Nearly 34 years ago, four teen girls were killed at a yogurt shop in North Austin. Their murders have remained unsolved – until now.
AUSTIN, Texas — More than three decades after four teen girls were found dead inside a burned-down yogurt shop in North Austin, investigators say they finally know who killed them.
Law enforcement sources confirmed to KVUE Senior Reporter Tony Plohetski that the 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders have been solved using genetic genealogy technology. The perpetrator has been identified as American serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers, who died by suicide in 1999.
Brashers’s DNA profile has previously been connected with a 1990 murder in Greenville, South Carolina; the 1997 rape of a 14-year-old in Memphis; and the 1998 double murder of a woman and her 12-year-old daughter in Missouri.
This article will be updated as we learn more.
What are the Yogurt Shop Murders?
On Dec. 6, 1991, four teen girls were bound, gagged and killed at an I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt shop off West Anderson Lane in North Austin. The building was then set on fire, destroying what could have been a trove of forensic clues.
The victims were identified as 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison and her younger sister, 15-year-old Sarah Harbison; 17-year-old Eliza Thomas; and 13-year-old Amy Ayers. Thomas and Jennifer Harbison both worked at the yogurt shop, while Ayers and Sarah Harbison stopped in before closing time on the night of the crime.
The quadruple murder had a significant impact on the growing city of Austin and left many hungry for answers for decades.
Four men were arrested and charged with capital murder in 1999, but two of their cases were overturned. The other two never went to trial.
In recent years, there have been numerous pushes for additional investigation of the case, including testing of DNA evidence found on Amy Ayers’ body, as reported by KVUE in 2020.
A docuseries centered on the murders, called “The Yogurt Shop Murders,” was released on HBO Max earlier this year.