The Daily Beast and other news outlets are reporting that thanks to Y-str DNA testing, law enforcement officials and cold case detectives will reportedly be announcing on Monday that they have linked the infamous murders to a serial killer who died by suicide in 1999.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/infamous-yogurt-shop-murders-may-be-solved34-years-later
Retired detective from the original investigation chatting it up before Monday with “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/suspect-identified-in-infamous-texas-yogurt-shop-murder-case-48-hours
Gotta make a mark before Monday, right?
And:
Four men, who were teenagers at the time of this crime, were interrogated in the case in 1991. Police circled back to these men in 1999 and they were charged with the murders of the four teen girls. Two of the four were indicted and went to trial.
In 2001 a jury convicted Robert Springsteen and he was sentenced to death. In 2002 a jury convicted Michael Scott and he was sentenced to life in prison. In 2007 both convictions were ultimately overturned for violation of their Sixth Amendment right to confrontation. The DA was all over retrying them (in spite of the clearly coerced confessions) and jumped on testing DNA evidence to secure another conviction. But the Y-str testing turned out to be a surprise–it matched none of the four men originally charged. The charges against Springsteen and Scott were dismissed without prejudice.
The timeline between 2010 and today regarding the DNA evidence is quite disconcerting. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/timeline-yogurt-shop-murders-investigation-194045257.html.
But somebody eventually figured out who that Y-str DNA belonged to. That’s how it’s supposed to work.
Monday’s press conference will be a relief to the families and vindication for the four men who were wrongly accused, one of whom died in 2010.
Discover more from The Oakland County Child Killer
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
In the Austin Statesmen as well as other papers down here they are naming the killer as Robert Eugene Brashers. He was a serial killer who committed suicide in 1999.
Thanks, Michelle.
Watch Episode 3 of The Yogurt Shop Murders on Max to see how much explaining the Austin PD (with the sole exception of the original detective on the case) and the DA have to do on Monday. It will be interesting to see if they step up.