NEED TO KNOW
- A new four-part HBO docuseries titled The Yogurt Shop Murders debuts on Aug. 3
- The series will look at the 1991 murders of four teenage girls who were working at a yogurt shop together in Austin, Texas
- Their murders remain unsolved despite dozens of false confessions over the decades
The 1991 murders of four young girls working at a yogurt shop in Austin, Texas, remain unsolved to this day. But a new HBO docuseries will give the cold case a fresh look in August, PEOPLE has learned.
HBO will debutThe Yogurt Shop Murders on Sunday, Aug. 3 at 10 p.m. ET. PEOPLE is exclusively debuting the trailer below.
The network describes the series as “a haunting four-part HBO Original documentary series from award-winning filmmaker Margaret Brown,” who rose to prominence with her 2022 documentary film Descendant, which followed descendants of Africans brought to the U.S. on the last known slave ship.
“In 1991, four teenage girls were found murdered inside a frozen yogurt shop in Austin, Texas—a crime so brutal it shocked the nation and shattered a city’s sense of safety,” HBO states about the new docuseries, setting the stage for its four new episodes. “Decades later, the case remains unsolved, marked by false confessions, questionable convictions, and enduring grief.”
The series first premiered at SXSW earlier this year and will be available to stream on Max. Each of the four episodes will be released weekly on Sunday nights.
“The series unravels the tangled web of a botched investigation and explores the emotional toll left on families, investigators, and a community still seeking justice,” HBO states. “With her signature depth and sensitivity, Brown brings new urgency to one of America’s most disturbing and unresolved crimes.”
PEOPLE previously covered the grisly crime in 2023 with a People Magazine Investigates episode on the unsolved 1991 murders of Eliza Thomas, 17, Jennifer Harbison, 17, Sarah Harbison, 15, and Amy Ayers, 13.
The four teenagers were discovered by firefighters who thought they were responding to a fire at the shop. However, investigators later came to believe the fire was set intentionally to cover up potential evidence left behind at the scene.
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Dozens of people have falsely confessed to the murders over the years, while police largely focused their investigation on four teenage boys — three of whom had confessed to the killings by 1999. However, as PEOPLE reported, their convictions didn’t stick after a botched investigation and prosecution. By June 2009, the boys — now men — had been released from prison and had their charges dismissed while a shroud of mystery remained over what happened that December night in 1991.
Meanwhile, the families of the four victims are still seeking answers — and justice.
“They’re not forgotten,” Angie Ayers, the wife of Amy Ayers’ brother Shawn, previously told PEOPLE. “They’re not given up on.”
HBO’s The Yogurt Shop Murders premieres on Sunday, Aug. 3 at 10 p.m. ET.
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