- The Austin Police Department announced a new suspect in the high-profile 1991 killings of four girls at a frozen yogurt shop known as the “Yogurt Shop Murders.”
- New genealogical evidence led to the identification of Robert Eugene Brashers, who committed suicide in 1999, as the primary suspect.
- The new breakthrough in the case follows just a month after HBO released a docuseries covering the case called The Yogurt Shop Murders.
One of the grisliest cold cases in Austin’s history may be on the brink of being solved.
The Austin Police Department announced Friday that they have identified a new suspect in the 1991 killings of four local girls — Jennifer Harbison, Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ayers — also known as the “Yogurt Shop Murders.” Robert Eugene Brashers, who committed suicide in 1999 and was not previously linked to the case, has been posthumously identified as a suspect in the cold case that has haunted the city for over three decades.
The breakthrough in the case comes just a month after the release of HBO docuseries The Yogurt Shop Murders, which explores the grim details of the case and includes new interviews with family members and friends of the victims, as well as investigators, lawyers, and journalists who worked on the original case.
“Austin Police have made a significant breakthrough in the 1991 I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt murder case and we have new information. Our team never gave up working this case. For almost 34 years they have worked tirelessly and remained committed to solving this case,” the department’s statement read.
The department cited “a wide range of DNA testing” in facilitating this new development in the case many believed would never be solved.
“APD investigators have been in touch with the families. We ask for your patience as we continue this process and remain mindful of the many people whose lives have been deeply affected by this case,” according to the statement.
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The Austin-American Statesman was the first to report the identification of a new suspect. The paper’s Friday story added that authorities utilized genealogical DNA to secure the recent breakthrough — the same kind of evidence that led to an arrest in the notorious Golden State Killer case in 2018.
Though Brashers was previously linked to at least three murders across the country, he had never been identified as a suspect in the Yogurt Shop Murders case or had any known association with Austin. The Statesman noted that investigators say they’ve solved all three homicides linked to Brashers using DNA evidence obtained by digging up Brashers’ corpse. While the statement from Austin Police noted the case is active and ongoing, the Statesman reports that the department is expected to close the case in the coming weeks.
The Yogurt Shop Murders, directed by The Great Invisible helmer Margaret Brown and co-produced by A24, focuses on the lasting legacy of trauma the unsolved murders left in their wake and interrogation tactics used in the original investigation that have since been called into question.
The murders occurred on Dec. 6, 1991, when Ayers, 13, Thomas, 17, Jennifer Harbison, 17, and her sister Sarah, 15 — employees of the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! shop in North Austin — were bound, gagged, and shot, with the store subsequently being set on fire.
Authorities amassed over 300 suspects in the years-long investigation that followed. Four teenagers were arrested and released within weeks of the crime, and re-arrested years later. After confessing to the crime, Robert Springsteen was sentenced to death 2001, and Michael Scott was sentenced to life in prison the year after, though they both later alleged their confessions were coerced, and no evidence was ever produced linking them to the crimes. Their convictions were later overturned on appeal. In 2009, new DNA evidence exonerated them, and all charges were dismissed.
