TX TX - Yogurt Shop Murders, Austin, 6 Dec 1991 - Robert Eugene Brashers (died by suicide in 1999)

[RaechelK]

Was there ever a sketch of the killer made i just want to see if he looked like Brasher.

Also they need to look at him in the Amber Hagerman case as well.

This article includes a sketch of a man "witnesses reported sitting in a car outside the yogurt shop the night of the murders."

Families, investigators remain haunted by unsolved Texas yogurt shop murders - KTSA

Could new information lead to answers in the brutal murder of four teenage girls in Austin, Texas...

www.ktsa.com

 

[Via Marple]

Wow finally.
It does seem to me that most theories over all these years, have been shot to pieces.

One can still speculate if there was an accomplice at Yoghurt shop, though it doesn't look likely now because he had always been caught as a lone wolf.

One can still wonder if he's the guy asking to use the staff toilet. Or in a car waiting outside the shop.

But he was certainly not a Mexican, nor working with four young men.

(I have the Who killed those girls book too, have not reread it yet)

 

[Warwick1991]

I read Beverly Lowry's book, and I thought that the real perpetrator(s) would never be caught. The zeal of the prosecution of the innocent men, and the Austin PD's misguided focus on them despite evidence that pointed elsewhere, made me think this would never be solved. I am shocked that it was finally solved. I thought that local politicians and LE would obstruct any genuine solution.

I hope the innocent men who spent time in prison can finally obtain compensation.

 

[gregjrichards]

I'm glad Amy, Eliza, Jennifer and Sarah's killer has been identified after almost 34 years. My thoughts and prayers are with their loved ones. May they Rest In Peace.

I wish the monster perpetrator was still alive to be held accountable for all the evil crimes he committed. I'm wondering about other crimes he may have carried out. I'm in disbelief at how short the sentences were for the violent, despicable crimes he was convicted of. It would be useful to have as much information as possible about his whereabouts from his teens onwards. I'm wondering if Robert Eugene Brashers has been looked at in the murder of Karen Lynn Douglas who was stabbed 25 times on the 6th of January 1981 in Harris County, Texas. I don't know where Brashers was living in January 1981 but Harris County is approximately 2 hours and 37 Minutes and 168 miles from Austin, Texas. He would have been 22 at the time. Karen was just 22 years old when she died. Two weeks prior to her murder a young white male entered her home and left without attacking Karen or her daughter. She was understandably distressed by what had happened and went to stay with a loved one. Two weeks later she returned home and Karen's husband went to work in the morning of the 6th of January 1981 in the burger bar they owned. This was the first time Karen and her infant daughter were home alone and unfortunately Karen was tragically murdered. Her killer did not harm her daughter. It is believed that her killer was the same individual who had entered her home two weeks earlier. There were other home invasions and burglaries in the area at the time which may have been carried out by the same perpetrator. None of the occupants in the other properties were murdered.

Here is a link to Karen Lynn Douglas case thread: TX - TX- Karen Lynn Douglas, 22, new mom, fatally stabbed,@ home, Harris Co., 6 Jan., '81, poss. connected to other home invasions in area,*New initiative*

 

[twall]

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.

3:30 in video at link states news conference will be Monday but no time stated.

4:49 report starts with Brashers daughter.

Daughter of Yogurt Shop Murders suspect grapples with father's dark legacy

Authorities have identified Robert Eugene Brashers as the suspect in the 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders, bringing closure to the decades-old mystery.

www.kvue.com

 

[twall]

Brashers entered a home, bound and tied up four individuals and raped a 14-year-old girl, Ryall said.

https://wreg.com/news/rape-kit-helps-memphis-police-trace-suspected-serial-rapist-murderer/

This article states Brashers bound and tied up four individuals in a home in the 1997 Memphis case! Sound familiar?

 

[twall]

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.

And 2 different firearms used...

John Jones: As soon as we knew what type of guns we were looking for, that information went out nationwide.

Gunshot wounds showed that two different types of guns were used, leading investigators to believe there were at least two killers on the loose.

Erin Moriarty: What were the two guns?

John Jones: .380 and a .22. … And we recovered all of the rounds.

The Texas yogurt shop murders: Families, investigators remain haunted by unsolved case

Could new information lead to answers in the brutal murder of four teenage girls in Austin, Texas, more than 30 years ago?

www.cbsnews.com

1 perp 2 guns or 2 perps 2 guns??

 

[bajaflash]

And 2 different firearms used...

John Jones: As soon as we knew what type of guns we were looking for, that information went out nationwide.

Gunshot wounds showed that two different types of guns were used, leading investigators to believe there were at least two killers on the loose.

Erin Moriarty: What were the two guns?

John Jones: .380 and a .22. … And we recovered all of the rounds.

The Texas yogurt shop murders: Families, investigators remain haunted by unsolved case

Could new information lead to answers in the brutal murder of four teenage girls in Austin, Texas, more than 30 years ago?

www.cbsnews.com

1 perp 2 guns or 2 perps 2 guns??

Certainly wouldn't be the first time one person used two different caliber guns

 

[MassGuy]

And 2 different firearms used...

John Jones: As soon as we knew what type of guns we were looking for, that information went out nationwide.

Gunshot wounds showed that two different types of guns were used, leading investigators to believe there were at least two killers on the loose.

Erin Moriarty: What were the two guns?

John Jones: .380 and a .22. … And we recovered all of the rounds.

The Texas yogurt shop murders: Families, investigators remain haunted by unsolved case

Could new information lead to answers in the brutal murder of four teenage girls in Austin, Texas, more than 30 years ago?

www.cbsnews.com

1 perp 2 guns or 2 perps 2 guns??

Two guns still works for one perp. I believe most of the rounds were fired from a 22 revolver. He'd want to use that because it would leave no casings behind, and it's quieter than a semiautomatic with a larger round.

The problem with a 22 is that it typically only holds 6-9 rounds, and a bullet of that caliber isn't very powerful. So he may have been forced to switch to the .380, which is why a casing was left behind.

 

[Warwick1991]

Certainly wouldn't be the first time one person used two different caliber guns

It strikes me as unusual that Brasher's would use 2 guns if he was alone, but it's possible. Perhaps they were relatively small, concealable guns that didn't accommodate a lot of ammunition. We don't know what kind of guns they were, and I don't recall anything that says how many shots were fired. Given his personality, Brashers may have carried 2 guns, with one as a back up if he thought he'd encounter police or substantial resistance. At least 1 case was found - hence the match to one of his firearms - and that was probably a semiautomatic, probably the .380.

One thing I'm curious about is how long he was in Texas, and whether he committed more crimes in Texas. He was known to have committed crimes in Missouri, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee, but I wonder how long he was in Texas.

 

[twall]

Certainly wouldn't be the first time one person used two different caliber guns

Right! Taylor Placker and Skyla Whitaker among many others I'm sure. Their murders entered my thoughts first.

 

[Hockeyfan158]

This article includes a sketch of a man "witnesses reported sitting in a car outside the yogurt shop the night of the murders."

Families, investigators remain haunted by unsolved Texas yogurt shop murders - KTSA

Could new information lead to answers in the brutal murder of four teenage girls in Austin, Texas...

www.ktsa.com

Anyone got a photo of what he looked like back then?

 

[theonewithallthequestions]

I read that he wrote “Don’t F*** With My Family” on the mirror of one of his victims despite not knowing her. I could see him using two guns to misdirect the investigation

His daughter did an interview and reacted to the breaking news. From the article/interview:

“KXAN asked Deborah if she had ever heard about the yogurt shop murders before Friday.

“I am just finding out recently, today, about them,” said Deborah. “And when I got the email about them, I was cooking dinner, and I seen it on my phone, and I was like, wait a minute. So, I googled my father’s name, which I hadn’t done in a while, for the longest time, I would Google my name or my father’s name, just to see if there were new things that came out. My first thought was I was born in 1991 August — where was he at then?””

“Deborah said she doesn’t know why her father was in Austin during the yogurt shop murders, but that he was a contractor and worked in construction for a while.”

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/seventh-layer-of-hades-daughter-of-yogurt-shop-murders-suspect-reacts-to-breakthrough-in-case/

 

[twall]

I knew I watched a show on Brashers but I couldn't recall the name of the series (I watch a lot of true crime shows) so I Googled.

"Evil Lives Here" I Still Love My Daddy (TV Episode 2021) ⭐ 7.2 | Documentary, Biography, Crime

| TV-14

www.imdb.com

 

[doner kebab]

This case has been a pet case of mine. So glad it is solved! I am saddened that this monster didn't face any accountability for his crimes. Hopefully the Burger Chef Murders and the Fort Worth missing trio are solved soon.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Is genetic testing not very expensive though? From what I have seen it can easily be 3-4k, So I would assume money is a big factor. I know a few cases which got solved via genetic DNA the police departments had to apply for grants to get the money.

I believe it is becoming cheaper as it becomes more widespread and routine. However, let's think about it.

Testing one kit will get one perpetrator onto whatever databases the US uses. Since rapists, including Brasher, tend to be serial offenders, a single DNA sample processed and added to a database may well solve half a dozen cases and make it possible, when added to GEDmatch and FTDNA, through IGG, to bring potentially thousands of offenders within scope of identification. Living offenders can be tried and banged up, very likely saving future victims we won't know about. Dead offenders can be identified and LE, and the offenders' victims, can gain closure/satisfaction etc from the information.

I don't know how many untested kits are in storage across the US, but it would be better to process 1,000 per year and progressively clear up some decades-old cases than have all the kits just sitting there until the samples become unviable. Light a candle rather than curse the darkness etc. It seems to me that with the vast endowments some US universities are sitting on, this would be a good use of a small portion of them.

 

[Gordon_]

I believe it is becoming cheaper as it becomes more widespread and routine. However, let's think about it.

Testing one kit will get one perpetrator onto whatever databases the US uses. Since rapists, including Brasher, tend to be serial offenders, a single DNA sample processed and added to a database may well solve half a dozen cases and make it possible, when added to GEDmatch and FTDNA, through IGG, to bring potentially thousands of offenders within scope of identification. Living offenders can be tried and banged up, very likely saving future victims we won't know about. Dead offenders can be identified and LE, and the offenders' victims, can gain closure/satisfaction etc from the information.

I don't know how many untested kits are in storage across the US, but it would be better to process 1,000 per year and progressively clear up some decades-old cases than have all the kits just sitting there until the samples become unviable. Light a candle rather than curse the darkness etc. It seems to me that with the vast endowments some US universities are sitting on, this would be a good use of a small portion of them.

Right, you make a great point.

 

[dotr]

Police: DNA links 3 deaths to killer who died in 1999

Genevieve Zitricki, 28, was found beaten and strangled to death in her bathtub in her Greenville Apartment, South Carolina, in April 1990.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Who is Robert Eugene Brashers and How Did He Die?

ABC’s ‘The Genetic Detective’ follows CeCe Moore, a genetic genealogist, as she tries to help the police in solving cases with unidentifiable crime scene DNA. She uses her advanced research skills to trace the genetic profile of potential killers by creating a family tree, using GEDmatch. Moore...

thecinemaholic.com

Robert Eugene Brashers

https://fox8.com/news/dead-serial-killer-identified-as-texas-yogurt-shop-cold-case-killings-suspect/

Missouri man who died in police standoff in 1998 may be responsible for other murders

The investigation is still open. Robert Eugene Brashers' DNA may be linked to murders in South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee.

www.ksdk.com

Heartland Solved: ‘My father was a serial killer’: Robert Brashers’ daughter speaks out pt 1

www.kfvs12.com

 

[othram]

Is genetic testing not very expensive though? From what I have seen it can easily be 3-4k, So I would assume money is a big factor. I know a few cases which got solved via genetic DNA the police departments had to apply for grants to get the money.

Consider how much is spent investigating an unsolved homicide. It can run into hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Then consider what the most advanced DNA test costs, its pennies on the dollar. DNA testing is fast, decisive, and cost-effective and that’s just in absolute terms. When it also prevents future crimes by stopping offenders sooner, the return is beyond measure.

 

[othram]

Incredible. I told my true crime friends last year that the Yogurt Shop Murders case would be solved in 2025 and JonBenet Ramsey would be solved in 2026. That's one down. Genetic genealogy is the most amazing forensic advancement in the history of forensic science. It truly is unbelievable. It's going to solve so many cold cases in the coming years, and when technology gets even better to extract DNA and develop profiles, it will continue to be more and more powerful of a tool.

I, along with so many others, felt that this is an individual who definitely killed and sexually assaulted victims before. Not surprising it was a serial killer, and his other crimes match this. The one thing I'm wondering is if he was one of those two men sitting in the back booth in the fatigue-designed outfits before closing who were the last reported people to have been in the shop? Because the girls were murdered very shortly after the last person aside from those two left the store. And if it wasn't those two guys, then that would mean that there was an incredibly short window where those two guys left the shop and Brashers entered it. Like a matter of minutes. If so, makes me think he was casing the place and waiting for it to empty before he went in. And somehow got in when the girls apparently locked the door to prevent more customers from entering around closing.

And if Brashers was one of those two men, it would mean he had an accomplice, but since law enforcement have not mentioned anything about an accomplice, I'm guessing it wasn't those two men after all. I'm just so glad it's solved and so happy those families will finally get as much closure as they can possibly get for a crime this horrific. Looking forward to any further details provided as they come out.

Just clarifying that genetic genealogy did not solve this particular case, but it is (of course) an amazing technique.