The Austin Police Department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit has identified Robert Eugene Brashers as a suspect in the 1991 I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt murder case. The announcement comes after decades of investigation and advances in DNA technology. Brashers, who died by suicide in Missouri in 1999, was linked to the case through DNA evidence.
“After 34 years, the Austin Police have made a significant breakthrough in one of the most devastating cases in our city’s history. This unthinkable crime has weighed heavily on the hearts of our community, the families of the victims, and our detectives who have tirelessly pursued justice,” said Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis.
On December 6, 1991, a fire was reported at the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! shop on West Anderson Lane. Firefighters discovered the bodies of Jennifer Harbison (17), Sarah Harbison (15), Eliza Thomas (17), and Amy Ayers (13). All four girls had been shot, bound, gagged, and were found nude. Jennifer and Eliza worked at the shop; Sarah and Amy were present as they closed for the night. Evidence collection was hampered by fire damage and water from sprinklers.
Initial investigations included thousands of tips and multiple confessions that did not lead to convictions. Maurice Pierce was arrested soon after for possessing a gun similar to one used in the murders but was later cleared when his confession did not match crime scene details and ballistics results were inconclusive.
In 1999, a task force re-examined the case files and interrogated four suspects: Maurice Pierce, Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, and Forrest Welborn. Springsteen and Scott confessed during interrogation and implicated each other; both were convicted based on these confessions—Scott received life without parole while Springsteen received a death sentence. Welborn was not indicted due to insufficient evidence; charges against Pierce were dropped as no physical evidence linked any suspect to the scene.
A Supreme Court ruling led to new trials for Scott and Springsteen. Subsequent DNA testing excluded all four original suspects from an unknown Y-STR profile developed from evidence collected at the scene. Charges were dropped pending further investigation.
In 2010, Maurice Pierce died after stabbing an officer during a traffic stop; he was shot by Officer Frank Wilson but no longer considered connected to the murders based on DNA evidence.
DNA testing continued over time with technological advancements. In 2022, Detective Daniel Jackson took over the case and prioritized items for retesting using updated methods. In June 2025, a .380 cartridge from the scene matched an unsolved 1998 Kentucky murder through improved software analysis. Detective Jackson coordinated with Kentucky authorities to compare similarities between cases.
By August 2025, manual searches of Y-STR profiles across U.S. labs revealed that South Carolina’s state lab found a complete match between their database profile from a 1990 Greenville sexual assault/murder case and Austin’s unknown Y-STR profile. The profile belonged to Robert Eugene Brashers—a known serial killer born March 13, 1958.
On August 22, APD received confirmation linking Brashers’ DNA to both crimes after review by South Carolina legal authorities. Additional tests are ongoing; final results will be shared when available. Brashers committed suicide with a .380 pistol—the same type used in Amy Ayers’ murder—in 1999.
Further investigation revealed that less than two days after the Yogurt Shop murders, Brashers was stopped at a border checkpoint near El Paso while driving a stolen car from Georgia with possession of a .380 pistol matching that used in his suicide years later.
The investigation remains open as detectives continue working toward closure for victims’ families: Jennifer Harbison, Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ayers.
“Today, I’m hopeful. My hopefulness is that we can turn a page as a community – and hopefully the final page – on this horror that marked a very different time in Austin’s history,” said Austin Mayor Kirk Watson. “We can take heart in our growth and progress and strength as a city. And we can go to sleep knowing that while the threat of this kind of evil may never pass in this world, we are far, far better able to prevent it before it happens and solve it when it does.”
Authorities encourage anyone with information about Robert Eugene Brashers to contact law enforcement via Texas Attorney General’s Office tipline (https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/coldcasetips), email APD at YogurtShop@austintexas.gov or reach out to Capital Area Crime Stoppers Program at https://austincrimestoppers.org or call (512) 472-8477 (TIPS).
Additional background on this case is available through I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt Murders | AustinTexas.gov.
