CASE UPDATE: In September 2025, the Austin Police Department identified Robert Eugene Brashers, a serial killer and rapist, as the suspect in the Texas yogurt shop murders. Brashers, who is deceased, was tied to the murders through DNA testing. On Feb. 19, 2026, a judge declared innocent the four men who were wrongfully accused of the murders — formally exonerating them. In May 202, the City of Austin agreed to pay a settlement of $35 million to be split among the men.This story previously aired on Aug. 27, 2022.More than three decades ago, four teenage girls were brutally murdered in an I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! shop in Austin, Texas. The horrific crime has haunted their families, the city, and the investigators who chased every lead in the case to a dead end. Could new information finally help solve the case?"I can see them, I can still see the inside of that place," John Jones, the first investigator on the case, tells "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty. "That stuff's … indelibly burned in my mind."
Key moments in the investigation of Austin's yogurt shop murders
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The story starts on Dec. 6, 1991, when Eliza Thomas, Sarah and Jennifer Harbison and Amy Ayers were tied up and shot. The yogurt shop was then set on fire. For decades, investigators worked to find suspects. There were eventually arrests and even convictions. But those convictions were overturned, leaving the case unsolved today."There is a kind of torture that continues by the fact that it's unsolved and it's ongoing," says Sonora Thomas, who was 13 when her sister Eliza was killed."It's always there," says Jones.
