Naman Shrestha
On the night of December 6, 1991, the entire community of Austin, Texas, was left shell-shocked after four young girls in their teenage years — Jennifer Harbison, Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ayers — were found dead inside a popular frozen yogurt store on Anderson Lane. It didn’t take long for the authorities to get leads on four potential suspects — Maurice Pierce, Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, and Forrest Welborn. Although no direct evidence connected them to the murders, they were arrested and charged. All the intricate details about the case and the possible suspects’ fate are covered in detail in CBS’ ’48 Hours: The Yogurt Shop Murders’ and ABC’s ’20/20: Yogurt Shop Murders.’
Michael Scott, Forrest Welborn, Robert Springsteen, and Maurice Pierce Were Linked to the Yogurt Shop Murders
Within a week of the tragic killings of the four teenage girls — 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison, 15-year-old Sarah Harbison, 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, and 13-year-old Amy Ayers — at the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! store at 2949 West Anderson Lane, the Austin Police Department arrested Maurice Pierce for bringing a gun to Northcross Mall, located near the yogurt shop. Since the gun was of the same make and model as one of the guns used in the murders, the detectives confronted him during the interrogation. Several hours later, he provided a confession to the murders, which the detectives deduced didn’t match the crime scene, and also implicated three other men — Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, and Forrest Welborn.
Maurice was then wired up by the police and sent to talk about the crime with his alleged accomplice, Forrest. However, their conversation indicated that the latter had no clue what Maurice was implying. Moreover, the other two potential suspects denied any involvement in the murders. Since Maurice’s confession contained several inconsistencies and there was insufficient evidence against the four men, they were not charged with the crime. Several years later, in 1999, the authorities reviewed the original case files and reinterviewed the potential suspects. While Forrest and Maurice maintained their innocence, Robert and Michael admitted to the crime in signed confessions and even implicated each other.
However, Robert and Michael later recanted their aforementioned statements, alleging they were coerced by police. As per Michael’s disputed claims, the four men only intended to rob the yogurt store, but ended up killing everyone inside and setting the place on fire. Most of Michael’s story was corroborated by Robert, whose statement included a coerced admission of shooting and raping one of the girls. The detectives theorized that Forrest served as the lookout for his alleged accomplices. Thus, all four men were arrested and charged with the capital murders of Jennifer, Sarah, Eliza, and Amy. However, the charges against Forrest and Maurice were dropped due to a lack of evidence.
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Several Years After Maurice’s Passing, Michael, Forrest, and Robert Have Been Declared Innocent
In 2001, Robert Springsteen’s trial began and lasted three weeks. In the end, the jury deliberated for 13 hours and found him guilty of capital murder in connection with the killings of Jennifer Harbison, Eliza Thomas, Sarah Harbison, and Amy Ayers. Robert subsequently received the death penalty. The following year, in 2002, Michael Scott stood trial and was convicted of all the charges against him. Ultimately, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A few years later, in 2007, the convictions of Robert and Michael were overturned on constitutional grounds after their attorneys argued that they had received unfair trials. As a result, they were ordered new trials.
However, in 2009, when DNA testing concluded that none of the four suspects contributed to the DNA evidence found at the crime scene, all the charges against them, including Robert and Michael, were dropped. Thus, Robert and Michael were released from custody, pending further investigation. About a year later, on December 23, 2010, Maurice had a run-in with the law that turned fatal. When he was stopped by police for a traffic violation, he fled the scene on foot. After getting caught, he struggled with the officer and stabbed him in the neck with the officer’s knife. He was then shot to death by the same officer, who managed to survive his injuries.
More than one and a half decades later, in December 2025, the exoneration process for the four suspects was initiated after the authorities began pursuing the possibility of Robert Eugene Brashers being the perpetrator behind the yogurt shop killings. Finally, on February 19, 2026, all four men — Michael Scott, Forrest Welborn, Robert Springsteen, and Maurice Pierce — were declared innocent, closing a decades-long chapter. After the declaration, the surviving three men have gone back to leading their lives with their respective families, away from the limelight.
