The skyline of Austin, the capital city of Texas. With a population of 961,855, it's the 13th-most populous city in the U.S. — location anchor for the case — Credit: CC BY 4.0
On the night of December 6, 1991, four teenage girls were killed inside a yogurt shop in Austin, Texas: 13-year-old Amy Ayers, 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison, and Jennifer's 15-year-old sister, Sarah Harbison. Jennifer and Eliza worked at the shop; Sarah and Amy had come for a ride home when it closed at 11 p.m. About an hour earlier, a man had used the shop's restroom and may have propped open a rear door. Shortly before midnight, a patrolman reported a fire at the shop, and firefighters found the four bodies afterward. Each girl had been shot in the head with a .22-caliber weapon; three were gagged, bound with their own underwear, and severely burned. Amy's body was found in a separate part of the shop, showing burns as well as two gunshot wounds, the second of which was fatal. At least three of the four girls had been raped, and the perpetrator likely left through a rear door that was found unlocked.
In the years that followed, Austin police have said more than 50 people — including one man executed for unrelated crimes — confessed to the murders over time, and a 1992 confession by two Mexican nationals was later ruled false. Years later, a detective focused on four men who had been teenagers in 1991: Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn. Interrogations by various detectives produced confessions in which each implicated the others; because no record existed of the original 1991 interviews, it was unclear whether detectives had supplied details suspects later repeated back. One interrogating detective, Hector Polanco, had previously been accused of coercing false confessions in an unrelated case involving Christopher Ochoa and Richard Danziger, who were later exonerated.
Springsteen and Scott were arrested in 1999; their trials were held in 2001 and 2002, respectively, and the prosecution presented no hard evidence beyond the confessions. Both were convicted of capital murder — Springsteen was sentenced to death, and Scott to life imprisonment. In 2005, Governor Rick Perry commuted Springsteen's sentence to life in prison under Roper v. Simmons, because he was 17 at the time of the murders. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Springsteen's conviction in 2006, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to reinstate it in February 2007; in 2008, the court overturned both men's convictions, ruling that prosecutors had violated the Confrontation Clause by introducing co-defendants' confessions that could not be cross-examined at trial.
New Y-STR DNA testing then showed the male DNA recovered from the case belonged to one unidentified man who matched neither Springsteen, Scott, nor the other implicated suspects. In June 2009, both men were released on bond; Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg said she remained confident in their guilt but could not responsibly proceed to trial without identifying the unknown DNA donor, and all charges were dismissed that October. Maurice Pierce, one of the four implicated men, was fatally shot by Austin police officer Frank Wilson in December 2010 after stabbing Wilson during a traffic stop; Wilson survived.
In September 2025, Austin police announced that the previously unidentified male DNA had been matched to Robert Eugene Brashers, a serial killer and serial rapist who died by suicide during a standoff with police in 1999. Further testing matched Brashers' DNA to material recovered from under Amy Ayers' fingernails, and a bullet casing from the scene was consistent with the gun Brashers used in 1999. On February 19, 2026, Judge Dayna Blazey formally exonerated Springsteen, Scott, Pierce, and Welborn, declaring all four factually innocent and dismissing their charges with prejudice.
Jennifer Harbison, Eliza Thomas, Amy Ayers, Sarah Harbison
Date
1991
Location
Austin, Texas, United States
Case status
solved
Case timeline
1991-12-06
Four teenage girls — Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas, Jennifer Harbison, and Sarah Harbison — were found shot to death inside an Austin, Texas, yogurt shop after a patrolman reported a fire there; the shop had been set ablaze after the killings.
1999
Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott were arrested; confessions obtained during a series of interrogations had implicated all four men — Springsteen, Scott, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn — in the murders.
1999
Robert Eugene Brashers, later linked to the murders by DNA evidence in 2025, died by suicide during a standoff with police, in an incident not connected to the yogurt shop investigation at the time.
2001
Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen were tried — in 2001 and 2002, respectively — and convicted of capital murder based on their confessions; Springsteen was sentenced to death and Scott to life imprisonment.
2005
Governor Rick Perry commuted Robert Springsteen's death sentence to life imprisonment under Roper v. Simmons because Springsteen was 17 at the time of the murders.
2006
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Robert Springsteen's conviction, finding his trial unfair.
2007-02
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to reinstate Robert Springsteen's conviction.
2008
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned both Springsteen's and Scott's convictions, ruling that prosecutors had violated the Confrontation Clause by using co-defendants' confessions that could not be cross-examined.
2009-06-24
A judge released Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott on bond pending a possible retrial; both left the Travis County Jail that afternoon.
2009-10-28
All charges against Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott were dismissed after Y-STR DNA testing showed an unidentified male DNA profile that matched neither them nor the other implicated suspects.
2010-12-23
Maurice Pierce was fatally shot by Austin police officer Frank Wilson after stabbing Wilson during a traffic stop; Wilson survived.
2021-12-08
The House Judiciary Committee passed legislation, introduced by Rep. Michael McCaul, allowing families of cold case victims to petition the federal government to reexamine cases older than three years.
2022-08-03
The Homicide Victims' Families' Rights Act of 2021, motivated by the 1991 yogurt shop murders, was passed into law.
2025-09-26
Austin police announced that DNA evidence linked the murders to Robert Eugene Brashers, a serial killer and serial rapist who had died in 1999.
2026-02-19
Judge Dayna Blazey formally exonerated Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn, declaring them factually innocent and dismissing their charges with prejudice.
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Titles and descriptions are the creators’ own and may not reflect current legal status; see the dossier above for sourced case facts.
VIDEO
That Chapter / 21 min
The Austin Yogurt Shop Murders
People
Maurice Pierce
EXONERATED
One of four men implicated by confession-based interrogations; fatally shot by Austin police in December 2010 after stabbing an officer during a traffic stop; posthumously declared factually innocent and exonerated on February 19, 2026.
Forrest Welborn
EXONERATED
One of four men implicated by confession-based interrogations; declared factually innocent and exonerated on February 19, 2026.
Jennifer Harbison
VICTIM
17-year-old employee of the yogurt shop; Sarah Harbison's older sister.
Hector Polanco
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Detective involved in the interrogations that produced confessions from the four implicated men; had previously been accused of coercing false confessions in an unrelated case involving Christopher Ochoa and Richard Danziger, who were later exonerated.
Frank Wilson
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Austin police officer stabbed by Maurice Pierce during a December 2010 traffic stop; survived his injuries and shot and killed Pierce.
Eliza Thomas
VICTIM
17-year-old employee of the yogurt shop.
Michael Scott
EXONERATED
Convicted of capital murder based on a confession and sentenced to life imprisonment; conviction overturned in 2008; charges dismissed in 2009; declared factually innocent and exonerated on February 19, 2026.
Amy Ayers
VICTIM
13-year-old; came to the shop with her friend Sarah Harbison to get a ride home.
Robert Springsteen
EXONERATED
Convicted of capital murder based on a confession and sentenced to death; sentence commuted to life imprisonment in 2005 under Roper v. Simmons; conviction overturned in 2008; charges dismissed in 2009; declared factually innocent and exonerated on February 19, 2026.
Sarah Harbison
VICTIM
15-year-old; Jennifer Harbison's sister, at the shop to get a ride home.
Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.
Archival records
archival location
The skyline of Austin, the capital city of Texas. With a population of 961,855, it's the 13th-most populous city in the U.S. — location anchor for the case
Four teenage girls — Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas, and sisters Jennifer and Sarah Harbison — were shot to death and the Austin, Texas, yogurt shop where two of them worked was set on fire on December 6, 1991; two of four men later implicated by confession were convicted, all four were eventually exonerated, and in 2025 DNA evidence linked the killings to Robert Eugene Brashers, a serial killer who had died in 1999.
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