By Mandy Taheri
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After decades of dead ends, Austin, Texas, police on Friday named deceased serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers as the suspect in the city’s infamous yogurt shop murders.
Why It Matters
The announcement follows decades without answers in the December 1991 killings of four teenage girls—Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas, and sisters Sarah and Jennifer Harbison—at the “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt!” shop in Austin. The girls, aged 13, 15, and 17, were bound, gagged, and shot, before the shop was set on fire.
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The breakthrough comes with notable advancements in forensic DNA testing and renewed attention from an HBO docuseries about the case.
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What To Know
Not much is known about Brashers childhood. He was born in Newport News, Virginia in 1958. He was notorious across several Southern states for various violent crimes including rape and murder, as well as theft. Brashers was married and had three children, one of which was biological.
His first recorded violent crime was in 1985 when he shot a young woman, Michelle Wilkerson, in her head and neck. She survived the attack and later identified him as the attempted murderer, leading him to be sentenced to over a decade in prison.
Brashers was released early on parole in 1989. Shortly after, in 1990, police said he raped and murdered Genevieve Zitricki in Greenville, South Carolina. However, he was not identified as the suspect until after his death.
Two years later, in 1992, he was arrested in Georgia for possession of a stolen car and gun, and upon investigation he also had items to impersonate a police officer and burglary tools. The Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller told The Greenville News that he was sentenced on possession charges and released in 1997.
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That year, police said he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl in Memphis, Tennessee. The following year, in 1998, he murdered Sherri Scherer and her daughter Megan in Portageville, Missouri. Police said that Megan, who was 12 years old, was also sexually assaulted.
He was involved in several other incidents, including shooting a woman with a small child in an attempt to force his way into her home, according to police.
In January 1999, officers had cornered him in the parking lot of a Super 8 motel in Missouri and after hours of negotiations he let his family members go and shot himself. He died six days later.
His body was exhumed in 2018 to match his DNA to several unsolved cases.
What People Are Saying
Austin Police said in a Friday press release: “Our team never gave up working this case. For almost 34 years they have worked tirelessly and remained committed to solving this case for the families of Jennifer Harbison, Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ayers, all innocent lives taken senselessly and far too soon. We have identified a suspect in these murders through a wide range of DNA testing. The suspect is Robert Eugene Brashers, who committed suicide in 1999.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote in a Saturday X post: "COLD CASE: My Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit was instrumental in this major discovery that has led to the identification of the new suspect, Robert Brashers. We have worked hand in hand with local law enforcement since 2022 in order to reach this breakthrough. The tireless dedication and hard work of my team directly contributed to this development, and it's why I established the Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit in my office. We will never cease in the relentless pursuit of justice for victims and their loved ones."
What Happens Next?
Austin police said in a Friday press release, “This remains an open and ongoing investigation,” and more details are to come. Police are scheduled to hold a press conference on the matter on Monday.
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