AUSTIN (KXAN) — After 34 years, the Austin Police Department announced Friday it linked a suspect to the murder of four girls who were found inside a burning business in 1991. The incident was later known as the “Yogurt Shop Murders.”
The suspect was identified as Robert Eugene Brashers, who committed suicide in 1999. Police said Brashers was identified through DNA and ballistics testing.
Brashers was linked to the deaths of 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison and her sister, 15-year-old Sarah, and 13-year-old Amy Ayers.
In 2024, KXAN reached out to APD related to DNA testing and tracing technology it utilizes in cases such as the Yogurt Shop Murders.
APD said it did not have written guidelines about when to use investigative genealogy.
“We work with the scientists in our Case Management Unit to decipher if we have enough DNA to perform genetic genealogy,” APD said. “It’s not as simple as having a CODIS profile and moving that over to genetic genealogy. There has to be enough genetic material to get a Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy profile to use.”
According to the department, if it has enough genetic material, a profile is created and used against GEDmatch and another database, which genetic genealogists use to build out family trees.
APD said it has previously used genetic genealogy to successfully solve cases.
Related to the yogurt shop murder case, APD said it was utilizing the latest scientific advancements in its investigations.
The department said it prefers state labs in place of private labs as a cost-effective method.
APD said it works with the University of North Texas for its offering of genetic genealogy for identification purposes, but the department has also worked with private labs, such as BODI and DLi, for genetic genealogy services.
After offers from the public to raise funds to provide testing for the yogurt shop murder case, APD said it had funding it utilizes for testing in its cases.
While the department said it did not have a definite number of times it has utilized the science, it has solved murder cases through the use of genetic genealogy.
“We will continue to use it when we can as another tool in our toolbox. Genetic genealogy can also be used with ‘fresh’ DNA from crime scenes that have just been committed, when there are no other leads to go on. It is not specifically used just in cold cases.”
KXAN’s Avery Travis and Brianna Hollis contributed to this report.
Credit: Source link
