For over three decades, four wrongly accused young men carried the weight of a crime they didn't commit, while the actual killer was never even a suspect. DNA finally set the record straight.
The Crime
On the night of December 6, 1991, four teenage girls -- 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison and 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, who both worked at the "I Can''t Believe It''s Yogurt!" shop in Austin, Texas, along with Jennifer''s 15-year-old sister Sarah Harbison and their friend, 13-year-old Amy Ayers -- were killed inside the shop around closing time. The girls were bound and gagged before being shot. The perpetrator then set the store on fire, severely compromising the physical evidence available to investigators. We are not detailing the specific circumstances further, given the ages of the victims.
Decades of Failed Prosecutions
The case drew hundreds of leads and numerous false confessions over the following years. In 1999, four young men who had been in the area that night -- Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn -- were brought in for extensive questioning. Springsteen and Scott gave confessions, each implicating the other, despite no physical evidence connecting any of the four to the crime. Charges against Pierce and Welborn were ultimately dropped, while Springsteen and Scott were convicted at separate trials in 2001 and 2002.
Convictions Overturned
In 2009, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned both convictions, ruling the men''s confessions had been improperly used against each other at trial in violation of their constitutional right to cross-examine witnesses. Newly available DNA testing on evidence from the scene also failed to match any of the four men. All charges against Springsteen and Scott were formally dropped later that year, and the case returned to unsolved status.
Identifying the Real Killer
In September 2025, Austin Police announced a breakthrough: continued DNA testing, aided by advances in forensic genealogy and a matched bullet casing entered into a national ballistics database, identified Robert Eugene Brashers as the person responsible for the murders. Brashers, a serial killer and rapist linked to several murders in South Carolina and Missouri, had died by suicide in 1999 during a standoff with police and had no known connection to the four men originally prosecuted.
Exoneration
On February 19, 2026, a judge formally declared Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce -- who had died in a 2010 police shooting during an unrelated traffic stop -- and Forrest Welborn innocent, fully exonerating all four men. In May 2026, the City of Austin agreed to a $35 million settlement to be divided among them and their families.
FAQ
Who was responsible for the Austin yogurt shop murders?
DNA evidence identified Robert Eugene Brashers, a serial killer who died in 1999, as the person responsible, following decades of wrongful prosecution of other individuals.
Were the men originally charged guilty?
No. All four were formally exonerated in February 2026, and the city later reached a $35 million settlement with them.
How was the real killer eventually identified?
Advances in DNA and forensic genealogy technology, combined with a ballistics match from a bullet casing found at the scene, connected the murders to Brashers decades later.