Bullet casing at yogurt shop links serial killer to the infamous murders

4 days ago 14

CASE UPDATE: In September 2025, the Austin Police Department identified Robert Eugene Brashers, a serial slayer and rapist, arsenic the fishy successful the Yogurt Shop murders. Brashers, who is deceased, was tied to the murders done DNA testing. In December 2025, the Travis County D.A.'s bureau filed a question to statesman the process of exonerating the 4 men who were wrongfully accused of the murders.

"48 Hours" analogous Erin Moriarty has learned a fishy has been identified successful the 1991 murders of 4 teenage girls successful an Austin, Texas, yogurt shop. This is according to 1 of the archetypal investigators who worked the case.

That fishy is Robert Eugene Brashers, who is deceased, says retired Austin detective John Jones.

Brashers is simply a serial slayer and rapist who committed astatine slightest 3 murders betwixt 1990 and 1998 successful the states of South Carolina and Missouri. He died successful January 1999 by termination during a standoff with police. The weapon helium utilized to sprout himself is believed to beryllium accordant with a slug casing recovered successful a drain wrong the yogurt shop, says Jones.

The transportation betwixt Brashers and the lawsuit was made done DNA, Jones told Moriarty.

Moriarty has reported connected the yogurt store lawsuit since the precise beginning.

On Dec. 6, 1991, 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, 13-year-old Amy Ayers, and 2 sisters, 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison and 15-year-old Sarah Harbison, were recovered gagged, tied up with their ain clothing, and changeable successful the caput successful an I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! store successful Austin. The idiosyncratic liable had besides acceptable the store connected fire, compromising overmuch of the evidence.

Eliza and Jennifer had been moving astatine the yogurt store that night. They were getting acceptable to adjacent erstwhile Jennifer's sister, Sarah, and their friend, Amy, met them determination to caput home.

Following the crime, the Austin Police Department developed a task unit dedicated solely to solving the case. Government agencies, including the FBI, were called successful to assist, but the lawsuit yet went acold until 1999, erstwhile 4 men, Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce and Forrest Welborn, were arrested and charged with the murders.'

The men were lone teenagers astatine the clip of the crime. They were archetypal questioned conscionable days aft the murders erstwhile 1 of them, Maurice Pierce, was arrested astatine a promenade not acold from the yogurt store with a .22 caliber weapon — 1 of the aforesaid types of weapons believed to person been utilized successful the killings.

All 4 were released backmost past for deficiency of evidence, but successful 1999, erstwhile a caller squad of investigators were tasked with taking a caller look astatine the aged case, they obtained confessions from 2 of the 4 men, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott. Those confessions would aboriginal beryllium called into question aft the 2 recanted, saying they were coerced.

DNA links serial slayer to 1991 Austin yogurt store murders 04:18

Charges were yet dropped against Maurice Pierce and Forrest Welborn owed to deficiency of evidence, and Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott were the lone 2 to spell connected trial. The sole grounds against them were their ain words. They were some convicted, but a fewer years later, their convictions were overturned connected law grounds. The Sixth Amendment gives defendants the close to face accusers and successful Scott and Springsteen's trials, their confessions were utilized against 1 another, but they weren't allowed to question each different successful court.

Rosemary Lehmberg, the Travis County, Texas, territory lawyer astatine the time, was intent connected retrying Springsteen and Scott. But earlier doing so, her bureau decided to instrumentality vantage of what was past a reasonably caller benignant of DNA investigating called Y-STR testing. It was a mode of searching for and extracting antheral DNA only. Y-STR investigating was ordered connected vaginal swabs taken from the victims astatine the clip of the murders. By this point, investigators had travel to judge that astatine slightest 1 of the victims had been sexually assaulted. As a effect of the Y-STR testing, a partial antheral DNA illustration was obtained from 1 of the girls, but to the astonishment of the territory attorney's office, the DNA illustration did not lucifer immoderate of the 4 men who were arrested.

Key moments successful the probe of Austin's yogurt store murders

Still, prosecutors were determined to retry Springsteen and Scott. But earlier doing so, they wanted to fig retired who that enigma DNA belonged to. In 2009, with nary matches, the charges against Springsteen and Scott were dropped. After astir 10 years down bars, they were released.

For years, officials kept trying to way down the root of the enigma DNA and yet determination was a lucifer this month, according to archetypal researcher John Jones.