In the night of 6 to 7 December 1991, the Texan fire brigade received a call to advise against a fire in the Austin branch of Frozen Yogurt-chain I can’t believe it’s yogurt!. They found the naked lifeless bodies of four teenage girls.
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Before the perpetrator set fire to the Yogurtwinkel, Amy (13), Eliza (17) and the teenage sisters Jennifer (17) and Sarah (15) were tied with their own underwear. All four of them got a plug in the mouth and a bullet through the head. In one of them, investigators found traces of rape. About the case that was renamed the Yogurt Shop Murders A four-part HBO documentions of the same name appeared in August. Now, 34 years later, new research points in the direction of serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers.
Brashers is not the first to regard detectives as the perpetrator. Eight years after the four -fold murder, two men were already sentenced to a lifelong prison sentence based on statements they later moved in again. They had known under pressure from the police. In 2009, after 20 years of innocent imprisonment, the pair was again acquitted on the basis of new DNA tests.
Serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers left life at the time.
Over the years, the police did various DNA tests, but by combining recent developments in DNA investigation with family tree research, there was eventually a breakthrough. DNA was found under the fingernails of one of the teenagers, and that turned out to be an exact match with that of Brashers. That DNA match made the ball roll.
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After further investigation, the detective that the case again investigated the murder weapon to Brashers. 48 hours after the murders, Brashers was arrested on a border post with a stolen car and a gun with caliber .380. It is no coincidence that that is the same caliber as the bullet with which one of the girls was given a fatal shot. The only recovered bullet sleeve – the fire destroyed almost all possible evidence – agreed.
Serial killer
The four -fold murder is not long the only thing Brashers has on his criminal record. “Make no mistake: this man is no more than a serial rapist and a serial killer,” said Seriff Terry Stevens in American media. Brashers was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1986 for attempted manslaughter, after he released four shots on a 28-year-old woman when he tried to invade her house. After 4 years he was released again.
The police link him to various rapes and murders to women and girls in various American states. In 1999 he himself left life after a four -hour confrontation with the police. Just before that they stopped him because he rode a stolen number plate.
The main detective is now calling on his American colleagues for all cold cases between 1989 and 1992 and 1997 and 1998 with a similar working method or murder weapon as the Yogurt Shop Murders to him. In this way, even more unsolved things can be linked to Brashers.