Why the Yogurt Shop Murders Case Remains Unsolved

It’s been 33 years since four girls were fatally shot in the head at I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! in Austin, Texas, on Dec. 6, 1991: Amy Ayers (13), Jennifer Harbison (17), Sarah Harbison (15), and Eliza Thomas (17).

And 33 years later, why these girls were targeted is still a mystery. The case is the subject of a new HBO four-part documentary series The Yogurt Shop Murders, which has been airing weekly on Sunday nights between Aug. 3 and Aug. 24. The series explores the leading theories on who murdered the girls and gives the victims’ families space to remember their loved ones. The series contains rare footage following the suspects as they prepared for trial, filmed by a local Austin documentary filmmaker Claire Huie.

While the series doesn’t contain new revelations, it provides a comprehensive overview of the case. Here’s how the finale wraps up its coverage of a complicated story. 

Where the yogurt murders case stands now

The Yogurt Shop Murders focuses on the main suspects in the case, a group of teenage boys who were hanging out together the night of the murder and had access to a gun: Maurice Pierce, Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen, and Forrest Welborn. Pierce has always maintained that Welborn borrowed his gun and told him that he killed the girls, while Welborn has said that he was only kidding when he said that. 

There was never evidence to charge Pierce and Welborn, but Springsteen and Scott were convicted of murdering the girls in 2001 and 2002, respectively. They had confessed to murdering the girls, but claimed that the confessions were under duress, and they were looking for a way out of the stressful interrogation. Springsteen was sentenced to the death penalty, while Scott was sentenced to life in prison.

Between 2006 and 2007, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned their convictions, determining that Scott and Springsteen did not get a chance to cross-examine each other, per their 6th Amendment rights. There was supposed to…