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The Austin yogurt shop murders have been making headlines for over three decades now as one of the most gruesome and violent crimes Texas has ever seen. The case remains unsolved to date.
The incident occurred on December 6, 1991, and involved the brutal killings of four teenage girls, namely Eliza Thomas (17), Amy Ayers (13), and two sisters, Jennifer Harbison (17) and Sarah Harbison (15).
The yogurt shop murders left the people of the city and authorities, who have been grieving the loss of four young souls for about 31 years now, with multiple questions and a single key piece of evidence acquired from the crime scene-a DNA sample.
In the hopes of finding the perpetrator(s), 48 Hours will revisit the horrific case that haunts Austin to provide some solace to the families of the victims. The episode, titled The Yogurt Shop Murders, will air this Saturday, August 27, 2022 at 9 pm ET on CBS and also stream on Paramount+.
The official synopsis of the upcoming episode reads:
"The brutal murders of four teenage girls have haunted Austin, Texas, for 31 years. Could new information lead to a killer? "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty has reported on the case from the beginning and has the latest on the search for answers."
Trigger warning: This article contains information about graphic violence.
What happened to the victims of the Austin yogurt shop murders?
Four teenage girls were found brutally tied up, smothered, and shot to death in the debris of a burned I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! store in Austin, Texas. Those responsible allegedly entered the shop during the closing hours, killed the girls, ranging from 13 to 17 years old, and then set the place on fire, which nearly destroyed all evidence. Police say at least two men were responsible for the crime.
Jennifer and Eliza were employees at the yogurt shop and were working on the night of the murders. That night, Jennifer's younger sister Sarah and Sarah's friend Amy Ayers stopped by the store just before closing time and were getting ready to head home. According to sources, a couple left the store moments before one of the girls locked the door behind them, all set to close for the night.
A patrolling officer noticed the place on fire sometime around 11:47 pm. Investigators later stated that no signs of breaking and entering were found and claimed that the back door was unlocked when they reached the location. They believed that multiple people were involved in the crime.
The victims' gunshot wounds indicated that two distinct firearms were used, but investigators were hindered in their initial work by a lack of physical evidence and charred remains from the fire. Shortly after, a special task force was formed by the Austin Police Department to investigate the crime that shook the city.
Were the perpetrator(s) of the Austin yogurt shop murders ever found?
Even though the FBI and other government agencies were contacted for help, the case eventually went unsolved until 1999, when Forrest Welborn, Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen, and Maurice Pierce were all detained and accused of the yogurt shop murders.
Due to a lack of evidence, all four were released at the time. However, in 1999, when a new investigative team was entrusted with reexamining the case, they were able to elicit confessions from two of the four men, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott. Later, the two denied the claims and asserted that they were pressured into it.
Although both were found guilty, their convictions were later reversed on constitutional grounds. The Sixth Amendment states that defendants have the right to question their accusers in court. Nonetheless, in the trials of Scott and Springsteen, their respective confessions were used as evidence against one another, but they were not permitted to question each other in court.
Eventually, when an advanced DNA test failed to connect any of the four accused to the sample found at the scene, the charges against them were dropped in 2009 after the two convicted had already served about 10 years. The two accused were released but not exonerated, leaving the possibility of a retrial in the near future.
48 Hours is scheduled to revisit the story in hopes of finding new leads that may help in solving Austin's yogurt shop murders.
