New HBO Max series The Yogurt Shop Murders arrives on the streaming service on August 3, 2025 to tell the harrowing story of a murder case in Austin, Texas, from 1991. Back then four teenage girls were shot at a shop called I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt in the city, and despite it being more than 30 years on, the crimes are still unsolved (though two men did serve time for the crimes).
Interviews with family members and friends of the victims, lead police investigators, lawyers, experts and press will be aired over the new documentary’s four episodes, which will drop separately on a weekly basis on the platform throughout August. It’s the first time we’ll have seen the true crime case explored publicly in this much depth. Indeed, it marks a moment in time Austin residents still say they “can’t believe.”
For me, it’s an absolutely devastating watch even before having seen a single episode, from the victims themselves to the questions that still plague a community three decades later. However, I know it’s going to be a vital piece of television, which means it very possibly is on track to be the best crime series of the year.
New HBO Max series The Yogurt Shop Murders reopens the unsolved case over 30 years on
When you’re somebody who likes to binge true crime series pretty regularly (much like me), you can often get caught up in the fanfare of it all. When one episode ends, a tantilising cliffhanger is engineered for you to carry on watching the next, and nine times out of ten, it’s successful editing. This means you can often forget the human element in what you’re seeing, which can even lead to documentaries being created for the wrong reasons. All of this, however, is something The Yogurt Shop Murders immediately avoids.
The deaths of 13-year-old Amy Ayers, 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison, and Jennifer’s 15-year-old sister Sarah are obviously still such a shock to the residents of Austin – you’d have a heart of stone not to be overwhelmed by the rawness of their grief. At the time of the incident, Jennifer and Eliza were merely trying to get through a shift at work, with the younger two girls waiting for a lift home in the front of the shop after it closed. An hour before, a man was permitted to use the toilet in the back of the shop, with it alleged the rear door was jammed open in the process.
When first responders arrived at the site around an hour after closing, they found all four victims each with a gunshot wound to the head. The fact that there was so much organization and control in the process suggested to officials that the suspect was an adult, with Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn all later suspected of being involved. Scott and Springsteen were released from prison in 2009 after their convictions, with Springsteen’s conviction originally overturned in 2006.
All of this is set to be covered in much more detail in The Yogurt Shop Murders, but no matter where you look in the overall story, there’s such an enormous sense of sorrow and bereavement. For many viewers, the new HBO Max show is going to be the first time they’ve extensively heard from the families and friends affected, or perhaps even heard of the case at all.
In its core, this is exactly what true crime shows should be created for – giving a voice to those who no longer have it while bringing a wider sense of awareness. It’s strange to say, but I’m looking forward to finding out more about the people remembered rather than the crime, even if I’ll be moved to tears in the process.
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