Yogurt Shop Murders
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The Yogurt Shop Murders was a case involving the murder of four teenage girls in a local yogurt shop in Austin, Texas. The murders occurred on December 6, 1991 where the shop was then set aflame. The bodies of Amy Ayers (13), Jennifer Harbison (17), Sarah Harbison (15) and Eliza Thomas (17) were subsequently discovered that night.
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[edit] The Murders
A bit before midnight on December 6, 1991, an Austin patrolling officer noticed a fire coming from an I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! shop and reported it to dispatch. After the fire was extinguished, the firefighters came upon four bodies, all of which were bound and gagged, with three stacked on top of one another. Each victim had been shot in the head, thus leading police to determine that they likely had died before the fire was started.[1]
Just before the murders, the girls had been seen alive at the yogurt shop as late as 10pm. They had planned a sleepover for that very night.[2]
[edit] Arrests
Despite extensive media coverage and leads, the case remained unsolved for nearly eight years. On October 6, 1999, police in Texas and West Virginia arrested four suspects in connection with the murders. Robert Burns Springsteen Jr., 24, was arrested in Charleston, West Virginia. Michael James Scott, 25, of Buda, Texas was arrested in the Austin area. Maurice Pierce, 24, was arrested in Lewisville, north of Dallas, and Forrest Wellborn, 23, was picked up in Lockhart, Texas, southeast of Austin.
[edit] Okkervil River's "Westfall"
The song "Westfall" by Okkervil River is loosely based on the yogurt shop murders. Lead singer/songwriter Will Sheff, who was living in Austin at the time and working for the state, claims to have heard details that were not released to the public, and that the girls had been cut open and filled with frozen yogurt.[1]
[edit] Current Events
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered the Travis County district court to retry the case, almost 16 years after the murders. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the Texas high court's ruling in February 2007.
[edit] Evidence of Innocence of the Accused
Robert Springsteen's father maintains a website, [3], with extensive evidence attesting to the innocence of all four young men.
Former Texas Assistant Attorney General Erik Moebius has been published with his version of the events at the yogurt shop. [4], [5]. This includes alleged evidence that one victim, Amy Ayers, initially survived being shot with a .22 pistol and subsequently being set on fire. The autopsies revealed that all four girls had been shot in the head with a .22 caliber pistol, a small caliber and method favored in organized crime as the smaller bullet usually penetrates the head once but fails to emerge through an exit wound. Instead, the smaller bullet "bounces around" in the head, destroying more brain mass and thus assuring the intended execution.
However, according to the autopsies, the .22 bullet shot into the head of Amy Ayers, the youngest victim at 13 years of age, did not fully penetrate into the skull, instead flattening out and "tabling" on the outer surface of the skull. Presumably, the victim's younger age gave her bone mass more plasticity and "caught" the bullet. Mr. Moebius asserts - according to a statement made by a man who claimed to have a relationship with the parents of the children - that prior to the bodies being set on fire, the bodies of the four girls were "piled" with two on the bottom and the other two laid at right angles on top. Mr. Moebius asserts that after the fires were set and after the original killers left the scene, that Amy Ayers may have "come to" as a result of the burning and crawled away from the pyre. The autopsies reveal that Ms. Ayers was subsequently shot with a .38 caliber pistol which resulted in her death.
According to Mr. Moebius, the murders were extremely premeditated, well organized and included a "clean up" killer who made entry into the then burning premises prior to the fire department being called. Mr. Moebius had asserted that these well organized murders were certainly not the the cooly premeditated actions of four 15 and 16 year old boys. For almost ten years, the Austin Police Department agreed with him, repeatedly asserting that these young boys (now young men) had no connection to the murders. However, at the time of the murders, Brice Foods - the parent company of "I Can't Believe It's Yogurt" and the actual owner of this particular store, was experiencing significant financial difficulties and according to a multitude of investors, who subsequently filed numerous lawsuits naming Brice Foods as a defendant, had engaged in a sustained telemarketing scheme designed to induce investors to hand over significant amounts of money (in excess of $8,000,000.00) on the false premise that additional stores were to be built in England, Spain and other areas. No stores were ever built and it appears that none were intended. On the early afternoon of the evening that the Austin Police Department arrested the four young men, a San Antonio jury returned a verdict finding fraud in the solicitation and taking of the money. The boys were arrested hours later, presumably to "close out" liability for the murders in the wake of the adverse Brice Foods civil verdict
Mr. Moebius and other attorneys raised the concern that the murders were motivated by the subsequent insurance proceeds that were recovered through "use" of the murders and subsequent wrongful death claims, a scheme that has been referred to as "sight specific murder" or murder generated on a preselected sight with the intent of using follow-up corruption to force insurance payouts. Amy Ayers' mother maintains that the case remains unsolved. [6]
