Yogurt Shop Murders

Happy True Crime Thursday! 

Today's case is the unsolved yogurt shop murders that occurred in Austin, Texas.

Lets go to the evening of December 6, 1991. It's on this evening that 15 year old Sarah Harbison and 13 year old Amy Ayers were hanging out at the Northcross Mall in Austin, Texas. It was a cold night and the two girls were hanging out waiting to meet up with Sarah's sister Jennifer and her friend/co-worker Eliza Thomas. Jennifer and Eliza, both 17, were working a late shift at "I Can't Believe It's Yogurt!" at the Hillside strip mall just a few blocks from where Sarah and Amy were. Around 10:00 P.M. Sarah and Amy made their way to the yogurt shop to help the girls close up shop. After the store was set to close at 11:00 P.M the four of them had plans to go to a slumber party together. 

A little bit before midnight Officer Troy Gay with the Austin Police Department noticed smoke coming from the strip mall, he reported the fire and soon firefighters were on the scene. Once the flames were extinguished they would come across a horrific sight. 

Firefighters discovered the nude bodies of all four girls. They were bound and gagged with their own clothing. Their legs were wide open, and an ice cream scoop was placed between one of their legs. Sarah, Jennifer and Eliza were found clustered together in the far back of the shop, Eliza and Sarah were stacked on top of each other while Jennifer lay close by. Amy on the other hand was found towards the middle of the back room. 

The bodies were burned almost to the point of beyond recognition. The killer or killers torched the place by lighting napkins and other flammables from around the shop doused in lighter fluid before fleeing the scene. After the autopsies were performed it was discovered that all of them were shot in the back of the head execution style, and at least two of them had been raped. Police released a statement to the media that two guns had been used to commit the murders, leaving them to speculate that there may have been at least two perpetrators, it was also determined that around $540 was missing from the shop. 

Lead detective John Jones and his partner Mike Huckabay had their work cut out for them. You see there were a couple issues with the investigation. The firemen who had responded to the scene did their job perfectly, they put out the fire...meaning they also washed away potential forensic evidence. Also during the early 90's the department was lacking forensic expertise. They only had one fingerprint unit and the city's homicide squad consisted of only one homicide investigator on shift the night of the murders. Despite this the two men were determined to solve the murders and had a list of suspects, 342 suspects that is. The phones at the police station were ringing off the hook with tips, they also had dozens of false confessions.  Despite their best efforts the case went unsolved, years went by with no arrests made and by 1999 the case had been passed on to new detectives. 

It was then that four suspects were taken into custody for the murders, Forrest Welborn, Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen and Maurice Pierce, all of them in their 20's. These men were not new to police, they actually had been questioned just 8 days after the murders, but were released due to lack of evidence. Michael confessed to the killings and he wasn't the only one, Robert also confessed to killing the girls and to raping one of them. This was it, police had their killers...or so they thought? 

It was thought that the 4 men had planned to rob the shop, Forrest was the lookout while Michael, Robert and Maurice committed the robbery. But something went south and during the robbery the girls were murdered. Charges against Maurice were dropped due to lack of evidence, this was tough for police and the families of the girls because it seemed as though he was the mastermind behind the crimes. As for Forrest, police also tried to indict him, twice, but they also lacked any evidence linking him to the crimes so his charges were also dropped. 

Michael and Robert on the other hand were both tried and found guilty of capitol murder, Michael was sentenced to 99 years in prison while Robert received the death penalty. But wait! There's more. Not long after the trials there was serious concern that there was no physical evidence linking them to the crime, and both men stated that their confessions had actually been coerced. And there was evidence of that. One of the detectives on the case was transferred after he allegedly extorted confessions in another case, and a photo was presented showing another member of the police department pointing a gun at Michael's head during his interrogation. 

15 years after the shop killings the convictions of Michael and Robert were overturned due to their constitutional rights being violated. It was found that they had used their confessions against each other in trial, but their lawyers were never given the opportunity to cross examine the accuser. It was determined that their Sixth Amendment right had been violated. 

In 2008, DNA testing was done on the little evidence that had been collected from the crime scene, the results didn't match Michael or Robert, or the other men suspected. District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg said that even though she was convinced that the 2 men were responsible for the murders, they wouldn't be re-prosecuted until the unknown male DNA was connected to someone. Authorities had the theory that a 5th man must have been involved that night, but there was never a mention of a 5th participant until the DNA results came in. 

Another theory by lawyers, family members, investigators, and armchair detectives that have studied the case is that the killers are actually 2 unidentified customers who were in the yogurt shop at closing time. Police had apparently interviewed 52 customers who had been to the shop the day of the murders, but two men who witnesses placed at the shop at closing time have never been found.  Three customers who left the shop just before closing time said on their way out they noticed two men sitting in a booth not looking like they were leaving any time soon. At least one of the customers then saw Jennifer lock the front door and put up the closed sign so no more customers would enter why they closed up shop. 

The witnesses described the persons like so "One has lighter hair, maybe like a dirty blond, and is about 5 foot 6...in his late 20's, early 30's. The other is described as a bigger man. Bother were wearing bigger coats...one had a green coat...army-fatigue kind of looking jacket, the other had a black jacket." 

To this day the men have never been identified. 

What was the motive behind this case? Was it meant to be a robbery and it went sideways? Or was it a much more malicious plan due to the severity of the crimes and taking the money was a cover up? 

These girls deserve justice and I think the only way they are going to get it is if the DNA match is found. 

Resources: 

The 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders ~ True Crime Diva

The Unsolved Austin Yogurt Shop Murders – The True Crime Files