need is so much less now." In 2025, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, whose district includes Austin, told 48 Hours that 'We're waiting for…the DNA science to improve to then resubmit what we have left in the crime lab for further testing." Some of the actual Y-STR DNA from the sample found on the victim in the yogurt shop case still exists, he added. 'It's very limited and … that's why we're waiting for the science to improve on this, because there's very little left.' Anyone with information is urged to contact the Austin Police Department Homicide Tip Line at 512-477-3588 or Crime Stoppers at 512-472-TIPS. The next episode of The Yogurt Shop Murders will be released on Sunday, Aug. 10. Watch the official trailer below.
CBS News
03-08-2025
- CBS News
Are two never-identified customers key to solving Austin's yogurt shop murders?
[This story was originally posted on February 5, 2022. It was updated on August 27.] It has been more than 30 years since four teenage girls were murdered in an Austin, Texas, yogurt shop and the case remains unsolved. At one point, there were arrests and then convictions, but those convictions were later overturned on appeal, and ultimately, new DNA technology raised doubts about the involvement of those initial arrestees. The case has left investigators at what appears to be a standstill, but as correspondent Erin Moriarty reported in this week's "48 Hours," there is a theory that two never-identified men seen in the yogurt shop on the night of the murders may have been involved in the unsolved killings that have haunted Austin for decades. On December 6, 1991, 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, 13-year-old Amy Ayers, and two sisters, 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison and 15-year-old Sarah Harbison, were tied up and shot in the head in an "I Can't Believe It's Yogurt!" shop in Austin. The city had never seen a crime quite like it. Eliza and Jennifer had been working in the yogurt shop that night. They were getting ready to close when Jennifer's sister, Sarah, and their friend, Amy, met them there to head home. Investigators believe at least two men entered the shop and committed the brutal crime before setting the place on fire, destroying much of the evidence. John Jones worked for the Austin Police Department at the time of the crime and was the lead investigator on the case. He has since retired. Jones told Moriarty that as part of the early investigation, he and his team tracked down customers who were in the yogurt shop on the day of the crime to see if they noticed anything suspicious. According to Jones, multiple customers described two men who "looked out of place" sitting in the shop just before it was due to close. Neither man was reported to have purchased frozen yogurt — instead, only a drink. "They never have been identified. And we did everything. … We even hypnotized some folks," Jones told Moriarty. Despite investigators' efforts, that lead went nowhere and eventually the case went cold. Then, in 1999, nearly eight years after the murders, there was a break in the case when new investigators decided to re-examine a different old lead. Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce and Forrest Welborn were only teenagers at the time of the crime. They, too, had landed on Jones' radar early on after one of them, Maurice Pierce, was arrested with a gun at a mall near the yogurt shop in the days after the crime. Back then, the men were questioned by Jones and his team but were subsequently released for lack of evidence. In 1999, the new investigators decided to re-question the men. Two of them, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, confessed to the yogurt shop murders and implicated Pierce and Welborn in the process. All four men were subsequently arrested. But it wasn't long before Springsteen and Scott recanted their confessions, saying they were coerced. Charges were ultimately dropped against Pierce and Welborn due to lack of evidence. Springsteen and Scott were the only two to go on trial. They were both convicted, but years later, their convictions were overturned on constitutional grounds. The Sixth Amendment gives defendants the right to confront accusers and in Scott and Springsteen's trials, their confessions were used against one another, but they weren't allowed to question each other in court. Prosecutors intended to retry Springsteen and Scott, but before doing so, they ordered DNA tests on vaginal swabs taken from the victims at the time of the murders. By this point, investigators had come to believe at least one of the victims had been sexually assaulted, and prosecutors wanted to take advantage of a fairly new type of DNA testing called Y-STR testing. It searches for male DNA only. No one expected what it would reveal. As a result of the testing, a partial male DNA profile was obtained from one of the victims, but to the surprise of the prosecutor's office, the DNA sample did not match any of the four men who had been arrested. Charges were dropped against Springsteen and Scott, and they were released from prison after spending 10 years behind bars. Attorney Amber Farrelly worked on both Scott and Springsteen's defense teams. She is adamant that police had it all wrong when they arrested Scott, Springsteen, Welborn and Pierce. She told "48 Hours" she believes those two unidentified customers from the yogurt shop are who police should really be fixated on. While working on Scott and Springsteen's defense teams, Farrelly was tasked with sifting through old police records, including those interviews Jones and his colleagues had conducted with customers who visited the yogurt shop on the day of the murders. "They (police) have accounted for and interviewed 52 people that were in the yogurt shop that day," Farrelly told "48 Hours'" Erin Moriarty. Farrelly says several of those customers mentioned the two men who were seen sitting in the yogurt shop just before it was due to close that night. "We have no names to them. And when you look at — when you step back and you look and you think, 'They've talked to 52 people and didn't miss one person from 4:30 until 11:00 at night. And several people talk about a guy or two guys, and they describe them in the same manner? And we don't know who those two guys are? And they've never called in? … That raises, in my opinion, the suspicion… that these are the gentlemen who did it," Farrelly said. "Were those two men who've never been identified the last people in the yogurt shop, as far as you know?" Moriarty asked Farrelly. "Absolutely," Farrelly responded. Farrelly says the men were described as "kind of leaned over the table, talking to each other and kind of whispering, like they didn't want anybody to hear what they were saying." She says that one of the men was described as having light, short hair, "like a dirty blonde," and was said to have been about 5'6" tall and in his late 20s or early 30s. She says the other man was described as being "bigger," and both were observed wearing big coats. One, she says, is thought to have had a green "Army fatigue kind of looking jacket" and the other is thought to have had a black jacket. According to Farrelly, the men are believed to have been driving a green car that evening. John Jones, the former lead investigator on the case, is still haunted by the unsolved yogurt shop murders even though he has long retired. He told "48 Hours" he still wonders about those unidentified customers. "Yeah, it's kind of a question to me that to this day, they haven't been identified," he said. "Is that evidence that they did it? No, but that's evidence that we really need to talk to them." If you have information about the yogurt shop murders, call 512-472-TIPS.
CBS News
30-07-2025
- CBS News
Could a DNA sample from over 30 years ago solve the infamous yogurt shop murder case?
When four teenage girls were murdered in an Austin, Texas, yogurt shop in 1991, a heartbroken city was left searching for answers. No one imagined that more than 30 years later, the case would remain unsolved. But now, thanks to new advances in DNA technology, there is renewed hope that a piece of evidence collected from the scene on the night of the crime will be key to solving the case once and for all. "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports in an encore of "The Yogurt Shop Murders," airing Saturday, Aug. 2 at 9/8c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. On December 6, 1991, 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, 13-year-old Amy Ayers, and two sisters, 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison and 15-year-old Sarah Harbison, were found gagged, tied up with their own clothing, and shot in the head in an I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! shop in Austin. Whoever was responsible had also set the shop on fire, compromising much of the evidence. Eliza and Jennifer had been working at the yogurt shop that night. They were getting ready to close when Jennifer's sister, Sarah, and their friend, Amy, met them there to head home. Investigators believe at least two men entered the shop and committed the brutal crime. Gunshot wounds revealed two different types of guns were used — but there was scant other evidence at the scene, and debris from the fire complicated the early investigation. The Austin Police Department soon developed a task force dedicated solely to solving the crime. Government agencies, including the FBI, were called in to assist, but the case ultimately went cold until 1999, when four men, Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce and Forrest Welborn, were arrested and charged with the murders. The men were only teenagers at the time of the crime. They were first questioned just days after the murders when one of them, Maurice Pierce, was arrested at a mall not far from the yogurt shop with a .22 caliber gun — one of the same types of weapons believed to have been used in the killings. All four were released back then for lack of evidence, but in 1999, when a new team of investigators were tasked with taking a fresh look at the old case, they obtained confessions from two of the four men, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott. Those confessions would later be called into question after the two recanted, saying they were coerced. Charges were ultimately dropped against Maurice Pierce and Forrest Welborn due to lack of evidence, and Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott were the only two to go on trial. The sole evidence against them were their own words. They were both convicted, but a few years later, their convictions were overturned on constitutional grounds. The Sixth Amendment gives defendants the right to confront accusers and in Scott and Springsteen's trials, their confessions were used against one another, but they weren't allowed to question each other in court. Rosemary Lehmberg, the Travis County, Texas, district attorney at the time, was intent on retrying Springsteen and Scott. But before doing so, her office decided to take advantage of what was then a fairly new type of DNA testing called Y-STR testing. It was a way of searching for and extracting male DNA only. Y-STR testing was ordered on vaginal swabs taken from the victims at the time of the murders. By this point, investigators had come to believe that at least one of the victims had been sexually assaulted. As a result of the Y-STR testing, a partial male DNA profile was obtained from one of the girls, but to the surprise of the district attorney's office, the DNA sample did not match any of the four men who were arrested. CeCe Moore, a DNA expert and genetic genealogist whom we interviewed for this week's "48 Hours," told correspondent Erin Moriarty that Y-STR DNA is a tool sometimes used in criminal cases. Moore explained it "can eliminate almost everyone. … Everyone but the suspect." "If their Y-STR does not match, they did not contribute that DNA?" Moriarty asked Moore. "Because of… where that DNA was found, yes, in this case, it's very important," Moore said. Still, prosecutors were determined to retry Springsteen and Scott. But before doing so, they wanted to figure out who that mystery DNA belonged to. District Attorney Lehmberg says more than 100 men — such as crime scene investigators and personnel from the medical examiner's office who might have come in contact with the body and possibly been a source of contamination — were tested. It was all to no avail. In 2009, with no matches, the charges against Springsteen and Scott were dropped. After nearly 10 years behind bars, they were released, but not exonerated, leaving open the possibility they could be retried at a later time. For years, officials kept trying to track down the source of the mystery DNA. Then, in 2017, an Austin police investigator searched a public online DNA database used for population studies to see if he could get a hit. Unbelievably, he did. It seemed to be the most promising lead in years, but there was a problem. The seemingly matching sample in the public database had been submitted anonymously by the FBI and had no name attached to it. When officials in Austin contacted the FBI in an effort to get a name, the FBI would not provide it, citing privacy laws. Frustrated, city officials reached out to U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul, who is from Austin, for help. McCaul pressed the FBI, and "48 Hours" has learned that in early 2020, the FBI agreed to work with the Austin Police Department to see if further testing could be done on that Y-STR DNA from the crime scene. "48 Hours" has learned that initially, the sample from the crime scene was not very detailed and had only 16 markers, but more advanced testing in 2020 came up with an additional nine markers, bringing the total marker count to 25. However, this more advanced testing revealed that the sample from the crime scene no longer proved to be a match to the sample in the public DNA database. In a letter to Congressman McCaul obtained by "48 Hours," the FBI explained the new results "conclusively exclude the male donor of the FBI's sample … as such, the FBI Y-STR profile is not an investigative lead." "And that was the greatest disappointment because we really thought we had it," Congressman McCaul told Moriarty. Still, McCaul says that he and Austin officials will not rest until they determine who that DNA from the crime scene belongs to. "We're waiting for… the DNA science to improve to then resubmit what we have left in the crime lab for further testing," McCaul said. According to McCaul, some of the actual Y-STR DNA from the sample found on the victim in the yogurt shop case still exists. "It's very limited and … that's why we're waiting for the science to improve on this, because there's very little left," he said. With DNA research advancing so quickly, McCaul hopes that one day that sample of DNA obtained over 30 years ago will finally solve the case. "It's everything," he says.
