Four men wrongfully accused of the infamous 1991 yogurt shop murders in Austin, Texas, have been formally declared innocent by a state judge, 35 years after the brutal slayings. The ruling, issued by State District Judge Dayna Blazey on Thursday, clears the names of Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn, who had lived under suspicion for decades.
The victims—Eliza Thomas, 17, Jennifer Harbison, 17, her sister Sarah Harbison, 15, and Amy Ayers, 13—were found dead inside the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop on December 6, 1991. Their bodies were charred, naked, gagged, tied up, and stacked on top of one another, each shot in the back of the head. At least one had been raped. Investigators believe the killers set a fire using lighter fluid to cover up the crime.
The case initially focused on the four teenage boys, with Springsteen and Scott confessing while in police custody. Scott was sentenced to death and Springsteen to life in prison, but their convictions were later overturned by the Texas Court of Appeals, and both were freed. Pierce died in 2010, and Welborn was never convicted. The declaration of innocence comes after detectives announced in 2025 that new evidence linked the killings to Robert Eugene Brashers, a suspect who died in a 1999 standoff with police in Missouri.
In court, Travis County First Assistant District Attorney Trudy Strassburger stated, 'Over 25 years ago, the state prosecuted four innocent men for one of the worst crimes Austin has ever seen.' Judge Blazey called her order 'an obligation to the rule of law and the obligation to the dignity of the individual.' The ruling paves the way for the men and their families to seek financial compensation for the years spent in jail or under suspicion.
