DNA links Robert Eugene Brashers to 1991 Austin yogurt‑shop murders; tied to other rapes and killings
Austin police say DNA testing and genetic genealogy have identified Robert Eugene Brashers as a suspect in the 1991 killings of four teenage girls at an Austin yogurt shop and also tie him to other alleged rapes and murders in South Carolina, Missouri and Tennessee. Brashers, who died by suicide during a 1999 standoff in Missouri, has been connected by investigators to a shell casing found at the scene and the renewed review has revived interest in two never‑identified patrons witnesses said looked out of place that night.
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📰 Sources (6)
A Man Is Linked to the Brutal ‘Yogurt Shop Murders’ 34 Years Ago
New information:
- Austin Police Department publicly named Robert Eugene Brashers as a suspect in a city statement this week.
- Investigators used genetic genealogy and DNA testing to identify the suspect and linked him to at least three other murders.
- A retired Austin detective told CBS News that a bullet casing recovered in a drain at the yogurt shop matched the gun Brashers used to shoot himself in 1999.
What to know about the new suspect identified in Texas’ infamous yogurt shop killings
New information:
- Names of the four victims published: Amy Ayers (13); Eliza Thomas (17); Jennifer Harbison (17); Sarah Harbison (15).
- Affirms DNA identification of Robert Eugene Brashers and notes Austin police will provide additional details on Monday.
- Reports Brashers died by suicide in 1999 in Kennett, Missouri, and includes family reaction — a quoted apology from his daughter, Deborah Brashers‑Claunch.
- Contextual details: the shop was set on fire after the murders; prior convictions of two men overturned and they were freed in 2009; the case was the subject of a recent HBO documentary, 'The Yogurt Shop Murders.'
DNA evidence cracks cold case, connects dead suspect to murders of 4 teens at Austin yogurt shop
New information:
- Confirmatory detail that Brashers fatally shot himself in 1999 following a motel standoff where he had been hiding with family and then released them.
- DNA evidence reportedly also links Brashers to three rapes and murders in Missouri and South Carolina and a rape in Tennessee.
- Background on Brashers' criminal history: convicted of attempted murder (shooting a woman in the head in 1985), sentenced to 12 years but served about three and was released in 1989 (per Austin American‑Statesman reference).
DNA evidence links dead man to 1991 killings of 4 girls at Texas yogurt shop
New information:
- Austin Police say DNA tests have led investigators to identify Robert Eugene Brashers as a new suspect in the 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders.
- Police statement described the finding as a 'significant breakthrough' and a news conference was scheduled to detail findings.
- Authorities say DNA links also tie Brashers to other alleged crimes: a 1990 South Carolina strangulation, a 1998 Missouri shooting of a mother and daughter, and a 1997 rape of a 14-year-old in Tennessee.
- Brashers died by suicide in 1999 during an hours-long standoff with police in Kennett, Missouri.
Are 2 never-identified customers key to solving yogurt shop murders?
New information:
- Lead investigator John Jones told '48 Hours' that multiple customers described two men who 'looked out of place' in the yogurt shop the night of the murders and that those two men were never identified despite efforts including hypnosis.
- The article advances the theory that those two never-identified customers may have been involved in the killings, providing a concrete new investigative angle.
- The report reiterates earlier procedural history (Oct. 1999 arrests of four men — Maurice Pierce, Forrest Welborn, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott) while linking that history to the current emphasis on the two unidentified patrons and reporting that one investigator has identified Robert Eugene Brashers as a suspect.
Suspect ID'd in infamous yogurt shop murders, says original investigator
New information:
- Four teenage girls (Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas, Jennifer Harbison and Sarah Harbison) were found gagged, bound and shot on Dec. 6, 1991 in Austin, Texas.
- Retired Austin detective John Jones told CBS '48 Hours' the suspect has been identified as Robert Eugene Brashers and that DNA evidence links him to the case.
- Robert Eugene Brashers, who had convicted murders in other states, died by suicide in January 1999 during a standoff with police.