48 Hours - The Yogurt Shop Killings

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

The brutal murders of four teenage girls has haunted Austin, Texas, for 30 years. Could new information lead to a killer? "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports. This episode last aired on 8/27/22. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every year marks another year, you know, that there's no closure. I still have insomnia 30 years after the fact. I wish I'd solved a crime for the families. We tried. I was a cop for 32 years at Austin PD. I'll always be associated with that case. There's no getting away from that. I just hope one of these days we can put

put this thing to bed. Yeah, I'm headed over there. The call occurred at 1127 p.m. Homicide four. Homicide four. Did you get in my en route there? That was the lead investigator on the, I can't believe, this yoga shot murder case.

On December 6th, 1991, there was a robbery, fire, and murder committed. It's all right, I'll make the call myself. Victims were Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ayers. I can still see them. I can still see the inside of that place. That stuff's indelibly burned in my mind. There has never been in Austin a more gristly, ugly crime.

There's four girls in there, and they're all beautiful girls. beautiful girls and they're very young. They're cleaning up, they lock up the yogurt shop. And then we believe it to be two individuals. Came in, they forced them to the back room at gunpoint. I lost my sister Eliza Thomas in the yogurt shop murders. I was 13. Yeah, I was 13 when my sister died.

The whole city was in shock. Everywhere we drove, there were these billboards with a picture of my sister. on it. And so it's like you just hold on to anything you can to get through these moments that are so impossible. We went where the case took us. We're going to charge some people and get them in jail or clear them from this case. I don't know how many murders I've tried. It's unlike anything I've ever done before. It's nothing but one unexpected twist after another.

Do you believe that there is right now some average that could lead to the killers. Yes. Yes. I know who did this. I just don't know his name. Is this the end of the beginning or the beginning to the end? Erin Moriarty reports the yogurt shop murders.

So what is all of this here? These are my notes. It's been more than 30 years since John Jones began the painstaking search. To the killers of four teenage girls in an Austin yogurt shop. Oh, that's the big book. This one is really from day one. He has long since retired from the Austin Police Department and moved out of Texas. But copies of some of the case files moved with him.

Hypnosis, polygraph, confessions. You know, I notice this sitting here. Yep. We will not forget. You haven't? Nope, can't. The images of December 6th, 1991 remain all too vivid. I can definitely still see it.

What do y'all got out there? I'm in round. Marlore 35. It started with that call from dispatch. It started with that call from dispatch. Okay, I'm copying the fire part. You cut out on the first part of that, though. To go to a scene of a fire that would turn to the fire fire that would turn into something far worse.

Yeah, a very along the homicide is principalities. And then about halfway out there to call me again on the radio set, we found a fourth body. A local TV news crew happened to be filming Jones on a ride along that night. What place of business is this? Okay. The fire department had just knocked down the fire. I mean, there was still a lot of water in there, a lot of smoke still. It was all muted, grays, blacks.

There is no color in there with the exception of the girls. The girls were quickly identified. Two had been working at the shop closing up that night. Eliza Thomas and Jennifer Harbison were both 17 years old. Jennifer's 15-year-old sister Sarah and their friend, 13-year-old Amy Ayers had met them there to head home. The four girls have been gagged, tied up with their own clothing, and shot in the head. Investigators would learn that at least one of the victims had been sexually assaulted.

The yogurt shop had also been set on fire, destroying potential evidence. There was smoke and so it made fingerprinting kind of difficult. This was a crime like none Austin had seen before. Jones knew he needed help, and from the scene contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the FBI, and the Texas Department of Public Safety. As soon as we knew what type of guns we were looking for, that information went out nationwide. Gunshot wounds showed two different types of guns were used, leading investigators. that believe that there were at least two pillars on the loose. What were the two guns?

380 and a 22. And we recovered all of the rounds. The weapons, though, were not found, and a task force worked to come up with potential suspects. They were from all spectrums. I mean, we looked at everybody from family members to drifters. And while police tracked down leads,

the families and the city of Austin grieved. The Harbison family lost their only children, daughters Jennifer, a hard-working high school senior, and Sarah, who was enjoying sports and clubs as a high school freshman. Their mother Barbara spoke with us in 1992. My life was sort of focused around them from here until eternity. Someone took eternity away from me. I lost my daughter. I lost my first dance. Bob Ayers is the father of the youngest victim, Amy, a country girl with a love for animals. I want to see her graduate. I want to see her become a veterinary.

She was a daddy's girl. I remember the shock. Sonora Thomas, 13 years old when her only sibling Eliza was murdered, had a hard time dealing with the loss of the sister she looked up to. I remember fantasizing for days that my sister had somehow escaped and run away and that she was going to come back. And so that's what I was kind of holding on to. Her parents struggled as well. My family never talked about my sister after she died. Never?

No. It's too painful. Sonora did as best she could, picking up some pieces of her sister's life. Eliza, an animal lover, had a pig she planned to enter in a livestock show. Just a few months after the murders, Sonora took over those duties. While Sonora Thomas, while Sonora may have seemed to be coping, the reality, she says, was far different. You had to grow up quickly.

Very quickly. I would say I fell apart under that pressure. We knew they were hurting because, you know, we were. hurting too. Here you go, open your little mouth. Jones, a parent himself, felt the family's grief. He promised to do all he could to help them. We told them what we could, and I assured them that we would keep them a prize as to everything that was happening, and we did.

Jones also made a pledge to the families involving the shirt he wore on the night of the murders. I kind of made a promise to them the next time they saw me with that green and white shirt and that was a signal to them that, you know, we knew who did it. And Jones seemed assured they would find the killers. You know, we stayed in constant contact with the behavioral science unit at the FBI and Quantico. They said that I should, as the face of the investigation,

project an air of confidence that would cause the bad guy to shivering his boots. So look into the camera and be confident. And when we followed him working the... case in 1992. He did just that. You know, let me just say this, whoever you are out there, you're going to be mine one of these days. Where you at? Okay. But trying to figure that out was daunting. 342 people that have been listed as suspect.

But we're looking at pages and pages of suspects here. One of those early suspects was a teenager named Maurice Pierce. He was arrested eight days after the murders at a mob. the murders at a mall near the yogurt shop, carrying a 22 caliber gun, the type used in the murders. The 22s were unmatchable. So you can't say it wasn't his gun. No. But there was no way to match.

To prove that it was his gun. He gave a statement. I mean, in fact, I took his statement, and he implicated three other boys. Jones says Maurice Pierce claimed that he was driving a getaway car and that three acquaintances, Forrest Wellborn, Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen, were involved in the murders. But Pierce's story began to fall apart. It started the crater when we wired him up to go talk to Forrest. And we were listening in on the wire, and it was pretty obvious for us.

didn't know what Maurice was talking about. And when well-born Scott and Springsteen were brought in for questioning, they too denied any involvement. It was decided there was just not enough evidence to charge them. I stop right here. Right here. And the search for other suspects continue. Two months after the yogurt shop murders, with no viable suspects,

police were chasing leads no matter where it took them. They're into vampires, the occult, graveyard, riots. The task force became aware of a counter-culture-type group of local residents, known to be into the supernatural. They go out and dance and take pictures on tombstones. And investigators began to hear that this group might be connected to something far more serious. The tips were that they were talking about murders. Talking about the yogurt shop murders. The yogurt shop murders.

The yogurt shop murders, yes. There was one woman in particular, whose name kept coming up in connection with these tips. She got stopped at Oakwood Cemetery. The task force planned a raid on her home. Hoping to see if any evidence might be found there. Stop right here. Police!

It was creepy out of the police. It was creepy in there. All that stuff back there but as it turns out, a lot of that stuff was rat bones and theatrical parts. But it was a good lead, so we finally figured out that they're just living to make-believe life. Just Sergeant Hook could be out to task force.

The raid may have been a bus, but it wasn't long before the task force had its office had its eyes on another person of interest. This sketch shows a man that multiple eyewitnesses told police they saw sitting in a car outside the yogurt shop on the night of the murders. And it was somebody we really wanted to talk to. So we put it out there.

And the response they got came from an unexpected source. A couple of other investigators from the sex crimes unit came up and go, we have a sketch that looks just like that. Three weeks before the yogurt shop murders, a young woman in Austin had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted. Police had released this sketch of three men wanted in connection with that prime. One of those suspects bore a striking resemblance to that man witnesses reported sitting in a car outside the yogurt shop. You know, I just kind of went, whoop, when I saw the composite. A tip came in that the men wanted in the kidnapping and sexual assault case had fled to Mexico.

Two were caught and arrested. One who resembled the person of interest in the yogurt shop sketch. The development made national news. When they got caught in Mexico, we went down there to interview them. Jones's team questioned the men, and so too did the Mexican authorities. The Mexican government announced to the whole world that they confessed and they were going to try them for the murders down there. They confessed to the yogurt shop. Yes, they did.

But Jones learned those confessions had details that didn't match the crime scene. Even the caliber of guns they claimed to use was wrong. There was too many inconsistencies in the confession. So Jones's team re-interviewed the men and he says this time they really. recanted just about everything. It made Jones and other investigators wonder if those confessions were coerced by the Mexican authorities. The once promising lead fell apart.

It was depressing. Over the following years, there would be other confessions, ones that were willingly given. You know, we've faced six confessions. Six people who confessed. Yeah, written. That confessed to this crime?

Yes, they did. And they didn't do it. Nope. In 1994, after nearly three years of leading the investigation, John Jones was moved out of the homicide division. He says it was a mutual decision. Austin police wanted fresh eyes working the case, and Jones felt it was time to move on.

Other detectives took over, and as time passed, the victim's families were left wondering, why no one had been arrested. Amy Eyre's mother, Pam, spoke to us in 1996. They're probably out there leading the life as normal as they've ever had. And ours is never going to be the same. That same year, Eliza Thomas' mom moved away from Austin and the painful reminders.

Running into people who were constantly asking how the case was going and was very hard on me and especially my daughter Sonora. Sonora's life had taken a downward spiral. In my high school years, things really deteriorated. Drugs using alcohol, being hospitalized, going to a boarding school for disturbed teenagers, things like that. The case seemed stalled until October 1999. Some breaking news, Austin police have arrested four men

in connection with the yogurt shop murders of 1991. There were finally arrests, but would it answer the question on the billboard that had been haunting Austin for nearly a decade? After nearly eight years, Austinites are getting some answers in the case of the yogurt shot murder... I want to start off by thanking y'all for joining us here today. For almost eight years, we've all waited to hear the words

that our police department is close to a point, of solving a crime that has haunted our very souls. Today, we finally get to hear those words. When four men were arrested in the fall of 1999 for the yogurt shop murders, relief was felt citywide. Sarah, Jennifer, Amy, Eliza, we did not forget. The girls' families struggled to take it all in.

There had been so many false leads for such a long time. It was hard to know how to think about it and how to feel about it. But there were finally names and faces to blame. Maurice Pierce, Forrest Wellborn, Michael Scott, and Robert Springsteen. To the task force, they were familiar names and faces. They were the same young men that John Jones and... his investigators questioned just eight days after the murders. Did you do this?

I have no comment. And ultimately released for lack of evidence. I was confident and remained confident this day that we got as far with them as we could then. But that doesn't mean that there wasn't something developed later that would cause them to actually go out and arrest them. So I was going, yes, good job. I was ready to dig out the hideous green and white shirt. But before that shirt could come out of the closet, the one he promised the girls' families he would wear when the case was solved,

Jones wanted to know more about what led to the arrest. There was no physical evidence, nothing. Joe James Sawyer was appointed as Robert Springsteen's attorney. What made them go back and charge these guys? Because the new officers, when they re-opened the cold case, convinced themselves that we let them slip through our fingers, we had to have had the murderers in the beginning. In part, they decided that because they had nothing else. There was no new physical evidence suddenly tying any of the four men to the crime. But what police did have were two newly obtained confessions, one from my first.

Michael Scott, and another from Sawyer's own client, Robert Springsteen. Michael Scott's confession came first. He was questioned over four days. Come on, Michael, you're doing good. Tell us. Let's do this today. Let's do it. Same girl.

I remember one girl's screaming terrified. Scott told investigators that he and the others only intended a simple robbery. He said they case the yogurt shop earlier that day. And then after dark, he said, they came back, armed with two guns. I had a gun go off. I only pulled the trigger once. I hear another gun go off. Investigators claimed that Springsteen later corroborated much of what Scott said.

How are how are you doing? This is very loud. Is that correct? But after intense questioning, he went further. You go, I don't have a bit. You don't have a lot. Springsteen told them he shot one girl and raped her. He was so tired of this.

He'd already been questioned. He'd already been through that mill. He thought, you know what? I'll tell you any damn thing you want. Sawyer maintains his client is innocent and says the confession was coerced. In 2009, Robert Springsteen explained to 48 hours why he would admit to doing something so horrible, something he says he didn't do. I was berated and berated and berated by the police officers.

Until they obtained what it was they wanted to hear, they were not going to allow me to leave. And I basically, they broke me down. Let me just ask you, did you have anything to do with the murders at the yogurt shop? No, never. Even though Joe James Sawyer didn't have Michael Scott as his client, he says he has serious concerns about his confession. too. Is that the gun you shot somebody with, Mike? Is that the gun you walked up behind somebody with and shot the head? I frankly couldn't believe it. They terrorized him, and he was afraid to say no.

Forrest Wellborn denied having anything to do with the murders. But police were convinced he was the lookout that night, and Michael Scott placed him at the scene. Hi, I'm Aaron Moriotti with CBS. I spoke to Wellborn in 1999 in jail shortly after his arrest. Were you there that night? No. Were you there as a lookout? No.

Mancett? You had nothing to do with this. Nothing at all. Wellborn had been questioned multiple times by investigators over the years, and he never wavered. He, like the others, first came on police radar, when in 1991, just days after the murders, Maurice Pierce had been caught with that 22-caliber gun at the mall near the yogurt shop.

Pierce told the detectives back then that he had given the handgun to Wellborn and that it had been used in the yogurt shop murders. Why would he say that? I don't know. Wellborn has always maintained his innocence, despite pressure from the police. They'll get right in my face and, you know, tell me everything I'd settle. was a lie. Remember, false confessions in this case were nothing new. Jones said that six written false confessions were obtained when he was in charge. So when he learned that the two confessions

were all the new investigators seemed to have, it gave him pause. I go, well, maybe I shouldn't get that shirt out just yet. It wasn't long before the case against the men began crumbling. charges against Forrest Wellborn were dismissed after two grand juries failed to indict him. And later on, charges were dropped against Maurice Pierce for lack of evidence. Everything fell apart except the cases against Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen. And with Scott and Springsteen's confessions, the victim's families felt prosecutors had a strong case. These young men have been implicated and they have confessed and they can withdraw it,

But the truth is they actually were there, and they actually did the murders. Do you have a dark curiosity? Heart Starts Pounding, Horrors, Hauntings, and Mysteries is a weekly podcast hosted by me, Kailen Moore. Each week, I'll take you on a dark journey through terrifying true urban legends, bizarre true crime cases, chilling tales of backwoods horror and more. So if you're looking to join a passionate community of The Darkly Curious, check out Heart Starts pounding on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay.

curious. In 2001, nearly 10 years after the murders of Eliza Thomas, Amy Ayers, and Sarah and Jennifer Harbison, the yogurt shop murder trials began. Both defendants, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, faced the death penalty. The only thing that ever tied Robert or Mike Scott to that crime scene, their confessions. Confessions that both defendants said were coerced. The two were tried separately. Springsteen's trial was first. Neither of the men would testify against one another, so instead, prosecutors used their confessions against one another, reading parts of the confessions to the juries. Springsteed's lawyer,

Joe James Sawyer, was frustrated that he couldn't cross-examine Scott. I thought the trial was massively unfair to my client and that it was being done systematically and with deliberation. The trial lasted three weeks. The jury deliberated for 13 hours. Defendant, please ride. And then reached a verdict. We, the jury, find the defendant Robert Springsteen,

the fourth, guilty of the offense of capital murder. Guilty. Springsteen was condemned to death row. In 2002, Michael Scott went on trial. He was convicted as well. He was sentenced to life-impleased. prison. But the case didn't end there. Fifteen years after the murders came a shocking turn of events. In a five-four decision, the court behind me said that Michael Scott's constitutional rights were

violated during his trial and therefore should get a new one. Both Scott and Springsteen's convictions were overturned on constitutional grounds. The Sixth Amendment gives defendants the right to confront accusers. And remember, in Scott and Springsteen's convictions, trials, their confessions were used against one another, but they weren't allowed to question each other in court. And the relief, the relief was incredible. But that relief for the defendants came as a devastating blow to the victim's families. We later spoke to Eliza Thomas' mother Maria about that moment.

Every time I hear those words, that their rights were violated, just feel like I'm going to go insane. Their rights are violated. Our girls were murdered. It ruins your sense of fairness. It ruins your sense of that we live in a just world. Even though their convictions were overturned, Scott and Springsteen were not released. A new district attorney, Rosemary Lemberg, was determined to retry them.

In an effort to find more evidence, her office had ordered DNA tests on vaginal swabs taken from the victims at the time of the murders. It's called YSTR testing and was fairly new in 2009 when we spoke with D.A. Lemberg. This technology searches for male DNA only. A partial male DNA profile was obtained from one of the victims believed to have been sexually assaulted. And no one expected what it would reveal. Does that DNA match any of the four young men who were originally accused and two of them who've been convicted? It does not. The DNA did not match any of the original four suspects, including Scott and Springsteen,

And that's significant because Springsteen, in that confession he said was coerced, told investigators he raped one of the girls. Cece Moore is a DNA expert and genetic genealogist whom we asked about the case and the role of YSTR DNA in criminal cases. It is a tool that can eliminate almost everyone. It should eliminate everybody, but the suspect. If their YSDR does not match, they did not contribute that. Because where that DNA was found, yes, in this case, it's very important. The district attorney was focused on finding the source of that DNA. She wondered if Springsteen and Scott had another partner.

I remained really confident that both Springsteen and Scott were responsible for killing those poor girls. But in 2009, with no matches on that DNA, Lemberg dropped charges against Springsteen and Scott. After nearly 10 years behind bars, they were released but not exonerated, leaving open the possibility they could be retried at a later time. This was a difficult decision, and one I'd rather not have to make. The question remained, though, whose DNA wasn't? I know who it is. They're killers. You're convinced that that is a certain truth.

Amber Farrelly was part of both Scott and Springsteen's defense teams. She came up with a theory that the mystery DNA might belong instead to two never-identified men who witnesses reported seen sitting in the yogurt shop just before it closed. Those two men were described wearing fatigued, colored. colored jackets. They were very slouched over and whispering. Like they were, it was a very close conversation in a booth. Officials tried to track down those two men as well as the source of the DNA.

And then in 2017, an Austin police investigator searched a public online DNA database to see if he could get a hit. And unbelievably, he did. I thought, my God, we actually have a chance, a shot, to solve this crime. After so many years, I really thought this was it. I really thought we had a chance to solve it. U.S. Congressman Michael McCall, like so many others from Austin, hoped that the recently uncovered DNA in the Yogurt Shop murder case might finally bring answers

to the victim's families. We'll never forget that tragic day. It's stained in my memory. 25 years after the murders, the Austin Police Department went searching for a match to the YSDR DNA that had been found on the yogurt shop victim believed to have been sexually assaulted. And in 2017, they got a break.

On a public DNA database used for population studies, investigators thought they had found a match. I've seen DNA prove homicide cases. The DNA evidence is really the key here. But that sample from the crime scene was not a complete DNA profile. It was just YSTR, the male portion of DNA. And it was not a very detailed sample,

having just 16 markers. 16 STRs is not a very powerful match. There could be millions of people with that same profile. So in genetic genealogy, we usually use 67 or 111 markers or maybe even more. But isn't it a place to start? It is. It's not absolute. But if there's nothing else to work with, it is certainly something to look into.

Still, it seemed to be the most promising lead in years. But there was a problem. The seemingly matching sample on the public database had been submitted anonymously by the FBI. That meant it came from a federally convicted offender, arrestee, or detainee, but had no name attached to it. When Austin authorities tried to get that name, the FBI would not provide it, citing privacy laws. There are some restrictions on privacy,

so it gets into some very sort of, you know, dicey issues. Frustrated, officials reached out to Congressman McCall for help. And so I pressed the FBI very very, hard. Finally, in early 2020, the FBI agreed to work with the Austin Police Department to see if further testing could be done on that YSDR DNA from the crime scene. I was very excited about it. The idea that we could bring this case to closure for the families and bring those responsible to justice. More advanced testing came up with additional markers, 25 instead of the original But as so often happened in this case, what seemed so promising turned into disappointment.

Some of the additional markers did not match the FBI sample. In other words, what seemed to be a match was not. In a letter to Congressman McCall, the FBI explained the new results, quote, conclusively exclude the male donor of the FBI sample. As such, the FBI YSDR profile is not an investigative lead. And that was the greatest disappointment because we really thought we had it. If it didn't match that individual, doesn't it still mean there's somebody out there? This DNA belongs to somebody, right?

It does. It does. And that's why we're not going to rest until we find the match. How important, then, is this DNA profile that exists to some? solving this case. I mean, it's everything. With DNA research advancing so quickly, there's real hope that one day that sample of DNA obtained 30 years ago may finally solve this case. Still, it will not erase the pain or the loss of lives.

Every year that goes by, I get farther and farther away from my sister. And I worry about losing memories. Sonora Thomas struggled for years with panic attacks and physical pain. Until with the help of therapy, she realized it was connected to the murder of her sister Eliza. With a unique understanding of what trauma victims experience, Sonora wanted to help others like her and became a therapist. There's so many moments, you know, When your heart is open, you know, you're joyful, but there's also this loss that's always accompanying your life.

Sonora found it helpful to look for ways to remember Eliza. When we got married, we have flour in an empty chair at our ceremony, and my sister was mentioned. Compounding Sonora's pain, her mother died in 2015. Maria Thomas passed away with so many unresolved questions about the murder of her daughter. There is a kind of torture that continues by the fact that it's unsolved and it's ongoing. It's always there. John Jones is still haunted by the fact that the case is unsolved and by what he saw that gruesome night. He has suffered from PTSD through the years. I had completely shut down to where all my energy was directed at the case.

It took a toll on you, didn't it, John? Even 30 years afterwards? Well, yeah. It would on anybody, I think. Not as much as the families, you understand. I know. Whatever pain, I'm having pails in comparison to what they're going through.

These days, Jones finds solace singing in his church choir. I can relax when I'm in church. Leave the world behind? Leave outside? No, I know it's just past the door. And when he's in that outside world, the families of Amy Ayers, Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, and Eliza Thomas, are never far from his thoughts. I feel bad for them.

That is still not solid. But Jones has hope. He has kept that shirt he wore the shirt he wore He wore the night of the murders. Only worn once. The shirt he promised to never wear until the case was solved. Thirty years later, it's still sitting in there. It's still sitting here.

It is. And sometime soon, John Jones looks forward to wearing it again. I just hope one of these days we can put this thing to bed for the family's sake. 48 hours correspondent Erin Moriore. Respondent Aaron Moriarty has learned a suspect has been identified in the 1991 murder of four teenage girls in an Austin, Texas yogurt shop. This is according to one of the original investigators who worked the case.

That suspect is Robert Eugene Brasher's, who is deceased, says retired Austin detective John Jones. Brasher's is a serial killer and rapist who committed at least three murders between 1990 and 1998 in the states of South Carolina and Missouri. He died in January 1999 by suicide during a standoff with police.