Yogurt Shop Slaying Suspect Shot By Austin Police

AUSTIN (CBSDFW.com) - A man shot and killed by police after stabbing an officer in the neck was identified Friday as a former suspect in the 1991 slaying of four teens at a yogurt shop, one of the most infamous Austin homicide cases in recent memory.

Maurice Pierce was fatally shot Thursday night during a struggle with an officer after a routine traffic stop, said Dennis Ferris, a senior police officer.

Pierce was a teen in 1991, when Amy Ayers, 13, Eliza Thomas, 17, and sisters Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, ages 17 and 15, were bound, gagged and shot in the head at an "I Can't Believe It's Yogurt" store where two of the girls worked. The building was set on fire, and firefighters poured thousands of gallons of water on it before anyone realized there were bodies inside.

Pierce was one of four people arrested and charged with murder in 1999, but his case never went to trial and the charges against him were dismissed four years later due to lack of evidence.

An Austin police officer pulled Pierce over about 11 p.m. Thursday after he ran a stop sign, Ferris said. After stopping, Pierce fled on foot through a north Austin neighborhood. Officer Frank Wilson caught him, and the two struggled.

Pierce grabbed Wilson's knife from his belt and stabbed him in the neck, Ferris said. Wilson then fired one round, killing Pierce, he said.

Wilson, who has been on the Austin Police force for about six years, was in stable condition at an Austin hospital Friday, Ferris said. Details of the stabbing were first reported by the Austin American Statesman.

Two men, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, were eventually convicted in the yogurt shop slayings. A fourth suspect, Forrest Welborn, had the case against him dismissed.

The convictions of Springsteen and Scott were overturned in 2007, however, when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said they were unfairly denied the chance to cross-examine each other. Springsteen and Scott had implicated each other in statements to investigators.

A judge dismissed charges against Springsteen and Scott, who had been awaiting retrial, last year because prosecutors said they weren't prepared to go to trial then.