What is the real story behind HBO’s The Yogurt Shop Murders? Explained

The Yogurt Shop Murders is an American documentary miniseries directed and produced by Margaret Brown. It covers the anguish caused and the investigation into the 1991 Austin yogurt store shootings. Eliza Thomas and Jennifer Harbison were employed at I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! in Austin, Texas, on December 6, 1991. There, Amy Ayers and Sarah Harbison were waiting for a ride with Sarah's older sister at the shop. However, none of them ever returned home. Firefighters found the four adolescent girls' deaths after responding to a report of a fire at the establishment just before midnight.

A new HBO documentary series called The Yogurt Shop Murders, which premieres on August 3, explores the horrific event, the investigation that resulted in four men being charged with capital murder eight years later, and the reasons the case is still unsolved.

Series director Margaret Brown said the Austin American-Statesman in March:

“‘You learn how to live alongside it, but it never loses its potency.’”

The harrowing incident of The Yoghurt Shop Murders

Three decades later, the question still haunts Austin – who killed these girls?

The new HBO Original docuseries #TheYogurtShopMurders premieres Sunday at 10pm on @hbomax. pic.twitter.com/H4hrHUkZwN

— HBO Documentaries (@HBODocs) August 1, 2025

A patrol officer reported spotting flames inside I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! in northwest Austin at 11:47 p.m. on December 6, 1991. The charred remains of Jennifer Harbison, 17, her sister Sarah Harbison, 15, Eliza Thomas, 17, and Amy Ayers, 13, were discovered by firefighters inside.

Police stated that they thought the fire was intentionally started in order to destroy evidence. The teenagers were already dead when the fire began, Travis County Medical Examiner Robert Bayardo told reporters a few days later. The other girls had each been shot once in the back of the head, and Amy had been shot twice. According to detectives, the back door was unlocked and there were no indications of forced entry, but the front door was closed. Robbery was "the best theory" at the moment, according to Austin Police Lt. Andrew Waters, who told the Austin American-Statesman that money was missing.

But he also said:

“It’s possible there could have been something else and they attempted to make it look like a robbery.”

Maurice Pierce, 16, was caught eight days after the killings at Northcross Mall, a few blocks from the scene of the crime, while brandishing a .22-caliber handgun. Retired detective John Jones, the case's chief investigator, told 48 Hours in 2022 that Pierce claimed his gun was involved in what transpired at the yogurt shop.

According to Jones, Pierce "implicated" in his police testimony Forrest Welborn, 15, Michael Scott, 17, and Robert Springsteen IV, 17. Jones clarified that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges against the other three, who denied any involvement. Hundreds of people were examined by detectives in the early stages of the investigation, and they compiled a lengthy list of suspects—Jones once counted 342.

The arrests and aftermath of the suspects in The Yoghurt Shop Murders

The story of a tragedy that still haunts Texas. #TheYogurtShopMurders premieres August 3 at 10pm on @hbomax. pic.twitter.com/ahfqgti7Mc

— HBO Documentaries (@HBODocs) July 17, 2025

Michael Scott, who at first denied any involvement in the 1991 yogurt store murders, was re-interviewed by Austin cold case detectives in September 1999. However, following a protracted interrogation that lasted several days, Scott admitted to taking part in the crime and named Robert Springsteen, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn. A few days later, Springsteen was taken into custody in West Virginia and, after first denying any wrongdoing, confessed on camera to shooting and sexually abusing one of the victims. Welborn and Pierce were also taken into custody by the authorities that October. Following that, all four teenagers were accused of capital murder.

At a press conference announcing a pause in the case, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson stated, “On Dec. 6, 1991, we—as a city—lost our innocence. Today, we regain our confidence.”

Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott later recanted their confessions, claiming they were coerced, though authorities denied this. Scott was given life in prison in 2002, while Springsteen was given the death penalty in 2001 for the murder of Amy Ayers. Both entered not guilty pleas but were found guilty separately. Because there was not enough proof, Maurice Pierce was freed in 2003, and Forrest Welborn was never charged. 

Due to the use of confessions without permitting cross-examination, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed Springsteen and Scott's convictions in 2006 and 2007, claiming infringement of their Sixth Amendment rights.

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