More than three decades after one of the most horrifying crimes in Texas history, authorities have finally cracked the case of the Yogurt Shop Murders.
In 1991, four teenage girls were killed inside a frozen yogurt shop in Austin — a case that remained unsolved for over 30 years, even as multiple arrests, overturned convictions, and ongoing speculation kept it in the headlines.
Now, thanks to advanced genetic genealogy, police have linked a serial killer to the brutal crime that has haunted Texas for generations.
A Brutal Crime in Austin
On December 6, 1991, Jennifer Harbison, 17; her sister Sarah Harbison, 15; Eliza Thomas, 17; and Amy Ayers, 13, were found murdered inside the “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt!” shop where two of them worked. The girls had been tied up, shot, and left in a fire set to destroy evidence.
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The crime shocked the Austin community — not just for its brutality, but for how little evidence was left behind. For years, investigators chased leads that ultimately led nowhere.
Then, in 1999, four men — all teenagers at the time of the murders — were arrested: Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn.
Springsteen and Scott confessed under interrogation, but later recanted, claiming their statements had been coerced. The charges against Pierce were dropped in 2003 due to lack of evidence, and Welborn was never indicted after two grand juries declined to pursue the case.
Justice Delayed, but No Longer Denied
By 2009, DNA evidence from the crime scene ruled out Springsteen and Scott. Their convictions were overturned, and both men were released from prison after spending a decade behind bars.
The case went cold again — until now.
According to KVUE, authorities used advanced genetic genealogy to link the murders to Robert Eugene Brashers, a known serial offender who died by suicide in 1999.
Before this latest connection, Brashers had already been tied to three other violent crimes, including a 1990 murder in South Carolina and a 1998 double homicide in Missouri involving a mother and her 12-year-old daughter.
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Brashers’ DNA has now been directly matched to evidence from the 1991 crime scene — bringing long-awaited resolution to a case that has spanned more than three decades.
A Story That Still Resonates
The Yogurt Shop Murders remain one of the most talked-about unsolved cases in Texas history, recently gaining renewed national attention through the HBO documentary series The Yogurt Shop Murders, which premiered earlier this year.
While the case is now officially closed, the loss felt by the victims’ families — and the trauma endured by the wrongfully accused — will never fully fade.
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