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Who Was Robert E. Brashers? What to Know About Yogurt Shop Murders Suspect
Newsweek ^ | September 27, 2025 | Mand Taheri

Posted on 09/27/2025 12:59:59 PM PDT by kennedy

After decades of dead ends, Austin, Texas, police on Friday named deceased serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers as the suspect in the city’s infamous yogurt shop murders.

The announcement follows decades without answers in the December 1991 killings of four teenage girls—Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas, and sisters Sarah and Jennifer Harbison—at the “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt!” shop in Austin. The girls, aged 13, 15, and 17, were bound, gagged, and shot, before the shop was set on fire.

The breakthrough comes with notable advancements in forensic DNA testing and renewed attention from an HBO docuseries about the case.

Not much is known about Brashers childhood. He was born in Newport News, Virginia in 1958. He was notorious across several Southern states for various violent crimes including rape and murder, as well as theft. Brashers was married and had three children, one of which was biological.

His first recorded violent crime was in 1985 when he shot a young woman, Michelle Wilkerson, in her head and neck. She survived the attack and later identified him as the attempted murderer, leading him to be sentenced to over a decade in prison.

Brashers was released early on parole in 1989. Shortly after, in 1990, police said he raped and murdered Genevieve Zitricki in Greenville, South Carolina. However, he was not identified as the suspect until after his death.

Two years later, in 1992, he was arrested in Georgia for possession of a stolen car and gun, and upon investigation he also had items to impersonate a police officer and burglary tools. The Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller told The Greenville News that he was sentenced on possession charges and released in 1997.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...


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KEYWORDS: amyayers; austin; donate2freerepublic; elizathomas; genealogy; genevievezitricki; greenville; helixmakemineadouble; jenniferharbison; mandtaheri; memphis; michellewilkerson; missouri; murders; newsweek; northaustin; roberteugenebrashers; sarahharbison; southcarolina; tennessee; texas; yogurt; yogurtshopmurders
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To: TXBlair

So happy that a solution was found. The case was so long ago, you grow to believe it will never be solved. Sorry that some of the families passed away without knowing who killed those girls.


21 posted on 09/27/2025 8:41:58 PM PDT by OrangeHoof (Always spay or neuter your liberal.)
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To: OrangeHoof

Right? That guy will never be held accountable (on this earth, anyway) but at least the families and law enforcement finally have some answers. I would imagine that it doesn’t bring any comfort, exactly, but hopefully some peace/contentment.


22 posted on 09/27/2025 8:57:53 PM PDT by TXBlair (Temp tagline: Je suis Charlie. 9.10.25 May the good Lord receive and embrace you, Mr. Kirk.)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

True enough... The vast majority of law enforcement officers are diligent and dutiful... But every now and then there’s a bad apple in the bunch. Forcing confessions out of people when they’re actually guilty is fine... Forcing confessions out of innocent people is a shameful thing to do. Shoddy police work results in innocent people being found guilty and guilty people not receiving justice.

A good example... Those missing children in Nova Scotia... The kids were aged 4 and 6 (notice I use the the term ‘were’ instead of ‘are’)... People do not typically let 4 and 6 year old children out their site for more than a few minutes at a time.

Either the mother, or the father, or both are obviously guilty and the RCMP has botched that investigation from the start... The children have been missing since May 2nd... They searched and searched and searched and finally called off the searches. At the time of their ‘disappearance’, I thought why not bring out some bloodhounds, the type you use for finding people and cadavers? Well, low and behold... They finally did that about 5 days ago. Unfortunately... It’s a bit too little and too late for that.

A few decades ago there was a girl who went missing in Oromocto New Brunswick... The RCMP dismissed her as a ‘runaway’, but at the behest of the family they did a couple of searches, found nothing and relied on their ‘runaway’ theory... The family obviously unsatisfied, hired man who had trained bloodhounds from Nova Scotia. Those bloodhounds found her body within a matter of a half hour... She had been raped, murdered and left near a train bridge less than a mile away from her home.

If they had brought in those bloodhounds on May 2nd or even a week or two later, they would likely have found those children’s bodies and the case would be solved.


23 posted on 09/27/2025 9:49:01 PM PDT by jerod (Nazis were essentially Socialist in Hugo Boss uniforms... Get over it!)
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To: Glad2bnuts

“The appeal process is designed to line the pockets of Judges and Lawyers. Prove me wrong.”

You nailed it. Just saw that the Charlie Kirk murderer will get:

“Up to three attorneys”.

“Private lawyers paid with public (translation: taxpayer) money”. How many $Hundreds per hour do they get to charge?

“Public defenders don’t defend capital crimes”.

“$1M for defense”.

POS Ralph Menzies has been on death row in Utah for nearly 40 years and just won another appeal. How many $$Millions do you think this has cost the taxpayers (so far)?


24 posted on 09/28/2025 8:10:25 AM PDT by utax
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To: utax

A lot more than a trip to the shooting range, as target.


25 posted on 09/28/2025 11:40:58 AM PDT by Glad2bnuts
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