Major Development in 1991 Texas Frozen Yogurt Shop Killings Offers Hope for Cold Cases: 'There Are More Victims Waiting for Justice'.

On a Friday in December 1991, Jennifer Harbison and Eliza Thomas, both seventeen years old, were finishing their shift at the dessert shop where they were employed. Waiting for a ride home were Jennifer’s younger sister, Sarah Harbison, aged 15, and her friend, 13-year-old Amy Ayers.

Shortly before the clock struck twelve, a blaze at the shop summoned first responders, who made a grim discovery: the four teenagers had been tied up, fatally attacked, and showed evidence of sexual violence. The fire eliminated most of the forensic clues, except for a cartridge that had rolled into a drain and trace amounts of DNA, among them material under Ayers’ fingernails.

The Murders That Rocked Austin

These horrific killings deeply affected the Texas capital and became one of the most infamous unsolved mysteries in the United States. Over many years of investigative roadblocks and false accusations, the killings in time contributed to a U.S. law signed in recent years that enables victims' families to ask for dormant cases to be reinvestigated.

But the killings continued to baffle investigators for over three decades – until now.

Significant Progress

Law enforcement officials announced on this past Monday a "major development" driven by new technology in firearms analysis and forensic science, stated the local leader at a media event.

The evidence suggest Brashers, who was identified following his demise as a serial killer. Additional killings may be added to his record as DNA analyses continue to improve and more commonly used.

"The single piece of proof found at that scene has been linked to him," explained the head of police.

The murders hasn't reached conclusion, but this is a "major step", and Brashers is considered the only attacker, officials said.

Healing Begins

The sister of Eliza Thomas, Sonora Thomas, shared that her mind was split after Eliza was killed.

"One part of my mind has been screaming, 'What occurred to my sister?', and the other part kept saying, 'It will remain a mystery. I will die not knowing, and I must accept that,'" she recalled.

After discovering about this breakthrough in the investigation, "both sides of my brain started melding," she noted.

"Finally I comprehend the truth, and that does ease my anguish."

Mistaken Arrests Corrected

This development not only bring peace to the grieving families; it also fully exonerates two suspects, who were teens then, who maintained they were forced into giving false statements.

Robert Springsteen, a teenager at the time when the murders occurred, was sent to death row, and Scott, aged 15 at the time, was received a life sentence. Each defendant asserted they only confessed after hours-long interrogations in the late 1990s. In 2009, the two were set free after their convictions were thrown out due to new precedents on admissions lacking physical evidence.

Legal authorities abandoned the prosecution against the two men in that year after a genetic test, called Y-STR, indicated neither individual matched against the genetic material recovered from the yogurt shop.

Modern Technology Solves Case

This genetic marker – indicating an unknown man – would in time be the key in resolving the murders. In recent years, the DNA profile was sent for reanalysis because of technological advancements – but a national search to law enforcement agencies yielded no results.

During the summer, Daniel Jackson working on the investigation in 2022, came up with a thought. Time had gone by since the ballistics from the cartridge had been entered to the NIBIN database – and in the interim, the system had been significantly improved.

"The technology has advanced significantly. Actually, we're using 3D stuff now," the detective stated at the media briefing.

The system identified a link. An unresolved killing in the state of Kentucky, with a similar modus operandi, had the same type of bullet casing. Investigators and a cold case expert spoke to the local investigators, who are still working on their unidentified investigation – which involves testing materials from a forensic kit.

Building a Case

This development got Jackson thinking. Could there be further clues that might correspond to investigations elsewhere? He considered right away of the genetic testing – but there was a obstacle. The Combined DNA Index System is the federal genetic registry for law enforcement, but the evidence from Austin was insufficiently intact and minimal to upload.

"I suggested, well, several years have gone by. More labs are doing this. Registries are growing. Let's do a countrywide check again," he explained.

He distributed the historic DNA data to law enforcement agencies nationwide, asking them to manually compare it to their local systems.

A second connection emerged. The profile aligned exactly with a sample from Greenville, South Carolina – a 1990 murder that was resolved with help from a genetic genealogy company and a well-known researcher in recent years.

Building a Family Tree

The researcher built a family tree for the South Carolina killer and identified a relative whose biological evidence indicated a immediate family link – almost certainly a brother or sister. A judge ordered that Brasher's body be dug up, and his DNA aligned against the crime scene sample.

Typically, the genealogist is can move on from solved cases in order to work on the next one.

"Yet I have {not been