Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Cold Case unit has identified a new suspect in the infamous 1991 Austin yogurt shop murders that left four teenage girls dead.
The suspect, Robert Brashers, committed suicide in 1999 and is now linked to the killings of Jennifer Harbison, Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ayers at the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt shop, Paxton’s office announced on Monday.
The breakthrough, aided by advances in DNA testing, comes after more than three decades of investigation into one of Austin’s most notorious unsolved cases. The quadruple homicide shocked the Texas capital and prompted years of fruitless prosecutions.
The bodies of the girls were found nude, bound, and gagged inside a yogurt shop that had been set on fire. Three of the four teens had been sexually assaulted by the perpetrator.
Brashers, who was connected to murders in several other states, emerged as a suspect through work by Paxton’s Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit. The unit has collaborated with local law enforcement on the case since 2022.
“My team has worked tirelessly on this case for years, and this development is a testament to their dedication and hard work,” Paxton said. “The relentless pursuit of justice for the victims and their loved ones will carry on, and we will not rest until the case is solved.”
Investigators plan to explore additional crimes Brashers may have committed during his time in Texas. The attorney general established the Cold Case unit in 2021 to assist law enforcement agencies with unsolved crimes.
Texas currently has more than 20,000 unsolved homicide cases. The unit remains committed to helping agencies statewide find answers for victims’ families.
The City of Austin released additional details about the breakthrough in the decades-old case.
