CASE OF FOUR GIRLS BRUTALLY MURDERED IN 1991 FINALLY SOLVED THROUGH DNA TESTING

Yogurt Shop Murders' suspect identified by cops in stunning breakthrough after four teen girls killed in 1991

 

By Wilko Martinez-Cachero 

 

Daily Mail

Sep 27, 2025

 

Eliza Thomas (left) and Jennifer Harbinson (right), both 17, were working at the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop in Austin on December 6, 1991 when they were brutally murdered

 

Jennifer's 15-year-old sister Sarah Harbinson (left) and her best friend Amy Ayers, 13, (right) stopped by with hopes of catching a ride to a slumber party after the store closed at 11pm

 

A suspect has been identified in the execution-style killings of four teenage girls at a frozen yogurt shop more than three decades ago.

The bodies of Eliza Thomas, 17, Jennifer Harbinson, 17, Sarah Harbinson, 17, and Amy Ayers, 13, were found charred beyond recognition inside the storage room of the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop in Austin on December 6, 1991. 

Police in Austin, Texas, announced on Friday that Robert Eugene Brashers has been linked to the unsolved murders 'through a wide range of DNA testing.' 

The girls were found naked, gagged, tied up and stacked on top of one another. Each had been shot in the back of the head. At least one of the teenage girls had been raped.

Brashers died by suicide in January of 1999 during a standoff with law enforcement, he has since been linked to multiple killings and rape in other states. 

The murders stunned Texas’ capital city and became known as one of the area’s most notorious crimes. 

Austin police investigators and prosecutors had stumbled over the case for years as they waded through thousands of leads, several false confessions and badly damaged evidence from the burned-out crime scene. 

Brashers had an extensive criminal history that included attempted murder, burglary, impersonating a police officer and unlawful possession of a weapon, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

 

Robert Eugene Brashers has been linked to the unsolved murders 'through a wide range of DNA testing,' Austin police said

 

In November 1986, Brashers was convicted of attempted second degree murder stemming from a 1985 incident in Saint Lucie County, Florida.

About two years later, Brashers was arrested in Paragould, Arkansas, for attempting to break into 'a residence of a single female.'

On January, 13, 1999, Brashers killed himself in Kennett, Missouri, during a four-hour standoff with police.

Austin law enforcement had looked at more than 1,200 possible suspects over the last 34 years and secured dozens of confessions.

The case remains an open and ongoing investigation, Austin police said and are set to host a press conference on Monday outlining the latest break through.

Their announcement happened about one month after the release of The Yogurt Shop Murders, an HBO documentary series focusing on the killings.

Two of the girls - Jennifer Harbison and Thomas - worked at the Austin yogurt shop, while the other two had stopped by to catch a ride to a slumber party after the store's closing at 11pm.

Some of them were sexually assaulted before being shot in the back of their heads.

 

The criminals then set fire to the shop, destroying much of the evidence and soot-covered fingerprints

The girls were found naked, gagged, tied up and stacked on top of one another, each having been shot in the back of the head. At least one of the teens had been raped. Austin Police Department officers are pictured working the scene at the shop on Dec. 7, 1991

The four bodies were found charred beyond recognition inside the storage room of the Austin yogurt shop. Pictured is an interior view of the restaurant

 

The shop was then set on fire, which destroyed much of the evidence and soot-covered fingerprints.

Authorities originally centered their investigation around four teenage boys: Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce and Forrest Welborn.

Springsteen and Scott confessed to the murders while in custody. Springsteen was tried, convicted and sentenced to death in 2001. Scott was also sentenced to life in prison after being convicted in 2002.

However, the pair's convictions were ultimately dismissed by the Texas Court of Appeals on constitutional grounds. The two were freed in October 2009.

 

Sarah (left) and Jennifer Harbison (right) in an undated photo with their mother

Two Mexican nationals were also arrested in connection to the slayings in October 2001, but later ruled out as suspects

 

Separately, two Mexican nationals were also arrested in connection but later ruled out as suspects.

Mexican authorities took Porfirio Villa Saavedra and Alberto Jimenez Cortez into custody in October 1992.

Saavedra apparently matched the description of a man who was seen in a vehicle outside the yogurt shop on the night of the murders.

The Mexican attorney general's office claimed the men confessed to the killings.

However, Saavedra - a member of the Mierdas Punks motorcycle gang - recanted two days later and claimed that Mexican police had coerced him into confessing.