Maurice Pierce was one of four men wrongfully accused in the 1991 Austin yogurt shop murders, a case that pulled him into the criminal justice system as a 16-year-old, kept him in the Travis County Jail for more than three and a half years without a conviction, and shadowed him until he was shot and killed by an Austin police officer in 2010. In February 2026, a Texas judge formally declared him innocent. Three months later, the City of Austin approved a $35 million settlement, with $10 million going to Pierce’s family.
The Crime That Pulled Him In
On the evening of December 6, 1991, four teenage girls were found murdered inside an “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt!” shop on Anderson Lane in Austin. Jennifer Harbison, 17; her sister Sarah Harbison, 15; Eliza Thomas, 17; and Amy Ayers, 13, had been bound, gagged, and shot in the head. At least one was sexually assaulted. The killers set the shop on fire, destroying much of the physical evidence.1CBS News. The Yogurt Shop Murders Ballistics indicated at least two firearms had been used: a .380 and a .22 caliber.
The case became one of the most high-profile unsolved crimes in Texas. Hundreds of leads went nowhere.
Why Police Focused on Pierce
Eight days after the murders, Pierce was arrested at Northcross Mall, not far from the yogurt shop, carrying a .22 caliber handgun.2City of Austin. Significant Breakthrough Made in 1991 I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt Murders He told police he had given the gun to Forrest Welborn for use in the murders and implicated Welborn along with Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen. Detective John Jones, who had processed the original crime scene, found that Pierce’s account did not match the actual details of the killings. The story fell apart and all four teenagers were released.1CBS News. The Yogurt Shop Murders An ATF analysis in 2000 later concluded the .22 found on Pierce was likely not the murder weapon.3KXAN. Timeline of the Yogurt Shop Murders Investigation
The case went cold. When a police task force reopened it in 1999, investigators returned to the same four young men.
The 1999 Arrest and Why Pierce Was Never Tried
On October 6, 1999, police arrested Pierce, Welborn, Springsteen, and Scott and charged them with capital murder. All four had been juveniles in 1991: Springsteen and Scott were 17, Pierce was 16, and Welborn was 15.4National Registry of Exonerations. Exoneration Registry Case No physical evidence connected any of them to the crime scene.5American Bar Association. Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott Scott and Springsteen had given videotaped confessions after long interrogations, statements both men later recanted as coerced. Pierce never confessed.
The paths of the four cases diverged. Two separate grand juries refused to indict Welborn, and his charges were dismissed in mid-2000.6CBS News. Texas Yogurt Shop Murders Wrongfully Accused Men Exoneration DNA testing around the same time excluded all four defendants from biological evidence found on the victims.3KXAN. Timeline of the Yogurt Shop Murders Investigation Prosecutors pressed forward against Scott and Springsteen using their confessions, and both were convicted.
Prosecutors had cast Pierce as the “mastermind,” but they could not produce physical evidence tying him to the scene, could not persuade any co-defendant to testify against him, and could not use the confessions of Springsteen or Scott against Pierce without violating his constitutional right to confront witnesses.7Austin Chronicle. Maurice Pierce, A Free Man On January 28, 2003, District Attorney Ronnie Earle announced that all charges against Pierce were being dismissed, saying his office lacked enough evidence to “convict him right now.” By then, Pierce had spent more than three and a half years in the Travis County Jail.8Austin Chronicle. Family Questions Pierce’s Arrest Earle said the investigation would continue. No further evidence against Pierce was ever produced.
Life After Release and His Death in 2010
The years in jail changed him. His widow, Kimberli Pierce, later said he came home a “hardened man,” and the family believed police continued to harass them after his release.9CBS News. Texas Yogurt Shop Murders Settlement: Maurice Pierce Family
On the night of December 23, 2010, Officers Frank Wilson and Brad Smith tried to pull Pierce over near Parmer Lane and McNeil Drive in North Austin for running a stop sign. Pierce stopped his car, then got out and ran. Wilson chased him on foot into a residential area near Shreveport Drive and Campos Drive, where a struggle broke out. According to the Austin Police Department, Wilson tried to use a Taser, and Pierce grabbed a small folding knife from Wilson’s duty belt and slashed his neck, severing the officer’s carotid artery. Wilson then fired a single shot into Pierce’s abdomen. Pierce fled but was found dead nearby.10Austin Chronicle. Former Yogurt Shop Suspect Killed by APD Wilson underwent surgery and recovered.
Pierce’s family disputed the department’s account. His daughter, Marisa Pierce, said she was on the phone with her father during the encounter and believed he panicked and was trying to get away, not to hurt anyone. She recalled his final words: “I’m sorry, I don’t think you’re gonna see me again, and I love you.”9CBS News. Texas Yogurt Shop Murders Settlement: Maurice Pierce Family
On September 22, 2011, a Travis County grand jury declined to indict Wilson. District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg said there was no evidence that either officer had known who Pierce was or had been aware of his connection to the yogurt shop case at the time of the stop.11Austin Chronicle. No Indictment in Officer-Involved Shooting
The Real Killer, Identified 15 Years After Pierce’s Death
The murders remained officially unsolved for more than 30 years. In late June 2025, Detective Daniel Jackson, assigned to the case in 2022, submitted a spent .380 cartridge casing recovered from a floor drain at the crime scene to the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network. In July, the system returned a match to an unsolved 1998 murder in Kentucky.12Forensic Magazine. DNA, Ballistics Tie Serial Killer to 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders in Austin On August 22, 2025, the South Carolina State Lab reported a complete 27-allele Y-STR match between the unknown profile from the yogurt shop evidence and a profile belonging to Robert Eugene Brashers.2City of Austin. Significant Breakthrough Made in 1991 I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt Murders
Brashers, born in 1958, was a serial killer and rapist linked to violent crimes in Missouri, Tennessee, and South Carolina, including the 1998 murder of a mother and her 12-year-old daughter in Missouri.13KCTV5. Serial Killer With Missouri Victims Linked to Texas Yogurt Shop Cold Case Two days after the yogurt shop murders, Brashers had been stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint near Austin while driving a stolen vehicle. Officers found an AMT .380 “backup” model pistol in his car, the same make and model identified by ballistics as the weapon used in the murders. He was sentenced to four years in prison for grand theft auto and the gun was released to his father.12Forensic Magazine. DNA, Ballistics Tie Serial Killer to 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders in Austin Brashers died by suicide during a police standoff in Kennett, Missouri, in 1999, the same year the four innocent men were arrested. Austin police publicly named him as the suspect on September 26, 2025.14ABC7. What to Know About Robert Eugene Brashers
The 2026 Innocence Declaration
On December 11, 2025, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to formally clear the names of the four accused men.3KXAN. Timeline of the Yogurt Shop Murders Investigation At the exoneration hearing on February 19, 2026, First Assistant District Attorney Trudy Strassburger told the court, “Over 25 years ago, the state prosecuted four innocent men… We could not have been more wrong.”15NBC DFW. Judge: Men Wrongly Accused in 1991 Austin Yogurt Shop Murders Innocent
District Judge Dayna Blazey issued a declaration of “actual innocence” for Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen, Forrest Welborn, and the late Maurice Pierce, telling the men in the courtroom, “You are innocent.”6CBS News. Texas Yogurt Shop Murders Wrongfully Accused Men Exoneration The declaration was the legal step required for the men and their families to seek financial compensation.
Marisa Pierce, speaking after the hearing, said police “tunnel vision” had robbed her father of his dignity when he was “just an innocent boy.” “Daddy, you have your name back,” she said. “The world finally hears what you were trying to say all along.”16KUT. Austin Yogurt Shop Murders Court Declares Men Innocent
The $10 Million for Pierce’s Family
On May 28, 2026, the Austin City Council unanimously approved a $35 million settlement resolving all legal claims arising from the wrongful prosecutions, including federal civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. ยง 1983 and common law claims tied to wrongful arrest and conviction.17KXAN. Austin Approves $35M Settlement for Men Exonerated in Yogurt Shop Murders The split:
- Maurice Pierce’s family: $10 million
- Michael Scott: $9.85 million
- Robert Springsteen: $9.85 million
- Forrest Welborn: $4.85 million
Pierce’s family received the largest individual share even though Pierce had never been convicted, reflecting both the years he spent jailed and his killing by police seven years after his release. In exchange, the recipients agreed to release the city from further legal action, including claims against past and current City Council members, police chiefs, and Travis County prosecutors.18Austin American-Statesman. Austin Yogurt Shop Murders Settlement Approved
The agreement also committed the Austin Police Department to banning the unsupervised interrogation of underage suspects, a reform pressed by the Innocence Project of Texas.19KERA News. Austin Yogurt Shop Murders Exonerated Suspects $35 Million Settlement Kimberli Pierce called the settlement “blood money.” “He died for this money,” she said. “It’s about the reform and the changes that need to happen, not only in Austin, but apparently across the country.” The family also proposed seven additional reforms to the city, including appointing a child advocate whenever a minor is questioned, prohibiting deceptive interrogation tactics, educating juveniles about their rights, and establishing accountability measures to address tunnel vision in investigations.9CBS News. Texas Yogurt Shop Murders Settlement: Maurice Pierce Family The Austin Police Department declined to comment beyond the terms of the settlement.