The Yogurt Shop Murders on HBO.
Courtesy of HBO
The chilling 1991 murder of four teenage girls at a Texas yogurt shop is the focus of HBO’s new docuseries, The Yogurt Shop Murders. More than three decades later, the unsolved crime continues to baffle investigators and haunt the city of Austin.
In 1991, Eliza Thomas, 17, Amy Ayers, 13, and sisters Jennifer, 17, and Sarah Harbison, 15, were shot and killed at an Austin frozen yogurt shop called I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt!. Their bodies were then set on fire. While two men were initially convicted in connection with the crime, their convictions were later overturned, and lingering questions have continued to puzzle investigators.
In Margaret Brown’s four-part docuseries, which premiered Sunday, Aug. 3 (with new episodes airing Sundays at 10 p.m. ET), the director spent years interviewing the investigative teams behind the case, along with the victims’ parents and siblings. The series also features interrogation room footage of the teenage boys who served time for the crime, as well as rare archival video of the suspects captured by local Austin documentarian Claire Huie.
Keep reading to dive into the infamous true crime case, including what investigators believe happened, the theories surrounding the murders and the latest developments in DNA technology that could help solve them.
What Happened In The Yogurt Shop Murders?
On Dec. 6, 1991, Jennifer Harbison and her co-worker Eliza Thomas were working at I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! in Austin, Texas. Amy Ayers and Sarah Harbison were at the shop waiting to catch a ride with Sarah’s older sister, Jennifer.
At 11:47 p.m. that night, a patrol officer reported seeing flames inside the northwest Austin yogurt shop. Firefighters arrived at the scene thinking they were responding to a routine fire, but investigators believe the blaze was intentionally set to destroy any evidence left behind. For example, fingerprints were difficult to recover, and the crime scene was soaked with water to extinguish the flames.
The Yogurt Shop Murders on HBO.
Courtesy of HBO
The four girls were killed and stripped of their clothing in a back room of the yogurt shop. According to the Travis County medical examiner, each of them had been shot twice in the back of the head, and three of the victims were burned beyond recognition. Some of the victims’ bodies had been bound.
While the front door was locked, the back door was open, Austin Police Lt. Andrew Waters said at the time. Police noted there were no signs of forced entry, but money was missing, according to the Austin American-Statesman, pointing to robbery as a potential motive.
“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,” Waters said.
Who Were The Prime Suspects In The Yogurt Shop Murders?
Eight days after the killings, 16-year-old Maurice Pierce was arrested with a .22-caliber revolver just a few blocks from the yogurt shop. Pierce told police he had loaned the gun to his friend, Forrest Welborn, 15, who used it in the yogurt shop murders and later told him about it.
According to TIME.com, Pierce claimed that Forrest asked to borrow his gun and later returned sweaty and smelling of hairspray. The next day, the four boys stole a car and drove to San Antonio to see a girl. After they returned from the trip, Pierce said Forrest asked to borrow the gun again. When Pierce questioned why, Forrest allegedly told him he wanted to kill more girls like he did the night before. Although the claim was investigated, it was ultimately dismissed, and authorities moved on.
It wasn’t until 1999 — nearly eight years after the brutal murders — that Austin police arrested Pierce, Welborn, and two of their friends, Robert Springsteen IV and Michael Scott. Springsteen and Scott confessed during police interrogations.
However, Springsteen and Scott later recanted their confessions, claiming they were coerced during lengthy police interrogations. Despite this, both were found guilty. Springsteen was sentenced to death in 2001, while Scott received a life sentence the following year, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
But proving Springsteen and Scott’s involvement became increasingly difficult after ballistics tests in 2000 indicated that the gun Pierce had been caught with was likely not used in the murders. Charges against Welborn were dropped that same year after two grand juries declined to indict him. Pierce spent three years in jail before being released in 2003, when prosecutors admitted they didn’t have enough evidence to convict him.
Then, in June 2009, as prosecutors sought another trial delay, the judge ordered Springsteen and Scott released from jail on bond. The charges were formally dropped after advances in DNA technology revealed that crime scene evidence did not match Springsteen, Scott or the other two suspects.
Could DNA Advances Finally Crack the Yogurt Shop Murders?
Detective Dan Jackson
Courtesy of HBO
As of Aug. 2025, there have been no new arrests in the case. A fresh team of investigators and prosecutors has been working on the murders, and in 2017, detectives thought they had received a major lead thanks to advancements in DNA technology.
Although the fire destroyed much of the forensic evidence, investigators were able to recover a DNA sample from Ayers that could be used to identify the suspect’s male lineage.
Authorities in Austin matched the sample to one the FBI had uploaded into a public research database operated by the University of Central Florida. However, the FBI was reluctant to share forensic information, leading to a years-long standoff between federal officials and Travis County prosecutors, USA TODAY reported in 2020.
The FBI said it was not legally permitted to share information about the sample, such as how or where it was obtained, because the Florida study was anonymous. “The FBI did not perform forensic DNA testing in this case and cannot speak to this case,” the bureau said in a statement.
Frustrated, city officials reached out to U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul, who pressed the FBI on the matter. According to 48 Hours (via CBS News), in early 2020, the FBI agreed to work with the Austin Police Department to determine whether further testing could be conducted on the Y-STR DNA from the crime scene.
Unfortunately, the sample did not turn out to be an investigative lead.
“48 Hours has learned that initially, the sample from the crime scene was not very detailed and had only 16 markers, but more advanced testing in 2020 came up with an additional nine markers, bringing the total marker count to 25,” CBS News reported. “However, this more advanced testing revealed that the sample from the crime scene no longer proved to be a match to the sample in the public DNA database.
What Are The Latest Developments In The Yogurt Shop Murders Case?
In 2022, Detective Dan Jackson was assigned to the case and told USA TODAY that he hopes to build a profile from the DNA sample that will lead him to a suspect. He also expressed optimism that advances in forensic technology will help solve the case.
“If I didn’t think I could solve it, then why get up every day?” he added. “I think that with new technology, new information that we have − that I can’t go into − even since I’ve taken the case over, the ability to do more with less when it comes to forensics is light-years ahead than it was a few years ago. When I started, we needed a certain amount (of DNA). We weren’t even close to it, but that amount that you need is so much less now.”
The Yogurt Shop Murders
Courtesy of HBO
In 2025, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, whose district includes Austin, told 48 Hours that “We’re waiting for…the DNA science to improve to then resubmit what we have left in the crime lab for further testing.”
Some of the actual Y-STR DNA from the sample found on the victim in the yogurt shop case still exists, he added. “It’s very limited and … that’s why we’re waiting for the science to improve on this, because there’s very little left.”
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Austin Police Department Homicide Tip Line at 512-477-3588 or Crime Stoppers at 512-472-TIPS.
The next episode of The Yogurt Shop Murders will be released on Sunday, Aug. 10. Watch the official trailer below.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/monicamercuri/2025/08/04/the-horrific-true-story-behind-hbos-the-yogurt-shop-murders/