DNA links dead man as suspect in Austin murders

Agencies Austin, Texas:

Austin police have announced a “significant breakthrough” in the 1991 unsolved killings of four teenage girls at a local yogurt shop, naming a deceased man as a new suspect based on DNA evidence. 

The brutal crime, known as one of Texas' most notorious cold cases, has haunted the state capital for decades. The victims—Amy Ayers (13), Eliza Thomas (17), and sisters Jennifer (17) and Sarah Harbison (15)—were found bound, gagged, and shot in the head at the "I Can't Believe It's Yogurt" store, which had been set on fire. 

In a statement, Austin police identified the new suspect as Robert Eugene Brashers, who died by suicide in 1999 during a standoff with law enforcement. Since his death, Brashers has been linked through DNA to several other killings and a rape in other states, including a 1990 strangulation in South Carolina and a 1997 rape in Tennessee. 

The announcement follows renewed public interest in the case spurred by the recent HBO documentary series, “The Yogurt Shop Murders.” Police have scheduled a news conference for Monday to detail their findings, though the case officially remains open. 

The identification of Brashers marks a turning point in a case long plagued by false confessions and damaged evidence. In 1999, authorities arrested four men, including Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, who initially confessed but later recanted, claiming police coercion. 

Springsteen and Scott were convicted, but their sentences were overturned in 2009 after new DNA testing revealed an unidentified male suspect, leading to their release. Police expressed that their team "never gave up working this case," a sentiment that offers a flicker of hope for closure in the tragic case that shocked a generation.