Suspect Identified in 1991 Texas Yogurt Shop Murders Through DNA
Investigators have identified a suspect in a Texas quadruple murder cold case that remained unsolved for more than three decades.
Austin police announced Friday that DNA evidence linked Robert Eugene Brashers to the 1991 killings of four teenage girls at a local yogurt shop. Brashers, who died by suicide in 1999, was previously suspected of being a serial predator.
According to the Austin American-Statesman, Brashers had been convicted of attempted murder in 1985 after shooting a woman in the head, receiving a 12-year prison sentence but serving only three years before his 1989 release. He later fatally shot himself following a police standoff at a motel where he had been hiding with his wife, daughter, and two stepdaughters.
DNA evidence also linked Brashers posthumously to three rapes and murders in Missouri and South Carolina—including a mother and daughter—and a rape in Tennessee.
Separately, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, who were teenagers at the time of the yogurt shop murders, were charged and convicted of the killings in 2001 and 2002.
Sonora Thomas pictured with her older sister, Eliza, who was murdered in 1991 by Robert Eugene Brashers.
Two other suspects were originally sentenced to death and life in prison, but their convictions were later overturned on appeal, in part because no DNA evidence linked them to the crimes.
The case, later dubbed the “Yogurt Shop Murders,” remains one of Austin’s most notorious unsolved crimes until now.
HBO premiered a docuseries titled The Yogurt Shop Murders last month, exploring the tragic events and their lasting impact.
“In loving memory of Amy Ayers, Sarah Harbison, Jessica Harbison, and Eliza Thomas. Forever in our hearts,” reads the engraving on a memorial.
Amy Ayers, 13; Eliza Thomas, 17; and sisters Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, 17 and 15, were bound, gagged, and shot in the head at the “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt” store, where two of them worked. The building was then set on fire.
“Our team never gave up working this case,” Austin police said in a statement on Friday.
The department has scheduled a conference on Monday to discuss the new evidence linking Robert Eugene Brashers to the murders.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
