The Yogurt Shop Murders

Posted: 10.29.2025 | Updated: 10.24.2025

Known as The Yogurt Shop Murders, the brutal assault and killing of four innocent girls was an event that rattled the North Austin community and haunted the town for decades. 

More than 30 years ago, on December 6th, 1991, a horrendous crime devastated the residents of Austin, TX. On that day, four teenage girls lost their lives at the hands of a violent madman. It was a mystery that had never been solved until recent DNA testing conducted this year finally closed the unsolved case. 

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What Are the Yogurt Shop Murders?

• The Yogurt Shop Murders is the name of a murder case from 1991 involving the death of four teenage girls at a local yogurt shop in North Austin, TX.
• The crime was unsolved for 34 years until recent advancements in DNA technology helped investigators identify the killer in September 2025.
• A four-part docuseries titled The Yogurt Shop Murders premiered in 2025 on HBO, directed and produced by Margaret Brown.

A Tragic Murder Haunts the North Austin Community

One December evening in Austin in the early 1990s, four teenage girls were hanging out at the local ‘I Can’t Believe it’s Not Yogurt’ shop. 

17-year-old Jennifer Harbison and 17-year-old Eliza Thomas were working while Jennifer’s younger sister, 15-year-old Sarah Harbison, and her friend, 13-year-old Amy Ayers, were waiting to catch a ride home with Jennifer after they closed up the shop at 11:00 p.m. 

Around an hour before closing time, it is believed that the girls allowed a man to come inside to use the restroom in the back. A couple who left the shop just before 11:00 p.m. later reported seeing two men at one of the tables who appeared suspicious. 

The Fire that led to a Horrific Discovery 

Just before midnight on December 6th, 1991, a patrolman from the Austin Police Department spotted flames coming from the ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Not Yogurt shop’. He called in the fire to the dispatcher, and firefighters arrived soon after. Once the flames were put out, the four bodies of the victims were discovered. 

The four girls were killed in the back room of the yogurt shop. Their clothing had been removed, and according to reports from the Travis County medical examiner, they had each been shot twice in the back of the head. Eliza, Jennifer, and Sarah were all bound and gagged. Their bodies were severely burned beyond recognition by the flames. 

Amy’s body was found in a separate area inside the shop. Her body wasn’t burned as badly as the others, but there were second- and third-degree burns covering 30% of her body. 

She was found with a cloth wrapped around her neck, and she was murdered in the same way as the other girls, with a shot to the back of the head. However, the initial bullet missed her brain. There was a second bullet wound that caused severe damage to her brain, which ultimately killed her.  

Because of the fire, believed to be intentionally set by the murderer, fingerprints were difficult to recover, and the crime scene was practically destroyed by the water used to put out the flames. 

What Was the Motive?

Austin Police Lt. Andrew Waters stated at the time that the front doors were locked and there was no sign of forced entry. However, money had been taken from the cash register, which made some believe the killer’s primary motive was to rob the business, and the girls were caught in the crossfire. 

Concerning the motive, Waters told the Austin American-Statesman, “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.” Along with their identities, the reason why the killers were even there on that December night remained a mystery for decades. 

Who Were the Suspects?

For years, the Austin police dealt with constant back-and-forth stories from four young men who all became the initial suspects. 

Eight days after the murders took place, 16-year-old Maurice Pierce was arrested just a few blocks away from the yogurt shop. He had a .22 caliber revolver on him. He told police that he loaned the gun to his friend, 15-year-old Forrest Welborn, who confessed to him that he used it to murder the four girls. 

In his statement, Pierce said that Welborn asked to borrow his gun and later returned it to him while appearing disheveled, sweaty, and smelling of hairspray. The following day, Pierce, Welborn, and their two friends, Robert Springsteen IV and Michael Scott, stole a car and drove to San Antonio to meet a girl. 

After they returned home, Welborn asked Pierce if he could borrow the gun once again. Allegedly, he told Pierce that he wanted to “kill more girls like he did the night before.” The claim was investigated but ultimately dismissed, and the police moved on to find a new lead. 

Arresting the Four Suspects

Later in 1999, almost eight years after the still unsolved murders, the Austin police arrested Pierce, Welborn, Springsteen, and Scott when they confessed to the crime during an interrogation. 

Springsteen and Scott later retracted their confessions, claiming they were unjustly pressured by the police during the interrogations. Despite their claims, they were both found guilty. Springsteen was sentenced to death in 2001, and Scott received a life sentence in 2002. 

Proving Springsteen and Scott’s involvement in the murders was extremely difficult at the time, since ballistics tests were not as advanced as they are now, and the investigators had very little evidence to work with. 

The tests in 2000 showed that Pierce’s gun was likely not linked to the murders. The charges against Welborn were eventually dropped as two grand juries declined to indict him. Pierce stayed in jail for three years before he was released in 2003, due to prosecutors not having enough evidence to convict him. 

In 2009, there was yet another delay in justice for the girls as the judge ordered Springsteen and Scott to be released from jail on bond. The charges against them were formally dropped after advancements in DNA technology showed that the evidence from the crime scene was not linked to Springsteen and Scott or Welborn and Pierce. 

Advancements in DNA Improved the Odds of Solving the Case

In 2017, detectives in Austin thought they found a lead thanks to the advancements in DNA technology. They used a DNA sample taken from Ayers to attempt to identify a male suspect. Authorities were able to match the sample to one that was uploaded to the FBI’s public research database, operated by the University of Central Florida. 

Unfortunately, the FBI was hesitant about sharing its forensic information, which led to several years of negotiations between federal officials and Travis County prosecutors without amicable results.

It wasn’t until 2020 that the FBI agreed to work with the authorities in Austin to determine if further DNA testing could be conducted on the sample from the 1991 crime scene. Unfortunately, the sample didn’t help provide a new lead for the investigation. The advanced testing only revealed that the sample taken from the crime scene no longer proved to be a match to the sample found in the FBI’s DNA database. 

The Yogurt Shop Murders Documentary  

In August of 2025, The Yogurt Shop Murders, a four-part docuseries created by Margaret Brown, premiered on HBO. This harrowing look at how the murders still impact the friends, families, and residents of this Austin community is one of the most emotionally fueled true crime documentaries made in the past few years. 

The series takes a closer look at the flaws in the justice system that lead to false confessions, the cultural irony, and the phenomena associated with this case. 

The docuseries sparked new interest in the case among those intrigued by the true crime genre. Those who remember the case, as well as those who are new to the story, have gained new insight into the murder mystery that went unsolved for more than three decades. 

Brown created a docuseries unlike most in the true crime genre. She wasn’t concerned with focusing on the predatory fixation or the upsetting details of the case. 

She was more interested in how the crime impacted the community and wanted to take an empathetic approach to telling the story in a way that paid respect to the victims and their loved ones. And those who have watched the series say that she succeeded in her efforts.

What are the Latest Developments in the Yogurt Shop Murder Case?

In August of 2025, U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, who serves the Austin district, spoke with 48 Hours about the case. He said, “We’re waiting for the DNA science to improve to then resubmit what we have left in the crime lab for further testing.

Then, around a month later in September, investigators got a potential lead. They identified a serial killer, Robert Eugene Brashers, who died by suicide in 1999, as a prime suspect in the case.

Ballistic evidence and the most recent advancements in DNA technology helped to link Brashers to the scene of the crime as well as other unsolved murders. Further evidence showed that the suspect had used a .380 pistol when he committed suicide. The weapon was the same make and model used to shoot victim Amy Ayers in 1991. 

Records show that Brashers was stopped by the Border Patrol on December 8th, 1991, two days after the murders took place, at a checkpoint between El Paso, TX, and Las Cruces, NM. 

He was driving a stolen car and in possession of the same .380 pistol. Authorities have confirmed this was the weapon used in the Yogurt Shop Murders after comparing the serial numbers that matched. 

The final results of the DNA testing are expected to be revealed in the coming months. 

Closure in North Austin 34 Years Later

Brashers’ identity was revealed to the family members of the victims, who have been waiting for decades for this news. 

Regarding the case, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis stated, “After 34 years, the Austin Police have made a significant breakthrough in one of the most devastating cases in our city’s history. This unthinkable crime has weighed heavily on the hearts of our community, the families of the victims, and our detectives who have tirelessly pursued justice.” 

Kirk Watson, the Mayor of Austin, said, “Today I am hopeful. My hopefulness is that we can turn a page as a community—and hopefully the final page—on this horror that marked a very different time in Austin’s history.” 

While many years have passed and it is too late to convict and imprison Brashers for the crime, this discovery that was made thanks to advancements in DNA technology has brought the families and the residents of Travis County some much-needed closure to this heinous crime that has cast a dark shadow over the North Austin community for too long.   

Haunted Austin

Austin, TX, is known to be a haunted location where true historic facts meet with legends of ghost sightings and encounters. If you are interested in learning more about the dark past of this city, be sure to book a ghost tour with us here at Austin Ghosts. 

Be sure to check out our blog for more stories of true crime and tales of haunted locations right here in Austin. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for even more ghost stories from historic locations nationwide. 

Sources:

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/monicamercuri/2025/08/04/the-horrific-true-story-behind-hbos-the-yogurt-shop-murders
• https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/aug/03/yogurt-shop-murders-series-hbo-max
• https://people.com/texas-yogurt-shop-murders-hbo-docuseries-11772431
• https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2020/02/16/austin-yogurt-shop-murder-cold-case-hinges-dna-fbi-wont-share/4762436002
• https://www.fox7austin.com/news/austin-yogurt-shop-murders-linked-known-serial-killer-rapist-through-dna
• https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/us/yogurt-shop-murders-solved-dna.html