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Yogurt Shop Murders

New releasePublished April 23, 2026Updated August 15, 2026
Dec 6, 1991

Four girls are murdered at the yogurt shop

Jennifer Harbison, Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ayers were found bound, gagged, sexually assaulted, and shot inside the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! shop, which had been set on fire.

View sequence of events
  1. 23:00
    The girls were attacked near or after closing time inside the shop.
  2. All four victims were found shot in the head; Amy Ayers was also shot with a .380-caliber weapon.
  3. The building was set on fire, complicating evidence collection.
Dec 1, 1991

Northcross Mall gun arrest shapes the early investigation

Within days of the murders, Maurice Pierce was detained at Northcross Mall with a .22 pistol, leading detectives to question Pierce, Forrest Welborn, Robert Springsteen, and Michael Scott.

Jan 1, 1999

Task force arrests four former teenage suspects

A revived task force re-interviewed the original four young men and arrested Maurice Pierce, Forrest Welborn, Robert Springsteen, and Michael Scott in 1999.

Jan 1, 2001

Scott and Springsteen are convicted in separate trials

Michael Scott was convicted and sentenced to life, and Robert Springsteen was convicted and sentenced to death, with the prosecutions relying heavily on confession evidence rather than physical evidence.

Jan 1, 2009

Charges are dropped after DNA review and appeal reversals

The state dropped the remaining charges after appellate rulings and Y-STR testing excluded the original suspects from the unknown male profile recovered from the scene.

Jan 1, 2018

Retesting produces a more complete Y-STR profile

Advances in DNA testing expanded the unknown male Y-STR profile, strengthening later comparison efforts while still not identifying the contributor at that time.

Jul 1, 2025

Ballistics review generates a NIBIN hit to a Kentucky homicide

Detective Daniel Jackson resubmitted the .380 casing through NIBIN, producing a same-day hit to another homicide and opening the path to renewed ballistic comparison work.

Aug 22, 2025

South Carolina lab links the unknown Y-STR profile to Brashers

A manual Y-STR search located a complete match in South Carolina records, tying the Austin scene profile to Robert Eugene Brashers and prompting cross-jurisdictional follow-up work.

Sep 29, 2025

Austin police publicly identify Brashers as the likely killer

Austin police announced that DNA, ballistics, and modus-operandi evidence pointed to deceased serial offender Robert Eugene Brashers as the likely perpetrator, while the case remained open because he was dead.

Feb 19, 2026

Judge declares the four previously accused men actually innocent

A Travis County judge declared Maurice Pierce, Forrest Welborn, Robert Springsteen, and Michael Scott actually innocent of the yogurt shop murders.