DNA identifies Brashers as suspect in 1991 yogurt shop killings

Austin police announced Monday that newly tested DNA evidence has identified Robert Eugene Brashers as the suspect in the 1991 killings of four teenage girls at the I Cant Believe Its Yogurt shop, a case that has remained open for more than three decades. The victims Jennifer Harbison, 17; Eliza Thomas, 17; Sarah Harbison, 15; and Amy Ayers, 13 were found bound, gagged, shot and the building set on fire on December 6, 1991. Brashers died by suicide during a standoff with law enforcement in 1999.

Investigators said the breakthrough followed a series of updated forensic tests and genetic genealogy comparisons after samples from the crime scene were resubmitted to national databases. Detectives reported matches from ballistic casings and DNA recovered from items including belt buckles, an ice cream scoop and biological material taken from victims, with Brashers’ profile linking to a 1990 sexual assault and homicide in South Carolina. Authorities said DNA recovered from three of the victims’ sexual assault kits and from fingernail clippings was consistent with Brashers. Police said the case remains open as investigators continue to follow leads.

Brashers had previously been linked...