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Welcome to Off the Record. I'm your host Nick Crime. >> It's good to be seen and it's good to
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see you. Off the record. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend. >> True Crime Podcast.
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>> Be good. Be kind. And don't live. >> Gather around. Grab a chair. Grab a beer. Let's talk some ground.
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>> Welcome to an emergency off the record. It's the good kind of emergency though.
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We are here because there is a case that we've been talking about for several years. It is finally nearing its
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conclusion and a successful conclusion at that that they're able to start putting the puzzle pieces together to
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finally figure out exactly what happened in the yogurt shop murders. On Friday, December 6th, 1991, 14ed girls were
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bound, gagged, and killed at an I can't believe it's yogurt shop off of West Anderson Lane in North Austin, Texas.
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The building was then set on fire, destroying what could have been a trove of physical and forensic clues. But they
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didn't manage to wipe away every single trace. Every killer leaves a trace. transfer theory wins again. Dr. Edmund
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Locard's exchange principal wins out once more. Robert Eugene Brashers is the name that Austinites have been searching
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for for over 33 years. Coming up on 34 years this December, Robert Eugene Brashers is one of the perpetrators in
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the 1991 yogurt shop murders. A horrific crime, one of the worst crimes that we have reviewed here in the garage. And
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this was a case that troubled us greatly. So much so that we revisited this case several times, six episodes
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from here in the garage on the yogurt shop case. Our first look was back in February of 2017 with about 2 hours of
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coverage TCG episodes 81 and 82. And then again when we were faced with the sad 30year anniversary of the then still
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unsolved case with our episodes Yogurt Shop Murders 30 years later episodes 539 and 540. Then most recently this year
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2025 after the HBO docu series on the case we did two follow-up episodes. The Yogurt Shop Murders, episode numbers 866
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and 867 on your True Crime Garage radio dial. This from our Twitter or on X's as
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they say at True Crime Garage from Friday, September 26th. We posted after more than three decades. Investigators
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believe the yogurt shop murders have been solved. We will be diving into our sources to try and learn more details.
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This is huge news for the true crime world. Got him. Cheers, mates. Got him. If you're not following True Crime
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Garage, go follow us on the social channels at True Crime Garage. So, quick recap for those that uh need one on this
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case. Four teenage girls were brutally murdered on a Friday night at a yogurt shop in North Austin, Texas in December
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of 1991. The girls families and those who worked decades trying to find and prosecute their killer or killers said
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that the 30th anniversary came with no sense of closure. The details of the crimes have been well documented.
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Jennifer Harbison, Eliza Thompson, both 17, worked at the I can't believe it's yogurt on West Anderson Lane. Jennifer's
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sister, little sister Sarah Harbinson, age 15, and Sarah's friend Amy Ays, aged 13, arrived that night at the yogurt
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shop before closing time on December 6th, 1991. The plans for young Amy Ays and Sarah Harbbertson were to have a
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sleepover together that night. They were close friends. Amy was only an eighth grader at Bernett Middle School. The
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other girls attended Laneir High School. Sometime after the yogurt shop closed that night at 11 p.m., the girls were
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gagged with their own clothing and then shot in the head. Their bodies were stacked on top of one another and a
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portion of the shop was set on fire, the back portion of this restaurant. Authorities arrested four suspects, but
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that was almost eight years later in October of 1999. Only two of the four, this was Robert Burns Springsteen and
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Michael James Scott, stood trial and both were in fact convicted. Springsteen received the death penalty and Scott got
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life in prison. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned their convictions, ruling that their
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confessions were improperly used against each of them at each other's trials. Springsteen and Scott were released from
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prison and prosecutors dismissed all charges against them. In 2017, there was a potential breakthrough that emerged.
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Austin detective submitted DNA evidence found in one of the victims on one of the
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victims into a database that searches YSTR DNA samples, a type of DNA profile that forensic investigators use to
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identify male relatives of a suspect. A match was found in 2017. The Austin Police Department requested more
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information about the identity of the matching donor, but the FBI at the time refused to release any information,
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saying a federal statute prohibits it from disclosing identities of anonymous donors. Despite these hurdles, the
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families continue to work to keep the case in the forefront. Their efforts have led to new crime fighting
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initiatives at the state and the federal levels and of course led to the recent docue series on HBO. Now this here
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captain is from a press release from Friday, September 26, the same day as your post on on X. And it says they gave
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the immediate release of the following titled Austin police make significant breakthrough in 1991 I can't believe
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it's yogurt murder case. Austin police have made a significant breakthrough in the 1991 I can't believe it's yogurt
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murder case and we have new information. They said our team never gave up working
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on this case for almost 34 years. They have worked tirelessly and remain committed to solving this case for the
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families of Jennifer Harbison, Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Heirs. All innocent lives taken senselessly and
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far too soon. We have identified a suspect in these murders through a wide range of DNA testing. The suspect is
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Robert Eugene Brashers, who committed suicide in 1999. This remains an open and ongoing
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investigation. Austin Police Department investigators have been in touch with the families. We
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ask for your patience as we continue this process and remain mindful of the many people whose lives have been deeply
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affected by this case. Now, Captain, I appreciate, and I'm not going to go too far down the old rabbit hole
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here. >> I appreciate everybody rejoicing that this case is the investigation is moving along
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significantly and the identification of this Robert Eugene Brashers. I don't want to piss on
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anybody's Cheerios here because that would be disgusting and rude, frankly. But um I do like the title of what the
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Austin Police Department chose to title their their press release on Friday that
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said that Austin police make significant breakthrough in this case rather than a
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lot of people posting that the case is solved. I think that I think that the line in this press release that came out
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on Friday from the investigating agency that's in charge of this case that we do
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need to keep in mind while we while we are rejoicing and celebrating here in the garage today. But the line that they
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did choose to includes in that press release is this remains an open and ongoing investigation. So solved might
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not be the the proper term at this moment. making significant breakthrough. Absolutely. And kudos to them for not
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giving up and continuing to test information. And actually just watching the the press conference, there was a
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press conference scheduled for Monday the 29th. So the information comes out on the Friday. Then we hear that there's
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going to be a press conference and they held true to their word. It was covered by several of the local media outlets
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there. And I had just finished watching the first about 25 minutes of the case where the the current detective gave a
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full presentation and after he was done speaking, we flipped on the microphones ready to talk
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about this because it is a good day here in the garage and a good day in Austin.
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And it's been a Nothing's going to bring these poor girls back, these four wonderful people back. But this is
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something that their family has been hoping and praying for for over three decades. And many folks in Austin and
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outside of Austin hoping and praying for for all of this time. Well, in the Austin
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public and the victim's families, of course, they're going to be somewhat leery of this information because
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they've had this. We've solved the case before from >> Austin PD and there was individuals
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arrested. If the defense didn't make a couple mistakes in that case, then maybe uh would never get to this point in the
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investigation. >> Yeah. Well, I mean, >> well, I shouldn't say defense. I expand
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on that a little bit. The prosecutors because >> the prosec during the trial, what they
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did was instead of having people that confessed um testify at the trial, they were using
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recordings and written confessions to basically cross-examine the other individuals.
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>> Yeah. They used the confessions at the trials against each of the two that were
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convicted. What they didn't do was allow the allow for their to that information
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and that evidence to be contested in trial. And since it wasn't contested, that's actually that's illegal. It's
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it's it's not giving the defendant a proper and fair trial. and thus they overturn those convictions. But then you
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also realize how how loose I mean you talk about building your case on on a shoestring. This was more like dental
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floss because as soon as those convictions are overturned what happens is the prosecutors dismiss all the
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charges against both of them. And then you had Austin PD come out and say no we we're still convinced we got the right
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guys. We're just looking for the courts got it wrong and now we're looking for a
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fifth person that was involved. And so I there may be somebody sitting out there
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somewhere that's going to say that Robert Eugene Brashers was the fifth perpetrator and these other four were
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still involved, but that's not what Austin PD said today at the press conference.
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>> Absolutely the opposite. I I'm still a little confused even after watching the
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conference because there's something that's being overlooked. You know, we you and I had traded some texts and
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thank thank you for you were the first one to notify me that there was been this significant breakthrough in this
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case and I had said something to you of why I have a little birdie that follows the true crime world
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>> extensively and so that little birdie uh tips me off to everything that's happening.
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>> Yeah. And you can set up notifications when there's a a news break. I try to distance myself from the news for
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reasons we don't need to get into here today, but um >> it's better to have a little birdie.
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>> There you go. Yes. I had said to you on Saturday and it's actually you you had
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mentioned that there was going to be this press conference and I said, "Well, are they going to explain why they don't
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know who the other perpetrator is?" I'm not going to go too much into this because um I could be I could be wrong.
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I could be absolutely wrong, but the information I >> Yeah, I think you are. >> Well, thanks for the your vote of
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confidence. I appreciate it. >> I was just going to say I looked into this. Do they have two samples from a
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suspect and they do not >> which is goes against the information that has been out there for several
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years now. >> Yeah. that initially that was put out by the defense saying that is this DNA
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sample an actual DNA sample or are there two individuals that we should be looking for? The prosecution argued that
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and also forensic reports also contest that. And during the press conference, they said definitively that they're
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looking into Brasher as the killer and that he killed uh and did this crime by himself. Oh yeah. I'm not I'm not
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pushing back against on the idea that Robert Brat I'm not I want to be clear here. Not saying that at all. He's
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absolutely responsible for this. I'm just pointing out that all of the scientific information up until what was
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just released within the last 48 hours has said otherwise that there were in fact two perpetrators. Now, to to be to
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put to put a point on my side here off of the evidence that they presented at the press conference, they are saying
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that the DNA that led them to Robert Eugene Brashers was taken from Amy Heir's fingernail clippings.
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>> Yes. And other items, Amy's belt, the ice cream scoop, and clothing. So, the other DNA evidence that has been
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discussed up until the most recent 48 hours was from other parts of the crime scene, let's say. But let's we don't we
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need don't need to get into that here. What we need to do is get into what we do know. Well, this the statement that I
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found was defense arguments have claimed that the evidence could be uh could reflect more than one male contributor,
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not just one unknown male. The prosecutors and some forensic reports have contested that. So, other than
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that, I can't find, you know, definitive evidence of this second contributor. >> That That's fine. And I'm not asking you
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to do that. I I'm not asking anybody else to know that it's there. It's out there and I'm I'm this is I'm not making
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it up. It's I don't I don't want to go into the details of that for a lot of reasons, but it's there. And so the
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information you're discussing is when the two were convicted. >> Yeah. >> So that I mean that would have been
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years and years ago. The information I'm talking about is stuff that has come out
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within the last five to six years in this case. And and there could be some confusion on this too because the
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initial sample that they had this male only sample which is called a Y STR their initial samples they had ones with
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different markers. The most complete one that they had was 17 and then eventually
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they're able to get that to 25 markers and it's essentially it's 27 cuz one of them is kind of split but you know going
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from 17 markers to 27 is a is a big leap forward. >> Exactly. And what we find here is with
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that evidence that was under the fingernail nails of Amy Heirs, eventually that's going to lead to a 27
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point match. 27 of 27 match for Robert Brashers. So not even much in the, you know, there's no question in there at
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all. Absolutely. Robert Brasher's involved in in responsible for the brutal murders of these four young
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girls. According to his obituary, Robert Brashers, Robert Eugene Brashers was 40
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years old. He was from Paragold, Arkansas. He died January 13, 1999 in >> It was a shootout, right? It was a It
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was a standoff with uh law enforcement. >> Well, it was a a standoff, but but not a
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shootout. He He passes away, like the captain said, after a standoff. And I can tell you exactly.
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>> Well, I mean, it was a shootout cuz he shot his brains out. >> True. Uh, true.
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>> There was still a shootout. >> So, but not the traditional definition of shootout. Uh, the title is Arkansas
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man Kills Self after police standoff. This is from Ket, Missouri from the Associated Press. An Arkansas man is
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dead following a 4-hour standoff with police at a motel in southeast Missouri. Officers checking on a car with stolen
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license plates, went to the motel unit occupied by Robert Brashers, age 40, of Paragold, Arkansas, and his family.
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Authorities said Brasher's wife told them that he was not there, but officers saw him hiding under a bed. They said
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Brashers placed a pistol to his head and said he would shoot himself if the officers did not leave. The officers
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left the room and then contacted Brashers by telephone, convincing him to allow his wife and three children to
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leave the room. Police continued to negotiate with Brashers by telephone, but then they heard a single gunshot at
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about 4:30 in the morning. Brashers was found on the floor of the room with a gunshot wound to his head. He died later
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at the hospital. And authorities said Brashers was wanted for federal weapons violations. Little did they know at this
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time in 1999 when this guy kills himself uh that how much other horrible stuff this guy
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was actually responsible for and unfortunately didn't face much of a punishment during his time on this earth
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for these horrible crimes that he committed. The Austin PD, the detective telling us today at the press
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conference, very bluntly and rightfully so, says it exactly the way you should say it. He says, "Robert Eugene Brashers
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was a violent serial rapist and murderer." >> Yeah. This will not be the only crime
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that they close this year because of of this DNA testing. >> Yeah. Originally, the way that they find
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out, they use DNA to find him for other crimes. So, he was identified after death as a being a serial rapist and ser
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serial murderer. But it wasn't until very recently that they connected the yogurt shop case to this Robert Eugene
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Brashers who killed other people in several different states. And in fact, it was the state of South Carolina that
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exumed his body. I think it was in 2017 or 2018. They already had the DNA evidence, but they exumed his body to
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make sure that there was no question about it. exume the body, take the DNA from the body, and then using with the
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help of Parabon Nano Labs back then, they confirmed that he was the rapist murderer in their unsolved cold case.
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They said in in that cold cases press conference, they said that Robert Brashers lived the majority of his life
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in Huntsville, Alabama, but lived in Paragold, Arkansas after being released from prison in 1997. So, he did spend
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some prison time on a few different occasions here. And unfortunately, like we see in so many other cases, if
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this guy wouldn't have been let out on early release, well, this the yogurt shop murders would
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not have been committed because he would have still been locked up in 1991, but he was let out early for reasons we that
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will never make any sense to me. Anyway, in 1986, Brashers was convicted for beating and shooting a woman in Port St.
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Lucy, Florida. For that, he was given a 10-year prison sentence in 1986. He served three and a half years in prison
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for that. So, he was released May 4th of 1989. In April of 1990, Brashers brutally
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raped and murdered Jenny Zriki in Greenville, South Carolina. >> That's the one that they got the DNA
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from. >> In 1992, Brashers was arrested in Cobb County, Georgia for possession of a
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stolen pistol and possession of a stolen vehicle. At the time of his arrest, he had a police scanner, a police coat or
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jacket, burglary tools, and a fake Tennessee driver's license. So, he was driving around and ready and
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willing to present himself as a police officer. We usually know how that goes and why
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people do that sort of behavior. He was then sentenced to prison once again after being caught for this in '92
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and he was released February 17th, 1997. So sometime between his release of May 4th, 1989, he managed to kill Jenny
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Zistriki, and I I'm going to spell that because I'm probably not saying it exactly correct. It's Zi T R I C K I
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before being arrested in ' 92. Well, we know that he was down in Austin, Texas, where he committed these the infamous
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yogurt shop murders case. Now, he's released February 17th, 1997. And this is what we will typically see with these
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types of offenders. Serial rapist, serial murderers. It's not going to be very long before he's going to be back
00:24:00
at it again. And this is March 11th, 1997. Less than 30 days after getting out of prison, Brashers entered a home
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in Memphis, Tennessee, where he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old who was visiting friends at this home.
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>> Yeah. Wasn't four victims were in that case. >> That's correct. There were four people
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inside the home. He sexually assaulted one of the persons in the home. He fled the home and that case was unsolved for
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quite some time as well. In March of 1998, so the following year, March 28th of 98, Brashers brutally murdered Sherry
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Sherer and her 12-year-old daughter Megan. Sherry Sheerer and her 12-year-old daughter, Megan Sheerer. He shot them
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multiple times. daughter was sexually assaulted. Until they solved that case in in South Carolina, this one wasn't
00:25:01
solved either. So, this is what's weird, dude. Like, we're seeing him from the after the exumation in where South
00:25:10
Carolina sled is involved. Solving that cold case connected him to a bunch of these other cases. Now, what we're
00:25:18
seeing today in 2025 out of Texas is the same thing. Brashers we now know did yogurt shop and there's
00:25:30
a case in Kentucky that they are working on with him. >> Yeah, that's kind of what sent them down
00:25:37
this rabbit hole is I guess the way you enter your ballistic information is is manually and so
00:25:48
there's been some errors. So, Detective Dan Jackson, this is in June of this year, decided, okay, well, you know, I
00:25:56
heard that there could be errors here, so I'm going to re-upload this information. That ballistic evidence
00:26:04
brings us to this case in Kentucky. And I think what's fascinating with this case is we have two guns that were used.
00:26:13
So, by there being two murder weapons, maybe you could assume that there's two suspects. But we had a what a 22 and um
00:26:23
380. But the 22 there's just fragments. There was no shell casings, but there was the shell casing of the 380 and the
00:26:34
drain. So they were able to run more ballistic evidence on on that shell casing >> with that sheer case.
00:26:45
This is just really exemplifies how violent this guy was. Later that same day, after committing a double homicide,
00:26:56
he attempted to force his way into a home in Dyresburg, Tennessee. There he encountered a 25-year-old mother who was
00:27:05
home with a small child who fought with Robert Brashers. She was shot in the doorway of her home. uh she survived and
00:27:14
provided a description to police. So if if you're staying up on this and you're aware of the news already, you've
00:27:21
probably seen some of the composite sketches of that are now linked to Brashers that are floating around. Now,
00:27:30
the projectile retrieved from her body was also later linked to the Sheerers murder. So they they had an idea that
00:27:38
those were connected, but until they solved the South Carolina case, that too, this case too remained unsolved.
00:27:45
And then in 1998, April 12, 1998, Brashers was arrested as he attempted to break into a single woman's home for
00:27:53
whom he had previously done handyman work for. Brashers had cut the phone lines to the home, was armed with a
00:28:00
firearm, had a video camera, and possessed other tools. He was released from custody the following day. And then
00:28:07
he goes on the run. [Music] [Music] >> All right, we are back. Cheers, mates. Thanks for joining us here in the
00:28:28
garage. And at least we're bringing good news this time. Cheers to you, Colonel.
00:28:34
Yes, thank you, Captain. Cheers to you, buddy. Um, yeah, always happy to bring good news. In fact, solve more of these
00:28:42
cases so we can bring more good news each and every wonderful week. So, it was there that his wrap sheet uh we'll
00:28:54
get more into brashers, but he's arrested for this B&E. I mean, I get it. I get it. There's there's
00:29:05
constitutional rights. The dude cut the phone lines, brought a gun with him and a video camera and other tools to the
00:29:13
scene, and he's released from custody the following day, goes on the run. And then January 13th, 1999,
00:29:21
the standoff shootout and uh takes place at that Super Eight motel in Kennet, Missouri, where
00:29:31
Brashers is found dead on the floor of the motel room after the standoff with police.
00:29:39
>> Yeah. I mean, I think the most fascinating thing here is obviously we have this individual's DNA,
00:29:47
but did he ever go to Texas? Is it It's not as simple as we got his DNA and there that's it. And I think especially
00:29:58
with what has taken place in this case, the families have the right to wonder where law enforcement is at here. And I
00:30:07
think they did a really good job during the press conference to stack the evidence to say it's not just this DNA
00:30:15
that is important here, but you can stack the evidence against Brasher. >> Yeah. And so I I got my notes here from
00:30:23
the press conference. So they started off when they giving us the presentation of how we got to where
00:30:32
we are today. And like you said, Captain, I'm with you. I appreciate that they went through some detailed
00:30:39
information because as you said, which is correct, a lot of times we hear in these cases, well, we've figured out who
00:30:48
did it. The DNA told us who did it, but um that's all we know. You know, we've we've still not been able to con to
00:30:56
connect the perpetrator to the victim or the victim to the perpetrator here in this case. and I'll go through my notes
00:31:05
from their presentation and maybe this will clear any questions up that that some folks may have or things they're
00:31:11
wondering about. Here says uh the modus opa was the perpetrator entered or remained
00:31:19
near yogurt shop at closing time when no other customers were present. The girls
00:31:25
were found nude and tied up with their own clothing as liatures and bindings. There was evidence of sexual assault at
00:31:32
the scene. All four victims were shot in the head execution style with a 22 caliber gun. Amy was also shot with a
00:31:40
380 caliber gun. The building was set on fire. The evidence collected, they said
00:31:46
in 1991 DNA technology was primitive. All girls had vaginal swabs taken for DNA testing, both at the scene and at
00:31:54
the autopsies, which the detective pointed out was paramount to their investigation and where they are today
00:32:01
with that investigation. One fired 380 cartridge casing was located in the floor drain. As the
00:32:11
captain pointed out, the other other casings were not located at the scene. The fire and the manner in which the
00:32:19
fire was extinguished made evidence collection extremely difficult. Tips and leads. There were thousands of tips and
00:32:26
dozens of confessions, but most led nowhere and no arrests were made. One of the confessions
00:32:34
was from a juvenile named Maurice Pierce. 8 days after the murders, Pierce was at the North Cross Mall with his
00:32:41
friend Forest Wellborn. He was carrying a .22 pistol in his waistband. Maurice Pierce, aged 16 at the time, was
00:32:48
arrested by Austin PD for having a gun at the mall. The 22 pistol was seized. Pierce was taken to the homicide office
00:32:57
and interrogated for hours by detective Hector Palano where Pierce confessed to Palanco. The
00:33:05
next morning, lead detective John Jones arrived at work and spoke to Pierce. Pierce confessed that he had lent the 22
00:33:13
pistol to a friend, Forest Wellorn, and that Wellbourne told Pierce he had killed the girls. When Wellbornne was
00:33:20
questioned, he mentioned to his two other friends, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott. Those were the two that
00:33:27
were eventually tried and convicted, which is strange, as we've pointed out a couple times prior that Pierce and
00:33:34
Wellbborne were were the ones that were first arrested and and had some form of a confession, but those two, they
00:33:41
weren't able to even bring them to trial. They never brought them to trial. But if Blanco
00:33:48
wasn't so good at getting people to confess, this part of the case would have not
00:33:54
moved forward. And then also, if they would have had the ballistic evidence to test against the gun that Pierce was
00:34:03
found with at the at the mall, then the case wouldn't have gone any further either.
00:34:10
>> Right. And as they presented here today at the press conference, they say police
00:34:15
interviewed all four and they were eliminated. That was of course just weeks after the murders. And we know
00:34:21
that that will change. They said ballistics analyzed the 22 gun that was seized from Pierce at the mall to
00:34:27
determine if it was the same weapon used in the murders. Results were inconclusive as the projectiles were
00:34:33
highly fragmented slashdistorted. But remember publicly, not in ' 91, but what was it in 99? I
00:34:43
think publicly they were saying that it that the ballistics were a match, even though later we find out that they
00:34:48
weren't and in fact inconclusive at best. Says case had gone cold. The case stalled over the years and
00:34:56
personnel were scaled back during the mid90s. In 1999, a new yogurt shop task force revisited the Maurice Pierce
00:35:03
confession. Since 2008, numerous items were sent to numerous labs across the country with various testing strategies.
00:35:12
Most of the male DNA collected from the crime scene were only a few picoggrams and was a mixture with the victims. This
00:35:24
is where we get into some of the DNA stuff. And forgive me because I'm not a scientist. I don't even play one on TV
00:35:30
because that would be impossible. I'm not smart enough. 2018 the unknown YSTR samples were submitted for retesting due
00:35:38
to technical technological advancements. The unknown YSTR returned with 27 known
00:35:44
markers for a more complete profile and as the captain was saying 25 markers with two having double split as he said
00:35:53
uh to give 27 total. The YSTR identified identity remained unknown at that time.
00:36:00
The unknown YSTR profile was also found on other swabs taken from the girls. >> Yeah, I believe what Detective Dan
00:36:08
Jackson was saying is these YSTR samples aren't something that you can't can really put into CODS. You would have to
00:36:16
have a more complete filing, right? And it wouldn't be a YSTR sample. It' be a different sample that
00:36:25
would have to go into CODS. It could be >> correct. So for right because the COTUS
00:36:30
database is not a database of YSTR DNA. So therefore, if you put it in there, there's going to be no match. You'll
00:36:39
never get a hit because it's not a collection of that form of DNA. So you have to have the proper form of DNA to
00:36:48
submit it to Cotus in the hopes of getting a match. Uh, late June of 2025, according to Austin PD, Detective
00:36:58
Jackson, he's the current detective, he deserves a lot of kudos here, determined
00:37:02
that the 380 cartridge had not been submitted to the Nib, that's a database, in many years, and
00:37:12
software had greatly improved. >> Ballistic database. Yeah. Original Ballistics reported in all probability
00:37:19
the weapon used was limited to a an AMT backup model 380 semi-automatic handgun in the murder of Amy Heirs.
00:37:30
So remember they were all shot with a 22. Amy was shot with the the only one being shot with the 380. She's also the
00:37:38
one that they used her fingernail clippings to identify Robert Brashers as the killer. July 2nd, 2025. Uh the
00:37:49
detective requested submission submission of fired 380 cartridge casing through ATF TFO received a hit the same
00:37:59
afternoon to an unsolved murder in Kentucky. Now, they did go the detective went out of his way to say, you know, I
00:38:07
I I can't give too much information on the the Kentucky angle here because uh they're still working and they and
00:38:15
they haven't rather than me answer it, I'll let I'll answer from the detectives here from my notes. Kentucky cold case
00:38:21
homicide from 1998. They have not done their press release yet, so the actual city will not be named. Fair enough.
00:38:29
Right there. They do have some ballistic evidence and matches back, but the complete ballistic results have not come
00:38:39
back in the yogurt shop or this Kentucky case. So, both of these cases are going
00:38:44
to be waiting on those ballistics, but they're but because of the initial testing, they're pretty convinced of the
00:38:51
results that they're going to get. >> Yeah, exactly. And it will be interesting to see how that plays out
00:38:59
and what crime they're talking about as you know the 1998 Kentucky case doesn't not ringing any bells for me but
00:39:08
>> I think it's a single victim and I think it's a rape and murder and I believe the
00:39:12
victim was bound by her own clothes as well and I believe that the building was set on fire.
00:39:20
>> So very similar to the yogurt shop murders. >> Yeah. So what they're saying is that in
00:39:25
July of this year, Austin Police Department cold case and attorney general cold case investigators traveled
00:39:31
to Kentucky because they wanted to review the cases. They're like the captain's pointing out, they are
00:39:38
comparing notes on yogurt shop to the notes on this Kentucky case from 1998. They say their words are the murders
00:39:48
share a similar MO. And then they say preliminary NIB results the ballistics database indicate
00:39:58
a presumptive positive correlation between the two casings indicating the same gun was used. So same gun, the 380
00:40:07
used at Yogurt Shop was used in this Kentucky 1998 cold case. The Yogurt Shop 380 casing was brought to the Kentucky
00:40:16
State Police KSP. Shout out to our friends at KSP. We got a bunch of you that listen and we appreciate it. So
00:40:23
tool mark tool mark examiners could do a onetoone definitive comparison. It says official results are pending but
00:40:33
as said presumptive positive correlation. They believe that it's going to be a match. Aside from the MMO
00:40:42
and the ballistics hit, no obvious links were found between yogurt shop and the Kentucky murder. APB cold case Texas
00:40:51
attorney general's cold case unit and Kentucky PD Kentucky had only tested a cigarette butt from the scene and got an
00:41:00
unidentified Cotus profile. So in that case, they were testing DNA up in Kentucky. They submit it and we get an
00:41:09
unidentified COTUS profile. Testing strategy was developed to test. They noted additional
00:41:18
including an untested sexual assault kit was going to be tested. DNA testing had
00:41:23
not done a YSTR profile yet. So, Detective Jackson requested that they develop one from their evidence to see
00:41:33
if it matches the unknown profile. And this is interesting how this is playing out and what we're learning about what
00:41:42
was going on behind the scenes because many of you that followed this case over the years will remember that it was in
00:41:50
2028 and 2019 and then again reported in late 2020 about there was something going on with the DNA
00:42:00
in the yogurt shop case. And so here from the notes it says in 2018/209 a manual YSTR search was requested from
00:42:10
any lab that retained Y profiles on Kotus samples. At the time few Cotus labs were profiling YSTRS on Kotus
00:42:19
samples. At the time zero profiles matched our unknown YSTR. In 2025 more labs profile YSTRs and databases have
00:42:28
grown. August 2025. Detective Jackson requested a YSTR keyboard manual search from all labs in the US that keep YSTR
00:42:41
profiles. South Carolina State Lab was the only lab that responded that a complete YSTR match to the yogurt shop
00:42:50
YSTR was found. All others had no hits at that level. results were reviewed with for accuracy by South Carolina
00:42:58
legal department before the profile was released to Austin PD. So that's what he's talking about at the press
00:43:06
conference where he's like, "We get told that there's a match, but they say we can't tell you who it is." They had to
00:43:14
wait about 2 weeks. Could you imagine? You've already waited 33 years. You're you're trying to get some answers in
00:43:23
this case and you have to wait another two weeks. I bet that was a long two weeks in Detective Dan Jackson's life. I
00:43:30
wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Says August 22nd, 2025. They received South Carolina lab report that linked the
00:43:39
yogurt shop unknown YSTR to a known YSTR profile from a 1990 Greenville South Carolina sexual assault and murder. And
00:43:49
that is when they identified the unknown YSTR to be linked to Robert Eugene Brashers. Robert Eugene Brashers born
00:44:00
March 13th, 1958 in Newport News, Virginia and as said died in January January 19th of 1999 in Missouri. Yeah.
00:44:14
So the captains would had mentioned, let's tie this guy to the area at this time period more than just saying, "Hey,
00:44:24
we got the DNA of the guy that did it." So, a reminder, the yogurt shop murders occurred December 6th, 1991 around 11:00
00:44:33
p.m. So, sometime between closing the store at 11 p.m. and 11:42 p.m. when firefighters arrive on the scene and
00:44:40
start to extinguish flames coming from the back of the yogurt shop. December 8th, 1991,
00:44:47
less than 48 hours after the yogurt shop murders, Robert Eugene Brashers was stopped by border patrol
00:44:55
at a westbound checkpoint between El Paso and Los Cusus. Brashers was driving a stolen car from
00:45:04
the state of Georgia. Brashers was in possession of a 380 pistol. It was identified as an AMT 380 backup
00:45:14
model serial number A75213. This is the same make and model identified by Ballistics as the weapon
00:45:26
used in yogurt shop. So less than 48 hours after the homicides, he stopped somewhere between Texas and Los Cusus in
00:45:36
his possession. They find the murder weapon. >> Well, it goes a little deeper than that,
00:45:41
too, cuz you go, "Well, why is he in Austin at all?" Well, he was passing through Austin to go to Arizona to visit
00:45:50
his father, and then obviously he was heading back through Austin when he was pulled over. But we also know from, I
00:45:59
believe, his ex-wife and his daughter that he was known to travel and disappear for weeks at a time.
00:46:06
>> Yes. as as we mentioned, he had a wife and three kids, uh, as said at the time
00:46:11
of his suicide in 99. And apparently they when the cold case was solved in in South Carolina in I think that was 2018.
00:46:23
And then they started linking him to these other homicides, again, some of them in different states.
00:46:29
This was all sort of news to them, right? They they didn't know that he was committing these crimes. It's a little
00:46:38
unclear if they he was locked up and then released as we had said and then later locked up and released again. I'm
00:46:44
I'm certain that he they would have known of his later lock and release, but it's unclear if they were aware that he
00:46:51
had been in trouble for a violent crime, that violent crime down in St. Port St.
00:46:57
Port Lucy, Florida. Yeah, I believe the daughter said that sometimes her father would use aliases and sometimes the
00:47:04
mother would tell her, "You need to call your father by these different aliases."
00:47:09
So there there's probably some some of his criminal activity that that the the wife and the family were aware about.
00:47:16
And so he is after that stop, he is charged with autotheft and felony possession of a firearm. And I guess
00:47:27
later that gun was released to Brasher's father after Brasher was sentenced for this stolen car in illegal possession of
00:47:37
a firearm. So that puts him in the area. And I think there's stuff that's maybe less important evidence, but he was
00:47:46
known to carry multiple guns. He was known to tie up and bound his victims with their own clothing. So, I think
00:47:55
this just kind of adds to the pile. >> Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it fits it fits his emmo and and like we're saying
00:48:04
and like Austin PD saying when they go up to Kentucky and compare notes between a cold case up there and their cold case
00:48:11
down here where it looks like DNA is telling us that Brashers was involved in both and the crimes are very similar.
00:48:19
So, this has all the markings of of crimes he's committed before or since uh Yogurt Shop. And they go on to say with
00:48:30
evidence, speaking of evidence, Brasher's YSTR profile has been found in the following three Yogurt Shop YSTR
00:48:37
profiles, sexual assault kits from Jennifer Harbison, Sarah Harbison, and Amy Heirs. And we also know about the
00:48:43
fingernail clippings. One thing that that's not in my notes here, Captain, but but going off a
00:48:50
memory from the press conference, and I don't know exactly how this played out, uh, because it was kind of very quickly
00:48:58
discussed and they moved on, but remember when we've covered Go-Gurt Shop in the past, we've talked about items
00:49:06
that they know were missing from the crime scene. You know, one of them had a leather jacket. There was some clothing
00:49:12
and personal items that were uh whoever committed this took with them. It's presumed they took with them. The killer
00:49:20
did. The detective did mention that he believes that that somehow Brashers probably was able to discard some of
00:49:31
that stuff, right? He he he managed to get rid of it, but didn't get rid of the 380 gun that was found on him when he
00:49:39
was pulled over. just less than two days, less than 48 hours after the murders. >> And as far as the ballistics go, they
00:49:47
say it's a one toone ballistics report that's pending up in Kentucky, but they think that it's going to be a match. But
00:49:55
it was the ultimately the retesting, also some of the ballistics, but ultimately the retesting that resulted
00:50:02
in a an STR profile from the fingernail clippings of Amy Heirs. The STR profile was compared directly to Robert
00:50:10
Brasher's STR profile and matched. And that's a 2.5 million to one. >> Yeah. >> DN D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
00:50:18
D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D DNA from the Kentucky murder was directly compared to Brashers cannot be
00:50:23
excluded is what they're saying at this time. So, we'll learn more about the Kentucky case because it sounds like
00:50:29
they will once they get that sorted out, they will be holding a press conference
00:50:35
as well. So, still still more to learn here uh about the perpetrator. Still learn more to learn about these other
00:50:45
crimes. We went through the crimes. As said, he he didn't face a conviction or jail time or prison time
00:50:54
for most for most of the crimes that he committed during his lifetime. They were not
00:51:02
known. that was not not known until after 1999, after he had already died. And it's it's really amazing that while
00:51:16
they tie him to a lot of these horrific and violent cases and murders years after he's dead, but in hindsight,
00:51:26
that's what, seven years ago, six years ago, >> but now more. Now more. So, a lot more
00:51:33
to there's probably going to be a lot more to learn about this Robert Brashers who just possessed the ability to go
00:51:42
stateto state and commit these horrible crimes and go undetected for all of those years. You know, sometimes when
00:51:50
you could ask if you could ask a killer, right, we we spent so much time recently
00:51:55
talking about Robert Wrestler and John Douglas interviewing these killers after the fact. the questions that you would
00:52:02
want to ask a killer, but here here you you have a dead killer. We can ask him questions, but wouldn't you want to
00:52:10
know, hey, when they knocked on the door at that motel in January of 1999 and saw
00:52:16
you hiding under the bed, what crime did you think they were knocking on the door
00:52:21
for? >> Which one of these horrific murders, rapes and murders, did was going through
00:52:27
your mind at the time while you're hiding under that bed? Was it all of them? Was it one of them? Was it none of
00:52:32
them? >> Yeah. I like what Bob Aries said because he This is Amy Aries father. He always had
00:52:41
this gut feeling that his daughter, yes, she was a victim, but but because his daughter was involved that somehow she
00:52:51
would be responsible for getting answers in this crime. And really, if she didn't
00:52:58
put up the fight that she put up, they might never got this DNA evidence underneath her fingernails. And then
00:53:07
also kudos to the detectives at the time when DNA evidence is not really a thing
00:53:14
to say, medical examiner, don't take them away yet. Let's let us get this DNA testing and then at the autopsy, let's
00:53:22
do another testing for DNA. Even though it wasn't really much of a thing at all at the
00:53:29
time of these crimes. >> And and I I want to be clear about something that I was dancing around when
00:53:34
we first clicked on the microphones here regarding this other DNA information. Let's call it information. I think
00:53:42
evidence would be would be an incorrect term at this time, especially when we're
00:53:47
hearing that look, this case may be solved. here's how we got to where we are and we're not talking about things
00:53:55
that were said, things that were printed prior to the last 48 hours or so. So, let's not call it evidence. Let's call
00:54:03
it information that that made its way out. >> If Brashers was the only person to
00:54:08
commit these murders, I have no problems with that at all. I can absolutely see how you get to those answers. The
00:54:14
science is telling us that he absolutely did do it. Did he do it with somebody else? What I what I would like to hear
00:54:21
and I think that we are owed this at this point, especially the families who sat through two trials, sat through two
00:54:29
convictions, two sentencing hearings, sat through watching those guys get released and sat through the press
00:54:37
conference here today and through years of torment and grief, a lot of sleepless
00:54:43
nights, a lot of heartache, but with information that did come out from law enforcement that says that there were
00:54:50
two unidentified male DNA profiles found at the crime scene found directly on the
00:54:59
victims. Just tell us how we got from two to now one. That's all right. Like we know how
00:55:07
we got here today and I'm so glad that we are here. I am so thankful that we are here and there will be
00:55:15
>> Yeah. I want to know if it was actual evidence or if it is speculation because
00:55:20
what we've seen in this case over and over is people following whatever narrative that they created in their
00:55:26
mind. And so I think it's possible to go, well, if you're the prosecutors and this DNA doesn't match the the four
00:55:36
suspects that we have that fit the narrative that we're trying to make everything fit. Well, then there must be
00:55:45
a another DNA sample. And then I think you could make the argument that the defense team could have done the
00:55:52
opposite by speculating that there was uh not just a mixture but possibly two complete samples. And so I one I would
00:56:03
like to know that I think we are owed that information because it it did come out at some point and um now we're being
00:56:11
told differently. I'm willing to accept that and I'm glad that we are here where we are today. I'm
00:56:16
glad that there's answers. I'm glad that thankful that the families are finally getting
00:56:23
some form of closure on this story in this case and their lost loved ones. The other thing that
00:56:31
I'm curious about too is now what has to be done with the two innocent men that were convicted because their
00:56:41
wrongful conviction lawsuits against the state of Texas were tossed because it was clear at the time that
00:56:52
while the charges were dropped and while they were convicted and released and charges dropped that they were never
00:56:58
exonerated. And therefore the the to the ability to win that lawsuit didn't have any legs because there was
00:57:06
no exoneration. >> So where do we sit now here with those two men who were featured
00:57:17
during the recent docue series? What is to be done with them? And um how does Texas try to write that wrong?
00:57:29
>> Yeah. But that also becomes I think difficult because their initial >> Oh, yes.
00:57:35
>> the the initial convictions are kind of based off of their own words. So I'm sure all those individuals wish
00:57:45
they could go back in time and most convictions are though, right? And so they wouldn't be the first people to
00:57:51
successfully win a lawsuit against a state that that put them away when >> Yeah. But
00:57:57
>> it was their words that >> that's just strange to me. Like we're we're going to punish the the state for
00:58:04
getting individuals to say they committed a crime that they didn't commit. It's a little bizarre.
00:58:11
>> Oh yeah. There's I mean there's not been anything in this case that hasn't been
00:58:16
difficult. >> Yeah. And I think one of the things, and maybe it's not just DNA, but one of the
00:58:22
things that might point to Brasher solely responsible is when he was initially arrested 2 days after the
00:58:31
crimes, he was traveling by himself. >> He's by himself. He's by himself. And there are
00:58:39
>> And there's also other crimes he committed that had multiple victims. So it wasn't
00:58:44
>> and he was by himself in those ones as well. >> Or at least that's what the evidence is
00:58:48
is telling us. And and in some of those cases there's living witnesses who are telling us that as well that he was that
00:58:57
that seems to be his mo. So if if here there there was another person involved, uh that would be a big break from his
00:59:05
typical MO. And it and it doesn't it doesn't seem to ring true with what we the little that we currently know about
00:59:12
him. It doesn't seem to ring true that that there would be somebody else involved. And it seems like he would hit
00:59:18
the road for periods of time and look to commit these horrible horrific murders that
00:59:27
>> kind of spontaneous. >> Yeah, a little spontaneous. But they all seem to always involve some form of rape
00:59:34
and robbery. uh theft. So, I I hate to try to crawl into the mind of these maniacs, but it's you wonder
00:59:45
was it what what was fueling what, you know, was it the was it the the sexual assault slash greed
00:59:55
that was driving the murders? Because we know in some cases he did he did uh rob and and rape and didn't kill.
01:00:05
But we know a lot of times he did kill. So it's difficult to sort out what was fueling what what was fueling him at
01:00:13
all. Why anybody would do any of this stuff is is foreign to us, >> of course. >> But then to travel, he's traveling from
01:00:21
state to state. He was a carpenter. Um and I'm guessing he's leaving his wife and kids under the ruse of he's going
01:00:29
out and working. I got a job. I'm going to be gone for two weeks or three weeks.
01:00:34
that could have put him anywhere anywhere for a good amount of time. >> Kind of Israel key.
01:00:42
>> And now Yes. Yes. >> The other question that maybe will be answered one day. And one of the biggest
01:00:51
riddles of this case that me and me me and you were both fascinated with was that there was two individuals that were
01:00:58
seen at the yogurt shop to customers and those individuals never came forward. Now, I've never made argument
01:01:06
>> and and have not been identified. >> Right. I I would never make the argument
01:01:11
that they should come forward because if they were local to the area, they would
01:01:16
have heard pretty quickly that they were investigating people, interrogating people, getting people to confess.
01:01:24
So the if you're this young kid and you had nothing to do with the crimes and you know that well maybe you don't want
01:01:32
to get involved just because what could happen to you. But now that we possibly have a definitive answer, maybe these
01:01:42
individuals will eventually come forward and say, "Yeah, we were there and we had
01:01:47
nothing to do with the crime. [Music]