The wheels of justice may turn painfully slowly, but sometimes they get there in the end. On Dec. 6 1991, firefighters made a horrific discovery after extinguishing a fire at the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt Shop in Austin, Texas. Amongst the burnt wreckage were the bodies of Eliza Thomas, 17, Jennifer Harbison, 17, Sarah Harbison, 15, and Amy Ayers, 13.
All four were gagged, all four had been shot in the head, with the fire an apparent attempt to destroy the evidence. The media dubbed the crime The Yogurt Shop Murders and cops quickly nabbed a suspect.
Teenager Maurice Pierce was arrested on the sole basis that he was carrying a pistol matching the caliber used in the killings and was promptly put under brutal interrogation. All too soon, he was not only confessing to the crime but naming three others: Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen, and Forrest Wellburn.
Cops gave them all the same treatment, and the four men were convicted, with the department giving themselves a smug pat on the back for a job well done. The only problem? They were all completely innocent.
By 2009, they had successfully appealed, with their lawyers pointing out the lack of any direct evidence connecting them to the crime and the “controversial” interrogation techniques that produced the false confessions.
The real killer
After 33 years, Austin’s infamous 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders have been solved. Investigators say DNA ties serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers—who died by suicide in 1999—to the brutal killings of four teenage girls.@cbsaustin
— Abigail Velez (@velez_tx) September 26, 2025
PHOTOS: @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/nTsgyQmUHD
Now, three decades later, somewhat embarrassed cops have revealed they’ve found the real suspect. In a statement released yesterday, cops confirmed that DNA testing shows who really committed this crime: Robert Eugene Brashers.
Brashers was never a suspect in the original investigation, but had been linked to several other brutal murders and rapes across the south, from Tennessee to South Carolina. Unfortunately for justice, Brashers died by suicide in 1999 during a standoff with cops in Kennett.
All of which adds up to a truly depressing saga of pure evil and police incompetence and laziness. Four teenage girls lost their lives in nightmarish fashion, four innocent men had their lives torn apart as they were pressured into confessing to a crime they had nothing to do with, and the real culprit was mouldering in the dirt for 26 years before cops discovered that, actually, the serial murderer and rapist active in the area committed this crime.
Nobody here can hold their heads up high, but some credit must go to the new investigation team who picked up this cold case and finally got their families some answers. And as for the bumbling cops who got the wrong guys the first time around? Well, they’re probably happy, fat, and enjoying their retirements.
