I never thought this killing was the work of teenagers. I always thought it was someone older. Wasn't there also a suspect who ran to Mexico? Maybe I am thinking of another case. I'll never forget seeing those girls' faces on the billboard they showed during Unsolved Mysteries. Smiling, happy and so young. They deserve true justice.
LE looked at many people (suspects), but came to focus on four males, Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Forrest Welburn (alleged lookout but not indicted by either of two Grand Juries) and Maurice Pierce. The D.A. alleged Pierce to have been the mastermind and obtained an indictment against him only to drop all charges three years later (in 2003) based on a lack of evidence.
Nevertheless, both LE and the current D.A., Mary Lehmberg, maintain that all four men were involved in the 1991 murders of Amy Ayers (13), Eliza Thomas (17) and sisters Sarah Hobson (17) and Jennifer Hobson (15), all of whom had been stripped, bound, gagged, shot in the head and burned in a fire that is alleged to have been set to destroy evidence. However, only Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen were tried and convicted. Robert Springsteen was convicted in a 2001 trial and sentenced to death. Michael Scott was convicted in a 2002 trial and sentenced to life-in-prison.
In June of 2006, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) ruled -- after considering the appeal issues for almost three years -- that Robert Springsteen's trial had violated his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him (confrontation clause). The CCA remanded the case back to the D.A..
Following suit, in June of 2007, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) ruled that Michael Scott's trial had also violated his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him (same confrontation clause issue). The CCA ordered a new trial.
Eventually, the original trial Judge, Michael Lynch, ordered both Springsteen and Scott remanded back to Travis County with orders that they were to be held in jail there for their new trials.
Now, the D.A. is faced with the new DNA evidence (re-testing produced it in March of 2008) that was found in the body of thirteen year-old Amy Ayers -- no one claims that she was sexually active. Moreover, LE has since compared the new DNA evidence to that of Amy's former teenage friends (and over 100 other people) and not found a match.
Still, the key is that the DNA evidence doesn't match any of the four men that the D.A., Mary Lehmberg, and LE still maintain are responsible for the four murders and the subsequent torching of the yogurt shop (I Can't Believe Its Yogurt). Further, not a shred of physical evidence ever tied any of these four men to the murders.