Suspect identified in infamous Texas yogurt shop murder case, original investigator says

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/suspect-identified-in-infamous-texas-yogurt-shop-murder-case-48-hours/

Suspect identified in infamous Texas yogurt shop murder case, original investigator says
By Stephanie Slifer
Updated on: September 26, 2025 / 5:33 PM EDT / CBS News

"48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty has learned a suspect has been identified in the 1991 murder of four teenage girls in an Austin, Texas, yogurt shop. This is according to one of the original investigators who worked the case.

That suspect is Robert Eugene Brashers, who is deceased, says retired Austin detective John Jones.

Brashers is a serial killer and rapist who committed at least three murders between 1990 and 1998 in the states of South Carolina and Missouri. He died in January 1999 by suicide during a standoff with police.

The connection between Brashers and the case was made through DNA, Jones told Moriarty.

On Dec. 6, 1991, 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, 13-year-old Amy Ayers, and two sisters, 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison and 15-year-old Sarah Harbison, were found gagged, tied up with their own clothing, and shot in the head in an I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! shop in Austin. The person responsible had also set the shop on fire, compromising much of the evidence.

Following the crime, the Austin Police Department developed a task force dedicated solely to solving the case. Government agencies, including the FBI, were called in to assist, but the case ultimately went cold until 1999, when four men, Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce and Forrest Welborn, were arrested and charged with the murders.

Charges were ultimately dropped against Maurice Pierce and Forrest Welborn due to lack of evidence, and Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott were the only two to go on trial. The sole evidence against them were their own words. They were both convicted, but a few years later, their convictions were overturned on constitutional grounds.

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