TX TX - Yogurt Shop Murders, Austin, 6 Dec 1991

[bajaflash]

May their souls RIP with their killer named. The horror they went through...unbelievable.

Not hard to control young women and girls with a gun. The shock and fear are paralyzing. Monsters walk amongst us, and they came up against an awful one. So unfair and so horrific.

Rest in peace.

 

[MassGuy]

I hope this conclusion finally allows those innocent men to receive compensation from the state for their wrongful convictions.

Now there is no question they weren't involved.

 

[bajaflash]

I hope this conclusion finally allows those innocent men to receive compensation from the state for their wrongful convictions.

Now there is no question they weren't involved.

Please let them start to find peace.

 

[Tee7077]

CeCe Moore - Genetic Genealogist

For those interested in learning more about serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers, who has now been confirmed as the perpetrator in the 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders, I spoke about him at the 2024 i4GG...

www.facebook.com

 

[tara83]

I hope these poor families can finally find some closure and peace.

 

[Gordon_]

I hope this conclusion finally allows those innocent men to receive compensation from the state for their wrongful convictions.

Now there is no question they weren't involved.

Hope they lost so many years of their lives wrongly. Which is crazy when you consider it was known they did not match DNA at the scene.

 

[KSwizzle]

Another "this will never be solved" case down, let's keep it going

 

[MelmothTheLost]

I dont believe for a second that this was only his second time committing murder.

DNA testing revealed that his genetic profile was a perfect match for the murderer of 28-year-old Genevieve "Jenny" Zitricki, who had been bludgeoned, raped and strangled with pantyhose at her apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, on April 5, 1990.[5] At the time, it had been established that after murdering her in the bedroom, the killer had dragged her body into a bathtub and submerged it, before writing "don't with my family" on the bathroom's mirror.[2] A DNA sample belonging to the perpetrator was isolated in 1995, and then uploaded to CODIS. Investigators were able to establish that at the time of Zitricki's murder, Brashers was living in Greenville, not far away from her home.

Robert Eugene Brashers - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

There were either victims before Jenny, or victims between Jenny and the Yogurt Shop Murders imo.

One has to wonder how many more of his victims remain undiscovered but identifiable in the thousands of untested rape / murder kits stored across the US.

 

[Gordon_]

One has to wonder how many more of his victims remain undiscovered but identifiable in the thousands of untested rape / murder kits stored across the US.

Yes, I guess it's largely a lack of money and resources.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Yes, I guess it's largely a lack of money and resources.

More a case of lack of political will, I think. If there was the political will, the resources would follow. However, since the vast majority of rape victims are women and girls, there isn't the political will to solve these rapes and murders.

 

[Gordon_]

More a case of lack of political will, I think. If there was the political will, the resources would follow. However, since the vast majority of rape victims are women and girls, there isn't the political will to solve these rapes and murders.

That's sad and depressing. I hope things change in the future.

 

[Wilma_W]

After this news broke yesterday, I went back to my copy of "Who Killed These Girls?" by Beverly Lowry (which is very detailed) because I was pretty sure there was a compelling reason why people were so sure there were two perpetrators. Besides the fact that there were 2 male customers left as the last known yogurt shop customers left (who gave information to LE), which was right before closing time, there were actually 2 unknown male DNA samples found, but one was a full profile and the other was just partial. Without going into too much detail, both of those profiles were known to be the result of sexual assault of the girls.

Both of these profiles were good enough to exclude each of the 4 original suspects (2 of whom were charged and convicted of the crime; then their convictions were overturned). Apparently the material which yielded the full DNA profile (I assume that meant the markers that are included in CODIS) was also good enough for IGG. They are not saying anything about the partial profile.

I would hope that if the one DNA sample was good enough to get a profile usable for IGG, then maybe the other partial profile, when modern techniques are used, could also yield more.

It looks like Austin PD will not be speaking publicly about this case until next week (Tuesday maybe?) - hopefully they can clarify then.

 

[CrimeDawg123]

After this news broke yesterday, I went back to my copy of "Who Killed These Girls?" by Beverly Lowry (which is very detailed) because I was pretty sure there was a compelling reason why people were so sure there were two perpetrators. Besides the fact that there were 2 male customers left as the last known yogurt shop customers left (who gave information to LE), which was right before closing time, there were actually 2 unknown male DNA samples found, but one was a full profile and the other was just partial. Without going into too much detail, both of those profiles were known to be the result of sexual assault of the girls.

Both of these profiles were good enough to exclude each of the 4 original suspects (2 of whom were charged and convicted of the crime; then their convictions were overturned). Apparently the material which yielded the full DNA profile (I assume that meant the markers that are included in CODIS) was also good enough for IGG. They are not saying anything about the partial profile.

I would hope that if the one DNA sample was good enough to get a profile usable for IGG, then maybe the other partial profile, when modern techniques are used, could also yield more.

It looks like Austin PD will not be speaking publicly about this case until next week (Tuesday maybe?) - hopefully they can clarify then.

I think the fact there were 4 victims led investigators to suspect multiple perpetrators when this first happened. I hope there can be a conclusion to this tragic case but my confidence in APD is zero. Absolutely zero.

 

[Florida_marlin]

Jus

That's sad and depressing. I hope things change in the future.

Just like in the Tina Hines case in Jacksonville Florida (1994 murder, real perp recently caught) if those wrongly convicted had not fought back and received help from heroic organizations, the real perps would have never been caught because the smug and arrogant prosecutors would not admit they made a mistake. The original investigators and prosecutors are responsible for these long delays and should be held criminally accountable. But, alas, they get immunity for their actions. The victim’s families and falsely accused suffer greatly due to their arrogance.

 

[Wilma_W]

CeCe Moore - Genetic Genealogist

For those interested in learning more about serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers, who has now been confirmed as the perpetrator in the 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders, I spoke about him at the 2024 i4GG...

www.facebook.com

Thank you for posting this!

Per CeCe Moore's presentation in that video, Robert Eugene Brashers was convicted in 1986 of a 1985 attempted murder and rape in Ft. Pierce, Florida. He shot a woman in the head and tried to rape her, and somehow she escaped.

He received a sentence of only FOUR YEARS for shooting this woman in the head. He apparently was released early, since his original release date was 10-17-1990, but he is known (by DNA match) to have murdered Genevieve Zitricki in South Carolina on April 4, 1990. The yogurt shop murders occurred on December 6, 1991. The other murders that he is known to have committed happened in 1998.

Had he received a longer sentence (and served it), these and potentially other murders/rapes would not have occurred.

 

[bajaflash]

Thank you for posting this!

Per CeCe Moore's presentation in that video, Robert Eugene Brashers was convicted in 1986 of a 1985 attempted murder and rape in Ft. Pierce, Florida. He shot a woman in the head and tried to rape her, and somehow she escaped.

He received a sentence of only FOUR YEARS for shooting this woman in the head. He apparently was released early, since his original release date was 10-17-1990, but he is known (by DNA match) to have murdered Genevieve Zitricki in South Carolina on April 4, 1990. The yogurt shop murders occurred on December 6, 1991. The other murders that he is known to have committed happened in 1998.

Had he received a longer sentence (and served it), these and potentially other murders/rapes would not have occurred.

People caught with marijuana back in the day got longer sentences than a monster shooting someone in the head. Hell.

 

[kemo]

There is some compelling evidence that 2 perpetrators were involved; (a second more degraded DNA recovered, 2 men seen together at closing time and the obvious difficulty one man would have controlling and tying up 4 victims). More analysis of the other DNA using latest technology is an obvious direction this should go on but I think a through investigation of Brashers’ known associates in the years before his suicide might be productive. The unknown sample may be usable for comparison with a living suspect with multiple types of DNA available. He acted alone in the other crimes he was known to have committed but that doesn’t mean he was always a lone wolf. It might be interesting to look at unsolved male homicide victims in Texas soon after the Yogurt Shop murders.