Cold Case Breakthrough: 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders Linked to Serial Predator
After more than three decades, investigators have finally identified a suspect in one of Austin’s most notorious cold cases. Robert Eugene Brashers, a serial predator who died by suicide in 1999, has been linked through DNA evidence to the brutal 1991 murders of four teenage girls at an “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt” shop in Austin, Texas. This development brings new clarity to a case that has haunted the community for generations and was recently featured in an HBO docuseries.
The crime was particularly shocking for its violence and the young age of the victims. Amy Ayers, just 13 years old, along with 17-year-old Eliza Thomas and sisters Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, ages 17 and 15 respectively, were bound, gagged, and shot execution-style at the yogurt shop where two of them worked. The killer then set the building ablaze, apparently attempting to destroy evidence. The savagery of the crime left deep scars on the Austin community, with the case becoming infamously known as the “Yogurt Shop Murders.” Despite its high profile and the community’s desperate need for closure, the case remained officially unsolved for 33 years.
Brashers’ criminal history reveals a pattern of escalating violence long before the yogurt shop killings. In 1985, he was convicted of attempted murder after shooting a woman in the head and sentenced to 12 years in prison. However, he served only three years before being released in 1989—just two years before the yogurt shop murders. His life ended dramatically during a police standoff in 1999, when he barricaded himself in a motel room with his wife, daughter, and two stepdaughters. After releasing his family members, Brashers took his own life. At the time of his death, authorities weren’t aware of his connection to the yogurt shop case, though he was already suspected of other violent crimes.
The breakthrough in the case comes after years of persistent investigation and advances in forensic technology. DNA evidence has now linked Brashers not only to the yogurt shop murders but also to three additional rape and murder cases in Missouri and South Carolina—including the killing of a mother and daughter—as well as a rape in Tennessee. The Austin Police Department emphasized in their statement that “our team never gave up working this case,” highlighting the dedication of investigators who continued pursuing leads for more than three decades. The department has scheduled a press conference for Monday to discuss the new evidence in detail, potentially bringing some measure of closure to the victims’ families and the community.
This revelation is particularly significant because it exonerates two men who were previously convicted of the crimes. Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, who were teenagers at the time of the murders, were charged and convicted in 2001 and 2002, receiving a death sentence and life imprisonment respectively. However, their convictions were later overturned on appeal, partly because no DNA evidence linked them to the crime scene. The identification of Brashers as the likely perpetrator vindicates their claims of innocence and highlights the critical importance of DNA evidence in ensuring justice is properly served. Their wrongful convictions represent a secondary tragedy in this case—two additional lives derailed by a crime they didn’t commit.
The yogurt shop murders case demonstrates both the persistent dedication of law enforcement and the evolving power of forensic science to solve cold cases even decades later. While this development cannot bring back the four young victims whose lives were cut tragically short, it offers answers to questions that have lingered for over thirty years. For the families who have waited so long for justice, the identification of Brashers provides a form of resolution, even if the suspect himself can never be brought to trial. The case has received renewed public attention through HBO’s recent docuseries “The Yogurt Shop Murders,” which premiered last month, underscoring how deeply this crime has embedded itself in Austin’s collective memory. As the community processes this new information, the case serves as a reminder that even the coldest of cases can eventually yield their secrets.
