The Yogurt Shop Murders | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] every year marks another year you know that there's no closure yeah I still have insomnia 30
years after the fact I wish i' had solved a crime for the families we Tred this is the 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 the saint AB bed [Applause] Jony 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 did you get my in right out there that was the lead investigator on the I can't believe it's yoga Shop
murder case on December 6th 199 91 there was a robbery fire and murder committed this all right I'll make to
call myself victims were Jennifer and Sarah Harbison Eliza Thomas and Amy SS 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 [Music] 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 get him in jail or clear him from this [Music] case I don't know how many murderers
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 to the killers of four teenage girls in an Austin yogurt shop oh that's the big
book this one uh 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 moov with him hypnosis polygraph confessions you know I noticed this
sitting here yep we will not forget you have 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 round
35 bu it started with that call from dispatch okay I'm copying the fire Park you cut out on the first part that to go
to a scene of a fire that would turn into something far worse apparently a robber
homity I stand for [Music] around and then about halfway out there they call me again on the radio said we
found the 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 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 is no color in there with the exception of the girls the girls were quickly identified
two have been working at the shop closing up that night Eliza Thomas and Jennifer harberson were both 17 years
old Jennifer's 15-year-old Sister Sarah and their friend 13-year-old Amy SS 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 had information went out Nationwide gunshot wounds showed two different types of guns were used
leading investigators that 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 track down leads the families and the City of auson
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 Bob SS 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 veterinarian she was a daddy's girl I
remember the [Music] shock Sonora Thomas 13year 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 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 cuz you know we were hurting too here you go open your little mouth Jones apparent
himself felt the family's grief he promised to do all he could to help them we told him what we could and I assured
him that we would keep them a priz just 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 you
know we stayed in constant contact with the Behavioral Science unit at uh the FBI and quanico 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 is the 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 state statement fact I
took his statement and he implicated three other boys Janes says Maurice Pierce claimed
that he was driving a getaway car and that three acquaintances Forest wellborne Michael Scott and Robert
Springstein were involved in the murders but Pierce's story began to fall apart it started the 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 us didn't know what Maurice was talking about and when wellborne Scott and
spring steam 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 contined get
down the ground get down get down on the ground [Music] information flow anyway two months after the yogurt shop
murders with no viable suspects police were chasing leads no matter where it took them in the vampires uh the occult
graveyard RS 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 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 the
Oakwood Cemetery the task force planned a raid on her home my computer hoping to
see if any evidence might be found there not right here right here unlocked the door police police police
[Applause] off it was creepy in there all that 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 to
make believe life this Sergeant hook could be out the 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 the 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 a couple of other investigators from the sex crimes unit came up and go we have a sketch that
looks just like that 3 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 men 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
them 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 reinterviewed the men 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 on promising lead fell apart it was depressing over the following years
there would be other confessions ones that were willingly given you know we Face six confessions six people who
confessed yeah written that confessed to this crime yes they did and they didn't
do it nope [Music] in 1994 after nearly 3 years of leading the investigation Jon 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 amir's mother ham 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 I'm running into people who were constantly asking how the case was
going was very hard on me and especially my daughter Sonora Sonora 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 [Music] decade after nearly 8 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 8 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 wellborne Michael Scott and
Robert Springstein to to the task force they were familiar names and faces they were the same young men that Jon Jones
and his investigators question 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 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 what caused them to
actually go out and arrest them 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 spr sc'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 Springstein 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 Rob 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 trigger once I hear another gun go up investigators claimed
that Springstein later corroborated much of what Scott [Music] said but after intense questioning he
went further [Music] 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 and 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
springen explained to 40 8 hours why he would admit to doing something so horrible something he says he didn't do
I was braided 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 M 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 wellborne 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 Aon Mor with CBS I spoke to wellborne in 1999 in jail shortly after
his arrest were you there that night no were you there as a lookout no miss it you had nothing to do with
this nothing at all Wellborn had been questioned multiple times by investigators over the years and he
never wavered he lik 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 Pierce
told the detectives back then that he had given the handgun to wellborne and that it had been used in the yogurt shop
murders why would he say that I don't know wellborne has always maintained his innocence despite pressure from from the
police they'll get right in my face and you know tell me everything I said it was a lie remember false confessions
in this case were nothing new Jones 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 men began
crumbling charges against Forest wellborne 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 Springstein 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
[Music] murders in 2001 nearly 10 years after the murders of Eliza Thomas Amy SS and
Sarah and Jennifer Harbison the yogurt shop murder trials began both defendants Robert Springstein and Michael Scott
face the death penalty the only thing that ever tied Robert or Mike Scott to that crime scene with 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 use their confessions
against one another reading parts of the confessions to the juries spring seed's
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 3 weeks
the jury deliberated for 13 hours and police run and then reached a verdict we the jury find the defendant Robert
Springstein ivth guilty of the offense of capital murder guilty Springstein 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 are 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 Springstein were not released a new district attorney
Rosemary Lamberg 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 yst testing and was fairly new in 2009 when we spoke with da
Lamberg 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 matter 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 Springstein and that's significant
because Springstein in that confession he said was coerced told investigators he raped one of the
girls CC Moore is a DNA expert and genetic genealogists whom we asked about the case and the role of yst strr DNA in
criminal cases it is a tool that can eliminate almost everyone it should eliminate
everybody but the suspect if their ydr does not match they did not contribute that because where that DNA was found
yes in this case it's very important doing the district attorney was focused on finding the source of that DNA she
wondered if Springstein 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 Lumberg dropped charges
against spring scen and Scott after nearly 10 years behind bars they were released but not exonerated leaving open
the possibility they could be retried 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 The 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 [Music] 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 ydr 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 the DNA evidence is really the key here but that sample from the crime
scene was not a complete DNA profile it was just yst the male portion of DNA and
it was not a very detailed sample having just 16 markers 16 Str 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 arreste 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 Mcall 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 y SDR 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 happen 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 maale donor of the FBI sample as such the FBI ydr 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 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 sonor found it helpful to look for ways to remember Eliza when we got married we have a
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 of torture that continues by the fact that it's unsolved and it's
ongoing it's always there Jon 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 You' been 30 years afterwards well yeah it would on anybody I think not as much as the family as you
understand I know whatever pain I'm having pales in comparison to what they what they're going
[Music] through these days Janes 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 SS Jennifer and Sarah Harbison and Eliza Thomas are
never far from his thoughts I feel bad for them that is 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
more than 30 years later still sitting in there still sitting here it is and sometime soon Jon Jones looks
forward to wearing it [Music] again I just hope one of these days we can put this thing to bed
[Music] for the family's [Music] [Music] sake 48 hours don't miss an episode [Music]

The brutal murders of four teenage girls has haunted Austin, Texas, for 30 years. Could new information lead to a killer? "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty has reported on the case from the beginning and has the latest on the search for answers in this episode from August 2022. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

CASE UPDATE: In September 2025, the Austin Police Department identified Robert Eugene Brashers, a serial killer and rapist, as the suspect in the 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.

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 examines the unsolved yogurt shop murders and their lasting impact on victims' families and investigators.

Key points

The Yogurt Shop Murders. A shocking crime that left a city in mourning and a detective haunted by the case.
The Search for Justice. Years of investigation lead to multiple confessions, but doubts linger about their validity.
Arrests Made After Years. Finally, four men are arrested in connection with the yogurt shop murders, bringing hope to families.
Trial and Conviction. Robert Springsteen IV is found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death.
Shocking Turn of Events. 15 years later, the court rules that Michael Scott's rights were violated, leading to overturned convictions.
DNA Breakthrough. New DNA testing reveals that the male DNA profile does not match any original suspects.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I know who did this; I just don't know his name.

A detective expressing frustration in the investigation.

3:22WatchMar 27, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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