A Breakthrough Announcement
Austin police announced on Friday that DNA evidence has conclusively linked Robert Eugene Brashers to the 1991 yogurt shop murders, finally identifying him as the man responsible for killing four teenage girls. The announcement closes one of the most haunting chapters in Austin’s history—a case that lingered unsolved for 34 years, leaving families devastated, suspects wrongfully accused, and an entire city searching for justice. Investigators say the breakthrough came through modern DNA technology, which provided the critical evidence needed to confirm Brashers’ role in the crime.
A Night That Shattered Austin
On December 6, 1991, firefighters responded to a blaze at I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! on West Anderson Lane. What they found inside shocked not only Austin but the entire nation: four teenage girls—bound, gagged, shot in the head, and partially burned.
The victims were:
Jennifer Harbison, 17
Eliza Thomas, 17
Sarah Harbison, 15
Amy Ayers, 13
Jennifer and Eliza were working the closing shift at the shop, while Sarah and Amy were there to keep them company. Before the night was over, all four would be executed. The killers doused the shop with accelerant and set it ablaze, clearly intending to destroy evidence.
The brutality of the crime shocked investigators, hardened first responders, and a community unprepared for such horror.
Investigations and Wrong Turns
The initial investigation was frantic. Detectives canvassed the area, collected fragments of evidence, and took witness statements about men seen loitering near the store. But the fire had destroyed much of the crime scene, leaving investigators with only limited biological material and several bullet casings.
By 1999—after years of frustration and dead ends—police arrested four men: Maurice Pierce, Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen, and Forrest Welborn. Interrogations produced confessions from Scott and Springsteen, which prosecutors used to secure convictions. Springsteen received the death penalty; Scott was sentenced to life.
But the confessions raised immediate red flags. Defense attorneys argued they were coerced, obtained after hours of psychological pressure. More importantly, DNA evidence from the victims excluded all four men.
Over the next decade, appeals courts overturned the convictions, and by 2009 all charges were dismissed. The two men walked free, and the case once again went cold.
The Case That Wouldn’t Let Go
For families of the victims, the reversals were devastating. Not only had they lost their daughters and sisters, but now the prosecutions had collapsed, and no one could be held accountable.
Still, detectives refused to give up. Forensic science was advancing rapidly, and the hope was that one day technology might succeed where earlier methods had failed.
In 2017, investigators finally isolated a male DNA profile from one of the victims. While it didn’t match anyone in national databases, it gave them something concrete to work with.
It would take nearly a decade more, along with the rise of forensic genealogy, for the crucial breakthrough to come.
The DNA Link to Robert Eugene Brashers
In 2025, investigators announced that DNA testing and genealogical research had identified Robert Eugene Brashers as the man responsible. Brashers, a convicted rapist and suspected serial killer, had died by suicide in 1999 during a police standoff.
The evidence connecting him was threefold:
DNA Evidence – Y-STR testing tied the male DNA profile from the crime scene to Brashers’ paternal lineage.
Ballistics – A bullet casing recovered from the yogurt shop matched the handgun Brashers used to kill himself.
Crime Pattern – Brashers’ known crimes bore chilling similarities to the Austin case: victims bound, shot execution-style, and efforts to cover his tracks.
Together, these findings provided investigators with the certainty they had long sought.
Who Was Robert Eugene Brashers?
Brashers lived a life of contradictions. Born in 1958, he outwardly appeared to be a family man, but he led a double life as a violent predator. Investigators now believe he committed a string of rapes and murders across multiple states during the 1990s.
In South Carolina, Tennessee, and Missouri, he left behind a trail of victims whose cases later tied back to him through genetic genealogy. His crimes followed a disturbing pattern: calculated violence, binding of victims, and execution-style killings.
In January 1999, law enforcement surrounded Brashers in Missouri. Refusing to be taken alive, he shot himself with the same type of weapon later connected to the Austin yogurt shop murders.
Until the DNA breakthrough, Brashers had never been linked to the Austin case.
Why This Case Matters
The resolution of the Austin Yogurt Shop murders is significant for several reasons:
It underscores the danger of wrongful convictions. The earlier prosecutions, built almost entirely on confessions, collapsed under scrutiny when DNA excluded the suspects.
It demonstrates the power of forensic genealogy. Decades-old evidence, once thought too degraded, became the key to solving one of Texas’s most infamous cold cases.
It provides closure. Though Brashers is dead and will never face trial, naming him brings a measure of resolution to families who have waited 34 years for answers.
A Timeline of Key Events
Dec. 6, 1991 – Four teenage girls murdered in Austin yogurt shop.
1999 – Four men arrested; two convicted.
2006–2009 – Convictions overturned; charges dismissed.
2017 – Male DNA profile isolated.
2025 – DNA and ballistics link Brashers; case declared solved.
Lessons for the Future
The Yogurt Shop case teaches crucial lessons for investigators and communities:
Preserve evidence at all costs. What seems unusable today may become decisive tomorrow.
Confessions are not enough. They must always be supported by physical evidence.
Technology evolves. Cold cases should never be written off as impossible.
Persistence matters. Without decades of determination, this case might still be unsolved.
Closure at Last
For more than three decades, the families of Jennifer, Eliza, Sarah, and Amy lived with unbearable questions: Who killed their daughters? Would justice ever come?
Now, with the naming of Robert Eugene Brashers, Austin police have provided the answer. While there will be no trial, the case is officially considered solved.
The announcement is both tragic and hopeful—tragic because justice can no longer be pursued in court, but hopeful because it proves that even the coldest cases can eventually be cracked.
The Austin Yogurt Shop murders will always remain one of Texas’s darkest crimes. But at last, the mystery has been resolved, and the four young girls who lost their lives that night are no longer forgotten in silence.