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Back on the 6th of December, 1991, Jennifer Harbison and Eliza Thomas, both seventeen years old, were wrapping up at the frozen yogurt shop where they worked. Staying behind for a pickup were Jennifer's sister, Sarah Harbison, aged 15, and her friend, Amy Ayers, who was 13.

Just before midnight, a blaze at the store drew firefighters and police, who found a horrific scene: the four girls had been restrained, fatally attacked, and showed signs of sexual assault. The blaze eliminated nearly all evidence, aside from a bullet casing that had fallen into a gutter and trace amounts of genetic material, including traces found in her nail scrapings.

The Murders That Rocked Austin

The frozen yogurt shop case deeply affected the city of Austin and were branded as one of the most infamous cold cases in the nation. After years of dead ends and wrongful convictions, the killings ultimately contributed to a U.S. law enacted in 2022 that permits loved ones to ask for dormant cases to be reopened.

But the killings continued to baffle investigators for nearly 34 years – up to this point.

Key Development

Police authorities revealed on Monday a "significant breakthrough" made possible by modern methods in bullet matching and DNA analysis, stated the Austin mayor at a press conference.

Genetic matches point to Robert Brashers, who was identified posthumously as a repeat offender. Additional killings are likely to be attributed to him as genetic testing continue to improve and more commonly used.

"The single piece of proof found at the crime scene has been matched to him," said the top law enforcement officer.

The murders remains open, but this is a "significant advance", and Brashers is considered the sole perpetrator, police confirmed.

Healing Begins

Eliza's sister, Sonora, shared that her thoughts were divided following her sister was murdered.

"One portion of my mind has been yelling, 'What took place to my sister?', and the remaining part kept insisting, 'I will never know. I'll pass away without answers, and I need to make peace with it,'" she stated.

When she learned about this breakthrough in the investigation, "both sides of my thinking began merging," she explained.

"I know now the truth, and that does ease my pain."

Wrongful Convictions Overturned

This development not simply bring peace to the loved ones; it also completely clears two suspects, who were teens then, who claimed they were pressured into admitting guilt.

Robert Springsteen, then 17 years old at the time of the killings, was given a death sentence, and Scott, who was 15, was sentenced to life. Both men asserted they gave confessions after hours-long interrogations in 1999. In the following decade, the two were released after their convictions were reversed due to court rulings on confessions absent tangible proof.

Prosecutors abandoned the case against Springsteen and Scott in the same period after a forensic examination, called Y-STR, indicated neither man corresponded against the genetic material found at the yogurt shop.

Scientific Breakthrough

The DNA signature – suggesting an mystery suspect – would ultimately be the key in solving this case. In 2018, the genetic data was sent for reanalysis because of improved methods – but a national search to law enforcement agencies returned no genetic matches.

This past June, the lead detective assigned to the case in 2022, came up with a thought. It had been since the ballistics from the cartridge had been uploaded to the NIBIN database – and in the interim, the system had been significantly improved.

"The software has improved dramatically. In fact, we're talking like 3D stuff now," Jackson stated at the news event.

The system identified a link. An open homicide case in another state, with a similar modus operandi, had the identical kind of cartridge. The detective and a cold case expert consulted the local investigators, who are actively pursuing their unidentified investigation – including testing materials from a sexual assault kit.

Building a Case

The new lead made the detective wonder. Could there be any other evidence that might match against investigations elsewhere? He thought immediately of the DNA profile – but there was a challenge. The national DNA registry is the national DNA database for investigators, but the genetic material from the scene was not complete enough and scarce to upload.

"I thought, well, time has passed. A growing number of laboratories are performing these tests. Registries are growing. We should conduct a nationwide search again," the detective stated.

He sent out the historic Y-STR results to police departments nationwide, instructing them to review individually it to their own databases.

A second connection emerged. The profile corresponded precisely with a sample from Greenville, South Carolina – a killing that occurred in 1990 that was closed with help from a genetic genealogy company and an expert in genetic genealogy in 2018.

Genetic Genealogy Success

The researcher developed a genealogical chart for the South Carolina killer and identified a kinship connection whose biological evidence suggested a close tie – almost certainly a close relative. A court official approved that the deceased individual be removed from burial, and his biological samples aligned against the crime scene sample.

Normally, the genealogist is able to set aside resolved crimes in order to concentrate on the next one.

"But I have {not been