The Yogurt Shop Murders: 5 harrowing details about the 1991 Austin homicides to be revisited on HBO

December 6, 1991. Austin, Texas. The Yogurt Shop Murders began that night inside a frozen yogurt shop that had been open for regular customers just hours earlier. Four teenagers, Amy Ayers, Jennifer Harbison, Sarah Harbison, and Eliza Thomas, were found in a back room of the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! store. They had been shot, their clothes removed, and the building was set on fire. No one has ever been found guilty in connection with the murders. More than three decades later, the story still drifts through Austin, turning up in casual conversations, anniversary news pieces, and old courtroom records. It is anchored in the city’s memory, not only because of what happened but because of everything that was never resolved.

In August 2025, HBO put the case back in front of audiences with The Yogurt Shop Murders. The four-part documentary, directed by Austin native Margaret Brown, opened on August 3 and rolled out one episode each week. Across its run, it retraced the crime, the changes in the investigation, and the way the events continue to stay with those who lived through them.

Leads, arrests, and early doubts

One of the first images in the series shows footage by Austin documentarian Claire Huie. In it, Robert Springsteen is buying a suit, explaining to the clerk that he has just left death row and needs clothes for court appearances and a television interview.

Not long after the murders, his name was pulled into the case. Police had stopped 16-year-old Maurice Pierce, who had a loaded handgun on him, the same caliber that investigators had been looking for. Questioning followed. Pierce gave the names of three others he said had been with him that night: Michael Scott, Springsteen, and Forrest Welborn. In the version Pierce told, Forrest took the gun and came back sweating, with the smell of hairspray on him. The next day, the group went to San Antonio. When they got back, Pierce claimed Forrest asked for the gun again, saying he wanted to kill more girls.

Despite this account, the physical evidence was thin. Firefighting had soaked and damaged the scene. The store had no surveillance system to confirm movements inside.

The Yogurt Shop Murders crime scene

Much of what could have been preserved was lost. Water from fire suppression covered surfaces and diluted traces that might have been collected. Payment records existed for card transactions, but those who used cash left no trail.

DNA taken from the victims was tested years later, but the results failed to link any of the named suspects. Within law enforcement, the theory most often repeated was that the killings began as a robbery that spiraled out of control.

Voices from the families

The series moves between investigation files and the families’ memories. Sonora Thomas recalls the shock of hearing about her sister Eliza’s death. Shawn Ayers says thoughts of his sister Amy are constant. Pam Ayers connects her daughter’s image to animals and children, remembering the girls’ involvement in the Future Farmers of America.

Barbara Ayres-Wilson, mother of Jennifer and Sarah, has remained visible in public discussions about the case. She remembers their mood the day they left for the yogurt shop, both excited, one of them on shift. She still wonders if anything she might have done would have changed what followed.

How HBO framed the story

Instead of relying on reenactments, The Yogurt Shop Murders builds its narrative from testimony and archival material. It mixes on-camera interviews, clips from police interrogations, and rarely seen footage, including Huie’s recordings of the suspects in everyday situations.

The program revisits inconsistencies in statements, as well as the convictions of two defendants later overturned on constitutional grounds. New DNA testing cleared them, leading to their release and the dismissal of charges in 2009.

Air dates and episode order

All four episodes go out on Sundays, August 3, 10, 17, and 24 of 2025. The last one, titled In Your Own Time, brought the series to a close on August 24.

The unresolved weight of the case

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Three decades have passed, yet The Yogurt Shop Murders is still without a resolution.

The series does not set out to close the file. It works instead to show how the investigation developed, where it broke down, and why the story has stayed present in Austin’s memory. Some events fade; this one has not.

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