'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wAARCAAGAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFgABAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUH/8QAHhAAAQQCAwEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIDBAUAEQYSIVH/xAAVAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACA//EABgRAAMBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAiIx/9oADAMBAAIRAxEAPwCPT1VvaVtDBqp6IjLkGOFHZSSotdj6BvWh9zFeWvvRuVXLBdUS1NeQSD4dOEYxk5emOuI//9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The Yogurt Shop Murders is a true-crime documentary mini series series from 2025. Directed and produced by filmmaker Margaret Brown, this was a true-crime docu-series in four parts.
The series investigated the terrible 1991 case where four teenage girls were horrifically murdered in Austin, Texas, a crime that devastated the city and has yet to be solved more than thirty years later.
It came out on August 3, 2025, on HBO and those who learned about the case for the first time must be curious about the suspects and the arrest made at the end. As the title suggests, the murders happened at a local store.
As revealed in The Yogurt Shop Murders, two of the four girls were about to complete their shift at the "Can't Believe It's Yogurt!" store, while the other two were simply waiting for them. But no one knew that it was their final moment alive.
So, what exactly happened, and who were the suspects and the culprit? Keep reading for complete details.
The horrifying 1991 case in The Yogurt Shop Murders on HBO
The shocking crime at the center of HBO's The Yogurt Shop Murders took place on December 6, 1991, in Austin, Texas. The tragic act of violence resulted in the death of four teenage girls: 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison, her 15-year-old sister Sarah Harbison, their friend, Eliza Thomas, who was also 17, and 13-year-old Amy Ayers, who was the youngest.
It was a night of unimaginable cruelty for the four girls. The killers restrained the girls with their own clothing and gagged them, cordoning them off from a chance to fight back. At least one of the victims was sexually assaulted before all four victims were shot in the head.
After the murders were committed, the assailants set fire to the yogurt shop, presumably to eliminate any evidence that might be traceable to them. But this only complicated the investigation. The fire destroyed the scene, and the water used by the firefighters to extinguish the fire destroyed vital evidence, such as fingerprints.
The investigators finally found little evidence after the fire: They discovered bullets and shell casings from two different guns. Since it's quite unusual for one person to use two handguns at the same time, it was belived that more people were involved in the shooting.
The early investigation and suspects explored in HBO's The Yogurt Shop Murders
Now that the police learned that multiple people could have killed the teenagers, they began questioning the ones who visited the shop that day. As explained in The Yogurt Shop Murders, some claimed that there were two suspicious men at the closing hour, who only bought drinks.
The investigators were detailed about their looks, that the men were likely in their early 20s or 30s's with one having blonde hair. It was in October 1992, when authorities in Mexico arrested two men, but it turned out they weren't the real culprits.
The investigators spent a notable amount of time and years finding out the truth. Then, in October 1999, which is eight years after the girls were murdered, police arrested four men: Robert Burns Springsteen Jr., Michael James Scott, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn.
The Yogurt Shop Murders explains that these four men were charged with capital murder. Because Pierce and Welborn were not even 17 at the time of the crime, they were prosecuted as juveniles.
The police said that Springsteen and Scott had confessed and cited Pierce and Welborn as accomplices. However, Pierce and Welborn never confessed.
The trials and overturned convictions in The Yogurt Shop Murders, explored
The Yogurt Shop Murders case is one of the most disturbing and complicated murder cases, as the legal battle stretched for years, becoming messier every time. The initial major trial occurred in 2001 when Robert Springsteen Jr. was accused of casing the yogurt shop during the daytime.
It was claimed that he came back later with some accomplices to commit a robbery, which resulted in the murders. Counsel for Springsteen argued that his confession had been coerced, while prosecutors relied on the confession.
After three weeks, the jury found him guilty of capital murder of Amy Ayers, age 13, and he was sentenced to death. The next year, in 2002, Michael Scott went to trial. Michael Scott confessed, providing an eight-page written statement that he was involved in Amy's killing.
Michael Scott later retracted his confession, stating that it was false and that some parts of the confession did not even match the crime scene. Nevertheless, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Forrest Welborn and Maurice Pierce were the other suspects, but the cases against them were dropped because there was not enough evidence to take either of them to trial. In the end, both Springsteen's and Scott's convictions were overturned.
The appeals court held that their constitutional rights had been violated because their confessions had been against each other without either of them being able to effectively cross-examine the other.
By 2009, with no actual evidence, and there being DNA from the crime scene that did not match any of the 4 men, the cases were dismissed. Springsteen and Scott were freed after spending nearly a decade in prison, and to date, no one else has been charged formally with those murders.
You can watch all episodes of The Yogurt Shop Murders on HBO.
Trending
Continue exploring Soap Central for more true-crime stories on TV
Reply
