During December 6, 1991, Jennifer Harbison and her coworker Eliza Thomas, both 17, were wrapping up at the frozen yogurt shop where they were employed. Remaining for a ride home were Jennifer’s younger sister, Sarah Harbison, aged 15, and her friend, Amy Ayers, who was 13.
Just before midnight, a inferno at the business drew first responders, who found a horrific scene: the four girls had been tied up, fatally attacked, and showed indicators of assault. The configration eliminated the bulk of physical proof, with the exception of a bullet casing that had rolled into a drain and trace amounts of genetic material, notably material under Ayers’ fingernails.
The Murders That Rocked Austin
The yogurt shop murders profoundly shook the Texas capital and became one of the best-known cold cases in America. Over many years of false leads and wrongful convictions, the homicides eventually led to a U.S. law signed in the year 2022 that permits families of the deceased to ask for dormant cases to be reviewed.
However the crimes continued to baffle investigators for nearly 34 years – until now.
Key Development
Investigators revealed on Monday a "significant breakthrough" powered by modern methods in ballistics and forensic science, said the local leader at a news briefing.
The evidence suggest Robert Brashers, who was identified following his demise as a multiple murderer. Additional killings could be linked to him as forensic technology continue to improve and widespread.
"The sole forensic clue located at the yogurt shop has been linked to him," explained the city's police chief.
This investigation remains open, but this is a "significant advance", and the suspect is considered the only attacker, police confirmed.
Healing Begins
A family member, Sonora Thomas, shared that her psyche was fractured after the tragedy occurred.
"One half of my consciousness has been demanding, 'What happened to my sister?', and the remaining part kept saying, 'It will remain a mystery. I'll go to my grave unaware, and I have to be OK with that,'" she recalled.
After discovering of this development in the case, "the conflicting thoughts of my mind started melding," she noted.
"Now I understand the events, and that lessens my suffering."
Mistaken Arrests Corrected
The news doesn't just bring closure to the victims' families; it also fully exonerates two men, who were teens then, who claimed they were pressured into confessing.
Springsteen, who was 17 when the murders occurred, was sentenced to death, and Scott, a 15-year-old then, was given life imprisonment. Both men said they gave confessions following extended questioning in the late 1990s. In the following decade, both men were released after their convictions were reversed due to new precedents on confessions absent forensic proof.
The district attorney's office dropped the prosecution against Springsteen and Scott in that year after a DNA analysis, referred to as Y-STR, showed neither suspect corresponded against the DNA samples left at the murder site.
Modern Technology Solves Case
The Y-STR profile – pointing to an unknown man – would ultimately be the key in resolving the murders. In 2018, the genetic data was submitted for retesting because of improved methods – but a national search to law enforcement agencies found no matches.
In June, the lead detective assigned to the case in 2022, came up with a thought. It had been since the bullet casings from the cartridge had been submitted to the NIBIN database – and in that time, the registry had seen substantial enhancements.
"The technology has advanced significantly. I mean, we're dealing with advanced modeling now," he commented at the press conference.
There was a hit. An unresolved killing in another state, with a comparable method, had the identical kind of shell casing. The detective and another official spoke to the Kentucky detectives, who are actively pursuing their unnamed case – and are testing materials from a rape kit.
Linking Multiple Crimes
The apparent breakthrough made the detective wonder. Might there exist any other evidence that might match against crimes in different locations? He recalled instantly of the Y-STR analysis – but there was a problem. The national DNA registry is the countrywide system for law enforcement, but the yogurt shop DNA was too fragmented and limited to enter.
"I suggested, well, several years have gone by. Additional facilities are conducting this analysis. Databases are getting bigger. Let's do a national inquiry again," Jackson explained.
He circulated the years-old Y-STR results to law enforcement agencies around the country, instructing them to check by hand it to their own databases.
A second connection emerged. The genetic signature corresponded precisely with a genetic evidence from a city in South Carolina – a 1990 murder that was resolved with help from a genetic genealogy company and a well-known researcher in 2018.
Genetic Genealogy Success
The expert developed a ancestry profile for the South Carolina killer and found a kinship connection whose genetic material suggested a direct relationship – likely a sibling. A judge ordered that the deceased individual be removed from burial, and his genetic material aligned against the crime scene sample.
Typically, the genealogist is able to set aside resolved crimes in order to focus on the next one.
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