The Texas Yogurt Shop Exonerations
48 Hours
The 1991 yogurt shop murders in Austin, Texas, led to the wrongful conviction of four men—Maurice Pierce, Forrest Wellborn, Michael Scott, and Robert Springsteen—based on coerced confessions and flawed investigation tactics. Nearly three decades later, DNA evidence linked Robert Eugene Brasher to the crime, leading to the exoneration of the four men, including Maurice Pierce, who was fatally shot
Key takeaways
- The case was built on coerced confessions and false narratives, with no physical evidence linking the suspects to the crime.
- DNA testing in 2009 definitively excluded all four men and later identified Robert Eugene Brasher as the true perpetrator.
- Maurice Pierce was wrongfully imprisoned for over three years, faced ongoing harassment, and was killed by police in 2010 under controversial circumstances.
Transcript preview
The phrase most often associated with justice, the principal meant to anchor the system is innocent until proven guilty. But for my father and three of his peers, that principle did not exist. That's Marissa Pierce speaking about her late father, Maurice Pierce. But for my father, and three of his peers, that principle did not exist. That's Marissa Pierce speaking about her late father, Maurice Pierce was one of four men originally suspected in the 1991 1991 in the 1991. one murders of four teenage girls, Eliza Thomas, Amy Ayers, and sisters Jennifer and Sarah Harveson. They were at a I Can't Believe It's Yogurt Shop in Austin, Texas. What did you see when you first walked into the yogurt shop? This wholesale carnage. Sergeant Jones was looking at the badly burned bodies of four teenage girls who had been bound and gagged and shot in the head. The yogurt shop had been set on fire to cover the killer's tracks. The case has for years become known as the yogurt shop murders. Nearly 35 years later, all four men were declared innocent and exonerated after the Austin Police Department tied another man to the crimes. We now have evidence linking a specific individual to this case, Robert Eugene Brasher's. And now the city of Austin has made an offer of 35 million. to be split amongst the wrongfully accused men including the family of Maurice Pierce who died before this settlement was reached. It's blood money for us. He died for this money so really it was never about the money for us. It's about the reform and the changes that need to happen not only in Austin but apparently across the country. In the end, this is a story about eight victims. The four girls who were killed at the yogurt shop and the four boys who were wrongfully accused of killing them. What I think we need to remember is that over all these years as terrible as it was for Sarah, Jennifer, Amy, and Eliza's families. The four boys and their families were hounded and treated as pariahs. I'm 48 hours correspondent, Eremoyardi, and this is case by case. I've been reporting on this this case since almost the beginning and nearly my entire career at CBS News. The signs of pain and outrage are everywhere around Austin. So the police have formed an elite unit. His only mission is to catch who ever killed those girls. The gunshot wounds show that actually two different kinds of guns have been used, a 380 and a 22. One of the early suspects was Maurice Pierce, who was 16 years old at the time. Here's a clip from one of our 48 hours episodes on the case. You'll also hear from the first lead detective, John Jones. He was arrested eight days after the murders at a mall near the yogurt shop, carrying a 22-Phelibergone, the type used in the murders. The 22s were unmatchable. say it wasn't his gun. No. But there was no way to... To prove that it was his gun. He gave a statement. Jones says Maurice Pierce claimed that he was driving a getaway car and that three acquaintances, Forrest Wellborn, Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen, were involved in the murders. But Pierce's story began to fall apart. It started the crater when we wired him up to go talk about. to Forest and we were listening in on the wire and it was pretty obvious for us didn't know what Maurice was talking about. And when well-born Scott and Springsteen were brought in for questioning, they too denied any involvement. And with me today to discuss this case and the lasting impact on the wrongfully accused and their families is Maurice Pearses' widow, Kimberly Pierce, and their daughter, Marissa Pierce. I want to thank both of you for being here today. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you know you have to talk about this? Suffering. Um, just how it got, it was so unreal. In 1991, uh, just how it got, it was so unreal. In 1991, uh, it seems like, such a long time ago. Let's start at the beginning. I mean, what did you think, Kimberly? I mean, I know that everybody in Austin had heard about this terrible, terrible murder of four young girls, and all of a sudden, your boyfriend is pulled in and questioned about this case. Was that scary? I mean, it was scary at the time. It was very scary for him. I didn't see him until he got released. So, I know when I saw him, he had bit all of his nails, his lips were all of his nails, his lips, his lips were all of all of all of all of all of all of all of all. you know bleeding because he bit his lips and just very nervous reactions. I know initially his mom and dad didn't know where he was because they didn't notify his parents so they basically you know woke up and he wasn't home and so they're calling you know like any other parent we're calling the hospitals. there. I mean, that's really, he was just, he was ready to go. He's like, I'm just glad it's over and he didn't have to tell me anything because I was with him that night. So I never questioned him as far as, you know, there wasn't a conversation like, did you do it? Because I was with him and I knew he didn't do it. How did Maurice end up pointing the finger at his best friend Forrest? How did that come about? Why did they then, why are Maurice and have him go in and talk to Forrest? Detective Polanco told Maurice that the gun that he had was the murder weapon that killed the four girls at the yogurt shop. Kimberly, what did you, what did you think when you heard that? They'd already went down a rabbit hole with me and my questioning that I already knew that they were lying. So I didn't believe anything that they said. They were telling me he was in a cult, um, um, so I didn't believe anything that they said. They were telling me he was in a cult, um, um, that him, were in a cold like animal sacrifices then they and that didn't work that's when they tried to say that he was at the yogurt shop visiting one of the girls like trying to make me jealous and I was like they're lying you know that they later on said Maurice confessed to being part of that that wasn't true wasn't I mean he never confessed he just when they said that was the murder weapon he said that was the murder weapon he he basically said, I didn't have it for this chunk of time. So I don't think he said Forrest did it, but he's like somebody that was with Forrest or Forrest, if he had, you know, gave the gun to somebody else at the mall or something, but he didn't have it at that time. So if I'm understanding you, this is very helpful. So it wasn't that Maurice pointed the finger at Forrest. He's saying, all right, if you're telling me the truth that this gun was involved in the murder, Well I didn't have it at this time my friend Forrest did so that's then why they put a wire on Maurice and had him go talk to Forrest I found it really interesting Marissa that at the exoneration hearing you talked about that and you you said that in that room there was no evidence only a detective and a narrative a narrative that was so completely false I'm using your words What do you mean by that? Well, you know, there's the person that raised me, the person that I know, the person that loved me and taught me all of life lessons. And then there's this fabrication, this creation of a mastermind and a ringleader on the news and a ringleader on the news and, and in our And so that's the narrative that I was referencing. That detective, doing the questioning of Maurice for hours, was Hector Polanco, lead Detective John Jones, took a statement after that. But he had doubts and told me when I started that it was clear that Forrest, wellborn, knew nothing and there was nothing to connect Maurice Pierce. None of the four guys were charged. And so did you feel that... It was over at that point? We did. So there's a period of time that's when Marissa was born and Marissa's growing up. But then almost eight years later in 1999 a new investigation and interrogations pushed two of the