by Austin, Texas – More than three decades after the brutal killing of four teenage girls inside an Austin yogurt shop, police say advanced DNA technology has finally identified the man responsible. Authorities confirmed that Robert Eugene Brashers, a convicted criminal who died by suicide in 1999, was behind the infamous 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders, long considered one of Texas’s most haunting unsolved cases.
On December 6, 1991, teenagers Jennifer Harbison, Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ayers were discovered inside the burned-down yogurt shop. Investigators said the girls were tied up, sexually assaulted, shot in the head, and left nude before the building was set on fire. The brutality of the crime shocked Austin and left the community searching for answers for decades.
Wrongful Convictions and Years of Uncertainty
In 1999, police arrested four men in connection with the case. Two suspects confessed but later recanted their statements, claiming they were coerced. While two were released without charges, the other two went on trial and were convicted of capital murder.
Those convictions were eventually overturned on appeal due to constitutional errors, and in 2009 both men were freed. Investigators admitted that no physical evidence ever tied them to the crime scene. The case then went cold again, further fueling public frustration and the victims’ families’ grief.
How DNA Finally Cracked the Case
Lead detective Daniel Jackson, who took over the case in 2022, said new forensic methods and database searches helped uncover the real suspect.
A spent .380 shell casing found at the crime scene was re-examined and entered into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), which works similarly to CODIS for firearms evidence. In 2024, investigators discovered that the weapon had also been used in an unsolved Kentucky murder, a critical breakthrough.
At the same time, forensic scientists re-analyzed Y-STR DNA obtained from the crime scene. The South Carolina state crime lab provided a direct match to Brashers, who had also been linked to a 1990 sexual assault and murder in Greenville, South Carolina.
When Austin police re-tested the DNA found under victim Amy Ayers’ fingernails, the result confirmed it belonged to Brashers.
Who Was Robert Eugene Brashers?
Brashers had a long criminal history before the Austin murders. He had served prison time for shooting a woman and was paroled in 1989. Investigators now believe he was responsible for a string of murders and sexual assaults across multiple states throughout the 1990s.
He ultimately died in 1999 after a standoff with police in Missouri, ending his life before he could ever be tried for the yogurt shop killings.
Families and Officials React to Closure
At a press conference, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis described the case as “one of the most devastating and haunting crimes in the city’s history.”
For the victims’ families, the new evidence brought long-awaited relief. Barbara Ayres-Wilson, the mother of Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, said:
“I’m full of gratitude. It has been so long, and all we ever wanted was the truth. We never wanted vengeance, just the truth.”
Meanwhile, Travis County District Attorney José Garza acknowledged past mistakes, apologizing to the men wrongfully prosecuted in 1999. He emphasized that the new DNA evidence overwhelmingly points to Brashers as the sole killer.
A Cold Case Finally Closed
With the case solved after 33 years, Austin police say they are closing one of Texas’s darkest chapters. While Brashers will never face trial, authorities believe the breakthrough offers long overdue closure to the victims’ families and restores confidence in forensic science’s ability to deliver justice, even decades later.
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