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Forrest Welborn, one of four men wrongfully accused in the 1991 Austin yogurt shop murders, poses for a portrait at Manchaca Springs Saloon, which he owns, on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026.<\/p>\n
Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
A landmark court hearing is set for Thursday in Austin as a state district judge is expected to exonerate<\/a> the four men falsely accused of killing four teenage girls at a yogurt shop in 1991.<\/p>\n The hearing, which will be livestreamed, is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in the auxiliary courtroom on the first floor of the Travis County Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Here’s everything you need to know about the day-long event.<\/p>\n \u00a0Robert Springsteen, walks out of 167th District Court a free man after prosecutors filed for dismissal on the homicide indictments against him and Michael Scott for the Yogurt Shop Murders in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, October 28, 2009.<\/p>\n RODOLFO GONZALEZ\/Austin American-Statesman With a photo of sisters Jennifer and Sarah Harbison in the background, Austin Police Department Cold Case Detective Daniel Jackson speaks at a news conference at City Hall about the 1991 I Can\u2019t Believe It\u2019s Yogurt murder investigation on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025.<\/p>\n Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n What were the yogurt shop murders?<\/p>\n The yogurt shop murders<\/a> are considered by many to be one of the darkest chapters in Austin\u2019s history. Authorities believe a man entered the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! shop on West Anderson Lane shortly after the store closed at 11 p.m.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Inside, the suspect shot the four victims and set fire to the building. One of the girls was sexually assaulted.<\/p>\n Read More: Austin yogurt shop murders: A timeline of the long road from cold case to a DNA match<\/a><\/p>\n For years, investigators believed Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn were responsible for the killings.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But a breakthrough in the investigation last fall<\/a> identified a different suspect: The now-deceased serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers, who Austin cold case detectives believe acted alone.<\/p>\n What is this hearing for?<\/p>\n The hearing is expected to result in the formal exoneration of the four men, who were all in their mid-20s when they were arrested for the murders. State District Judge\u00a0Dayna Blazey is widely expected to declare them \u201cactually innocent,\u201d a legal finding that goes beyond overturning convictions and affirms they did not commit the crime.<\/p>\n The proceeding will also serve as a public reckoning in a case long viewed as one of Austin\u2019s gravest miscarriages of justice<\/a> \u2014 effectively functioning as an official acknowledgment that the men were wrongfully accused and prosecuted.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A declaration of actual innocence would pave the way for the men or their families to seek restitution from the state and potentially pursue damages from the city of Austin and Travis County.<\/p>\n Kim Pierce, the widow of yogurt shop suspect Maurice Pierce, and her daughter, Marisa Pierce, said he struggled to live a normal life after being wrongly linked for years to one of Austin’s darkest crimes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pierce Family Photos<\/p>\n Who were the men accused?<\/p>\n Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce and Forrest Welborn were falsely accused of the killings.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In 1999,\u00a0Springsteen and Scott were convicted of capital murder. While their convictions were overturned<\/a> a decade later, the two men were not exonerated. Their indictments were left standing \u201cpending further investigation,\u201d leaving the door open for prosecutors to revive the charges at any time.<\/p>\n A Travis County grand jury declined to indict Welborn, and prosecutors dropped charges against Pierce after he spent three years in jail. Pierce died in 2010 after a confrontation with an Austin police officer.<\/p>\n All four men were subjected to police interrogation techniques that are now widely discredited for leading to false confessions.<\/p>\n Who were the victims?<\/p>\n The yogurt shop murder victims were Amy Ayers, 13; sisters Sarah\u00a0Harbison, 15, and Jennifer Harbison, 17; and Eliza Thomas, 17.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Read More: 34 years since the Austin yogurt shop murders: See photos through the decades<\/a><\/p>\n The older Harbison sister and Thomas were employees at the shop. Investigators believe the younger Harbison sister and Ayers visited the shop to get a ride home after it closed.<\/p>\n Who else will be in the courtroom?<\/p>\n Kim Pierce, the widow of yogurt shop suspect Maurice Pierce, and their daughter, Marisa, plan to attend an exoneration hearing Thursday in which Pierce and three other men will be declared innocent. Maurice Pierce died in a confrontation with Austin police in 2010.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tony Plohetski\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n Scott,\u00a0Welborn and members of Pierce’s family are expected to attend. Springsteen’s attorney said he would not.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis is also invited, but it is unclear whether she will address how the department currently carries out interviews with suspects.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s also unclear if any family members of the victims will attend the hearing.<\/p>\n The unusual nature of the proceeding is sure to draw multiple observers from the Travis County criminal justice community.<\/p>\n What are the\u00a0problematic policing\u00a0techniques likely to be mentioned?<\/p>\n The four men were interrogated by multiple homicide detectives for hours at a time in 1999, when they became the focus of a special Austin police task force convened to reexamine the murders.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Austin Police Department Cold Case Detective Daniel Jackson speaks at a news conference at City Hall about the 1991 I Can\u2019t Believe It\u2019s Yogurt murder investigation on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025.<\/p>\n Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n At times, the young men were threatened physically, told about evidence against them that investigators did not have \u2014 and promised leniency if they complied. Legal experts say these coercive techniques were common among detectives in the 1980s and 1990s, but often produced false confessions.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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