The yogurt shop murders: Are two never-identified customers key to solving Austin, Texas, murders?

[This story was originally posted on February 5, 2022. It was updated on August 27.]

It has been greater than 30 years since 4 teenage women have been murdered in an Austin, Texas, yogurt shop and the case stays unsolved. At one level, there have been arrests after which convictions, however these convictions have been later overturned on enchantment, and finally, new DNA know-how raised doubts concerning the involvement of these preliminary arrestees. 

The case has left investigators at what seems to be a standstill, however as correspondent Erin Moriarty reported on this week’s “48 Hours,” there’s a concept that two never-identified males seen within the yogurt shop on the night time of the murders could have been concerned within the unsolved killings which have haunted Austin for many years. 

On December 6, 1991, 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, 13-year-old Amy Ayers, and two sisters, 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison and 15-year-old Sarah Harbison, have been tied up and shot within the head in an “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt!” shop in Austin. 

The metropolis had by no means seen against the law fairly prefer it. Eliza and Jennifer had been working within the yogurt shop that night time. They have been preparing to shut when Jennifer’s sister, Sarah, and their pal, Amy, met them there to head house. Investigators imagine not less than two males entered the shop and dedicated the brutal crime earlier than setting the place on fireplace, destroying a lot of the proof.

John Jones labored for the Austin Police Department on the time of the crime and was the lead investigator on the case. He has since retired. Jones instructed Moriarty that as a part of the early investigation, he and his group tracked down customers who have been within the yogurt shop on the day of the crime to see in the event that they seen something suspicious. According to Jones, a number of customers described two males who “looked out of place” sitting within the shop simply earlier than it was due to shut. Neither man was reported to have bought frozen yogurt — as a substitute, solely a drink.

“They never have been identified. And we did everything. … We even hypnotized some folks,” Jones instructed Moriarty.

Despite investigators’ efforts, that lead went nowhere and ultimately the case went chilly. Then, in 1999, almost eight years after the murders, there was a break within the case when new investigators determined to re-examine a unique outdated lead.

Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce and Forrest Welborn have been solely youngsters on the time of the crime. They, too, had landed on Jones’ radar early on after one among them, Maurice Pierce, was arrested with a gun at a mall close to the yogurt shop within the days after the crime. Back then, the boys have been questioned by Jones and his group however have been subsequently launched for lack of proof. 

In 1999, the brand new investigators determined to re-question the boys. Two of them, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, confessed to the yogurt shop murders and implicated Pierce and Welborn within the course of. All 4 males have been subsequently arrested.

But it wasn’t lengthy earlier than Springsteen and Scott recanted their confessions, saying they have been coerced. Charges have been finally dropped towards Pierce and Welborn due to lack of proof. 

Springsteen and Scott have been the one two to go on trial. They have been each convicted, however years later, their convictions have been overturned on constitutional grounds. The Sixth Amendment offers defendants the fitting to confront accusers and in Scott and Springsteen’s trials, their confessions have been used towards each other, however they weren’t allowed to query one another in courtroom.

Prosecutors meant to retry Springsteen and Scott, however earlier than doing so, they ordered DNA checks on vaginal swabs taken from the victims on the time of the murders. By this level, investigators had come to imagine not less than one of many victims had been sexually assaulted, and prosecutors needed to benefit from a reasonably new kind of DNA testing referred to as Y-STR testing. It searches for male DNA solely. 

No one anticipated what it will reveal. As a results of the testing, a partial male DNA profile was obtained from one of many victims, however to the shock of the prosecutor’s workplace, the DNA pattern didn’t match any of the 4 males who had been arrested. Charges have been dropped towards Springsteen and Scott, they usually have been launched from jail after spending 10 years behind bars.

Attorney Amber Farrelly labored on each Scott and Springsteen’s protection groups. She is adamant that police had all of it improper after they arrested Scott, Springsteen, Welborn and Pierce. She instructed “48 Hours” she believes these two unidentified customers from the yogurt shop are who police ought to actually be fixated on.

While engaged on Scott and Springsteen’s protection groups, Farrelly was tasked with sifting by way of outdated police information, together with these interviews Jones and his colleagues had performed with customers who visited the yogurt shop on the day of the murders.

“They (police) have accounted for and interviewed 52 people that were in the yogurt shop that day,” Farrelly instructed “48 Hours'” Erin Moriarty.

Farrelly says a number of of these customers talked about the two males who have been seen sitting within the yogurt shop simply earlier than it was due to shut that night time.

“We have no names to them. And when you look at — when you step back and you look and you think, ‘They’ve talked to 52 people and didn’t miss one person from 4:30 until 11:00 at night. And several people talk about a guy or two guys, and they describe them in the same manner? And we don’t know who those two guys are? And they’ve never called in? … That raises, in my opinion, the suspicion… that these are the gentlemen who did it,” Farrelly mentioned.

“Were those two men who’ve never been identified the last people in the yogurt shop, as far as you know?” Moriarty requested Farrelly.

“Absolutely,” Farrelly responded.

Farrelly says the boys have been described as “kind of leaned over the table, talking to each other and kind of whispering, like they didn’t want anybody to hear what they were saying.”

She says that one of many males was described as having gentle, brief hair, “like a dirty blonde,” and was mentioned to have been about 5’6″ tall and in his late 20s or early 30s. She says the other man was described as being “larger,” and both were observed wearing big coats. One, she says, is thought to have had a green “Army fatigue type of wanting jacket” and the other is thought to have had a black jacket. According to Farrelly, the men are believed to have been driving a green car that evening.

John Jones, the former lead investigator on the case, is still haunted by the unsolved yogurt shop murders even though he has long retired. He told “48 Hours” he still wonders about those unidentified customers.

“Yeah, it is type of a query to me that to at the present time, they have not been recognized,” he said. “Is that proof that they did it? No, however that is proof that we actually want to discuss to them.”

If you have got information concerning the yogurt shop murders, name 512-472-TIPS.