[kennedy]

If you lived in Austin in the 1990s, you will remember this horrible crime for the rest of your life.

Proof that pure evil exists in the world. May he burn in hell for eternity.

[TangoLimaSierra]

"...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."

This is a big flaw in our system; that we treat attempted murder as less than murder.

Should be the same penalty.

[Nachoman]

Dig him up and kill him again.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Robert Brashers was convicted in 1986 (following his November 22, 1985, attempted murder of Michelle Wilkerson) of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery, and firearm violations. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Brashers served 3 years before being released on parole in 1989.

THREE STINKING years for violent attempted murder! The penal system in Texas even then sucked.

[TalBlack]

The big question for me is how did they come to initially arrest and charge the three or four guys who DIDN’T do it?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Who Was Robert E. Brashers? What to Know About Yogurt Shop Murders Suspect

You need to know that, like the majority of cold case closed by DNA, he seems to be dead.

I personally find this somewhat interesting.

[heartwood]

Attempted murder should usually be sentenced the same as murder.

If that were so, and he were sentenced more than ten years for shooting a woman in the head and neck, those young girls would have been spared.

[TXBlair]

I wasn’t in Austin, but was just a little north of there…a senior in high school at the time. Those girls were about my age (17). So awful.

Interestingly enough, this case was featured in a recent episode of “Dateline NBC” or one of those shows (it came on TV a month or so ago, but I think it may have been a two- or three-year-old rerun already). I thought they were going to reveal new information, but they really didn’t have anything new. They did spend a lot of time with the original lead detective assigned to the case (and even showed a lot of the original footage from the night of the murders, when he had a camera crew following him around even before that crime took place). He was removed from the case after some period of time, in hopes that fresh eyes might be helpful. By the time this follow-up episode of Dateline was filmed, he was long-since retired and living out of state. But the case still ate at him. His marriage had suffered and all of that. It was a pretty fascinating episode of the show; I could not have imagined that the case would go on to be solved so recently after the episode’s airing. I am so grateful for the closure that the families, detectives and prosecutors are finally getting. Some have already passed away, but others surely are being afforded some relief.

I thought this crime would probably never be solved.