1991 Austin Yogurt Shop Murders

2021-07-13 16:07:44 Written by Jones Jay

On December 6, 1991, four teenage girls would lose their lives most horrifically. They were Jennifer Harbison, 17-year-old, Eliza Thomas, 17-year-old, Sarah Harbison, 15-year-old, and Amy Ayers, 13-years-old. Jennifer and Eliza were employees of the yogurt store and were planned to close the shop at 11 pm that night. Sarah, Jennifer’s sister, and Amy, Sarah’s buddy, were visiting the yogurt store that evening, as the girls had all scheduled to go to a sleep party after work.

The Crime:

 

Sometime before 11 pm on the night of December 6, 1991, Jennifer, Eliza, Sarah, and Amy were forced into a warehouse at the back of the yogurt store. They were instructed to undress and later bound with their clothes. At some point, Amy was separated from the other girls, sent into another portion of the back room, and sexually attacked. All of the girls had been shot in the back of the skull, with Amy having been shot twice, and Jennifer, Eliza, and Sarah, having been shot once.

After the girls had been killed, the gunman or gunmen collected several items from the storage room, including paper plates, cups, and cardboard. They then put out the items and the girls in lighter liquid and set the shop, the girls, and the things, on fire. The flames were so severe, it was noted that the top stairs of a heavy aluminum ladder in the back of the shop had melted.

 

At nearly 11:45 pm, a police officer on normal patrol saw fog coming from the yogurt store and informed the fire department. When first responders come on the scene, the front entrance was still locked, as would have been the proper method when shutting the yogurt store. Due to the power of the fire, and the amount of water that was required to destroy the fire, most of the proof which could have pointed to the girls’ murderer or murderers was destroyed, which hardly hampered the inquiry.

 

Once the fire was extinguished, the corpses of the girls were found, badly burned, nude, bound with their clothes, legs spread, and shot in the head. Three of the girls, Jennifer, Eliza, and Sarah, were burned so painfully that their corpses melted into the scene. They were beyond recognition – not even their race was visible. Two of the corpses were discovered stacked on top of one another. It was unclear if the force of the water used to destroy the fire had caused this, or if the murderer or murderers had placed the corpses in that way.

 

Detectives also found that there was about $540 missing from the register. Two pistols are thought to have been used in the crime.

 

The Suspects:

Many people have admitted to this crime, ranging from the mentally ill to people aiming attention. Many other suspects have been evaluated as well, including Satanists and serial murderers, including Kenneth McDuff. At one point, it was noted that the authority had 342 suspects and 6 written confessions.

 

Eight days after the killings, the prime suspects would come under examination.

 

16-year-old Maurice Pierce was the first to be questioned by police. He had been hanging out at the exact strip mall on the same night that Jennifer, Eliza, Sarah, and Amy had been killed. Maurice had been picked up for keeping a .22 caliber handgun, which was the same caliber as one of the two pistols used in the killings. Still, Maurice would instead tell another suspect into the inquiry. He declared that 15-year-old Forrest Welborn had used his gun and that Forrest had murdered the girls. Maurice was caught on October 6, 1999, when he was 24 years old. He was in prison expecting trial until January of 2003 when the charges against him were declined. Maurice’s .22 caliber handgun was never bound to the crime, as the ballistics did not match up.

 

Forrest Welborn was questioned and he declared that he didn’t understand a thing about the killings. Forrest noted that he and Maurice, along with Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen, both 17, had taken a stolen car and driven it to San Antonio on the night the girls had been killed. Forrest was caught on October 6, 1999, when he was 23-years-old In June of 2000 after two grand juries declined to indict Forrest, the charges against him were declined.

 

Michael Scott was interviewed for 12 hours on September 9, 1999, he has then interviewed again the day after, and interviewed again on September 13, 1999, resulting in 20 hours of videotaped inquiry. Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen IV were both caught on October 6, 1999, when they were aged 25 and 24, respectfully. They would finally sign different confessions, each accusing the other of the crime. These signed declarations would be the crux of the prosecution’s statement when the two men were put on trial.

 

 

The Trial & The Aftermath:

 

Michael and Robert went on trial at the Travis County Courthouse, where both were found killers of capital killing. In 2001, Robert, who had admitted to raping Amy Ayers, was sentenced to death. In 2002, Michael was sentenced to 99 years in jail.

 

In 2009, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed Michael and Robert’s convictions, ruling that the men’s declarations were improperly utilized in the trials. Almost, their 6th Amendment right, the right to cross-examine observers, had been disobeyed. Michael’s confession had been utilized against Robert, but Michael did not confirm, and hence, could not be cross-examined, and vice versa.

 

Although Michael and Robert were not found honest, a judge ordered them to be discharged pending possible retrials. Still, the retrials were put on hold because of some recently found DNA that had been discovered on one of the girls that did not match any of the suspects’ DNA. On October 28, 2009, despite prosecutors readying for a retrial, all charges were rejected against Michael and Robert.

 

In December 2010, Maurice - whose charges against him, in this case, had long since been declined - was pulled over for traffic stay. He jumped out of his vehicle and ran. When he was arrested, he cut an officer across the neck. The officer shot and murdered Maurice.

Despite their charges being declined, many people still think that Michael and Robert were behind these horrible murders. Michael and Robert have both given facts to police that were not published to the public. For example, Robert had explained the position of Amy Ayer’s corpse, and he understood that she had been shot with a .380 caliber handgun. Robert has maintained his innocence and notes that there has never been any physical proof relating him to the crime – no fingerprints, blood, DNA, or hair.

 

 

Alternate Theory:

 

52 people who were in the yogurt store on December 6, 1991, have been accounted for and questioned. Several buyers note one guy, or nearer to the end of the night, two guys, who were still in the shop at closing time. They were the final two people in there, other than the four girls. One is characterized as having lighter hair, almost dirty blonde, 5’6, and in his late 20’s or early 30’s. The other is portrayed as being a bigger man. Both were wearing bigger jackets, one green, similar to army weariness, and one black. They remain unknown.

 To this day, the crime remains unsolved.