Police in Austin, Texas, say they have made a “significant breakthrough” using DNA and ballistics evidence that identifies a suspect in the infamous killing of four teens in 1991, just two months after HBO premiered its docuseries “The Yogurt Shop Murders.”
The victims, who ranged in age from 13 to 17, had met at an I Can’t Believe It’s Not Yogurt! shop on a busy street where two of them were employees. They were bound, gagged and at least two were sexually assaulted before the shop was set on fire.
City investigators on Friday said their suspect was Robert Eugene Brashers, who shot himself in a 1999 standoff with police. The breakthrough was first reported by The Austin American-Statesman.
“Austin Police have made a significant breakthrough,” authorities announced on the city’s website. “For almost 34 years they have worked tirelessly and remained committed to solving this case for the families … We have identified a suspect in these murders through a wide range of DNA testing.”
Two 17-year-olds, Eliza Thomas and Jennifer Harbison, were working at the store on Dec. 6, 1991. Harbison’s 15-year-old sister Sarah and friend Amy Ayers, 13, came to meet them at the end of their closing shift.
Firefighters responded to a midnight fire at the store, battling the blaze until morning, when the bodies were discovered. Each had been bound in their own clothes and shot in the head; evidence showed someone had poured an accelerant on their bodies and set them on fire.
Brashers had never before been a suspect. Police at first believed there were multiple assailants, and four men – teens at the time of the murders – were arrested in 1999. Two of them were later convicted, but their guilty verdicts were overturned by an appeals court.
Prosecutors used new DNA testing technology in 2007 in preparation for a new trial, but the results did not match the suspects, and the investigation had once again gone cold.
Years later, that DNA testing led investigators to three other murders – and Brasher, after police ran the genetic profile through an online genealogy database. A bullet casing found at the yogurt shop matched the weapon Brashers used to shoot himself, CBS News reported Friday, citing a retired Austin police officer.
The breakthrough ends decades of aftermath from the murders, which haunted families and residents who commemorated them through the years.
The four-episode HBO docuseries “The Yogurt Shop Murders,” which premiered Aug. 3 – before Brashers’ identity had been discovered – included interviews with family members and friends who took part in the project that focused mainly on processing memory and grief.
The series, executive produced by Emma Stone and Dave McCary under their Fruit Tree banner, was not a factor in the identification of Brasher. It was produced by A24, which supplied therapy to the production team due to the graphic nature of the case.
