AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- A suspect has been identified in one of Austin's most infamous cold cases - the 1991 yogurt shop murders.
Austin Police confirmed the development late Friday, after several media reports surfaced. According to an APD statement, investigators used a "wide range of DNA testing" to identify the suspect as Robert Eugene Brashers.
Brashers is a serial killer and rapist who died in January 1999 by suicide during a standoff with police. According to reports, he committed at least three murders between 1990 and 1998 in South Carolina and Missouri.
APD officials say they'll hold a press conference on Monday to reveal more details on the investigation.
The Austin case dates back to December 6, 1991, when 17-year old Eliza Thomas, 13-year old Amy Ayers, 17-year old Jennifer Harbison, and her 15-year old sister Sarah were found in the back of a burned out I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop off of West Anderson Lane in north Austin.
The girls were found gagged and tied up, and each had been shot in the back of the head, before the suspect or suspects set the shop on fire.
Investigators say that fire and efforts to knock it down compromised much of the evidence at the scene.
Four suspects were arrested in the case in 1999; charges were eventually dropped for two, while Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott were both put on trial. Both men were convicted in the case, but those convictions were later overturned on constitutional grounds related to their Sixth Amendment rights. The charges against both men were eventually dropped in 2009.
The cold case has drawn national attention over the past 34 years, including this year's release of a four-part HBO documentary series.