S5 Ep38: Same Story, Different Players: The Texas Yogurt Shop Murders

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1:01Hey strangers, just a quick reminder that if you want early ad free episodes, there are two ways to go about it. One, you can subscribe with Apple podcasts, but the better way is to subscribe at Grab Bag Collab. For about the same price as Apple, around five bucks a month, you'll get early ad free strange. Plus, my two other podcasts, Dear Daisy and Shut the F up, Nicolache. A love is blind recap podcast, as well as Amber Hunt's crimes of the centuries, and what if they're wrong? The new version of her Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast accused, and new quarterly special shows all the time. Grab Bag is a small, women and non-binary own network. Supporting us means you're supporting a small business with transparent operations and profit sharing among all creators. All our creators get to keep their shows unlike big networks that own their creator's IP. We are so proud of the work we're doing at Grab Bag, and we'd love for you to come and share in the love. But, you can also support the show for zero dollars by making sure you're subscribed

2:02and that your episodes automatically download. You can set your phone to delete the download after a certain number of days, so it doesn't take up unneeded space. But, download numbers are the way advertisers know if they want to buy spots on the show, or not, and that is, unfortunately, the main way I make money. You can also leave a review and don't forget to tell your friends about your favorite podcast of all time. Strange and unexplained with me, Daisy Eagle. Thanks so much, and enjoy the show. Strangers just before we begin, please take note. This episode covers some very difficult topics, including the rapes and murders of young girls. Please take care. Remember being a teenager, hug, am I right? The drama, the lying, the angst, wasn't it just maddening? Now add to the experience a horrifying crime befalling your community, with limited evidence for authorities to follow in their investigation of it.

3:04You, a vulnerable knot of hormones and acne are the closest thing to a suspect, simply because you were there being a mall rat with your friends. Could you trust yourself to stand in your truth against the feds, or would you fold under pressure? Welcome to Strange and unexplained with me, Daisy Egan. My first real-person job was as a canvasser for a nonprofit. I went door to door, asking for signatures for this bill or that. Frequently, I was invited in to complete strangers' homes, and you know what I did? I went inside strangers' homes. I am so lucky I made it out of that job alive, literally. It used to be a part-time job was a right of passage for teenagers, whether you were saving up to pay for college or to buy your own set of wheels, or just for some pocket money to spend at the very same mall you likely worked at.

4:05Your first job was supposed to be the stepping stone into your next 40 to 50 years of daily grind. But for two young women, one little sister and a friend, a part-time teenage job was not the first step of many, but was indeed their last. And four young men would be haplessly swept up into their story in a fight for their own lives. I'm a man. I'm a man. I'm a man. I'm a man. I'm a man. I'm a man. 17-year-olds Jennifer Harbison and Eliza Thomas met as members of future farmers of America. Both girls were juniors at Linear High School in Northwest Austin, Texas. Jennifer was a driven and successful student. According to one source quote, she served as president of the school's future farmers of America chapter, competed on the track team,

5:07and was a member of the Vikets drill team. A classmate described her as very opinionated along with her corny jokes. And her geography teacher later said she was more excited about life than any kid I've ever known. End quote. Jennifer was working at, I can't believe it's yogurt where she was saving up to buy a car. Eliza was an exceptional student. She was described as, quote, a devoted member of the band, playing the clarinet and also sang in the school choir. Friends described her as shy at first, but deeply loyal and witty once you got to know her. She had a love for animals, particularly cats, and was known for her artistic flare and gentle heart. End quote. I often took closing shifts and I can't believe it's yogurt, which was, quote, a way to earn extra money and take on responsibility, something she did with maturity beyond her years. End quote. End quote.

6:08On Friday, December 6, 1991, Eliza and Jennifer were both working the closing shift and I can't believe it's yogurt, on 2949 West Anderson Lane in Austin. Jennifer's 15-year-old sister Sarah and her friend, 13-year-old Amy Ayers, had been hanging out at the mall where the yogurt shop was located and both came by. Amy was described as a bright, free-spirited, and endlessly curious teenager. She was funny and kind and loved good prank. She was an eighth grader and had recently joined future farmers of America. She loved animals. Quote, she was especially proud of raising a lamb named Tutti as part of her FFA activities. Her dream was to one day become a veteranarian combining her deep compassion with a strong sense of purpose, end quote. Sarah was a freshman at Linear High and she was a junior varsity cheerleader, a student council representative, a member of FFA, and played on the freshman volleyball team

7:10and the basketball team. Sarah idolized her older sister and the two were very close. Quote, Sarah was described by friends as warm-hearted and spirited, with a maturity beyond her years. Like Jennifer, she was involved in future farmers of America and showed interest in animal husbandry, including raising and showing livestock. Her involvement in FFA reflected her love of animals and nature and she often participated in school and forage activities with enthusiasm, end quote. The four girls had plans to sleep over at Jennifer and Sarah's house that night. By 10 pm, both of Eliza's parents had stopped by to check in on the four girls. The shop was scheduled to close at 11 pm. Just before midnight, though, a patrol officer noticed flames coming from inside the yogurt shop and notified dispatch. The first fire truck arrived at 11.53 pm. According to a piece from the Austin Chronicle,

8:10quote, fans of firefighters and police responded to the two alarm blaze, end quote. Detective John Jones was the first investigator on the scene. He pulled up to find a quote, chaotic scene of public safety officials trampling in and out of what they would soon learn was a scene of a quadruple murder. After the blaze was suppressed, firefighters made the shocking discovery. The bodies of the four girls stripped and bound, shot in the head. Some of them stacked together and terribly burned from the fire that investigators concluded was set to cover the crime, end quote. Another piece from the Austin Chronicle, quoted Jones as telling reporters that what he found inside was, quote, wholesale carnage. I looked in there, and oh my god, end quote. Austin firefighter Renee Garza would later say, quote, the firefighter with me tapped me on the shoulder and pointed down. He asked me, is that a body?

9:11And I had to step back. It was, and I saw another body. I knew it wasn't right. Something was not right, end quote. News 8 Austin reported that 13-year-old Amy was the first body to be discovered. She was found, quote, lying in the middle section of the store. She was without clothes and on her side, face down. Near her was an empty cash drawer. The medical examiner determined her cause of death to be strangulation and gunshot wounds to the head. A 22 caliber bullet was recovered, end quote. Sarah Harbison was found in the back room extensively burned with her hands tied behind her back and gagged at the mouth. She had been sexually assaulted. Eliza was found on top of Sarah in a similar manner. Her face and body were burned beyond recognition. She could only be identified through dental records. They were able to determine

10:12that she had not been sexually assaulted. Jennifer was found near Sarah and Eliza. Investigators believed she had been stacked on top of Eliza and had been pushed off by the force of the fire hose. All four girls it was determined were dead before the fire began. Now this arson clearly became a quadruple homicide. I don't know about you, but I'm the kind of person who likes to hold on to my money if I can. That's why I hate throwing money toward giant, big wireless carriers. If you're tired of spending hundreds on crazy high wireless bills, bogus fees and free perks that cost you more in the long run, then a premium wireless plan for Mint Mobile for $50,000. That's why I hate throwing money toward giant, big wireless carriers. If you're tired of spending hundreds on crazy high wireless bills, Mint Mobile for $15 a month might be right for you. We got our son a Mint Mobile plan,

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12:16The crime scene was an absolute mess. According to the Chronicle Quote, water had puddled in the shop, particularly in the rear where the bodies were found. And the high-powered firehoses had inevitably shifted elements of the scene, perhaps including the bodies, making it difficult at best to identify and collect what evidence remained. End quote. Detective Jones reached out for help with the investigation and soon the federal bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms, the FBI, and the Texas Department of Public Safety were on the case. But as I previously noted, the scene was chaos. In the time between the first fire truck arriving just before midnight and about 4 a.m. when the Department of Public Safety arrived, firefighters, paramedics, arson investigators, the medical examiner and police had been coming and going through the shop. This, of course, meant the scene had been significantly disrupted, making collection of evidence infinitely more difficult. Later, a trial

13:17DPS investigator, Irma Rios, would testify that the efforts of the crime scene were not coordinated. Evidence was not collected, and areas of the shop had never been processed for physical damage, including the bathrooms, the front door, and a dumpster out back. In her testimony, Rios said, quote, no one ever pulled out everything that was in the dumpster. We just looked at what was on top, end quote. I don't care how chaotic the scene was. You're telling me they couldn't look through the dumpster at the scene of a horrific crime? The interior of the shop had not been properly plotted for investigation either. Just like basic police work. Despite all this, eventually some evidence was collected. According to News 8 Austin, using shovels and sifter screens, investigators found bullet shells, and a magazine for a semi-automatic handgun. Some burnt clothes, including, quote, remnants of denim fabric,

14:18and clothing from all the girls, as well as a heart-shaped belt buckle that had belonged to Amy. However, police teams never recovered the belt that went with it. A ring that belonged to Sarah Harbison's boyfriend was also found, end quote. The Chronicle reported that latent fingerprints were found on the cash register drawer, and that, quote, at least five hairs were recovered from the girls' bodies or items of their clothing. In their interviews of witnesses, who'd been in and around the yogurt shop the night of the murders, investigators found some promising leads. In 2009, the Austin Chronicle reported that on the evening of the murders, quote, according to police statements, a couple saw two men sitting at a booth and acting strangely. By watching their reflections in the plate-glass shop front, the woman could see the men from where she was sitting. The woman said the pair made her uncomfortable, sources tell the Chronicle. The couple left, as the girls began to close up shop, leaving the two men alone with them, end quote.

15:18Listen, I'm sure this anonymous couple already feels horrible for not doing more, and I don't mean too much, but, come on, these were children, these people should have done more. I saw a thing on threads recently where a woman recounted being hit on by a grown-ass adult man in an airport when she was like 14 or so, and an older black woman intervened and was like, until you get on that airplane, I am your auntie, and ran that man off. That's how you do it. But it wasn't just a civilian couple that saw that something wasn't right at the yogurt shop a former police officer, Durrell Croft, who was, by that time, running a private security company, visited the shop around 10 p.m. that evening. He recalled being approached by a man wearing a military fatigue-style jacket who was loitering in the line at the shop. The man was apparently letting other customers go ahead of him in line, and gave the same courtesy to Croft, but not before asking Croft

16:18if he was a cop. Croft said he didn't take the man up on his offer and noticed when he got to the counter, that all he ordered was a soda. He then watched the man go behind the counter toward the back of the store. Croft asked Eliza what was going on, and she said she had let him back there to use the restroom. And then, according to the Chronicle Stranger, quote, Croft was uneasy and testified that he hung around the counter for a few more minutes to see if the man ever returned. According to Croft, he never did. End quote. I can't with this. I can't. What the fuck should be more urgent to any adult person let alone an officer of the law than waiting until some strange dude comes out from the back of a store where four teenage girls are seemingly alone. Indeed, 17-year-old Eliza was the supervising manager on the shift. There were no adults there with them.

17:20At least he paid attention to what little he saw. According to the Chronicle, quote, days after the crime, Croft was able to give a fairly detailed description of the man he saw. A white male about six feet tall, mid to late twenties, medium build, dark hair, clean shaven, clear deep voice, and a long pointed nose. End quote. An employee at a nearby party store said he heard nothing at all from the yogurt shop except for some props which were assumed to be the gunshots. Criminal attorney Amber Farley would later point out that the lack of screams or commotion coming from the yogurt shop suggested that whoever carried out this gruesome quadruple homicide was able to maintain a quote certain amount of control over the victims. She said the killer or killers likely had previous criminal records and that the manner of the killings suggested that they were, quote, experienced, sadistic criminals. End quote. Despite all that information, however,

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20:22Enjoy being fully alert. Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. ["Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty"] Within a week of the murders, 16-year-old Maurice Pierce was arrested for bringing a gun to North Cross Mall. The gun was the same make and model as one of the guns used in the murders. Pierce was taken in and questioned by Austin Police Department homicide detective Hector Polanco. Now, what they gleaned from Pierce is all a little confusing because there's differing information from a few sources, so I'll just get through this as best I can. According to a press release from 2025 on the Austin, Texas.gov website after hours of interrogation from Detective Polanco, Pierce confessed to the four murders. However, according to the Austin Chronicle quote, Pierce said in a written statement that the 22 he was carrying at North Cross Mall had been used by his friend Forest Wellborne to commit the yogurt shop murders, end quote.

21:25Forest Wellborne was 15 years old. In this interrogation, Pierce also implicated his friend's Robert Springsteen, 17, and Michael Scott, 17. Before his days as the regional manager of a paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. At any rate, the day after whatever it was, Pierce actually confessed to Detective Jones interviewed Pierce and determined that the information the teenager gave him didn't match the details of the crime scene. Also, ballistic tests on the gun Pierce had on him at the time of his arrest were inconclusive as to matching the gun used in the murders. Meanwhile, Detective Jones had an itchy feeling about Detective Polanco. Polanco had a reputation for employing coercive tactics when trying to get confessions out of suspects. It was Polanco whose interrogations led to the wrongful convictions of Richard Danzinger and Christopher Ochoa for a 1988 rape and murder.

22:25The two were exonerated in 2002, but not before Danzinger suffered severe brain damage from a beating by a prison inmate. For his part under questioning, the forest well-born denied any involvement in the murders, but did say that he and Pierce, along with Springsteen and Scott, had gone to San Antonio several days later in a stolen mise-on pathfinder. As a result, both Springsteen and Scott were brought in for questioning, but were not at the time considered suspects. After questioning Pierce and well-born himself, Detective Jones determined neither of them were good for the murders. About well-born Jones direct quote was, quote, forest had no clue. He couldn't organize a two-car parade, end quote. LOL. And so having cleared these four kids, it seems the police were like shrug and kind of gave up until about five years later when a new detective picked up the file and gave it a new set of eyes. Unfortunately, though stranger,

23:26this new set of eyes decided to focus on an old set of information. 5 years after the murders in 1996, Detective Paul Johnson went about reorganizing the old case file, and for some reason set his sights back on Maurice Pierce and his 22 caliber pistol. As the Austin Chronicle put it, quote, exactly why that gun, out of all the others mentioned by various suspects, some of whom had confessed to the crime, caught his attention remains unclear. Indeed, why Pierce was a victim, indeed, why Pierce was vaulted to the top of the pack of potential tips? There were some 2,000 of them after his reorganization, according to news reports from 1999, remains a mystery to many involved in the case, end quote. Pierce well-born Springsteen and Scott were brought back in. Imagine as a teenager being accused of a quadruple homicide with your boys. Getting off the hook only to be put back on it years later

24:28as a not yet done forming adult. Growing up is enough of a trip, oh, how I would regress into panic. According to the Austin-Texas.gov piece, Springsteen and Scott confessed and both implicated each other. Forest well-born and Maurice Pierce did not confess. Regardless, all four men were arrested for capital murder. It's important to note here that there was no physical evidence linking these four men to the murders. The only thing the prosecution had to go on were coerced confessions. Springsteen's lead defense attorney, Carlos Garcia, and detective Jones both believed that the new investigative team had approached the case file with a bias. His counsel thought the new investigation led with the assumption that they'd had the right suspects to begin with, but it just screwed up the investigation. Jones told the Chronicle quote, That's what happens when you come up with a conclusion

25:30and then you go about building a case to that conclusion, other than going about it the other way around. That's what happened in this case, really. I think that certain people came up with what they thought happened and then constructed a case around that theory. End quote. Maurice Pierce was living with his wife and daughter near Dallas at the time of his arrest. He was described by the new investigative team as the mastermind of the four kids. Please don't forget he was 16 at the time the four girls were murdered. Have you ever met a 16 year old mastermind of anything? Most of the time they can't even remember to wash their own balls. So not a mastermind was Pierce, in fact, that his case never even made it to trial. Instead, he sat in jail for three years awaiting trial before being released in 2003 due to a complete lack of evidence. Tragically, in 2010, Pierce was stopped for a traffic violation and took off on foot. After a brief chase, he was caught by an officer

26:32and the two tussled. During the struggle, Pierce grabbed the officer's knife off his belt and stabbed him in the neck. The officer then shot and killed him. On September 15, 1999, investigators traveled to West Virginia to re-interrogate Robert Springsteen. This was the third time in eight years that Springsteen was questioned about the murders. Now, I know this might come as a shock, stranger, but police once again behaved badly during this four hour interrogation. According to the Chronicle quote, during the interrogation, Robert Springsteen is sitting in a straight-back chair across from the door. Detective Robert Merrill alternately sits in front of the door or with his legs propped on the wall, blocking the room's only exit. Detective Ron Lara and occasionally alcohol tobacco and firearms federal agent Chuck Meyer sit across the table from Springsteen leaning in

27:33and sometimes yelling at him just inches from his face. End quote. Springsteen continued to deny his involvement in the murders until, quote, he finally began to break down in front of the police and admitted to being involved in the murders. I don't know whether this is true or not or whether I'm fooling myself. Springsteen told his interrogators, I'm so confused. End quote. When he did finally confess, said in quotation marks, there were major discrepancies between the story he told and the actual facts of the case. He did not say the girls had been bound and gagged or that the back room had been set on fire. At trial, detectives blamed the omission on Springsteen terminating the interview before they could get to that point. I mean, it was his third interview and it went on for four hours. It's hard to imagine how these basic facts would have been left out. He also told them he shot Amy first with a 380 caliber gun and then when she didn't immediately die,

28:34she was shot again with a 22. But medical experts had determined that the order of the shots were the reverse. Now, look, one could definitely argue that after so much time had passed, he could have gotten confused about which order the shots were fired in. But he also never mentioned that Amy had been strangled with a cloth ligature. Springsteen did, however, seem to know facts that had never been made public. For instance, he knew about the second weapon used in the crime and that it was a 380 caliber semi-automatic. He knew that Michael Scott had tried and failed to rape one of the girls and he said while casing the shop earlier in the day, he'd propped the back door open with a pack of cigarettes or a small rock. Why, he didn't know if it was a pack of cigarettes or a small rock, I don't know. Now that the back door has been brought up, I do wanna say something that occurred to me earlier going through the research. Firefighters said they'd struggled to get through

29:36the front door because it was locked and someone had left a key in it. So eventually they broke it down. When I read that, my very first thought was, shouldn't there have been a back door? Not only that, but like, I'm pretty sure the front wall of the yogurt shop was glass as most mall storefronts are. Why didn't they just break the glass? I know none of this really matters and the girls were dead before the fire started anyway, but maybe they could have collected more evidence if they'd gotten in sooner. Anyway, Springsteen's trial got on your way in May of 2001. For some Foccata reason, the judge judge Mike Lynch instructed the jury not to take notes during the trial, which was expected to last weeks. Have you ever heard of something like that? I haven't. Why shouldn't a jury be allowed to take notes? What on earth? Apparently something like 37% of state judges bar note-taking during trial, even though the American Bar Association is like,

30:37a jury should absolutely be allowed to take notes WTF. Once again, as with the initial investigation, there was no actual evidence linking Springsteen or Scott to the case. You might be wondering why Forrest Wellburn wasn't also being tried. Well, a grand jury declined to indict him because unlike his two friends, Forrest did not confess and like his two friends, there was zero evidence linking him to the crime. Literally, all the prosecution had were the coerced confessions. Springsteen's attorney put forth the defense that there was a predator stalking the streets and alleys of Austin at the time of the murders. Though they didn't name the predator, most assume he was referring to Kenneth Allen McDuff who was to put it succinctly, a truly awful person. By the time of the yogurt shop murders, McDuff had murdered six people, raping at least three of them. Three of those murders occurred less than two months before the four girls in the yogurt shop. He went on to kill three more women,

31:39the first within 23 days of the yogurt shop murders and the last within two months. McDuff was executed in November of 1998, three years before Springsteen and Scott's trial began and some anonymous sources came forward to say he confessed to the yogurt shop murders on the day he was executed. However, investigators didn't believe his confession because he'd apparently gotten some details wrong. So don't worry, this rapist and murderer was not good for this crime, but the two kids who'd never murdered or raped anyone as far as we know definitely were. Even with loads of other leads and unexamined DNA evidence from the scene, Springsteen and Scott would remain tangled up in this story for years to come. The story is about to begin. The story is about to begin. The story is about to begin. The story is about to begin. The story is about to begin. Strangers, this episode is brought to you by IQBAR,

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34:44turn off this Liberty Mutual ad now. 12 months, a towel, piano. Enjoy being fully alert. Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. McDuff was not the only one to confess, however. According to some sources, there were as many as 50 confessions containing credible details. For some reason, only two of these confessions were allowed to be introduced as defense in Springsteen and Scott's trials. According to the Chronicle, quote, a confession given by Alex Briones, who was already wanted in San Antonio for raping a woman and setting her on fire, told police in 1992 that the murders started off as a robbery, that the girls were bound, gagged, and raped than shot, that there were two guns used, and the second looked like a silver semi-automatic, and that napkins and cardboard boxes were stacked on the bodies before the fire was set. All these details correspond to the crime,

35:44and were supposedly confidential, end quote. And quote, Sean Smith described in court as an Austin resident who in 1992, voluntarily came forward to confess to the crime, told police that he and some friends arrived at the shop after hours, that they stripped and bound the girls, and that one of the guns used was an automatic of some sort, that the girls were stacked in the back room, and that lighter fluid had been used to start the blaze, end quote. Apparently, police determined these to both be false because of misinformation given of well-known facts, including the number of victims involved. The defense called one of the initial investigators, Mike Huckabee, not, I don't think, the former presidential candidate, who admitted that the investigation was kind of a shit show from the jump. He said there was so much information coming in and going out that at one point, they thought there might have been a leak from the police department. Also, they questioned almost 60 teens,

36:45and Huckabee said they were likely all talking to each other and sharing information. On the stand, Detective Jones testified, quote, initially, information we would normally keep confidential was coming back to us with such frequency that we had to cross it off the list, end quote. Additionally, the bullets found at the scene did not match Pierce's gun and police knew that months before arresting him. The defense also called Dr. Richard Offsheh, a professor of social psychology at the University of California Berkeley. Offsheh was there to testify to the coercive tactics police used in their interrogations, but apparently Judge Lynch was like, uh-uh, no sir, you leave that up to the jury to decide. And Offsheh was like, uh, how da fuck, are they going to decide that if you don't tell them what happened? He told the Chronicle, quote, I was severely limited in the testimony I might have given. I know what happens in interrogations

37:45and I can help a jury evaluate it fairly. Because if a jury understands how interrogations work, then they can understand those things that elicit false confessions, end quote. Michael Scott's confession was also used as evidence in Springsteen's trial, which was a major issue because he hadn't gone to trial yet. So he couldn't be brought in to testify about his confession. And at that point, his confession was really just a thing he'd said, probably under duress. But later, at least one juror would say they considered Scott's confession a, quote, key piece of evidence. In his 2001 Austin Chronicle piece on the case, someone has to die, reporter Jordan Smith said the prosecution used redundant reminders to, quote, overwhelm the lack of physical evidence. The endless stream of photographs shown to the jurors seemed to have their intended effect. There were tears, horrified expressions, and postures of recoil throughout the jury box.

38:47But does the gruesome nature of the crime demonstrate anything about the guilt of the suspect at the defense table? End quote. On May 30, 2001, Robert Springsteen was convicted and sentenced to die. And then in 2005, his death sentence was commuted to a life sentence when the Supreme Court ruled executing juvenile killers is unconstitutional. Michael Scott's trial began in September 2002 and followed pretty much the same bullet points as Springsteens. According to one source that I'm not going to name right now because it's a spoiler alert, Scott's timeline of at least 20 hours of combined interrogation hours went like this. Quote, in February 1998, with the case gone cold, police decided to conduct a new investigation of the crime. They re-questioned Scott by telephone and he denied involvement. On September 9, 1999, Scott was questioned again, this time in a police station. At one point during a 12 hour interrogation,

39:47Scott said he knew the identities of the killers. On September 10, the interrogation resumed and ultimately Scott said he had probably shot one of the girls and they'd he fired a gun once and that he set the fire. On September 13, Scott was interviewed once more and said he remembered seeing Pierce with one of the girls in a separate room in the yogurt shop. He said he thought he had gagged one of the girls with paper towels or napkins. Further, Scott said the 22 caliber pistol came from Springsteen. He remembered little about the other weapon but thought it was a semi-automatic 38 caliber and, quote. Melvin Stahl, the city's fire investigator, believed the fire had started in a corner of the shop where supplies were stored. But Scott said he started the fire on the girl's bodies using an accelerant. Investigators solved that discrepancy by seeking a second opinion from ATF agent, Marshall Littleton, who was like, oh, yeah, the fire was definitely started

40:49on the bodies with an accelerant. They went back to Stahl who was suddenly like, oh, yeah, you're right, oops, haha, somehow I missed that the first time around, my bad. According to a piece from 2001 in the Texas Monthly, Detective Robert Merrill held a gun to Scott's head during his interrogation on September 10th, 1999. There is indeed a still image of it from the interrogation room's video camera. Now, you know me, stranger, I'm no desperate Austin detective trying to put a check in the solved box so my bosses don't fire me, but I'm pretty sure holding a gun to your suspect's head is never considered legal. I may be a dummy, plenty of people have said as much, but what kind of answers do you expect to get from someone with a gun pointed to their head? Oh, that's right, the answers you want. Sorry, duh. Duh. Scott was convicted on September 22nd, 2002,

41:52and sentenced to life in prison. Forrest Wellborn, who was only 15 at the time of the murders had opened his own auto repair shop and was married by the time he was arrested in 2000. According to News 8 Austin, quote, on Friday, June 30th, 2000, a judge dismissed the four Capitol murder charges against him because a grand jury failed twice to indict him. End quote. Despite that, quote, he lost his business after being arrested and could not find a job after being released on $375,000 bail. End quote. The only difference between Springsteen and Scott and Pearson Wellborn is that Pearson Wellborn never confessed. There was no evidence on any of them. The only reason Springsteen and Scott were indicted and convicted was because they confessed. Springsteen, of course, immediately appealed, and in May of 2006, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned his conviction. Not being able to admit they were wrong,

42:53the state tried to appeal the ruling, but the Supreme Court was like, get the fuck out of here and refuse to even consider it. In April of 2008, according to the Austin-American Statesman, the defense team disclosed that there was, quote, previously undiscovered DNA that did not come from either Scott or Springsteen that was taken from one of the victims. End quote. Indeed, there were multiple samples from unidentified males taken from three of the victims. In 2009, seven former jurors said they wouldn't have voted to convict an either trial if they had known about the DNA evidence. Despite all that, though, according to a piece in the AP from 2010, prosecutors had their heels deeply dug in and said they stood by their case, quote, despite the DNA results. They noted previous jury verdicts and confessions by Scott and Springsteen, end quote. In a press conference, Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lemberg said, quote, she still hopes to try Scott 35 in Springsteen 34,

43:54but must first determine who's DNA was recently found in vaginal swabs taken from 13-year-old victim Amy Ayers, end quote. You think? Sergeant Ron Lara, a chief investigator on the case, said, quote, our focus continues on the suspects at hand referring to Scott and Springsteen. He also said that detectives are still investigating Maurice Pierce 34 against whom charges were dismissed in 2003 for lack of evidence, end quote. Dude, let it go. You were wrong. It takes a big man to admit that. Through all of this, however, Springsteen and Scott remained in prison. Listen, I don't know how this facocked a system works. I just judge it. Strangers, I am not great at remembering to eat. Once I'm in the zone of writing, the last thing I want to do is take a huge break for lunch. I like to power through the day and get everything done in one sitting, but some days I look up from my computer

44:55and it's 2 p.m. and I haven't eaten yet. Factor has made it super easy for me to eat lunch. I'm not going to eat. I'm not going to eat. I'm not going to eat. I'm not going to eat. I'm not going to eat. I'm not going to eat. I'm not going to eat. I'm not going to eat tomorrow's food. I'm not going to eat. I'm not going to eat yesterday. That's a big mess. Bake. Bake. Shame on you. Bake. Bake. Bake. Bake. Bake. Bake. Bake. Through winter, you can always have something fresh, never frozen, and ready in about two minutes. With no prep and no stress, you can actually stick to your goals. I absolutely love their Thai yellow curry chicken and ginger rice, and the butternut squash and sage chicken macaroni.

45:55Everything I've had from Factor has been super delicious. Head to FactorMeals.com slash Daisy Egan 50 off and use code Daisy Egan 50 off to get 50% off and free breakfast for a year. Offer only valid for new Factor customers with code and qualifying auto renewing subscription purchase. Make healthier eating easy with Factor. Liberty Mutual customizes your car and home insurance, but now we're customizing this ad for your morning commute to wake you up, which could help your driving. Science says that stimulating the brain increases alertness, so here's a pop quiz. How many months have 28 days? What gets wetter as it dries? What is keys but can't open locks? If you don't want to hear the answers, turn off this Liberty Mutual ad now. 12 months, a towel, piano. Enjoy being fully alert.

46:55On Wednesday, June 24, 2009, 10 years after being imprisoned, Springsteen and Scott were released on bond pending new trials, which would never happen. According to the statesman, quote, prosecutors faced an ultimatum by Judge Lynch. Proceed to trial or he would consider a defense motion to dismiss the cases based on the defendant's rights to a speedy trial. Prosecutors move for dismissal at a short hearing Wednesday. Lynch complied. End quote. But please don't think for a moment stranger that the state was eating crow. Nope. CDA, Lemberg, maintained she still believed Scott and Springsteen to be guilty. She stood in front of a throng of reporters and told them the new DNA evidence did not exonerate all four original suspects. Pierce, well-born Springsteen and Scott, it just meant that there was a fifth suspect who helped them carry out the crime, that they hadn't been able to identify. Jesus Christ. Lemberg clung on to this fifth-man theory despite evidence of yet another unknown man found

47:59on the victim's clothing. The statesman reported, quote, in addition to the DNA found on Ayers, defense lawyers say they found DNA from the same male in a vaginal swab taken from Jennifer Harbison. They also found another partial DNA profile in Sarah Harbison, which is not complete enough to determine who it belongs to, according to defense lawyers. Finally, they found unknown male DNA on clothing used to bind the wrists of Thomas. End quote. Lemberg complained that the DNA testing had cost more than $200,000. Ooh, fuckin' who? You should have done your job right in the first place. Also, I'm pretty sure those are tax dollars. Fun. The cost was due, in part, to having to send the samples to a private lab, quote, until this summer when the State Department of Public Safety Crime Lab began conducting the testing, end quote. That was 2010. Apparently, until this summer actually meant 15 years. It wasn't until 2025 that the unknown DNA sample was finally identified as belonging to

49:03Robert Eugene, Braschers. Braschers had an attempted murder in Florida in 85, for which he was imprisoned, and then paroled in 89. Through the DNA testing, it was discovered that after that attempted murder, he then raped and murdered a woman in South Carolina in 1990, but somehow remained under the radar enough to assault and murder the four girls at the yogurt shop in 91. He went on to commit three more rapes and two more murders. On January 13, 1999, police found Braschers at a super-rate motel in Missouri. He was holding his wife, daughter, and two-step daughters hostage with a 380 pistol. He released his family and then shot himself in the head. He survived for six days and then died from the injuries. The gun, with which he shot himself, was the same makin' model as the one used to kill Amy Ayers. Now do you want to get really mad stranger?

50:04According to the City of Austin's website, detectives learned, quote, that on December 8, 1991, less than 48 hours after the yogurt shop murders, Braschers was stopped by border patrol at a westbound checkpoint between El Paso, Texas and Las Cruces, New Mexico. He was driving a stolen car out of Georgia and was in possession of a 380 pistol, end quote. It was the same caliber gun, according to the bullets at the scene, and the same gun he would use to kill himself eight years later. A smoking gun found just days after the murder and border control couldn't be bothered to, I don't know, flag it? Finally, in 2025, the new District Attorney, Jose Garza, said quote, there are still investigative steps that are underway. That being said, the overwhelming weight of the evidence points to the guilt of one man and the innocence of four.

51:05If the conclusions of that investigation are confirmed, the Travis County District Attorney's office will take responsibility for our role in prosecuting these men, and sending one to death row and one to serve life in prison. If the conclusions of APD's investigations are confirmed as it appears that they will be, I will say I am sorry, though I know that will never be enough, end quote. For his part though, Springsteen's lawyer was quick to remind people that the real victims of this whole awful thing are Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas, Jennifer Harbison, and Sarah Harbison, who were brutalized and murdered in the yogurt shop that night in 1991. And of course, that's the hardest truth of the matter. These four girls died in the innocent age of working their first jobs, sneaking fro yo samples to friends who loiter them all long enough for you to clock out on a Friday night. It's the time and space of life just getting started.

52:06Adolescence fueled by anticipation and sugar. Obviously, I imagine what happened to Amy, Eliza, Jennifer, and Sarah was horrifying. But imagining them that night, hanging around the shop just before their deaths, hits me even harder in the stomach. I picture Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott just a few years older hanging around the same mall, burning away the hours until adulthood hit them with those initial calls from police, requesting interviews they'd inevitably clam up in. The feeling is one of loss for their futures, and as is often the case, a renewed disgust for authorities who don't take care with the lives affected in the chaos of crimes like these. My only hope is we remember these mistakes and learn from them. What a gift it is to grow up and have the opportunity to change. If given the chance, we're responsible to do so.

53:23Next time on Strange and Unexplained, in the midst of World War II, three girls were recruited by a Dutch resistance group fighting the Nazis. The girls were tasked with extremely unusual jobs. The kind of jobs only suited to young women. They were very, very good at it. The dainty Nazi killers. Strange and Unexplained is a production of three goose entertainment and grab bag collab. This episode was written by me, Daisy Egan, with research by Joe Gwerdet, sound mixing and designed by Jeff Devine. If you have an idea for an episode or want to submit a question for an ask me anything episode, it had to strange and UnexplainedPod.com and fill out the contact form. I will write back, eventually. I need an assistant. You can follow me on social media at Daisy Egan or follow the show at SNUPod and grab bag collab. Stay Strange.