Introduction to the Case
Two days after four teenage girls were found murdered in a burning Austin yogurt shop in 1991, a man with a pistol in a stolen car was stopped at a border checkpoint west of El Paso. Nearly 34 years later, cold case detectives have now connected that man and the weapon to the horrific killings that stunned Texas’ capital city. The case frustrated investigators for decades, and previously led to the convictions of two men who were sent to prison, one of them to death row.
The Crime and Initial Investigation
On Dec. 6, 1991, Amy Ayers, 13; Eliza Thomas, 17; and sisters Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, ages 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. Investigators have said that around closing time, someone was either in the store or entered through the back door, attacked the girls and set the fire. The bodies were found by firefighters who were still battling the blaze, and the efforts to put out the fire badly damaged the crime scene.
The Initial Arrests and Convictions
Detectives chased thousands of leads, including multiple confessions, before the case went cold for years. Then in 1999, police arrested four men who were juveniles at the time of the crime. Two of them, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, confessed and implicated each other, but later recanted and said their statements were coerced by police. Springsteen and Scott were convicted. Springsteen was sent to death row before the sentence was reduced to life in prison. Both convictions were later overturned, and the charges were dropped in 2009 when new DNA evidence told detectives they were looking for a previously unknown male at the crime scene.
New Connections to Brashers
Authorities had identified Brashers as a killer who left a deadly trail across several states before he was connected to the yogurt shop murders. In 2018, Missouri authorities said DNA evidence linked him to the strangulation of a South Carolina woman in 1990, and the shooting of a mother and daughter in Missouri in 1998. The evidence also connected Brashers to the 1997 rape of a 14-year-old girl in Tennessee. In June, Austin cold case detective Daniel Jackson resubmitted to a federal system the ballistics findings on a shell casing from a .380 caliber handgun taken from the yogurt shop that was used to kill Ayers. It came back as a match to an unsolved 1998 crime in Kentucky. Jackson would not detail the Kentucky case, but said it has similarities to the crime in Austin. And in August, South Carolina officials told Austin detectives that advanced DNA tests on a sample taken from under Ayers’ fingernail came back as a match to Brashers from the 1990 murder in South Carolina.
The Evidence Against Brashers
“Amy’s final moments on this Earth were to solve this case for us,” Jackson said. “It’s because of her fighting back.” Police said they don’t know why Brashers would have been in Austin the night of the murders, but noted the stop near El Paso just two days later. He was driving to visit his father in Arizona in a truck reported stolen in Georgia. The gun found on Brashers that day was confiscated, but was eventually returned to his father, who may have given it back to him. Jackson said the gun is the same .380 caliber make and model Brashers used it to kill himself in the standoff with police in 1999 in Missouri.
Prosecutor’s Statement
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza said the “overwhelming weight of the evidence points to the guilt of one man" and the innocence of the men previously arrested and convicted. “If the conclusions of APD’s investigation are confirmed, as it appears that they will be, I will say: I am sorry, though I know that that will never be enough,” Garza said. Springsteen’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment. “We never wanted anyone to go to jail or be charged with anything that they didn’t do,” said Barbara Wilson, mother of the Harbison sisters. “Vengeance was never it. It was always the truth.”
Conclusion
The identification of Robert Eugene Brashers as the likely suspect in the 1991 Texas yogurt shop killings brings a measure of closure to the families of the victims and the community. The case highlights the importance of advanced DNA testing technology and the dedication of cold case detectives in solving crimes that have gone unsolved for decades. While the case remains open, the evidence points to Brashers as the sole perpetrator of the horrific crime.
FAQs
- Q: Who was identified as the likely suspect in the 1991 Texas yogurt shop killings?
A: Robert Eugene Brashers was identified as the likely suspect. - Q: How was Brashers connected to the crime?
A: Brashers was connected to the crime through advanced DNA testing technology and ballistics testing. - Q: What was the outcome of the initial arrests and convictions in the case?
A: The initial convictions of Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott were later overturned, and the charges were dropped in 2009. - Q: What other crimes has Brashers been linked to?
A: Brashers has been linked to the strangulation of a South Carolina woman in 1990, the shooting of a mother and daughter in Missouri in 1998, and the 1997 rape of a 14-year-old girl in Tennessee. - Q: Is the case still open?
A: Yes, the case remains open, but the evidence points to Brashers as the sole perpetrator of the crime.
