Tyrannosaurus Ross said:

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What business now occupies the space that was once the yogurt shop?

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I haven't been back in Austin since 2023, but I think there's a nail salon there now (based on what I saw in the documentary)…

That is the place I was thinking about. Either that or New West. And after a night of dancing, we'd go to someplace across the street gor breakfast.

Must be the spot where Glow Nails is now. The memorial marker for the event is in the median directly across from this business.

It is.

DNA tech has come a long way. There's a company out of Houston called Othram that's been featured on Dateline and 20/20 that have been instrumental in taking partial and trace DNA and working back through ancestry to find cold case killers. Not sure if they were used in this one or not but its pretty impressive what they have done.

FireAg said:

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HTownAg98 said:

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It sort of faces Anderson, at least the end cap does. The yogurt shop was an in-line space that faced more to Rockwood. It also happened late at night, in a time when security cameras weren't all that common. He likely staked out this location and had a plan for a secluded escape.

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I grew up there...I know the strip center...the yogurt shop itself is very visible from Anderson Lane...

And this was a Friday night at 11PM...Anderson Lane was a main drag in North Austin (and this area was considered North Austin in 1991) back then and still quite active on a typical Friday night...even this late...

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I'm from Austin too. Was a senior in high school at Bowie when this happened.
He obviously pulled a gun and herded the girls to the back of the shop.
Could have done that easily and quickly despite any traffic headed west on Anderson.
This detail doesn't give me any pause at all.

Thanks. I hadn't seen that APD confirmed he'd used two weapons in previous crimes.

Like I said, hardly an impossible thing to do, just found it odd.

4stringAg said:

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DNA tech has come a long way. There's a company out of Houston called Othram that's been featured on Dateline and 20/20 that have been instrumental in taking partial and trace DNA and working back through ancestry to find cold case killers. Not sure if they were used in this one or not but its pretty impressive what they have done.

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Watched a Dateline last night that used similar tech to identify a killer but the court would not allow it. In this case it doesn't seem to matter as the alleged perp is long deceased. But curious as to where this variation of DNA testing.

And at some point you have to factor in transferability of such microscopic fragments.

Play It Again Sports - Bing Maps

I thought I read somewhere yesterday that three samples from sexual assault kits matched Brashers.

FireAg said:

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Tyrannosaurus Ross said:

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What business now occupies the space that was once the yogurt shop?

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I haven't been back in Austin since 2023, but I think there's a nail salon there now (based on what I saw in the documentary)…

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I have relatives buried in Austin cemeteries predating 1900. I have pretty deep roots there, but I moved away in Summer 1997 and have little desire to move back now. Last fall I was in Pflugerville for a UIL event with my kids. On the way back to San Antonio I decided to drive back down North Lamar to see how the place had changed. My goodness, it has really gone downhill. I am guessing Burnet Road isn't much better

Physically, I can see him being able to do it…sure…

But that creek right behind the strip center was a notorious teenage hoodlum hangout spot, especially on a Friday night at that time…

I'm shocked no one heard the shots…

Unless…someone did hear the shots, but that person(s) was part of the initial victim round up (but didn't stick around to commit the assaults and murders)…

But again, only one mystery DNA was present, and also again, it has been identified now as belonging to Brasher…

So if someone did assist Brasher at any point in this, we are never going to know…

This article seems to indicate the break in the case was from a shell casing being tested / compared to a national DB leading to brasher…


https://www.fox7austin.com/news/austin-yogurt-shop-murders-linked-known-serial-killer-rapist-through-dna

Quote:

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Serial Killer Connection:
In June 2025, Detective Jackson determined that a .380 cartridge found in a drain at the scene had not recently been submitted to the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN). In July, a "hit" was received, linking the cartridge to an unsolved 1998 murder in Kentucky. The similarities in the cases led to a collaborative investigation between Austin and Kentucky detectives.

Evidence Against Brashers

Further investigation revealed that Brashers, the newly named suspect, committed suicide in 1999 using the same make and model weapona .380 pistolused to shoot victim Amy Ayers. Even more compelling, Brashers was stopped by Border Patrol on December 8, 1991, less than 48 hours after the murders, at a checkpoint between El Paso, Texas, and Las Cruces, New Mexico. He was driving a stolen car and was in possession of a .380 pistol that has since been confirmed to be the same gun he used to commit suicide in 1999, as the serial numbers match.

Further DNA testing is continuing, with final results expected in the coming weeks or months.

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.22 and .380 are relatively quiet. They're small caliber (you may know this, not trying to insult anyone's intelligence).

Kids in Shoal Creek could have been skateboarding, listening to music, just talking, and let's not forget the road noise from Anderson right next door.
This is another thing that doesn't give me much pause.

Correct. Been discussed early in the thread.
Not trying to be a jackass. I get that keeping up with these long threads can be a pain.

FireAg said:

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Physically, I can see him being able to do it…sure…

But that creek right behind the strip center was a notorious teenage hoodlum hangout spot, especially on a Friday night at that time…

I'm shocked no one heard the shots…

Unless…someone did hear the shots, but that person(s) was part of the initial victim round up (but didn't stick around to commit the assaults and murders)…

But again, only one mystery DNA was present, and also again, it has been identified now as belonging to Brasher…

So if someone did assist Brasher at any point in this, we are never going to know…

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Just spit balling without much knowledge of the evidence...

Maybe he enlisted the help of one or two accomplices under the premise of it being a robbery, got the girls tied up, let the accomplices empty the till, sent them on their way, and then committed the murders.

Of course, that means there is someone else out there that knows (knew) what happened. And keeping a secret between 2-3 people is pretty hard.

As someone stated above, the crime scene was wrecked after fighting the fire and the ignorance not knowing it was a crime scene until later. Physical evidence was very hard to come by.

flown-the-coop said:

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This article seems to indicate the break in the case was from a shell casing being tested / compared to a national DB leading to brasher…


https://www.fox7austin.com/news/austin-yogurt-shop-murders-linked-known-serial-killer-rapist-through-dna

Quote:

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Serial Killer Connection:
In June 2025, Detective Jackson determined that a .380 cartridge found in a drain at the scene had not recently been submitted to the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN). In July, a "hit" was received, linking the cartridge to an unsolved 1998 murder in Kentucky. The similarities in the cases led to a collaborative investigation between Austin and Kentucky detectives.

Evidence Against Brashers

Further investigation revealed that Brashers, the newly named suspect, committed suicide in 1999 using the same make and model weapona .380 pistolused to shoot victim Amy Ayers. Even more compelling, Brashers was stopped by Border Patrol on December 8, 1991, less than 48 hours after the murders, at a checkpoint between El Paso, Texas, and Las Cruces, New Mexico. He was driving a stolen car and was in possession of a .380 pistol that has since been confirmed to be the same gun he used to commit suicide in 1999, as the serial numbers match.

Further DNA testing is continuing, with final results expected in the coming weeks or months.

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This is true, but I think the real break in the case came when there was a new nationwide search for the Y-STR profile found at the scene. This resulted in a hit from the South Carolina State Lab which was already known to belong to Brashers. This is what put Brashers on the map for APD.

The Kentucky case was still unsolved at the time of the cartridge match, so all investigaters could conclude from that was that the same weapon was used in another murder in Kentucky.

I completely agree…I think that is absolutely a plausible scenario, and because of the post-fire crime scene, there is simply no way to rule it out definitively…

In the end, however, unless someone comes forward to shed more light on how things went down that night, we are going to be left with Brasher being the only perpetrator…

And maybe he was…I just think it's not unreasonable to wonder whether or not he truly was alone the whole time…

But I am also in agreement that the only remaining physical evidence ever found is going to be the evidence he left behind that all points to him and him alone…

Mikeyshooter said:

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Glad they identified the killer. But I still can't just ignore some of the confessions from those kids. There was information in there that no one else would have known. There were very minor details between all the confessions that make it very unlikely they just made it all up.

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Not really. In fact, it was the opposite, they said inconsistencies the entire time they were interrogated. They were just corrected and steered a different direction, and only partial pieces of the interrogation came out. How convenient. The boys had no clue what happened until they were fed it for hours.

What did you bind them with? A belt. No? It wasn't that. I guess it could have been their clothing?

Bingo! Look at the crime details they knew.

Mikeyshooter said:

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Glad they identified the killer. But I still can't just ignore some of the confessions from those kids. There was information in there that no one else would have known. There were very minor details between all the confessions that make it very unlikely they just made it all up.

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Have you watched some of the tapes of the interrogations?
These guys were spoon-fed and steered by the officers every step of the way. It's maddening.

I think some of your minds a running a little wild. Sure, it's possible someone else was involved.

But it's far more likely he was alone with the evidence we have.

Bunk Moreland said:

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In a lot of ways it was the beginning of the end of the age of innocence in Austin. I was 4 at the time, lived in NW Austin, and while I don't remember the exact night or event, it was ingrained into our parents' minds from then on. We still enjoyed the best childhood and had freedoms to go play in the neighborhood until sundown without having to report home, etc..but it always loomed over the parents of NW Austin especially as kids got old enough to work, drive, etc.

Hope this truly is the proof that puts the story to rest.

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wow that brings back some memories- just looked on a map of Northwest Hills where I grew up

near MOPAC. this was 40 years ago so things I am sure look very different now.

is there still a Doss Elementary?

He left DNA in several locations, not sure why the shell casing get's so much attention, but the most damning evidence was his DNA under the fingernails of the youngest victim. Good on the original detectives to collect and preserve so much evidence way back then that allowed them to solve the case with current technology.

FireAg said:

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Physically, I can see him being able to do it…sure…

But that creek right behind the strip center was a notorious teenage hoodlum hangout spot, especially on a Friday night at that time…

I'm shocked no one heard the shots…

Unless…someone did hear the shots, but that person(s) was part of the initial victim round up (but didn't stick around to commit the assaults and murders)…

But again, only one mystery DNA was present, and also again, it has been identified now as belonging to Brasher…

So if someone did assist Brasher at any point in this, we are never going to know…

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You would not hear a .22LR outside of a brick wall building. They are just not that loud.

EDIT: I thought I'd read it was a 22LR, not a .380. 380 louder than 22, but not that loud. Brick buildings make a good noise insulator and there was not one in the businesses next door to the Yogurt Shop.

Amen. She was also the one whose body they found away from the "stack" of the others. She was crawling away, fighting for life. One tough cookie.

God bless all of them.

agracer said:

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FireAg said:

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Physically, I can see him being able to do it…sure…

But that creek right behind the strip center was a notorious teenage hoodlum hangout spot, especially on a Friday night at that time…

I'm shocked no one heard the shots…

Unless…someone did hear the shots, but that person(s) was part of the initial victim round up (but didn't stick around to commit the assaults and murders)…

But again, only one mystery DNA was present, and also again, it has been identified now as belonging to Brasher…

So if someone did assist Brasher at any point in this, we are never going to know…

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You would not hear a .22LR outside of a brick wall building. They are just not that loud.

EDIT: I thought I'd read it was a 22LR, not a .380. 380 louder than 22, but not that loud. Brick buildings make a good noise insulator and there was not one in the businesses next door to the Yogurt Shop.

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And unless it is multiple shots in succession, people dont really even think of what theyre hearing. First thought is fireworks unless it is a nextdoor Karen nowadays

Fireman said:

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He left DNA in several locations, not sure why the shell casing get's so much attention, but the most damning evidence was his DNA under the fingernails of the youngest victim. Good on the original detectives to collect and preserve so much evidence way back then that allowed them to solve the case with current technology.

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I think it is the combination of both the shell casing being consistent with a firearm he used along with his DNA that really narrows it down.

Hank the Grifter said:

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Amen. She was also the one whose body they found away from the "stack" of the others. She was crawling away, fighting for life. One tough cookie.

God bless all of them.

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And she was the youngest,

It also makes me wonder if, because she was the youngest, she was the one forced to tie the others up leaving her last. Complete speculation on my part though

Like someone on the thread said, the dna was a 2.5 million to 1 chance.

I don't think they necessarily need the shell casing to confirm, but it helps paint the picture more. Especially considering he took his own like with it, and that he had a 380 on him on December 8 1991 when he was pulled over by border patrol in texas. Too bad they didn't have the means to connect things like that. Nowadays I think they would look into someone and have the communication fast enough that if someone got pulled over 48 hours later crossing a border with the same gun as a violent crime, they'd hold him.

I just started watching the HBO series. Hector Polanco?????

Yes. It underwent a renovation not too long ago and now has a pretty awesome view of downtown as it's perched over the Murchison hill

Quit talking to police. If you don't talk, you cannot be tricked into infringing on your rights.

Do you go into the Po Po station every time you click one over on the speedometer?! When you roll through a stop sign?

No? Then why the ever living **** would you talk to them if you are being asked about a nurse?!

Grab a competent lawyer. It's one of their only useful purposes.