THIS Is How Police Finally Solved the Yogurt Shop Murders

Thanks to advancements in science, thanks to the relentlessness of our. committed detectives, and thanks to an. unwavering commitment by the city of. Austin, finally we have an answer. >> For more than three decades, the yogurt. shop murders haunted Austin, Texas. Four. teenage girls brutally killed, a city. left in shock, and a case that went. cold. But now there is finally a. breakthrough. And it turns out this. killer had apparently struck all over.

the country. We are going to break down. how experts solved this case using. decades old evidence, cutting edge DNA. technology, and a painstaking. cross-country investigation that finally. uncovered the truth. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. Now, you might remember hearing about. this case, the yogurt shop murders out. in Austin, Texas. four young teenage. girls brutally killed at a frozen yogurt.

shop. It was recently featured, by the. way, in a documentary series on HBO Max. And for decades, it was a mystery that. haunted this city. But now, after more. than three decades, Austin police say. the case has finally been solved. And. what a long road it was. We are talking. decades of dead ends, false confessions, evidence that seemed impossible to. process at the time. So, we're going to. walk you through all this. We're going. to walk you through the breakthrough.

step by step from the old crime scene. evidence to modern DNA technology. And. we're going to show you how it all. pointed to one shocking suspect who has. now been linked to more crimes and more. deaths. So, this all began on December. 6th, 1991 at a small frozen yogurt shop. in Austin called I Can't Believe It's. Yogurt. You have four teenage girls, Amy. Heirs, who is just 13 years old, Eliza. Thomas, who was 17, and sisters Jennifer.

and Sarah Harbison, 17 and 15. They were. all brutally, brutally killed. The. Harbison sisters had worked at the shop, Amy and Eliza. They were waiting for. them to close up. and all four girls. were attacked. They had been stripped. naked. They had been bound. They had. been gagged and they were shot in the. head and then the building was set on. fire. Now, police say a 22 was used, but. for some reason, Amy was also shot with. a 380 pistol. All the girls showed signs.

of sexual assault. This is a crime that. shocked Austin. It left investigators. with a nearly impossible case. And the. scene itself was a nightmare for. evidence collection. the fire, the water. from firefighters. It destroyed much of. the crime scene. But what was left, and. this is important, what was left was. that single 380 shell casing in the. floor drain. Over the years, police. chased thousands of leads. They dealt. with multiple false confessions. They.

arrested four men, by the way. Two. confessed, implicated each other, but. they later recanted, and DNA evidence. ultimately excluded all four of them. So. it led to the charges being dropped in. 2009. For decades, this was a case that. remained cold. But then detective Dan. Jackson took over in 2022. And with. modern technology, investigators started. re-examining old evidence. And that lone. 380 shell casing was submitted to the.

National Integrated Ballistic. Information Network and linked to an. unsolved 1998 murder out in Kentucky. And at the same time, investigators. retested these sexual assault kits using. YSTR DNA, which traces male lineage. Now, we wanted to bring this case to. you, and the reason that we can do that. is because of the support that we get. from Morgan and Morgan, America's. largest injury law firm. Our sponsor, this is a firm with over a thousand. attorneys. You know why they're so big?

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through the investigation and would. point toward a suspect with a chilling. criminal history. Now, we're going to. get into all those details in a minute, but to help me break down this latest. breakthrough, I want to bring on a. special guest, Joe Kennedy, retired. special agent for the Naval Criminal. Investigative Service. Joe, thanks so. much for coming here on Sidebar. Appreciate it. >> Jesse, thanks for having me today. Glad. to be with you. Yeah, these yogurt shop. murders. This is a really bizarre case. I mean, it remained unsolved for over 30.

years. But from your perspective, your. experience, let's just start here. What. keeps some cases cold for so long? >> Well, one of it is bystander behavior, Jesse. you know, witnesses are just. reluctant to come forward with the. information that they have or the. knowledge about a particular crime that. has transpired. Um, also, you know, technology, if you go back to some of. these old cases like this one, and, you.

know, we're talking about in 1991, this. is, you know, DNA was really in its. infant stages. You know, we didn't even. have COTUS. We didn't have the combined. DNA index system to actually track. offenders, you know, across the country. >> Yeah. when you have advances like YSTRD. DNA testing and ballistic databases, you. know, even aside from cell phone uh. evidence, which you know, this this. basically is on everybody's person and. can track them. But when you have. advances like DNA evidence and.

ballistics, that changes the game, right? That changes the game for cold. cases. >> Oh, 100%. Jesse, what we've seen, you. know, really since the Golden State. Killer is just an explosion in the use. of genetic genealogy. um you know nibben you're referring to. ballistics you know that database is. vastly underutilized I I still think. today where we've not you know we're not. entering those old shell casings and. cases from 10 15 20 30 years ago but. it's really you know the big game. changer here and you know this.

individual was actually identified in a. murder down in Greenville South Carolina. 2018. and what's interesting about that is. that was kind of you know um very before. the Golden state killer. When you look. at it, Golden State was what, April of. actually April of 18, so I think this. case was right on the heels of it. So. that technology, you know, they exactly. exumed they actually exumed his body in. Arkansas and obtained some, you know, a. DNA extract from, I think, a pinky. finger and and a tooth, which is kind of.

interesting because, you know, at that. point that would have been considered, you know, really some cutting edge. technology or the the the early stages. of genetic genealogy. >> So, so let me break that down. Let me. break down what made this case so hard. to solve and how modern science finally. brought answers after decades. So. Austin's mayor opened a press conference. on Monday, September 29th by announcing. this long awaited breakthrough. >> Over three decades after a horrible.

crime took the lives of four teenage. girls and changed Austin forever, our hearts haven't healed. They're still broken for the precious. girls we lost. We've never stopped. sending our love and our prayers to. their families. As all of you know, the Austin police. have announced that a significant. breakthrough has been made in the yogurt. shop murder case. The detectives today. will outline the timeline and process of.

their investigation. Their investigation. is thorough and relies on technology. that was not available back then. This day has been a long time coming. More than a quarter century ago, in a. circumstance much like this today, I. said that Austin lost its innocence. the night those young souls became. victims. Today, we have some closure.

We are different people and a different. city. Time has passed. We have endured. more, have been disappointed, and have. felt defeated and devastated. But today, with the resilience needed to endure. something this painful, recognizing the scars, the suffering, and while there's no change to the. horror, no wiping away any of the.

wrongs, no diminishing the grief, we can finally express a deep sigh, a release that comes from knowing. Thanks to advancements in science, thanks to the relentlessness of our. committed detectives who have lived and. breathed this case for decades, thanks. to the support of Austin Forensics, and. thanks to an unwavering commitment by.

the city of Austin, finally we have an. answer. Now, Austin's police chief then. revealed the name of the man now linked. to this crime through DNA evidence, a. serial offender who actually died by his. own hand in 1999. >> After 34 years, the Austin police have. made a significant breakthrough in this. case. This is one of the most. devastating and haunting cases. As a. mother, I cannot begin to imagine. just the grief and the pain that you. have endured.

For the families of Amy, Eliza, Sarah, and Jennifer, today marks a critical. step forward in honoring not only their. memory, but getting at truth and. accountability. We now have evidence linking a specific. individual to this case, Robert Eugene. Brashers. The only the only physical evidence. located at that scene has been matched. to him. Brashers died by suicide in 1999.

after a standoff with police in Missouri. and his DNA has since been and before. this connection he has been connected to. murders and rapes across the country. >> So Joe, you think they got it right. here? Is Robert Brashier the man? >> Well, I think in this occasion they. finally have arrived at the correct. perpetrator. You know, there were some. individuals that were previously. arrested. There was some wrongful. conviction issues going on with those. arrests. But, you know, the science. doesn't lie, Jesse. And, you know, when.

we when we get into today's modern, you. know, cold case detective, what we're. looking at is that, you know, almost. daily usage of genetic genealogy, you. know, coupled with things like NY and. some of the other databases that just. weren't available. And remember that. what what keeps most serial offenders. from being, you know, identified and. apprehended is their mobility. And if. you look at this guy's background, I. mean, you know, he's he's all across the. southern states of the United States and. ends up even in Missouri. And you know,

his crimes, they're not about the sex, right? A lot of them appear to be a. sexual motive, but that motive is is. really about power and control and. dominance. And you see that what's very. interesting in this case to me is the. age of some of these victims. you know, he had a proclivity for young women, teenagers, and and then that reveals. itself not only in the yoga shop. murders, but some of these other cases. that he's been identified as being. involved in. >> Yeah, that's a pretty uh, you know, grotesque part about this. Um, the fact.

that he's dead and he's been dead for so. long, how does that complicate the. investigation? I mean, if we're talking. about unsolved crimes and we're talking. about cold cases, if the suspect dies, they're no longer leaving a trail for. years and years and years, does that. delay uh justice? Does that delay. identifying a perpetrator if the person. is dead? >> Oh, absolutely. Because, you know, um. you're you're you lose the ability to. track their freedom of movement. You.

know, how do they move about? You know, do they use public transportation? Do. they use a vehicle? you know what how. did he how did he get across the country. you know and mobility is so important. Jesse and once the offender is dead you. know then we have to result to clearing. that case what we call exceptionally. cleared right we could prove that he did. it if he were here still here alive. today we would charge him with that. offense but you'll see that once the. suspect is dead that kind of limits the. investigators in some avenues however.

there's this technique that many cold. case investigators use and it's called. an NCIC offline check. And that's where. you'll see as offenders like this. individual who committed the shop. murders. As they travel around the. country, sometimes they're stopped by. law enforcement and they're not. arrested. Maybe it's a traffic violation. or, you know, they're trespassing or. something and so their name is queried. into the national database, but that's. really all that happens at the time of. that event. And then as cold case invest.

in investigators use that NCIC offline. capability and I'm sure the FBI's. behavioral analysis unit is intimately. involved in this case as well by now in. in helping to try to track those move. movements by using that exact feature. that I'm referring to you. >> When you have what only one piece of. physical evidence linking him though, how are investigators sure? How are they. sure that that single item can. definitively identify a perpetrator, particularly when you talk about a crime.

from so many years ago? >> Well, Jesse, we can never determine how. and when DNA got to a crime scene, right? We can only determine it's there. What's unique in this case, in addition. to the DNA evidence, we also have a. shell casing match, which I think is. very important. You know, the the. current cold case detective uh there in. Texas went back got engaged in NY, you. know, the national um integrated. ballistics information network and that.

thing is also a gamecher along with. genetic genealogy and and it was a great. investigative step. And what he was able. to do is link one of those shell casings. and I think it was the only shell casing. they had in Texas and link it to one of. the other cases that that he had been. attributed to being involved in. >> Yeah. The mayor did something. The mayor. highlighted this use of technology which. we've been talking about that was not. available back then. Right? That was the. phrase. It was not available back then. Which made me wonder if you had the. yogurt chop murders today in 2025, would.

it take decades to solve or no? >> No, probably not. The the databases are. so good. the explosion of genetic. genealogy, the daily use of the NYN. database. You know, most major cities. across the country, just shots are fired. in the city. Patrol officers are. required to go and gather those shell. casings even if no one was killed or. injured, right? Just so they could be. entered into the database and maybe. subsequently later, you know, associated.

with a particular offender or a. particular crime. So, I think no, not. there's no way that that this case would. have taken as long if it was committed. here in 2025. >> Now, something you mentioned, so lead. detective uh Dan Jackson outlined this. horrific crime scene, but also explained. how a ballistics match to a separate. killing out in Kentucky, that is what. first put them on the trail. So the the. gist of the uh the MMO of this case was.

the perpetrator entered or remained near. closing time when no other customers. were present. The the girls were found. nude and have been tied up with their. own clothing as liatures and bindings. There was evidence of sexual assault. All four have been shot in the head with. a 22 caliber pistol and Amy was also. shot with a 380 pistol. And then the. building was set on fire before the. suspect left the scene the morning of. July 2nd. Uh the ATF sent the uh 380. cartridge and that afternoon I was.

notified of a hit out of Kentucky, an unsolved murder out of Kentucky. So I can't name the name of the city. They haven't done their press release. yet, but they know who they are and they. did a fantastic job. But myself, a. couple other uh from the cold case unit. and Mindy Monford from the AG's office, we flew up to Kentucky to review our. cases with their detectives. And the murders did share similar uh. similar details. Can't go into those. Um.

but the in the preliminary nan results. indicate a presumptive positive. correlation between the two casings. indicating the same gun was used in. yogurt shop as it was um several year. I'm not going to even tell you the date. Oh, it's up there. 98. So all the way to. 1998, >> but the definitive break in this case. came from a firstofits-kind manual DNA. search that led them back to Robert. Brashier. >> We reached out to an all the labs in the. country that do YSTR uh typing and asked.

if they could manually search against. our unknown profile. And we got a match. We got a hit. Only. one. The South Carolina State Lab was. the only lab in the country that. responded that they had a match quote. match to our unknown YSTR. All the others had no hits at that. level. And I'm talking this is at 27 to. 27 markers. This is the full profile and. every alil was the same. So it took us a. couple of weeks. The results reviewed by. for accuracy and their legal department.

reviewed it. Um it took those like the. longest two weeks because we knew we had. somebody but we couldn't they wouldn't. tell us. So, it was a it was a long two. weeks. The reason it took two weeks to. review, I found out later, is because. they wanted to make sure they were doing. it right because I was the first person. to ever ask them for this. No, nobody. had requested a manual search against. their database before. So, they want to. make sure that legally they were on the. same the right footing and that there. was no uh quality assurance issues. So on August 22nd, uh they sent me the.

prof the information and it was from a. sexual assault and murder from 1990 and. it was this was the profile that they. had, Robert Eugene Brashers. He has a. perfect 27 for 27 match to our unknown. profile in yogurt shop. I got on the. phone with Greenville, South Carolina. immediately. Um, and we started talk. conversations about our our different. cases, how they uh similar, and um, you. know, one of the things he said to me. was he said um, he didn't know anything. about the case. He didn't know what it. was. And he said, uh, your victims were.

they bound with their own clothing and. the the hair stood on the back of my. neck. And I knew we were we were maybe. getting somewhere finally with this. case. >> Joe, just one thing I want to go back to. with this yogurt shop killing. Um, this. was awful. I I mean, you're talking. about a scene of binding, sexual. assault, uh, shooting, arson. How do. investigators even approach a scene like. that? By the way, one that's been. partially destroyed by fire and other.

elements. >> Yeah. So, interestingly, uh, what we. would do, Jesse, is, you know, as. offenders leave physical evidence at a. scene, like their DNA or say a shell. casing, they also deposit their. personality. right? They leave their. thoughts, feelings, and emotions at a. scene. And so that's what we have to. evaluate in addition to the physical. evidence to help us get to the rightful. offender. And and what you're going to. see in in this individual's case is, you. know, there's a lot of issues going on. with him that are that would be, you.

know, he'd be classified as a sociopath. today. There's no what no doubt. And. you're going to see that this originated. or started in him very early in his. life. And so that's one thing that we. put a lot of emphasis on is, you know, where was he raised? Who raised him? Uh, you know, what was he exposed to as a. young person? Because this is where we. see some of this, you know, just evil, pure evil, and anger. And as we look at. crime scenes, think of it like this, Jesse. We're looking to find three. things. We're looking for anger, control, or remorse. There's obviously.

no remorse in any of his crime scenes. So that leads us down that sociopath, you know, angle. Um, and you see a lot. of control load in the scene, but but. what you see most of all is anger. There's a lot of slashing and tearing of. victims. There's an escalation of. assaulted behavior. He carries out his. crime in front of witnesses. So, you. know, these are the clues or the. behavioral clues as we call them, the. behavioral manifestations at the crime. scene that we're looking at to put the. pieces of the puzzle together to to.

hopefully get to that correct offender. >> Was it strange that you have a. perpetrator using multiple firearms, right? 22 caliber, the 380. Um, obviously we talked about ballistics. evidence, but the fact that two firearms. were used, is that strange to you? >> Well, I mean, you know, typically when. folks are killed, it's one instrument or. agent of death. And the fact that he had. two are used to it could have been a. lack of ammunition. It could have been a. lack of, you know, just the ability to. use a certain gun or maybe it was a gun. that was stolen. Some of his prior. criminal history before the yogurt shop.

murders, you will see, they involve guns. and firearms. So maybe, you know, he had. an affinity for these, you know, for. guns and so he had, you know, more than. one. That that's not that odd, honestly. >> By the way, this ballistic match to this. separate 1998 murder in Kentucky, that. was huge. You mentioned it. It was so. pivotal. But how do investigators. identify links between crimes across. different states and agencies? How does. that work? >> Well, again, it's it's cooperation and.

collaboration. And you know, it it goes. to databases though, whether you're. looking at fingerprints through the. automated fingerprint identification. system or the FBI's next generation. identification or what was used in this. case, which is, you know, ATFs, national. uh integrated ballistics information. network. That's where we're able to to. use that database to link these shell. casings, not only cases in a in a in a. particular jurisdiction or a local. jurisdiction, but we can, you know, essentially track an offender's.

movements by where those guns are used. >> Yeah. And and then there's the DNA. So. the detectives, they conducted this, again, what do we believe is a first of. its kind manual YSTR DNA search? Can you. explain why a manual search was. necessary if I'm understanding this. correctly and why standard searches. might not add up here or might not be. sufficient? >> Yeah. So you know what we have to have. to upload into COTUS which is our.

national DNA database is we have to have. a full profile. You know we have to have. a primary contributor. What happens in a. lot of cases is you have partial profile. or maybe some lowle or degraded DNA. And. so what is going on in this particular. case is once they once Greenville. determines who they think the offender. is, they exume his body and to get a. reference sample back to the DNA that. was left at the crime scene because it's. not existing in some database. And so. that direct direct comparison, right,

was a match. But what happens in that is. there's no DNA left. It's all consumed. to actually complete the DNA analysis. So, you know, you have to rely on that. onetoone, you know, confirmation. And in. this case, that's what happened. >> Now, talking about the families here, the families of the victims, as you can. imagine, the announcement was just an. emotional moment. It's a long awaited. truth, an answer, and the gratitude for. the investigators who never gave up. It. It was quite vocal. Take a look.

>> I'm really excited about being here. It's been a crazy couple of days and uh. um. I just really came here to say I'm full. of gratitude. It has been so long and. all we ever wanted for this case was the. truth. We never wanted anyone to go to. jail or be charged with anything that. they did not do. Vengeance was never it. It was always the truth. And I'm here to.

really talk about the police department. and how involved and supportive they. have been from the very beginning. We. have Mike Huckabe and please keep him in. your prayers. His health is bad. So, and. he him and John Jones, they were the. first people that we fell in love with. on the force because they told us about. what had happened. And starting with. those guys 34 years ago, they were been. in our lives and our families all of. this time. and every every officer that.

I see in Austin that has been there for. us and loved us and uh what they have. done. People don't understand how hard. they work. Everybody is concerned for. the solving of the case. Everybody was. concerned about all of us here because. they know the tragedy was so painful and. continues to be. But I really just came. to say thank you for the Austin Police. Department and all the love and support.

that you have given us over these 34. years and I thank you for that. >> So at the news conference, Amy's father, Bob IRS, presented Detective Jackson. with a pin that says, quote, "We will. never forget." That is a very powerful. moment. For the families here, Joe, who. maybe thought there would never be any. kind of conclusion, any kind of answers, what is that journey like? You know, they never. sought vengeance. They only look for the.

truth. How do families of victims in. cold cases, I mean, what is that like. for them, >> Jesse? It's it's horrific. It's a. difficult path every day because you. have to wake up and that loved one is. gone. You know, there's this misnomer in. cold case work that once a case is. closed that a family gets closure. And. that's actually not true. What we give. families is resolution as to what. happened. That loved one's not coming. back. You'll hear people describe it as.

like I wake up and it's like you're. pulling the scab off of the old wound. again. And it it has a dramatic effect. on families. I mean, it it changes or. alters how they behave and how they. interact. You'll see that a lot of folks. there's separation and divorce that come. into families of cold case victims. because you know the coping is just you. know it's it's a new it's a whole new. you know experience for them and that. loved one is gone and it will. significantly change family dynamics. very often.

>> How do investigators build up that. trust? I I imagine they have to have. this continuing relationship with the. families. Maybe not always but they. should, right? build trust, maintain. communication with the families over a. long investigation. I mean, investigators have other cases that they. have to attend to, too. It doesn't mean. one is more significant than the other, but what is that relationship or what. should that relationship look like? >> Well, I'm going to use a word that may. sound a little strange, Jesse, but it's. intimacy. We have to create intimacy. with those families. We have to gain.

their trust. You know, they have to see. our compassion that the only way only. reason we really do these cases is for. them and for that reason. They also have. to realize that the cold case. investigator that's representing them. and their family is competent that they. know what the hell they're doing. And. then lastly, that they always have good. character and do the right things, right? That and that comes down to the. trust factor. When you think of those. three things, I always say this, cold. case investigators have to be. compassionate. They have to be competent. what they're doing and they have to have. good character. And one of the biggest.

responsibilities is interacting with. those families because, you know, we all. die, you know, of old age or disease or. what have you. But someone shouldn't be. able to control the lifespan of a of a. victim, Jesse. And so that's what. motivates many of us is we realize how. precious life is and how much that. person meant to that family. And that's. why we even do cold cases to start with. >> And particularly victims this young, this vulnerable. It's just a sad.

situation. But look, there is a. conclusion here. There is a sense of. resolution. Our hearts, our prayers, our. thoughts are with the families as they. navigate now this new chapter of it, right? Trying to make sense of what. happened here. Um there's not a, you. know, a sense of justice in that uh. Brashier was arrested and is going to be. put on trial, but you know, this is. excellent police work and it is a. conclusion to quite the case. Joe. Kennedy, thank you so much for taking. the time. It was good seeing you. Jesse, good to see you. God bless you,

sir. >> And that is all we have for you right. now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank. you so much for joining us. And as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you. should get your podcasts. You can follow. me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll see you next time. [Music].