The Yogurt Shop Murders are being revisited in a new HBO documentary series, and following its premiere on Sunday (August 3), a detective has given an update on the infamous true crime case. Warning: some may find this content distressing.
On the night of December 6, 1991, firefighters extinguished a blaze at a I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! shop in Austin, Texas, only to discover the bodies of Amy Ayers, 13, Eliza Thomas, 17, Jennifer Harbison, 17, and Sarah Harbison, 15.
All four had been bound, gagged, and shot execution-style, and at least one of them had been sexually assaulted before the fire was set, an act likely intended to destroy evidence. In light of new evidence and theories, this horrifying case is being revisited in HBO’s new docu-series.
Directed by Margaret Brown with Emma Stone as co-producer, The Yogurt Shop Murders features interviews with investigative teams, the victims’ relatives, and two men who served time for the crime.
Were the Yogurt Shop Murders ever solved?
No, the Yogurt Shop Murders remain officially unsolved. Despite arrests, trials, and years of investigations, no one has ever been conclusively convicted of the December 6, 1991 killing of Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas, Jennifer Harbison, and Sarah Harbison.
Initial leads fizzled out quickly, and the case went cold until 1999, when four men – Maurice Pierce, Forrest Welborn, Robert Springsteen, and Michael Scott – were arrested and charged with the murders.
Pierce had been detained shortly after the murders after being caught carrying a .22 firearm at a nearby mall. All four, who were teenagers at the time of the crime, were released due to lack of evidence.
However, when a new team of investigators were tasked with solving the case, they were able to obtain confessions from Springsteen and Scott, who said they participated alongside Welborn and Pierce.
Again, due to lack of evidence, only Springsteen and Scott were sent to trial. By this stage, they had recanted their confessions, saying they were coerced by police.
Despite these claims, Springsteen was convicted in 2001 and sentenced to death, while Scott received life in prison the following year.
But their convictions were overturned in 2006 and 2007 on constitutional grounds: each man’s confession was used at the other’s trial, violating their Sixth Amendment rights as the co-defendants were non-testifying. They were released on bond in 2009.
The prosecution team were determined to retrial, but first, DNA evidence was re-examined using advanced technology. The tests uncovered the DNA of a man – and it wasn’t a match for Scott, Springsteen, Pierce, or Welborn.
Due to this finding and other information that emerged following those initial trials – including detective Hector Polanco being found to have coerced a suspect to a false confession in a different case – jurors said they wouldn’t have convicted Scott and Springsteen in hindsight.
The waters were further muddied in the years that followed, with Austin police admitting they received more than 50 false confessions, including one from serial killer Kenneth McDuff.
However, in February 2022, new reports emerged suggesting advanced DNA testing technology is bringing detectives closer to solving the decades-old crime.
Detective “confident” he will solve the true crime case
This was reflected by detective Dan Jackson, who was assigned the case on his first day with the Austin Police Department’s cold case unit in 2022. He says he’s “confident” the murders will be solved.
In a conversation with USA Today following the release of HBO’s new documentary, Jackson said, “One of the things that we want the public to know is that this case is active. It’s constantly worked on.”
As for why the Yogurt Shop Murders haven’t been solved yet, he reinforced the fact that the crime scene was severely compromised by the fire and subsequent water damage used to put out the blaze.
But the DNA sample could be the key to finding the killer. “If I didn’t think I could solve it then why get up every day?” he continued.
“I think that with new technology, new information that we have – that I can’t go into – even since I’ve taken the case over, the ability to do more with less when it comes to forensics is light years ahead than it was a few years ago.
“When I started, we needed a certain amount (of DNA). We weren’t even close to it, but that amount that you need is so much less now. I am confident that I will solve this.”
When is the Yogurt Shop Murders Episode 2 out?
The Yoghurt Shop Murders Episode 2, ‘The Fifth Victim’, will air on Sunday, August 10, at 10.10-11.10pm ET/PT on HBO. It will be available for streaming on HBO Max the following day.
You can check out the full release schedule below:
- Episode 1 – August 3
- Episode 2 – August 10
- Episode 3 – August 17
- Episode 4 – August 24
The synopsis for the second episode reads: “Trauma continues to haunt the community as family members search for healing, resolution, and ways to hold on to the memories of the girls.
“The initial suspicions around the four teenage boys lead nowhere. After several false leads and wrongful arrests, homicide supervisor Hector Polanco is found to have coerced a suspect into a false confession and is reassigned.
“Lead investigator John Jones is diagnosed with PTSD and is taken off the case, suffering guilt about the department’s inability to solve the murders. The family of Amy Ayers even turns to a private investigator in their frustration with the lack of progress.
“Eight years after the murders, new lead investigator Paul Johnson revisits the case and an interrogation video reveals Rob Springsteen claiming to have seen Maurice Pierce with a gun in his hand on the night of the murders.”
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