Exclusive: Suspect ID'd in Texas yogurt shop murders case | Forensic Files

[Music] Every year marks another year, you know, that there's no closure. I still have insomnia 30 years after the
fact. I wish I'd solved the crime for the families. We tried. This is the uh I can't believe it's
I was a cop for 32 years at Austin PD. I'll always be associated with that case.
There's no getting away from that. I just hope one of these days we can put this thing to bed.
Yeah. >> Uh, you hear about the call 2900 West Anderson? >> Yeah, I'm headed over there.
>> The call occurred at 11:27 p.m. >> Homicide 4. >> Homicide 4. >> Did you get my route there?
I was the lead investigator on the I can't believe it's yoga shop murder case on December 6th, 1991.
There was a robbery, fire, and murder committed. >> It's all right. I'll make the call
myself. >> Victims were Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ays. I can still see him. I can still see the
inside of that place. That stuff's indelibly burned in my mind. >> There has never been in Austin a more
gristly, ugly crime. >> There's four girls in there and they're all beautiful girls and they're very
young. They're cleaning up. They lock up the yogurt shop and then we believe it to be two individuals came in. They
forced them to the back room at gunpoint. >> I lost my sister Eliza Thomas in the
yogurt shop murders. I was 13. Yeah, I was 13 when my sister died. The whole city was in shock.
Everywhere we drove, there were these billboards with a picture of my sister on it. And so it's like you just hold on
to anything you can to get through these moments that are so impossible. >> We went where the case took us.
>> Open the door. Police. >> We're either going to charge some people and get them in jail or clear them from
this case. >> I don't know how many murders I've tried. It's unlike anything I've ever
done before. It's nothing but one unexpected twist after another. Do you believe that there is right now
some evidence that could lead to the killers? >> Yes. >> Yes, I know who did this. I just don't
know his name. >> Is this the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end? [Music]
[Music] So, what is all of this here? >> These are my notes. >> It's been more than 30 years since Jon
Jones began the painstaking search for the killers of four teenage girls in an Austin yogurt shop.
>> Oh, that's the big book. This one is really from day one. He has long since retired from the Austin Police
Department and moved out of Texas, but copies of some of the case files moved with him.
>> Hypnosis, polygraph, confessions. >> You know, I noticed this sitting here. >> Yep.
>> We will not forget. You haven't? >> Nope. Can't. >> The images of December 6th, 1991 remain
all too vivid. I can definitely still see it. >> What do y'all got out there? I'm in RA
airport. >> It started with that call from dispatch. >> Okay, I'm copying the fire part. You cut
out on the first part of that >> to go to a scene of a fire that would turn into something far worse.
Apparently a lovely homicide fatalities last round. >> And then about halfway out there, they
called me again on the radio and said, "We found a fourth body." >> A local TV news crew happened to be
filming Jones on a ride along that night. >> What place of business is this here?
This is the uh I can't believe it's over. >> Okay. >> Fire department had just knocked down
the fire. I mean, there was still a lot of water in there, a lot of smoke still. It was all muted grays and
blacks. There was no color in there with the exception of the girls. >> The girls were quickly identified. Two
had been working at the shop closing up that night. Eliza Thomas and Jennifer Harbison were both 17 years old.
Jennifer's 15year-old sister Sarah and their friend 13-year-old Amy had met them there to head home.
The four girls have been gagged, tied up with their own clothing, and shot in the
head. Investigators would learn that at least one of the victims had been sexually assaulted. The yogurt shop had
also been set on fire, destroying potential evidence. >> There was smoke and soot on every
surface, so kind of made fingerprinting kind of difficult. >> This was a crime like none Austin had
seen before. Jones knew he needed help and from the scene contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the
FBI, and the Texas Department of Public Safety. >> Soon as we knew what type of guns we
were looking for, that information went out nationwide. Gunshot wounds showed two different
types of guns were used, leading investigators to believe that there were at least two killers on the loose. What
were the two guns? >> 380 and a 22. And we recovered all of the rounds. >> The weapons though were not found and a
task force worked to come up with potential suspects. >> They were from all spectrums. I mean, we
looked at everybody from family members to drifters. >> And while police tracked down leads, the
families and the city of Austin grieved. The Harbison family lost their only children. Daughters Jennifer, a
hardworking high school senior, and Sarah, who was enjoying sports and clubs as a high school freshman. Their mother
Barbara spoke with us in 1992. >> My life was sort of focused around them for from here until eternity. Someone
took eternity away from me. >> I lost my daughter. I lost my first dance. >> Bobs is the father of the youngest
victim, Amy. A country girl with a love for animals. >> I want to see her graduate.
I want to see her become a veterinary. She was a daddy's girl. >> I remember the shock.
>> Sonora Thomas, 13 years old, when her only sibling, Eliza, was murdered, had a
hard time dealing with the loss of the sister she looked up to. >> I remember fantasizing for days that my
sister had somehow escaped and run away and that she was going to come back. And
so that's what I was kind of holding on to. Her parents struggled as well. >> My family never talked about my sister
after she died. >> Never. >> No. >> It's too It's too painful. >> Sonora did as best she could picking up
some pieces of her sister's life. Eliza, an animal lover, had a pig she planned to enter in a livestock show. Just a few
months after the murders, Sonora took over those duties. >> Third place, Sonora Thomas.
>> While Sonora may have seemed to be coping, the reality, she says, was far different. You had to grow up quickly.
>> Very quickly, I would say I fell apart under that pressure. We knew they were
hurting because, you know, we were hurting, too. >> There you go. Open your little mouth.
>> Jones, a parent himself, felt the family's grief. He promised to do all he could to help them.
>> We told them what we could, and I assured him that we would keep them a prize as to everything that was
happening. And and we did. >> Jones also made a pledge to the families involving the shirt he wore on the night
of the murders. I kind of made a promise to them the next time they saw me with that green and white shirt on that that
was a signal to them that, you know, we knew who did it. >> And Jones seemed assured they would find
the killers. >> And we stayed in constant contact with the behavioral science unit at uh the
FBI and Quantico. They said that I should, as the face of the investigation, project an air of
confidence that would cause the the bad guy to shiver in his boots. >> So, look in the camera and be confident.
>> And when we followed him working the case in 1992, he did just that. >> You know, let me just say this. Whoever
you are out there, you're going to be mine one of these days. >> Where you at? Okay.
>> I'm right here. >> But trying to figure that out was daunting. 342 people that have been uh
listed as suspect, but we're looking at pages and pages of suspects here. >> One of those early suspects was a
teenager named Maurice Pierce. He was arrested 8 days after the murders at a mall near the yogurt shop carrying a 22
caliber gun, the type used in the murders. >> The 22s were unmatchable. >> So, you can't say it wasn't his gun?
>> No. But there was no way to >> prove that it was his gun. Um, he gave a statement. A matter of
fact, I took his statement and he implicated three other boys. >> Joan says Maurice Pierce claimed that he
was driving a getaway car and that three acquaintances, Forest Wellorn, Michael Scott, and Robert Springsteen, were
involved in the murders. But Pice's story began to fall apart. It started to crater when
we wired him up to go talk to Forest and we were listening in on the wire and it it was pretty obvious Forest didn't
know what Maurice was talking about. >> And when Wellborn, Scott, and Springsteen were brought in for
questioning, they too denied any involvement. It was decided there was just not enough evidence to charge them.
>> I stop right here. right here. >> And the search for other suspects continued.
>> Get down on the ground. Get down. On the ground [Music] flow. Anyway, >> two months after the yogurt shop
murders, with no viable suspects, police were chasing leads no matter where it took them.
>> Into vampires, uh, the occult, graveyard, rights, >> the task force became aware of a
counterculture type group of local residents known to be into the supernatural. >> They go out and dance and take pictures
on tombstones. and investigators began to hear that this group might be connected to
something far more serious. >> The the tips were that they were talking about um the murders.
>> Talking about the yogurt shop murders, >> the yogurt shop murders. Yes. >> There was one woman in particular whose
name kept coming up in connection with these tips. >> She got stopped at Oakwood Cemetery. The
task force planned a raid on her home. Look at >> my computer. >> Hoping to see if any evidence might be
found there. Stop right here. Right here. >> I locked the door. >> Police. Okay. Police off.
>> Police offic. [Applause] >> It was creepy in there. all that stuff back there like this around.
>> But as it turns out, a lot of that stuff was rat bones and theatrical parts, but
it was a good lead. So, we finally figured out that >> they're just living a makebelieve life.
>> This Sergeant Hook could be out to task force. >> The raid may have been a bust, but it
wasn't long before the task force had its eyes on another person of interest. This sketch shows a man that multiple
eyewitnesses told police they saw sitting in a car outside the yogurt shop on the night of the murders
>> and it was somebody we really wanted to talk to. So we put it out there >> and the response they got came from an
unexpected source. >> Couple of other investigators from the sex crimes unit came up and go, "We have
a sketch that looks just like that." Three weeks before the yogurt shop murders, a young woman in Austin had
been kidnapped and sexually assaulted. Police had released this sketch of three men wanted in connection with that
crime. One of those suspects bore a striking resemblance to that man witnesses reported sitting in a car outside the
yogurt shop. You know, I just kind of went when I saw the the composite. >> A tip came in that the men wanted in the
kidnapping and sexual assault case had fled to Mexico. Two were caught and arrested, one who resembled the person
of interest in the yogurt shop sketch. The development made national news. When they got caught in Mexico, we went down
there to interview him. >> Jones's team questioned the man and so too did the Mexican authorities.
>> But the Mexican government announced to the whole world that they confessed and
they were going to try for the murders down there. >> They confessed to the yogurt shop.
>> Yes, they did. >> But Jones learned those confessions had details that didn't match the crime
scene. Even the caliber of guns they claimed to use was wrong. >> There was too many inconsistencies in
the confession. >> So Jones's team reintered the man. And he says this time they recanted just
about everything. It made Jones and other investigators wonder if those confessions were coerced by the Mexican
authorities. The once promising lead fell apart. [Music] It was depressing. >> Over the following years, there would be
other confessions, ones that were willingly given. >> You know, we've faced six confessions.
>> Six people who confessed. >> Yeah. Written. >> That confessed to this crime. >> Yes, they did.
>> And they didn't do it. >> Nope. In 1994, after nearly three years of leading the investigation, John Jones
was moved out of the homicide division. He says it was a mutual decision. Austin
police wanted fresh eyes working the case, and Jones felt it was time to move on. Other detectives took over, and as
time passed, the victim's families were left wondering why no one had been arrested. Amy's mother, Pam, spoke to us
in 1996. >> They're probably out there leading a life as normal as they've ever had,
and ours is never going to be the same. >> That same year, Eliza Thomas's mom moved
away from Austin and the painful reminders. Running into people who were constantly
asking how the case was going was very hard on me and especially my daughter Sonara.
>> Sonora's life had taken a downward spiral. >> In my high school years, things really
deteriorated. Drugs, using alcohol, being hospitalized, going to a boarding school for, you know, disturbed
teenagers, things like that. The case seems stalled until October 1999. >> Some breaking news. Austin police have
arrested four men in connection with the yogurt shop murders of 1991. >> There were finally arrests. But would it
answer the question on the billboard that had been haunting Austin for nearly a decade?
[Music] After nearly eight years, Austin Nights are getting some answers in the case of
the Yogurt Shot murder. >> I want to start off by thanking y'all for joining us here today.
For almost eight years, we've all waited to hear the words that our police department is close to a point of
solving a crime that has haunted our very souls. Today, we finally get to hear those words.
>> When four men were arrested in the fall of 1999 for the yogurt shop murders, relief was felt citywide.
Sarah, Jennifer, Amy, Eliza, we did not forget. >> The girls families struggled to take it
all in. >> There had been so many false leads for such a long time. It was hard to
know how to think about it and how to feel about it. >> But there were finally names and faces
to blame. Maurice Pierce, Forest Welbborne, Michael Scott, and Robert Springsteen. To the task force, they
were familiar names and faces. They were the same young men that John Jones and his investigators questioned just 8 days
after the murders. >> Did you do this? I have no comment. >> And ultimately released for lack of
evidence. I was confident and remain confident to this day that we got as far with him as we could then, but that
doesn't mean that there wasn't something developed later that would cause them to
actually go out and arrest him. So, I was going, "Yes, good job." I was ready to
dig out the hideous green and white shirt. But before that shirt could come out of
the closet, the one he promised the girl's families he would wear when the case was solved, Jones wanted to know
more about what led to the arrest. >> There was no physical evidence. Nothing. >> Joe James Sawyer was appointed as Robert
Springsteen's attorney. What made them go back and charge these guys? Because the new officers when they when they
reopened the cold case convinced themselves that we let them slip through our fingers. We had to have had the
murderers in the beginning. In part they decided that because they had nothing else.
>> There was no new physical evidence suddenly tying any of the four men to the crime. But what police did have were
two newly obtained confessions. One from Michael Scott and another from Sawyer's
own client, Robert Springsteen. Michael Scott's confession came first. He was questioned over four days.
>> Come on, Michael. You're doing good. Tell us. Let's do this today. Let's do it.
>> Remember seeing girl? I remember one girl screaming, terrified. >> Scott told investigators that he and the
others only intended a simple robbery. He said they cased the yogurt shop earlier that day and then after dark. He
said they came back armed with two guns. >> I hear the gun go off. I only pulled the trigger once. I hear
another gun go off. >> Investigators claimed that Springsteen later corroborated much of what Scott
said. >> How you doing? Very loud. Is that correct? >> But after intense questioning, he went
further. didn't say it. >> Springsteen told them he shot one girl and raped her.
>> He was so tired of this. He'd already been questioned. He'd already been through that mill. He thought, "You know
what? I'll tell you any damn thing you want." >> Sawyer maintains his client is innocent
and says the confession was coerced. In 2009, Robert Springsteen explained to 48
Hours why he would admit to doing something so horrible, something he says he didn't do.
>> I was bered and bered and bered by the police officers until they obtained what
it was they wanted to hear. They were not going to allow me to leave. And I I basically they they broke me down.
>> Let me just ask you, did you have anything to do >> No. >> with the murders at the yogurt shop?
>> No. Never. Even though Joe James Sawyer didn't have Michael Scott as his client,
he says he has serious concerns about his confession, too. >> Is that the gun you shot somebody with,
Mike? >> I don't. Is that the gun you walked up behind somebody with and shot in the
head? >> I frankly couldn't believe it. They terrorized him and he was afraid to say
no. Forest Wellborn denied having anything to do with the murders, but police were convinced he was the lookout
that night and Michael Scott placed him at the scene. >> Hi, I'm Aaron Moretti with CBS.
>> I spoke to Wellbourne in 1999 in jail shortly after his arrest. >> Were you there that night?
>> No. >> Were you there as a lookout? No, >> I'm answer it. >> You had nothing to do with this.
>> Nothing at all. >> Well had been questioned multiple times by investigators over the years and he
never wavered. He, like the others, first came on police radar when in 1991, just days after the murders, Maurice
Pierce had been caught with that 22 caliber gun at the mall near the yogurt shop. PICE told the detectives back then
that he had given the handgun to Wellbborne and that it had been used in the yogurt shop murders.
>> Why would he say that? >> I don't know. >> Well has always maintained his innocence
despite pressure from the police. >> They'll get right in my face and, you know, tell me everything I said was
a lie. Remember, false confessions in this case were nothing new. Joan said that six written false
confessions were obtained when he was in charge. So, when he learned that the two
confessions were all the new investigators seemed to have, it gave him pause. >> I go, well, maybe I shouldn't get that
shirt out just yet. >> It wasn't long before the case against the man began crumbling. Charges against
Forest Wellorn were dismissed after two grand juries failed to indict him. And later on, charges were dropped against
Maurice Pierce for lack of evidence. Everything fell apart except the cases against Michael Scott and Robert
Springsteen. And with Scott and Springsteen's confessions, the victim's families felt prosecutors had a strong
case. These young men have been implicated and they have confessed and they can withdraw it. But the truth is
they actually were there and they actually did the murders. In 2001, nearly 10 years after the
murders of Eliza Thomas, Amy Ays, and Sarah and Jennifer Harbison, the yogurt shop murder trials began. Both
defendants, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, faced the death penalty. >> The only thing that ever tied Robert or
Mike Scott to that crime scene were their confessions. >> Confessions that both defendants said
were coerced. The two were tried separately. Springsteen's trial was first. Neither of the men would testify
against one another. So instead, prosecutors used their confessions against one another, reading parts of
the confessions to the juries. Spring seeds lawyer, Joe James Sawyer, was frustrated that he couldn't
cross-examine Scott. >> I thought the trial was massively unfair to my client and that it was being done
systematically and with deliberation. The trial lasted three weeks. The jury deliberated for 13 hours.
>> Defendant, please run >> and then reached a verdict. >> We the jury find the defendant, Robert
Springsteen IV, guilty of the offense of capital murder. >> Guilty. Springsteen was condemned to
death row. In 2002, Michael Scott went on trial. He was convicted as well. He was sentenced
to life in prison. But the case didn't end there. 15 years after the murders came a shocking turn of events.
>> In a 54 decision, the court behind me said that Michael Scott's constitutional
rights were violated during his trial and therefore should get a new one. >> Both Scott and Springsteen's convictions
were overturned on constitutional grounds. The Sixth Amendment gives defendants the right to confront
accusers. And remember, in Scott and Springsteen's trials, their confessions were used against one another, but they
weren't allowed to question each other in court. >> And the relief, the relief was incredible.
>> But that relief for the defendants came as a devastating blow to the victim's
families. We later spoke to Eliza Thomas's mother, Maria, about that moment. >> Every time I hear those words that their
rights were violated, just feel like I'm going to go insane. Their rights were violated.
Our girls were murdered. >> It ruins your sense of fairness. It ruins your sense of
that we live in a just world. Even though their convictions were overturned, Scott and Springsteen were
not released. A new district attorney, Rosemary Lmberg, was determined to retry them. In an effort to find more
evidence, her office had ordered DNA tests on vaginal swabs taken from the victims at the time of the murders.
It's called YSTR testing and was fairly new in 2009 when we spoke with DA Lmberg. This technology searches for
male DNA only. >> A partial male DNA profile was obtained from one of the victims believed to have
been sexually assaulted and no one expected what it would reveal. Does that DNA match any of the
four young men who were originally accused and two of them who have been convicted?
>> It does not. >> The DNA did not match any of the original four suspects, including Scott
and Springsteen. And that's significant because Springsteen in that confession he said was coerced told investigators
he raped one of the girls. CC Moore is a DNA expert and genetic genealogologist whom we asked about the
case and the role of YSTR DNA in criminal cases. It is a tool that can eliminate almost
everyone. It should eliminate everybody but the suspect. >> If their YSDR does not match,
>> they did not contribute that >> because where that DNA was found. Yes. In this case, it's very important.
>> The district attorney was focused on finding the source of that DNA. She wondered if Springsteen and Scott had
another partner. >> I remain really confident that both Springsteen and Scott were responsible
for killing those poor girls. >> But in 2009, with no matches on that DNA, Lmberg dropped charges against
Springsteen and Scott. After nearly 10 years behind bars, they were released but not exonerated, leaving open the
possibility they could be retrieded at a later time. >> This was a difficult decision and one
I'd rather not have to make. >> The question remained though, whose DNA was it? >> I know who it is.
>> They're killers. >> You're convinced that that >> that is a certain truth. Amber Fairley
was part of both Scott and Springsteen's defense teams. She came up with a theory
that the mystery DNA might belong instead to two never identified men who witnesses reported seen sitting in the
yogurt shop just before it closed. Those two men were described wearing fatigued colored jackets. They were very
slouched over whispering like they were it was a very close conversation in a booth.
>> Officials tried to track down those two men as well as the source of the DNA.
And then in 2017, an Austin police investigator searched a public online DNA database to see if he
could get a hit. And unbelievably, he did. I thought, my god, we actually have a chance, a shot to solve this
crime after so many years. >> I really thought this was it. I really thought we had a chance to solve it.
US Congressman Michael McCall, like so many others from Austin, hoped that the recently uncovered DNA in the yogurt
shop murder case might finally bring answers to the victim's families. >> We'll never forget that tragic day. It's
stained in my memory. 25 years after the murders, the Austin Police Department went searching for a
match to the YSDR DNA that had been found on the yogurt shop victim believed to have been sexually assaulted. And in
2017, they got a break. On a public DNA database used for population studies, investigators thought they had found a
match. >> I've seen DNA prove homicide cases. So the DNA evidence is really the key here.
>> But that sample from the crime scene was not a complete DNA profile. It was just
YSTR, the male portion of DNA. And it was not a very detailed sample having just 16 markers.
>> 16 STRs is not a very powerful match. There could be millions of people with that same profile. So in genetic
genealogy, we usually use 67 or 111 markers or maybe even more. But isn't it a place to start? It is. It's not
absolute, but if there's nothing else to work with, it is certainly something to
look into. Still, it seemed to be the most promising lead in years. But there was a problem. The seemingly matching
sample on the public database had been submitted anonymously by the FBI. That meant it came from a federally convicted
offender, arresty, or detainee, but had no name attached to it. When Austin authorities tried to get that name, the
FBI would not provide it, citing privacy laws. >> There are some restrictions on privacy.
So, it gets into some very sort of uh, you know, uh, dicey issues. >> Frustrated, officials reached out to
Congressman McCall for help. And so I pressed the FBI very hard. >> Finally, in early 2020, the FBI agreed
to work with the Austin Police Department to see if further testing could be done on that YSDR DNA from the
crime scene. >> I was very excited about it. The idea that we could bring this case to a to
closure for the families and bring those responsible to justice. More advanced testing came up with
additional markers, 25 instead of the original 16. But as so often happened in this case,
what seemed so promising turned into disappointment. Some of the additional markers did not
match the FBI sample. In other words, what seemed to be a match was not. In a letter to Congressman McCall, the FBI
explained the new results quote conclusively exclude the male donor of the FBI sample. As such, the FBI YSDR
profile is not an investigative lead. >> And that was the greatest disappointment
because we really thought we had it. >> If it didn't match that individual, doesn't it still mean there's somebody
out there? This DNA belongs to somebody, right? >> It does. It does. Um and that's why
we're we're not going to rest till we find the match. >> How important then is this DNA profile
that exists to solving this case? >> I mean, it's um it's everything. With DNA research advancing so quickly,
there's real hope that one day that sample of DNA obtained 30 years ago may finally solve this case. Still, it will
not erase the pain or the loss of lives. Every year that goes by, I get farther and farther away from my sister,
you know, and I worry about losing memories. Sonora Thomas struggled for years with
panic attacks and physical pain until with the help of therapy, she realized it was connected to the murder of her
sister, Eliza. With a unique understanding of what trauma victims experience, Sonora wanted to help others
like her and became a therapist. >> There's so many moments, you know, when your heart is open. You know, you're
joyful, but there's also this loss that's always accompanying your life. >> Senor found it helpful to look for ways
to remember Eliza. When we got married, we have flower and an empty chair at our
ceremony and my sister was mentioned. >> Compounding Sonora's pain, her mother died in 2015.
Maria Thomas passed away with so many unresolved questions about the murder of her daughter.
>> There is a kind of torture that continues by the fact that it's unsolved and it's ongoing.
It's always there. >> John Jones is still haunted by the fact that the case is unsolved and by what he
saw that gruesome night. He has suffered from PTSD through the years. >> I had completely shut down
uh to where all my energy was directed at at the case. >> It took a toll on you, didn't it, John?
even 30 years afterwards. >> Well, yeah, it would on anybody. I think not as much as the families, you
understand? >> I know. >> Whatever pain I'm having pales in comparison to what they
what they're going through [Music] >> these days. Jones finds solace singing in his church choir.
>> I can relax when I'm in church. Leave the world behind. Leave outside. >> No, I I know it's just past the door.
>> And when he's in that outside world, the families of Amy Heirs, Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, and Eliza Thomas are
never far from his thoughts. >> I feel bad for them that it's still not solved. >> But Jones has hope. He has kept that
shirt he wore the night of the murders. >> Only worn once. >> The shirt he promised to never wear
until the case was solved. 30 years later, it's still sitting in there. >> Still sitting here. It is.
>> And sometime soon, John Jones looks forward to wearing it again. >> I just hope one of these days we can put
this thing to bed. for the family's sake. >> Nearly five decades ago, the son of Sam
terrorized New York City. >> He struck again over the weekend >> in a rare prison interview.
>> What would you tell 23-year-old David Burkowitz today? The serial killer reveals what drove him to murder.
>> He wouldn't understand what it was to walk in darkness. >> 48 hours Son of Sam, the Killer Speaks.
Next on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus.

CASE UPDATE: In September 2025, the Austin Police Department identified Robert Eugene Brashers, a serial killer and rapist, as the suspect in the Texas yogurt shop murders. Brashers, who is deceased, was tied to the murders through DNA testing. In February 2026, a judge declared innocent the four men who were wrongfully accused of the murders — formally exonerating them. In May 2026, the City of Austin agreed to pay a settlement of $35 million to be split among the men.

Brashers committed at least three murders between 1990 and 1998 in the states of South Carolina and Missouri. He died in January 1999 by suicide during a standoff with police. The gun he used to shoot himself is believed to be consistent with a bullet casing found in a drain inside the yogurt shop, according to retired Austin detective John Jones.

Watch "The Yogurt Shop Murders" -- Moriarty's reporting on the unsolved murders of four teenage girls which has haunted Austin for more than 30 years. This episode aired in August 2025.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

The episode discusses the unsolved yogurt shop murders in Austin and their lasting impact on victims' families and investigators.

Key points

The Yogurt Shop Murders. A shocking crime that left four teenage girls dead and a city in mourning.
The Search for Justice. Detectives and families grapple with the long search for answers in a haunting case.
Confessions and Doubts. Multiple confessions arise, but doubts linger about their validity and truth.
Arrests Made After Years. Finally, arrests are made in the yogurt shop murders after nearly a decade of searching.
Confessions Under Pressure. Confessions were coerced, leading to wrongful convictions in a high-stakes murder case.
A Long Wait for Justice. After years of imprisonment, the convictions of Scott and Springsteen are overturned.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I just hope one of these days we can put this thing to bed.

John Jones expresses hope for resolution after decades.

0:53WatchSep 26, 2025

Tension

70/ 100High tension

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