Yogurt Shop Murders

Chapters

• 0:00 The Night Austin Lost Four Daughters
• 2:31 The Crime Scene and Its Ruin
• 5:15 Grief, Community, and Early Missteps
• 8:49 Coerced Confessions and Overturned Convictions

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

December sixth, nineteen ninety one, a quiet Friday night in Austin, Texas would end in horror. Four teenage girls, laughing, planning, just living their lives vanished in the blaze of a frozen yogurt shop turned murder site. Bound, shot execution style, and then the scene set on fire as if to erase what had been done. For more than thirty years, this crime haunted the city. Four lives lost. A labyrinth of false leads, coerced confessions, and shattered hope. And then in 2025, a breakthrough. A new suspect emerged. DNA. Ballistics. Closure, maybe. This is human wreckage, the yogurt shop murders. The store, I can't believe it's yogurt, a frozen yogurt shop tucked into a strip mall on West Anderson Lane in North Austin. In 1991, this was a popular spot for teens to hang out after school, to work, to laugh. Jennifer Harbison, seventeen, and Eliza Thomas, also seventeen, were employees working the late shift that night. Jennifer's younger sister, Sarah Harbison, fifteen, and their friend, thirteen year old Amy Ires, were waiting inside, planning to ride home with Jennifer when her shift ended. The plan was simple. Close the shop at eleven PM, head home. No one could have imagined what would happen next. At some point late in the evening, a man was allowed to use the restroom in the back of the shop. He lingered for an unusually long time. Some investigators believe he may have manipulated the back door. A short time before eleven PM, two men were reportedly seen acting furtively at a table inside the shop. They left just before closing. By midnight, a patrol officer noticed smoke coming from the strip mall. A fire was burning at the yogurt shop. First responders rushed in and found more than flames. They discovered the bodies of the four girls inside. The scene they encountered was grotesque and chilling evidence of a violent crime staged within fire. The victims had been shot in the head, three had been gagged and bound with their own underwear, one was less burned, but had multiple gunshot wounds. At least some had been sexually assaulted. The fire had overtaken much of the shop, the water from hoses, smoke damage, shifting debris all conspired to destroy evidence. Investigators later described the scene as wholesale carnage. Inside, bodies were found stacked near a back door, charred and tangled. Some placed a sock like cloth around Amy's neck. It was immediately clear this was not an accident. This fire was meant to mask something far more sinister. We must pause to remember them not as victims, but as people. Four teens whose lives ended in a moment too cruel to imagine. Amy Ayers, thirteen. Quiet, innocent, too young. She was there that night as a friend. Eliza Thomas, seventeen. Working alongside Jennifer, she had ambitions and plans like any teen. Jennifer Harbison, seventeen, a worker at the shop and a sister. Always helpful, always kind. Sarah Harbison, fifteen. Jennifer's younger sister, playful, trusting, waiting for her sister to finish so they could head home together. They were more than the tragedy. Their families, friends, teachers shocked, devastated, determined to find answers. In the days that followed, the community grieved. The press descended. The case quickly became one of Austin's most infamous and haunting mysteries. From the earliest stages, investigators were hampered. The fire obscured cause, motion of evidence, shifting debris, smoke and water damage. The investigation would stretch over decades, marked by false leads and wrongful arrests. Inside the shop, forensic teams collected what little survived, ballistic evidence, biological samples, however compromised, witness interviews, clues from the layout of the shop, and those sightings of two suspicious men and the restroom user. In the early years, suspects included neighborhood teens and drifters. One teenager was apprehended shortly after in a nearby mall, carrying a weapon of the same caliber used in the murders. But investigators later discounted him, believing he was trying to limit his own criminal exposure. Over time, detective attention turned inward to a local circle of troubled youth. In 1999, eight years after the murders, the authorities arrested Morris Pierce, Forrest Wellbourne, Michael Scott, and Robert Springsteen. The prosecution's case relied heavily on confessions extracted through intense interrogations. Morris Pierce initially implicated the others by name. Scott and Springsteen were convicted, Springsteen even placed on death row, while Wellbourne and Pierce were not ultimately convicted. But evidence was lacking. Physical, forensic links remained elusive. DNA testing and forensic science at the time were not capable of solidly tying them to the scene, and over time, serious doubts surfaced about the legitimacy of their confessions. By 2009, Scott and Springsteen were exonerated, the convictions overturned, citing lack of reliable evidence and coerce statements. For decades, the case remained cold. One of the sore points in this investigation was how the confessions were obtained. Critics have long contended they were coerced under pressure and long interrogations with leading questions and promises of leniency. Legal analysts later argued that those confessions were unreliable. The investigators prioritized closing the case over cautious forensic certainty. The city, the victims' families, activists all watched as uncertainty grew. The prosecution faced criticism too pressing a weak case, prosecuting based on statements without strong forensic backing. Over time, advances in DNA and forensic testing would ultimately expose the insufficiencies. Even investigative journalists played a role. The Austin American statesmen devoted resources to covering the case, pushing legal and law enforcement authorities to keep working and re-examine evidence. Still, for years, the murders were an open pain, a wound in Austin's consciousness. For many cold cases, the advent of DNA testing and improved ballistics analysis have been game changers. The yogurt shop murders would be no exception. In recent years, Austin's cold case unit revisited the physical evidence. A.380 caliber cartridge found in a drain at the crime scene was re-examined and matched to a firearm tied to a 1998 unsolved case in Kentucky. Critically, DNA obtained from under one victim's fingernails a mark of her final struggle was reanalyzed with modern techniques. Investigators obtained a partial YSTR profile male lineage DNA that did not match any of the previously accused. That profile allowed investigators to search genealogical databases, leading them to Robert Eugene Braschers, a man already known to law enforcement for violent crimes across several states. Brashers died by suicide in 1999 during a police standoff. He was never charged in the yogurt shop case in life. But the link grew stronger. The shell casing from the Austin crime scene matched the same gun Braschers used in the ultimate confrontation. On september twenty seventh, twenty twenty five, Austin police publicly announced that Brashers is their leading suspect in the yogurt shop murders. Investigators and prosecutors now believe they have finally identified the true perpetrator. They are also pushing to formally exonerate those wrongly convicted decades earlier. This development has revived media attention, public interest, and grief. For some families, it may bring long sought closure. For others, it's a stark reminder of the criminal justice system's failures. Even with this breakthrough, many questions remain unanswered. How was Brashers connected to Austin? He had no obvious tie to the city at the time of the murders. No record showing he lived there or had a direct link. Did more than one person commit the crime? Some early theories posited two attackers. Witnesses had seen two men acting suspiciously. Could Brashers have had an accomplice? Was robbery the motive? The official narrative often suspected a botched robbery, but only a small amount around fifty dollars was reported missing from the cash drawer. The violence, sexual assault, and the attempt to destroy evidence suggests something far more personal or predatory. Why the cover up or misdirection? For decades, the case was mishandled, misdirected, or stalled. The false confessions, the rush to arrest local teens, the failure to properly preserve and analyze evidence all point to systemic weaknesses. Can we ever truly have closure? Brashers is dead. He cannot face trial. The families cannot see a jury convict him. Some feel closure is incomplete when the primary suspect cannot be held accountable. But acknowledging truth, laying to rest false convictions, and honoring the memory of those four girls may be the closest many can come. This case left profound scars on Austin. Parents no longer felt safe sending their children out at night. Tension brewed between communities and the police. Over the years, activists pushed for better cold case resources, more forensic investment, and oversight in interrogations. The wrongful convictions of Scott and Springsteen remain a cautionary tale about power, coerced testimony, and the perils of tunnel vision in law enforcement. The Austin American statesman and local journalism continued pushing. The press became a watchdog, pressing cold case units, publicizing evidence, and giving voice to the families. In 2025, the HBO docuceries, the yogurt shop murders, helped reignite public interest and likely influenced renewed efforts in the case. And now, with the new identification of brashers, the case stands as a testament. Science can correct the course, but human cost lingers. What happens now? The city of Austin and its police department intend to formalize the exoneration of those wrongly convicted. Investigators will continue digging into other crimes connected to brashers to trace his movements, possible accomplices, and any record of motive. Some hope remains that victims' families might find reconciliation or closure. Some may continue fighting for recognition, memorials, or legal acknowledgement. The case is also a lesson for law enforcement nationwide. Preserve evidence, use caution in interrogations, treat cold cases with respect and resources, and use new technology proactively. To the listeners, this case is a reminder. Behind every forensic sample, behind every legal proceeding, there are lives the living and the dead whose dignity must be remembered.