Murder: True Crime Stories - SOLVED: The Yogurt Shop Murders 2

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

For decades, the unsolved Yogurt Shop Murders haunted Austin, Texas. Now, investigators say they’ve finally found the killer, thanks to a DNA match. We break down the latest developments in this infamous cold case and how justice may finally be within reach. Murder: True Crime Stories is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. For ad-free listening and early access to episodes, subscribe to Crime House+ on Apple Podcasts. Don’t miss out on all things Murder: True Crime Stories! Instagram: @Crimehouse TikTok: @Crimehouse Facebook: @crimehousestudios X: @crimehousemedia YouTube: @crimehousestudios 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

Crime House has the perfect news show for Spooky Season. Twisted Tales hosted by Heidi Wong. Each episode of Twisted Tales is perfect for late-night scares and daytime frights, revealing the disturbing real-life events that inspired the world's most terrifying blockbusters. And the ones too twisted to make it to screen. Twisted Tales is a crimehouse original powered by Pave Studios. Listen wherever you. you get your podcasts new episodes out every monday this is crime house we like to think the truth is

objective that the line between fact and fiction is clearly marked but in reality that's not always the case. Sometimes there's information missing or evidence that hasn't been uncovered. In those cases, we're often forced to take someone else's word as gospel, which begs the question, who do you trust? In 1991, the people of Austin, Texas, put their faith in local detectives. They were hopeful the authorities would find out who brutally killed four teenage girls at a local yogurt shop. years later it seemed like detectives had solved the case but it turned out the investigation wasn't cut and dry there were allegations of coerced confessions suspects that were never looked at and evidence that was mishandled suddenly the public wondered did amy airs eliza thomas and sarah and jennifer harbetson really get the justice they deserved or had that the public wondered did amy ayer's eliza thomas and sarah thomas and sarah harbison really get the justice they deserved or had the right the people of Austin misplaced their trust. People's lives are like a story.

There's a beginning, a middle, and an end, but you don't always know which part you're on. Sometimes the final chapter arrives far too soon, and we don't always get to know the real ending. I'm Carter Roy, and this is, murder true crime stories, a crime house original powered by Pave Studios that comes out every Tuesday and Thursday at Crime House. We want to express our gratitude to you, our community, for making this possible. Please support us by rating, reviewing, and following. Murder, True Crime

Stories, wherever you get your podcasts. And to enhance your murder, true crime stories listening experience, subscribe to Crimehouse Plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get ad-free listening, early to every two-part series and exciting bonus content. This is the second of two episodes on The Yogurt Shop Murders, a brutal quadruple homicide that stunned the city of Austin, Texas in 1991. Last time, I introduced you to the victims, took you through the night of the murders, and discussed the immediate investigation. Early on, detectives honed in on four teenage boys and even secured a confession from one of them.

But before long, all of the suspects were cleared. Today, I'll explain how these same four men came back under fire years later. I'll walk you through the criminal proceedings and the appeals process that overturned the convictions detectives were so certain about. I'll also tell you where the case stands today and the huge update that broke the case wide open in September 2025. All that and more coming up. From 20th Century Studios

Everything dies, but if that's no bad. On October 24th, discover why critics are calling Springsteen Deliver Me from Nowhere, an intelligent journey into the soul of an artist. I only to be perfect. I just wanted to feel right. Golden Globe winner Jeremy Allen White. Trying to find some real in all the noise. Academy Award nominee Jeremy Straw. You always do?

Springsteen, Deliver Me from Nowhere. Alden Theater's October 24th. In December 1991, four teenage girls were brutally murdered in a frozen yogurt shop in Austin, Texas. 13-year-old Amy Ayers, 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, 15-year-old Sarah Harbison, and her older sister, 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison,

were shot execution style. Then their killers, lit the store on fire to cover their tracks. In the following months, there was a desperate push to solve the case, but investigators didn't have any clues to go on. There were a few suspects that stood out at the time, in particular for teenage boys, but they were caught in a confusing web of accusations and denials.

It all started when 16-year-old Maurice Pierce was arrested for carrying the same type of gun used in the murders. Although Maurice admitted it was his weapon, he insisted that his friend, 15-year-old Forrest-well-born, was the real killer. Forrest had sworn he was innocent, but then mentioned a joyride that involved two other boys, 17-year-old Michael Scott and 17-year-old Robert Springsteen. All four had been interrogated, but eventually let go. There was nothing, tying them to the murders.

Marisa's gun was suspicious, but it was also very common at the time. It could have just been a coincidence. After that, detectives hit one dead end after another. All of their promising leads dried up, and they were left with a case file filled with lots of questions and no answers. The families of the four victims desperately tried to keep attention on the case. They put up billboards around the city, and offered a sizable reward, the $25,000 that soon grew into $125,000, roughly $286,000 in today's money. But nothing worked.

By the summer of 1993, about a year and a half after the murders, Austin officials scaled back the task force. A year after that, the lead detective, John Jones, got transferred to a different division. his superiors told him a change of scenery might be good for him. Detective Jones couldn't believe what he was hearing. The decision felt like a slap in the face, as if they were blaming him for letting the case go cold, but he'd been the one trying to push it forward, chasing down endless leads.

He'd done everything by the books, unlike other investigators who'd been accused of coercing confessions out of suspects. But apparently none of the other investigators. of that was good enough for the Austin PD. Once Jones left, nothing changed. The case remained on the shelf, a ghost haunting the department. It stayed that way until two years later in 1997 when a new detective came along. Forty-three-year-old Paul Johnson had worked for the Austin Police Department for more than two decades and had solved some major cold cases. Now he was lending his skills to to the yogurt shop murders.

He opened the case file and took another look. There were more than 2,000 tips. He went through them one by one, reassessing everything. It didn't matter if Detective Jones and his team had ruled someone out before to Johnson. Everyone was a suspect again. The process was slow and took years.

But at some point, he got to the part about Maurice Pierce, having the same type of 22-caliber gun that was used in the murders. Johnson felt like that was the strongest lead. Not only did Maurice have the same kind of weapon, but he also signed a written confession. According to Maurice, his friend, Forrest Wellborn, had taken that gun and used it to kill the girls.

Back in 1991, there had been conflicting polygraph tests that cast doubts on Marisa's statements. Because of that, the initial investigator, had ruled him and Forrest out, but Detective Johnson wasn't so sure. He decided to question the former suspects for himself, starting with Forrest, the accused killer. By that point, Forrest was in his early 20s, living about six hours northwest of Austin. When Detective Johnson came knocking, Forrest must have felt like it was deja vu. He'd been down this road before. But like he told investigators in 1992, he swore he had nothing to do with the yogurt shop murders.

He even took another polygraph test, and once again he passed. That didn't deter Detective Johnson, who still believed the key to the case lay with the four boys who'd been teenagers at the time of the killings. So next he went to interview 23-year-old Maurice Pierce. He lived about three hours north of Austin. near Dallas. Maurice swore he was innocent. He said the story he told when he was 16 had all been a lie. Detective Johnson still didn't buy it, but before long, he got some news that had the potential to upend his entire theory. In January 1999, an Austin PD ballistics expert learned that the 22-caliber gun Maurice had been arrested with, the one that caught Johnson's attention

in the first place, did not match the gun used to shoot the girls. This burned the most important piece of evidence tying more ease to the case, and yet Johnson still thought he and his friends had something to do with it. About eight months later, and nearly eight years after the murders, a new task force was formed. This time, Detective Johnson was in charge. They were only concerned with a few leads, and prime among them were Maurice, Pierce, and Forrest Wilborn. Johnson wanted to talk to Maurice and Forrest's friends, the ones who Forrest had mentioned went on a joyride with them the day after the murders.

Maybe they knew something they hadn't shared the first time around, or maybe enough time had passed that they'd be willing to flip on their old high school friends. Johnson called Michael Scott first. He was 25 years old at that point with a wife and stepdaughter. And they lived about a half hour from Austin in one of the next towns over. When Johnson asked Michael to come talk to them, Michael readily agreed. On September 9th, 1999, Michael came into the Austin police station. The interview quickly turned into an interrogation. Investigators yelled in Michael's face.

They cursed and threatened him. At one point, A detective even held a gun to his head. Initially, Michael denied any involvement in the murders, but as the interrogation went on, he got worn down. He was questioned and berated by officers for a total of 18 hours over four days. Until finally, he confessed.

And what he told them would change not just his life, but the lives of his three former high school friends. While other money managers are holding, Dynamic is hunting. Seeing past the horizon, investing beyond the benchmark, because your money can't grow if it doesn't move. Learn more at dynamic.ca.c.com slash active. In September 1999, nearly eight years after the horrific yogurt shop murders, detectives finally got a suspect talking. After 18 hours of interrogation, 25-year-old Michael Scott confessed to being one of the killers.

But according to him, he hadn't acted alone, he told detectives that he and his two friends, Robert Springsteen and Maurice Pierce, had killed the girls together. Forrest Wellborn had been their getaway driver and had waited for them outside. According to Michael, Maurice had needed money and the rest of them had decided that robbing a store was the easiest way to get some cash. So they had cased the yogurt shop, left the back door open, and returned after closing. Michael said that Maurice had the 22 caliber pistol and Robert had the 380 caliber gun, the second weapon used in the murders. When they'd gone into the store, they thought there would just be the two girls working, 17-year-old Eliza Thomas and 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison. They didn't anticipate 15-year-old Sarah Harbison or 13-year-old Amy Ayers being there, too.

The boys had to change their plans. Michael claimed that Robert was the one who made the girl strip, then told Michael to help him bind them. Meanwhile, Maurice had checked the cash register. He became enraged when all he found was $14. At that point, he allegedly screamed at the girls to give him the rest. But when they didn't or couldn't, he shot two of them. Then, according to Michael, Robert sexually assaulted one of these surviving girls

and encouraged Michael to do the same. Michael said he faked it, then shot the victim on either Maurice's or Robert's orders. But even as he confessed, Michael's story kept changing. At first, he hadn't mentioned Forrest at all. Then, when a detective kept suggesting that Forrest had been in the getaway car, Michael added that that to his account. At one point, he told officers that he was scared. He wasn't answering their questions the way they wanted him to.

He said he didn't know if anything he was saying was even real. Later, Michael's lawyers would accuse the police of feeding him details of the crime to bolster his confession. All of the police interrogations were videotaped, including the moment when a detective held a gun to Michael's head. But for some reason, the session where they took down Michael's official written statement was not videotaped. So we have no way of knowing what was said or not. said. All we know is that on September 14th, 1999, Michael Scott signed a sworn statement confessing to the crime and naming three co-conspirators. Finally, after nearly eight years, the detectives thought they had solved the yogurt shop murders. Now they just needed the other

three men to confess. A day later, two Austin PD detectives and an ATF federal agent flew to West Virginia, where 24-year-old Robert Springsteen was currently living. The investigators treated Robert the same way they had Michael. The interrogation quickly escalated into an aggressive dressing down. They yelled at him often only inches away from his face. For four hours, Robert insisted he was innocent until finally he broke down and confessed. He admitted to shooting 13-year-old Amy Ayers with his 380 caliber gun. According to detectives, Robert then made a full statement

that corroborated Michael's confession. However, the video camera malfunctioned so the entire session wasn't recorded and only about 85% of it was audible. And throughout what was recorded, Robert appeared confused about what was happening. Like Michael, he said he didn't know if what he was saying was true.

true or not, or whether he was fooling himself. Also like Michael, not all of Robert's confession matched the evidence. He never mentioned that the girls were bound and gagged. There was also confusion surrounding Amy, the only girl who had been shot twice. Robert said he'd shot her first with the 380 caliber gun, but it hadn't killed her, so he shot her again with the 22 caliber. However, the medical examiner said the bullet from the 380 pistol had killed her. There's no clear explanation for the second shot. Despite the discrepancies, the investigators took the confession and ran with it. And they went straight back to Maurice and Forrest and confronted them with Michael and Robert's statements.

At one point, they even had Michael meet up with Forrest to pressure him to confess. But through it all, both Maurice and Forrest continued to deny any involvement. Detective Johnson and his team must have been frustrated. No matter how hard they pushed, they couldn't get either man to slip up. But they did have two similar confessions, full of details that had supposedly never been made public. That made them pretty confident that they had the right guys. Not everyone was so convinced. Detective John Jones, the lead investigator who had been kicked off the case in 1994,

thought they had the wrong men. Confessions could be false. These ones sounded like the product of unethical pressure applied by the new team. Besides, there was no actual evidence that corroborated Robert and Michael's claims. None of the hair or fingerprint evidence collected from the scene was connected to any of the men. And even though Robert had confessed to sexually assaulting one of the girls, his DNA didn't match the sample taken. It was another unknown male. Even more damning, these weren't the first confessions the Austin PD had gotten. In fact, over the last eight years, there had been at least 50 separate admissions of guilt. Some of them had the same convincing details that supposedly were never made public. That included a convicted

serial killer named Kenneth McDuff. He'd abducted and murdered an Austin woman from a car wash on December 29th, 1991, just 23 days after the yogurt shop murders. He was caught, convicted, and sentenced to death. Seven years later, on the day of his execution, he confessed to the yogurt shop murders too. However, Austin investigators ruled him out, claiming that some of him, as key details were incorrect. For the detectives on the newest task force, all of those other confessions were distractions. They were made by men seeking infamy, nothing more than that.

But they believed these latest admissions were the real deal. And even though they only had statements from two of the four suspects, they felt they had enough to move forward. On October 6th, 1999, police officers across the state of Texas went out in a coordinated raid and arrested all four men on charges of capital murder. The men's families were in an uproar. To them, it seemed like a witch hunt. Michael, Robert, Maurice, and Forrest had all been ruled out back in 1992. So why were detectives coming after them again?

Yes, all four had some run-ins with the law as teenagers. But by that point, they were all in their mid-20s and were leading relatively stable lives with jobs and partners. They hadn't committed any violent crimes. And when it became clear that detectives were suspicious of them, none of them had gone on the run. According to Robert and Michael's families, both men had learning disabilities that caused them to have poor memory and made them susceptible to persuasion. They believed the authorities had taken advantage of them and coerced them into saying what they did. But none of that seemed to matter. A grand jury indicted Robert, Michael, and Maurice for the murders.

And the district attorney declared that he would seek the death penalty for Michael and Robert. Since Maurice had been a juvenile at the time, he could only receive a life sentence. Forrest got off the easiest since he was just a getaway driver. But securing those convictions wouldn't be so easy. And by the spring of 2000, the case against the four men was encountering some obstacles. Two grand juries had failed to indict Forrest, so charges were dismissed against him. In May, a ballistics report was publicly released. It revealed the gun discovered on Maurice back in December 1991 probably wasn't the murder weapon.

And later it came out that Detective Johnson, head of the new task force, had known that information for more than a year. After learning this, members of the grand jury who had indicted Robert Michael and Maurice grew concerned. They felt they'd been forced into a rushed judgment and hadn't been given all the facts. Then, images of a detective holding a gun to Michael's head during his interrogation came. out in a pre-trial motion. That raised the concern level even higher, with some people questioning whether the confession had been coerced. Matters only got worse in September 2000 when Detective Hector Polanco came back into the spotlight. Well, he was the officer who had been accused of coercing a confession out of a suspect and kicked off the original task force back in 1992. Now he was accused of

doing the same thing on another one of his cases. That cast doubt over the statement he'd initially gotten out of Maurice Pierce in 1992. And then the final nail in the coffin, before their trial started, both Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen recanted their confessions. They claimed they'd been forced into giving false statements. After years telling the police what they wanted to hear, they were done cooperating. Now they were going to fight to prove their innocence. The Hulu original series Murdoch Death and the Family dives into secrets, deception, murder,

and the fall of a powerful dynasty. Inspired by shocking actual events and drawing from the hit podcast, this series brings the drama to the screen like never before. Starring Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette and Jason Clark. The Hulu original series Murdoch Death in the Family is now streaming only on Disney Plus. Hey, lovely. If you're fascinated by criminal minds and behavior, psychology and prevention, and you want to keep yourself and loved ones safe,

follow and listen to the award-winning crime analyst podcast, your new best friend on Speed Dial. Every week, ride shotgun with me, your host, Laura. Richard's, Criminal Behavioral Analyst, former head of New Scotland Yard's Homicide Prevention Unit, as I profile behaviour and centre and honour the victims. Listen to me unraveled cases with a unique expert lens and answer the critical questions that are on your mind. Cases include Gabby Petito, the Menendez Murdo's Murders, the Murdoch, Corrie Michalo, the British Airways Killer, Serial Killer Peter Sutcliffe, and cases I've worked. Crime Analyst is more than entertainment.

It's life-changing. and listen to Crime Analyst, wherever you get your podcasts. And for deeper dives, exclusive episodes and videos, and to be part of my dynamic monthly live events and more, join the Crime Analyst Squad. Go to patreon.com forward slash crime analyst. In September 1999, 25-year-old Michael Scott confessed to his involvement in the yogurt shop murders.

He also named three alleged co-conspirators, Robert Springsteen, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Wellborn. All four men were arrested in October 1999. Soon after, Michael, Robert, Maurice were indicted on murder charges. Forrest was set free after two grand juries failed to indict him. Another wrench was thrown into the proceedings late in the year 2000 when Michael and Robert recanted their confessions. They claimed they'd been coerced into giving false statements. But even then, probably.

Prosecutors move forward with their trials, they believe the videotape sessions of Michael and Robert's confessions would be enough to persuade a jury. In 2001, 26-year-old Robert took the stand. He pleaded not guilty to the murder of 13-year-old Amy Ayers. Prosecutors had only charged him with Amy's killing. That way, if they lost, they could try Robert again for one of the other girl's murders. The prosecution relied heavily on the confessions that he and Michael had made. They were compelling and awful for a jury to hear. Meanwhile, the defense placed the blame elsewhere.

They wanted to enter evidence that the serial killer Kenneth McDuff had been responsible for the murders. They said a map found in his car showed directions that would have placed him within three blocks of the shop. and they found a witness who said that she'd seen McDuff at the mall that night the same one Amy and Sarah had been at but the judge ruled it all out as hearsay and declared it couldn't be admitted the jury deliberated for 13 hours then they came back with her decision 26-year-old Robert Springsteen was guilty he was sentenced to death although that was later reduced to life in prison. A year later, 27-year-old Michael Scott had his trial.

It went a lot like Roberts. There was no physical evidence tying Michael to Amy's murder, only the confessions that he and Robert had made. And even though both men had recanted, the jury saw that as a desperate move to avoid punishment. And so Michael was also convicted and given life in prison. Maurice Pierce might have faced. the same fate, but the only thing authorities had against him were Michael and Roberts recanted

confessions. Prosecutors didn't feel that was enough, so in 2003, the charges against him were dismissed. He got to walk free, like Forrest before him. Michael and Robert hoped that they would get to do the same one day. Because the prosecution hadn't called them to testify at each others' trial, the state had essentially violated Michael and Roberts' rights to cross-examine all witnesses, which meant they were both able to appeal their convictions. In 2007, six years after Robert's trial and five years after Michael's, both men got a win. An appeals court agreed with their arguments that they should have been able to cross-examine each other about their statements, since they hadn't.

been given that opportunity, they deserved retrials. Before they even got to that point, prosecutors ran new DNA tests on samples from Amy's body. They hoped that with newer technology, they could find a definitive match that would bolster their case, especially since they had no physical evidence. The last thing they wanted was to go into a retrial and lose. But those tests didn't show what they hoped for. The new DNA tests were definitive. They just didn't match any of the four suspects. With that new evidence, a judge ordered 35-year-old Michael and 34-year-old Robert released on bond, and ultimately both convictions were overturned on the basis that their trials hadn't followed due process. Austin authorities disagreed with the

decision, they were adamant that the four men were still guilty. The only concession they would give was that maybe there'd been a fifth man involved, which would explain the DNA evidence. But then something happened to blow up that theory. Further testing revealed a second DNA profile that was from another unknown male. Just like that, it was starting to seem like Robert, Michael, Maurice, and Forrest had maybe never been a part of it at all. And two other individuals were the real criminals. Still, prosecutors didn't want to admit that they'd gotten things completely wrong. They suggested that the DNA evidence might have been contaminated.

While there'd been so many people going in and out of the crime seen the night of the murders, They could have even been an employee back at the lab. Authorities tested more than 100 people who might have touched the evidence. None of them came back as a match. It was frustrating for prosecutors who wanted to go back to the courtroom, but they couldn't do that until they identified the mystery DNA profiles. In 2017, investigators discovered that an FBI database might have a potential match. Unfortunately, it didn't lead anywhere.

And that was the last update. Until the fall of 2025. On September 26, 2025, the Austin Police Department announced a huge breakthrough in the case. According to a press release, investigators had identified a new suspect in the quadruple homicide, a serial killer named Robert Eugene Brasher. Brasher's was linked to at least three murders and one sexual assault in the 1990s.

However, he died by suicide after a standoff with police in 1999. Apparently, the gun he used to shoot himself was an exact match for a bullet casing found in a drain at the yogurt shop. Not only that, but it seems like his DNA was a match for the physical evidence from 2007. Austin authorities are still in the process of releasing more information, but they revealed that Brasher's was conclusively linked to the case using genetic genealogy, meaning he was identified using DNA from his relatives. As of this recording, Brasher's hasn't been confirmed as the killer, but authorities have hinted that they're almost certain he was behind the murders. And once we know more, we'll be sure to give you the latest updates. After nearly 34 years, justice is well on its way to being served. The families of Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas, and Sarah and Jennifer Harbison have applauded the Austin PD for finally solving the case.

And while the last three decades have been devastating, the girls' loved ones spent that time fighting for change. change. Amy Eyre's brother and his wife helped start a cold case in missing persons advisory committee for the Texas Attorney General. The mission is to push forward cold case murders that might otherwise fall through the cracks. Their work got the attention of other lawmakers too. In 2022, a Texas representative pushed through legislation called the Homicide Victims' Families' Rights Act. It's a bill that allows for a federal review and complete reinvestigation of a case if it's been cold for at least three years. It lets cold cases live a second life by being reassessed with new technologies that might help find answers. The representative used the yogurt shop murders as an example of a case that could benefit from such a process.

Now, we know how right they are. the yogurt shop murders were shocking and heartbreaking all it took was one night for the illusion of safety to be shattered in austin and to lose four teenage girls with their whole lives ahead of them amy airs eliza thomas and sarah and jennifer harbison changed the city of austin forever thankfully their names will no longer be synonymous with one of the most horrific unsolved cases. Now, their memories will serve as a reminder that justice is always worth fighting for. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy, and this is murder, true crime stories.

Come back next week for the story. of a new murder and all the people it affected. Murder. True Crime Stories is a Crime House original, powered by Pave Studios, here at Crime House, and we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media at Crime House on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review, and follow Murder True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference.

And to enhance your Murder, True Crime Stories, listening experience, subscribe to Crimehouse Plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad-free, and instead of having to wait for each episode of a two-part series, you'll get access to both at once, plus exciting bonus content. We'll be back on Tuesday. Murder True Crime Stories is hosted by me, Carter Roy,

and is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Murder True Crime Stories team. Max Cutler, Ron, Shapiro, Alex Benadon, Natalie Bertsovsky, Rachel Engleman, Lori Marinelli, Sarah Camp, Alex Burns, Honeya Saeed, and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening. Twisted Tales with Heidi Wong is perfect for spooky season. Dive into the real-life events behind the world's most terrifying blockbusters and beyond. Twisted Tales is a crimehouse original.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes out every Monday.