The Austin Police Department (APD) Cold Case Homicide Unit has made a significant breakthrough in the 1991 I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt murder case. Through a wide range of DNA testing, Robert Eugene Brashers has been identified as the suspect in these murders. Brashers committed suicide in 1999 in Missouri.

On December 6, 1991, the Austin Fire Department (AFD) responded to a fire at the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt shop on West Anderson Lane. Inside they found the deceased bodies of 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison 15-year-old Sarah Harbison, 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, and 13-year-old Amy Ayers. All four girls had been shot, bound, and gagged and all but Elize Thomas were sexually assaulted. 

                

Eliza Thomas, 17           Jennifer Harbison, 17    Sarah Harbison, 15         Amy Ayers, 13

The Yogurt Shop Murders

Shortly before midnight on Friday, December 6, 1991, a patrol officer from the Austin Police Department (APD) observed fire coming from the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! (ICBY) shop located at 2949 West Anderson Lane and reported it to dispatch. The Austin Fire Department (AFD) responded to the fire and upon extinguishing it, firefighters discovered the deceased bodies of 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison, 15-year-old Sarah Harbison, 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, and 13-year-old Amy Ayers. All four girls were nude, had been shot, bound, and gagged. Additionally, all of the girls but Eliza Thomas had been sexually assaulted.

Jennifer and Eliza were both employees at the shop. Sarah and Amy were in the store with them as they closed up for the evening. Due to the damage from the fire and water from the automatic sprinklers in the shop, evidence was difficult to collect. APD Homicide Detective John Jones (Retired) processed the scene along with Crime Scene Investigators and collected as much evidence as possible. 

The investigation

There were thousands of tips and dozens of “confessions,” but no arrests were made. Within a week of the murders, 16-year-old Maurice Pierce was arrested for bringing a gun to Northcross Mall. The gun happened to be the same caliber as one of the guns used in the murders. After hours of interrogation by APD Homicide Detective Hector Polanco (Retired), he confessed to the murders of the four girls. The following morning, Detective Jones interviewed Pierce again, but realized his confession did not match the details of the crime scene. Additionally, ballistics analyzed the .22 gun that was seized from Pierce at the mall to determine if it was the same weapon used in the murders and the results were inconclusive.

The original suspects

In 1999, the Yogurt Shop Task Force re-visited the case and reviewed the original case files in further detail. The Task Force interrogated four subjects that had been identified as possibly being involved, Maurice Pierce, Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, and Forrest Welborn. During the interrogations, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott confessed and both implicated each other in the murders. Forrest Welborn and Maurice Pierce did not confess. At the time, the Task Force’s theory was that Welborn waited outside in the car as the look out. Forrest Welborn never confessed to the murders.

All four subjects were arrested for Capital Murder in 1999.

Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen were put on trial, and both were found guilty based on each other’s confessions implicating one another. Michael Scott received life without parole and Robert Springsteen received the death penalty; Forrest Welborn was no billed. The charges against Maurice Pierce were dropped. No physical evidence at the scene was ever linked to any of the subjects.

Due to a new ruling Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004) the Court of Criminal Appeals granted a new trial for Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen. In preparation for the new trial, further DNA evidence was reviewed. Fairfax Labs processed swabs from the Sexual Assault kit and developed a 16-marker unknown Y-STR profile. All four of the original suspects were excluded as contributors for the unknown Y-STR profile. All charges were dropped pending further investigation. Over the next several years, hundreds of reference samples were collected as elimination samples or suspect DNA profiles.

On December 23, 2010, Maurice was stopped for traffic and fled on foot. APD Officer Frank Wilson caught Pierce and the two struggled. Pierce removed Officer Wilson’s knife from his belt and stabbed him in the neck. Officer Wilson shot and killed Pierce. Officer Wilson survived his injuries. 

DNA Testing

Over the years DNA testing continued and only advanced throughout time. In 2022, APD Detective Daniel Jackson was assigned to the case. Detective Jackson met with several Subject Matter Experts (SME) on DNA/genealogy and a tiered list of items from the scene were identified for potential retesting.

  • Amy’s belt buckle
  • Ice scoop
  • Fingernail clippings
  • Clothing

In June 2025, Detective Jackson determined that a .380 cartridge that was found in a drain at the scene had not been submitted into NIBIN in many years, and software had greatly improved. In July 2025, they received a “hit” to an unsolved 1998 murder in Kentucky. As the cases had similarities, Detective Jackson began working with detectives in Kentucky to determine whether there were more similarities.

In August 2025, Detective Jackson requested a Y-STR keyboard (manual) search from all labs in the U.S. that keep Y-STR profiles. They found several labs hit on the manual search, but with only 16-17 markers out of the current 27-marker profile. The South Carolina State Lab was the only lab that found a complete 27 allele Y-STR “match” to our unknown Y-STR profile. The results were reviewed for accuracy by the South Carolina Legal Department before the profile was released to APD.

On August 22, 2025, Detective Jackson received the South Carolina Lab report that linked the Yogurt Shop unknown Y-STR profile to a known Y-STR profile from a 1990 Greenville, South Carolina Sexual Assault and Murder. The profile belongs to known serial killer and rapist, Robert Eugene Brashers, White male, born March 13, 1958.

Further testing is still occurring, and we hope to share those final results in the coming weeks and/or months. Robert Eugene Brasher committed suicide in 1999 with the same make and model of weapon used to shoot Amy Ayers, a .380 pistol.  

View the full PowerPoint Presentation shown during the news conference.

Who is Robert Eugene Brasher?
November 22, 1985: Brashers was arrested in Port St. Lucie, Florida for assaulting a 24-year-old female.
Brashers attempted to make sexual advances on the victim. The victim refused, tried to leave, and Brashers shot the victim in the head and neck. The victim escaped, survived, and was able to get medical attention. Brashers was apprehended and charged with:
  • Attempted 1st Degree murder
  • Aggravated Battery
  • Using a firearm during the commission of a crime
December 12, 1985: Brashers plead to 2nd Degree Homicide and Aggravated Battery. He was sentenced to 12 years.
May 4, 1989: Brashers was granted parole.
December 8, 1991: Less than 48 hours after the Yogurt Shop murders, Brashers was stopped by Border Patrol at a westbound checkpoint between El Paso, Texas and Las Cruces, New Mexico. He was driving a stolen car out of Georgia and was in possession of a .380 pistol. We have confirmed that this is the same gun he used to commit suicide in 1999, as the serial numbers match. 
February 1992: Brashers was arrested for a stolen vehicle & stolen firearm in Georgia. He had a scanner, burglary tools, and a fake Tennessee Driver License. He was sentenced to five years.
April 1998: Brashers arrested for trying to break into the home of a single woman.
January 1999: Police discovered Brashers with a stolen car and several warrants at a hotel in Kennett, Missouri. After a stand-off, Brashers committed suicide. 
Brasher's criminal acts discovered post-mortem
2006: DNA linked an unsolved murder in South Caroline from 1990 with two cases that were previously linked through ballistics:
  • Unsolved Double Homicide in Missouri (1998)
  • Unsolved attempted assault in Dyersberg, Tennessee (1998).
2016: ASexual Assault Kit was submitted for testing from the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in Memphis, Tennessee from 1997 during a home invasion by a man who tied up four females and sexually assaulted the youngest one.
2017: The Memphis, Tennessee (1997) case was linked to the cases in SC, MO, and TN.
Fall 2018: Genealogy identified Brashers as a potential suspect. Family member DNA samples were collected from Brashers’ relatives in Huntsville, Alabama. Brashers’ body was exhumed in Arkansas to retrieve DNA for FGG and CODIS.
2018: DNA testing confirmed that Brashers’ genetic profile was a perfect match with the DNA profiles for the following unsolved crimes:
  • March 11, 1997, Sexual Assault of Child, Memphis, TN:
  • 14-year old girl was sexually assaulted.
March 28, 1998: Double Murder, Portageville, MO
  • Victims: Sherri Scherer (38 yoa) and her daughter Megan (12 yoa)
  • The 12 year old was tied up and shot to death in their home, Megan was also sexually assaulted.
March 28, 1998: Attempted Assault, Dyersburg, TN
Approximately 2 hours after the Scherer murders, Brashers broke into another home in Dyersburg, Tennessee, where he attempted to assault and shot a 25-year-old woman who survived. Ballistics testing revealed the same gun was used at both crime scenes on March 28, 1998.
Identification of Robert Eugene Brashers
  • According to Detectives in South Carolina, Brashers faked his own death by publishing a fake obituary.
  • Brashers’ Criminal History Check (CCH) lists multiple aliases, including a combination of family members’ names and his mother’s maiden name.
  • Brashers has known criminal involvement in multiple southern states.
  • According to Brashers’ daughter, Brashers would be gone for weeks at a time traveling for work and their mother asked them to call their dad by a different name.
  • APD Cold Case and the State Attorney General's Office begin researching Brashers history as well.