Overview

• Austin police named Brashers as the suspect in the slayings of Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas and Amy Ayers at the Anderson Lane I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! shop.
• The department describes a significant breakthrough but says the investigation remains open because Brashers died by suicide in 1999.
• Officials say the identification stems from advances including Y-STR analysis, genetic genealogy and testing of a very small DNA sample, with prior exhumation used for comparisons.
• Ballistics testing contributed to the identification, according to the statement shared via Austin Mayor Kirk Watson’s office.
• Brashers had earlier been tied by DNA to a 1990 South Carolina murder, a 1997 Tennessee rape and a 1998 Missouri double homicide, and two prior Austin convictions were overturned after new DNA testing indicated another male suspect.