More than three decades after the brutal killings of four teenage girls at an Austin yogurt shop, police have identified a new suspect: Robert Eugene Brashers, a man who died by suicide in 1999 during a standoff with law enforcement.
Austin police announced Friday that recent DNA testing provided a “significant breakthrough” in the case that has haunted Texas’ capital for over 30 years. Brashers has previously been tied to multiple rapes and murders in other states, including South Carolina, Missouri, and Tennessee.
The revelation comes amid renewed attention sparked by HBO’s documentary series The Yogurt Shop Murders, released last month. Investigators emphasized the case remains open and plan to share further details at a press conference on Monday.
A Notorious Crime That Shook Austin
On December 6, 1991, Amy Ayers, 13; Eliza Thomas, 17; and sisters Jennifer, 17, and Sarah Harbison, 15, were bound, gagged, and shot inside the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt store where two of them worked. The assailant set the building on fire, and firefighters discovered the girls’ bodies amid the blaze.
The horrific details—including makeshift bindings with underwear and gagging with cloth—shocked the community and made the case one of Austin’s most infamous unsolved crimes.
Years of False Starts
The investigation was marred by thousands of leads, false confessions, and compromised evidence. In 1999, four men—two of them teenagers at the time of the murders—were arrested, and two, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, were convicted. Both later recanted, saying their confessions had been coerced. Their convictions were overturned, and they were freed in 2009 after new DNA tests pointed to an unknown male suspect.
Brashers’ Criminal Trail
Brashers, a Navy veteran, was already linked by DNA to a string of violent crimes before his death. In 2018, Missouri authorities connected him to the 1990 strangulation of a South Carolina woman, the 1997 rape of a Tennessee teenager, and the 1998 shootings of a Missouri mother and daughter.
He died by suicide in 1999 during a police standoff in Kennett, Missouri—leaving a violent legacy that investigators are now piecing together.
A Breakthrough, but Not Closure
While Brashers has now been named as a suspect, Austin police say their work is not finished. The case remains open, and investigators continue to pursue unanswered questions.
“Our team never gave up working this case,” Austin police said in their statement, underscoring their commitment to finally securing justice for the four girls whose lives were cut short.
