Associated Press Writer

AUSTIN (AP) - Speaking publicly for first time since his release from custody, the last of the four suspects arrested in the city's notorious yogurt shop murders said Thursday "my life will never be the same" after spending more than three years in jail awaiting trial.

Maurice Pierce, 27, was released Tuesday after prosecutors said they didn't have enough evidence for a capital murder conviction and dropped the charges.

"It is time for me to move on with my life," Pierce said at a news conference while flanked by his wife, Kimberly, their 10-year-old daughter, other family members and his lawyers.

"I am innocent of any and all charges pertaining to the yogurt shop case," he said. He and his attorneys would not discuss the case and Pierce did not take questions from reporters.

Pierce, Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott and Forrest Welborn were arrested in 1999 on charges of killing four teenage girls at an I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop on Dec. 6, 1991. The girls were strangled and shot in the head and the shop was set on fire.

The victims were 13-year-old Amy Ayers, 17-year-old Eliza Hope Thomas and sisters Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, ages 17 and 15.

Springsteen was convicted of killing Ayers in 2001 and sentenced to death. Scott was convicted last year and is serving life in prison.

The charges against Welborn were dropped when two grand juries failed to indict him. Pierce had been sitting in jail awaiting trial.

Springsteen and Scott, who gave videotaped confessions to police but later recanted those statements, have refused to testify against Pierce. And Pierce's lawyers say investigators have no physical evidence linking him to the crime.

Without the testimony, investigators said they didn't have enough evidence to go to trial.

District Attorney Ronnie Earle said the case remains open and that he still considers Pierce a suspect.

"We do not have the evidence to convict him right now," Earle said. "But life is long."

One of Pierce's court-appointed lawyers, Guillermo Gonzalez, said Pierce will likely leave Austin.

Pierce said he will get on with his life, starting with getting reacquainted with his family.

"I will try to continue to pursue the many aspirations that I had prior to this case," he said. "My wife, my daughter and I will now try once again to grow together as a family."