{"id":568,"date":"2026-05-23T18:06:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T18:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568"},"modified":"2026-05-23T18:06:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T18:06:19","slug":"the-yogurt-shop-murders-director-on-completing-the-story-and-interviewing-the-killers-daughter-after-the-case-was-solved-i-thought-i-was-going-to-thow-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Yogurt Shop Murders\u2019 Director on Completing the Story and Interviewing the Killer\u2019s Daughter After the Case Was Solved: \u2018I Thought I Was Going to Thow Up\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tOn September 27, 2025, a month after the fourth episode of HBO\u2019s docuseries \u201cThe Yogurt Shop Murders\u201d\u00a0aired, Austin police announced\u00a0that they had finally solved the 1991 cold case. Robert Eugene Brashers was responsible for the brutal rape and murders of teenagers Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas and sisters Jennifer Harbison and Sarah Harbison.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=566\">Stephen Colbert Follows CBS Finale 24 Hours Later With Hilarious Hour of Michigan Public Access TV, Featuring Jack White, Jeff Daniels, Eminem, Steve Buscemi and Byron Allen<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tThat same day, Margaret Brown, director of \u201cThe Yogurt Shop Murders,\u201d got on a plane to Austin, where the murders happened, to film the fifth episode of the series. Titled, \u201cThe End of Wondering,\u201d the episode examines how DNA evidence led to Brashers\u2019 conviction.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe murders had mystified police and haunted the victims\u2019 families for more than three decades.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tBrown had spent over three years interviewing the crime\u2019s investigative teams and the victims\u2019 parents and siblings for the first four installments of the docuseries. She says that she was \u201cscared\u201d to return to Austin to film another episode after police discovered that Brashers, a serial killer who died in 1999, was responsible for the crime.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cI was worried that the families were going to be more traumatized about police figuring out that Brashers did it,\u201d Brown says. But the director quickly realized that the families were more relieved than traumatized by the discovery.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn the first four episodes of \u201cThe Yogurt Shop Murders,\u201d Brown and her producing team tracked down interrogation room footage of four teenage boys, Forrest Welborn, Maurice Pierce, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, who were originally accused of committing the crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\tScott and Springsteen were both charged and convicted of murder in 1999. That conviction was later thrown out. Welborn\u2019s charges were dropped\u00a0in 2000. Pierce was held for years on a charge, before being released in 2003. Pierce was fatally shot by Austin police after a traffic stop in 2010. \u00a0All four men were formally exonerated in February 2026.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tOn May 13, the city of Austin agreed to pay Welborn, Springsteen, Scott and Pierce\u2019s family a total of $35 million in restitution.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWelborn and Pierce\u2019s widow and daughter, who did not agree to speak to Brown when she filmed the first four episodes, were interviewed for the fifth episode. Brashers\u2019 daughter\u00a0Deborah Brashers also agreed to be interviewed.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe latest installment of the HBO series reveals that, in addition to four innocent girls losing their lives in 1991, Brashers killed at least four other people.<\/p>\n<p>\n<em>Variety<\/em>\u00a0spoke with Brown about the fifth episode of \u201cThe Yogurt Shop Murders\u201d ahead of the series\u2019 May 22 release.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=564\">Box Office: \u2018Mandalorian and Grogu\u2019 Takes Off With $33 Million, \u2018Obsession\u2019 Has Higher Second Weekend Than Opening<\/a><\/p>\n<h5>\n\t\tWere you shocked when the Austin Police Department announced that Robert Eugene Brashers was responsible for the murders? Did you have any inkling that they were on the verge of solving this case?\t<\/h5>\n<p>\n\tI had an inkling, because I am close with the cold case detective [Dan Jackson], and I could just tell something was going on.<\/p>\n<h5>\n\t\tWas that after you had finished filming the series?\t<\/h5>\n<p>\n\tI did the interview with Detective Jackson, which you see in the fourth installment of the series, about a year before they announced that they had figured out who did it. At that point, he wasn\u2019t close to solving the case.<\/p>\n<h5>\n\t\tDo you regret not filming for another year, or did you think that the series helped the police solve the case?\t<\/h5>\n<p>\n\tI was definitely not thinking that I should have waited another year, because it was really, really hard to be in that world with those families for me, for that long. I felt for them so deeply. Everyone around the case just had so much trauma. So I was happy to move on, even though it hadn\u2019t been solved.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tI never went into the show thinking, \u201cI\u2019m going to solve this case,\u201d because I\u2019m not\u00a0that\u00a0kind of filmmaker I am. I hoped they would solve it, but I wanted to make something that was about how you deal with the most unimaginable thing.<\/p>\n<h5>\n\t\tDo you feel like the series lit a fire under the Austin Police Department to do more DNA work on this case?\t<\/h5>\n<p>\n\tThe whole cold case unit came to the SXSW screening of the first episode, which was before the series came out. So, I wonder. I think when you are making an HBO show about something, people pay attention.<\/p>\n<h5>\n\t\tWas there any hesitation then about going back into that world and making a fifth episode?\t<\/h5>\n<p>\n\tAt the end of the fourth episode, everyone felt like there was a sense of not completion, because it wasn\u2019t solved, and there was so much despair. I just thought, \u201cHow can I not do it for the families and for the continuation of the story?\u201d The families were all like, \u201cYou are coming back, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<h5>\n\t\tSo, HBO was automatically on board?\t<\/h5>\n<p>\n\tHBO, at first, was like, \u201cIt\u2019s a coda.\u201d And I was like, it\u2019s not a coda \u2014\u00a0it could be another series. I didn\u2019t really want to go back into it that much, but I immediately was like, now that we know who did it, what about those boys who were accused? What are their lives like now? It was something I always wanted to talk to them about, and I thought, maybe now they will talk to me about it.<\/p>\n<h5>\n\t\tHow did you feel when most of the victims\u2019 families didn\u2019t express any sympathy for the wrongly accused men?\t<\/h5>\n<p>\n\tI was like, \u201cWait. Why don\u2019t you care?\u201d But all I can think of is, when you go through something like that, there is just no room for anything else. I felt I had to put their feelings about that into the episode to make people think about what they would be like if they were in the same situation. Because I don\u2019t even know if you can imagine what it\u2019s like to go through what they went through. So I would caution people against judging that too much.<\/p>\n<h5>\n\t\tHow did you convince Deborah Brashers, the daughter of Robert Eugene Brashers, to sit down for an interview?\t<\/h5>\n<p>\n\tShe wanted to apologize, because she feels like someone in her family should say sorry to the families. It was the craziest interview I\u2019ve ever done in my entire life. I thought I was going to throw up. That woman has been through so much.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=562\">Disney Parks\u2019 Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run Ride Gets \u2018Mandalorian and Grogu\u2019 Update<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<em>This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Yogurt Shop Murders&#8217; director Margaret Brown on making a fifth episode of the HBO docuseries after the Austin Police Department solved the murders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[603,604],"class_list":["post-568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv","tag-margaret-brown","tag-the-yogurt-shop-murders"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018The Yogurt Shop Murders\u2019 Director on Completing the Story and Interviewing the Killer\u2019s Daughter After the Case Was Solved: \u2018I Thought I Was Going to Thow Up\u2019 - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018The Yogurt Shop Murders\u2019 Director on Completing the Story and Interviewing the Killer\u2019s Daughter After the Case Was Solved: \u2018I Thought I Was Going to Thow Up\u2019 - Relocation Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#039;Yogurt Shop Murders&#039; director Margaret Brown on making a fifth episode of the HBO docuseries after the Austin Police Department solved the murders.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Relocation Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-23T18:06:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=568#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=568\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018The Yogurt Shop Murders\u2019 Director on Completing the Story and Interviewing the Killer\u2019s Daughter After the Case Was Solved: \u2018I Thought I Was Going to Thow Up\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-23T18:06:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=568\"},\"wordCount\":1134,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=568#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/dfaa472d45124d4637a28940f934ae6d.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Margaret Brown,\",\"The Yogurt Shop Murders\"],\"articleSection\":[\"TV\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=568#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=568\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=568\",\"name\":\"\u2018The Yogurt Shop Murders\u2019 Director on Completing the Story and Interviewing the Killer\u2019s Daughter After the Case Was Solved: \u2018I Thought I Was Going to Thow Up\u2019 - Relocation Observer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=568#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=568#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/dfaa472d45124d4637a28940f934ae6d.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-23T18:06:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=568#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=568\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=568#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/dfaa472d45124d4637a28940f934ae6d.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/dfaa472d45124d4637a28940f934ae6d.webp\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":563},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=568#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018The Yogurt Shop Murders\u2019 Director on Completing the Story and Interviewing the Killer\u2019s Daughter After the Case Was Solved: \u2018I Thought I Was Going to Thow Up\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Relocation Observer\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018The Yogurt Shop Murders\u2019 Director on Completing the Story and Interviewing the Killer\u2019s Daughter After the Case Was Solved: \u2018I Thought I Was Going to Thow Up\u2019 - Relocation Observer","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018The Yogurt Shop Murders\u2019 Director on Completing the Story and Interviewing the Killer\u2019s Daughter After the Case Was Solved: \u2018I Thought I Was Going to Thow Up\u2019 - Relocation Observer","og_description":"'Yogurt Shop Murders' director Margaret Brown on making a fifth episode of the HBO docuseries after the Austin Police Department solved the murders.","og_url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568","og_site_name":"Relocation Observer","article_published_time":"2026-05-23T18:06:19+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e"},"headline":"\u2018The Yogurt Shop Murders\u2019 Director on Completing the Story and Interviewing the Killer\u2019s Daughter After the Case Was Solved: \u2018I Thought I Was Going to Thow Up\u2019","datePublished":"2026-05-23T18:06:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568"},"wordCount":1134,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dfaa472d45124d4637a28940f934ae6d.webp","keywords":["Margaret Brown,","The Yogurt Shop Murders"],"articleSection":["TV"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568","url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568","name":"\u2018The Yogurt Shop Murders\u2019 Director on Completing the Story and Interviewing the Killer\u2019s Daughter After the Case Was Solved: \u2018I Thought I Was Going to Thow Up\u2019 - Relocation Observer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dfaa472d45124d4637a28940f934ae6d.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-23T18:06:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dfaa472d45124d4637a28940f934ae6d.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dfaa472d45124d4637a28940f934ae6d.webp","width":1000,"height":563},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=568#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018The Yogurt Shop Murders\u2019 Director on Completing the Story and Interviewing the Killer\u2019s Daughter After the Case Was Solved: \u2018I Thought I Was Going to Thow Up\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/","name":"Relocation Observer","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/relocationobserver.com"],"url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}