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ID: vQmry-b5T04

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West Anderson Lane. Austin, Texas. December 6, 1991.
 
Just before midnight, a patrol officer spotted smoke rising
from a strip mall. Firefighters broke down the door of the
I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop and found four teenage
girls — Jennifer Harbison (17), her sister Sarah (15), Eliza
Thomas (17), and Amy Ayers (13). All four had been stripped,
bound with their own clothing, shot execution-style in the
head, and stacked together. Three were burned beyond
recognition. Amy Ayers — the youngest, who had stopped in
just to get a ride home — was the only one whose face was
not destroyed by fire.
 
The blaze that killed them also destroyed their justice.
Water from fighting the fire flooded the crime scene. Dozens
of people walked through before investigators could protect
what remained. The evidence that should have closed this case
in 1991 was gone before anyone knew what it would cost.
 
In 1999, a task force reopened the investigation and arrested
four men. Robert Springsteen was convicted and sentenced to
death. Michael Scott was sentenced to life. In 2008, the Texas
Court of Criminal Appeals overturned both convictions — the
prosecution had violated the Confrontation Clause by using
co-defendants' confessions at trial. All four men were
eventually released. All charges dropped.
 
The families had watched the system convict two men and free
them. Thirty-four years later — they still had no answers.
 
Then in September 2025, Austin Police announced a DNA match.
 
The genetic profile from the crime scene belonged to Robert
Eugene Brashers — a serial killer and serial rapist who had
been identified through investigative genetic genealogy
by CeCe Moore in 2018, though not yet connected to this case.
 
Brashers had never been investigated for the yogurt shop murders.
 
He died in 1999 — in a standoff with police, by his own hand.
 
Six years before Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott were
first arrested. A decade before their convictions were
overturned. Twenty-six years before his DNA was matched.
 
He died without ever being asked about West Anderson Lane.
 
Today, GLOW Nails Beauty Bar operates at 2949 West Anderson
Lane. Outside, beneath an oak tree, a bronze plaque carries
four names. The workers inside place something there every
single day — doughnuts, apples, a few coins — so the girls
are not forgotten.
 
The case remains active. The full picture of what happened
that night has not yet been confirmed.
 
If you have information, please contact:
Austin PD: YogurtShop@austintexas.gov
Crime Stoppers: 512-472-8477
 
Subscribe to GraveFile TV — new investigation every week.

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