The Lethal Library

38: [Annex Edition] Austin’s Frozen Tragedy: The Yogurt Shop Murders Solved

• The Lethal Library • Episode 38

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Welcome to the first episode of The Lethal Library: Annex Edition! Annex episodes will cover cases outside our home area of Idaho and the Pacific Northwest. This week, we're diving into the harrowing 1991 Austin Yogurt Shop Murders—a case that's haunted Texas for decades. Four teenage girls lost their lives in a brutal crime that led to a web of false confessions, wrongful convictions, and a quest for justice that lasted nearly 30 years. Join us as we unravel the twists and turns, criticize the inefficacies of the justice system, and celebrate the advancements in DNA technology that finally brought some resolution. Grab a cocktail and settle in for a mix of dark humor, straight talk, and the harsh realities of true crime. YAY DNA!

Contact The Lethal Library at TheLethalLibrary@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok!

Stephanie:

Hey honey bunnies, Ola. Okay. Alright. So tell me how to do my job again, because what are we doing? It's been a week. It's been a week, Danny.

Dani:

There's been some cocktail stuff.

Stephanie:

There's been, there's been some, some things that have happened and there have been, there has been liquors.

Dani:

We have made, we've been hanging out since five o'clock. We made one. TikTok, TikTok,

Stephanie:

uh, and it is 8 21 officially past Danny's bedtime. Pretty much. So Whoopsies, sorry sis. Are you though? Really? I love when I get to keep you up master bedtime. I, well, especially if you don't have to do any, like anything early, early, like on a work night. I feel terrible. Right now. I don't feel very bad.

Dani:

She's not feeling bad. I'm just being

Stephanie:

transparent.

Dani:

Thank you for being so

Stephanie:

honest. Love you. I'm being very vulnerable. Love you Sy.

Dani:

Cheers me. Okay. Cheers to you all at home. So we got something exciting this week. I, it's exciting for me. I think it's exciting for all of us. we are going to do, an episode that's a little out of our realm. And it's out of Idaho. It's out outside of the Pacific Northwest. and, but we're gonna be doing these occasionally, and this is welcome to our first episode of the Annex, the Lethal Library. Yes. there's some things that come up. I am a big true crime galley. I, I listen to, she's that

Stephanie:

girl.

Dani:

I listened to'em all. and this has been one that I've heard several stories on through the years. from several different podcasts and there has been a breakthrough. Yay for DNA, yay, DNA. and so I just am going to give you, this is not a deep dive, this is not our typical, episode, but it's very exciting. So, for me because things get solved. So, yes, a hundred percent.

Stephanie:

And let me just say to your point, Danny, We've had a lot of folks suggest to us other things that are outside of our physical area, and I think this is a great opportunity for us to touch on some of those things. We can't cover everything, and there's certain cases that we don't cover because there are so many wonderful podcasters out there that have given their input and their specific niche like expertise on stuff. And so there are certain cases that are even from our area that we don't really comment on just because the conversation's been had and we don't have anything else unique to add because so many other people have covered it so greatly. So if you are ever wondering why we didn't do like the day be Coberg Su, we were both super involved in following the debell case, but there were so many great podcasters that covered like the religious aspect and this aspect and that, and. We can shitty chat about it, but they already fucking killed it. So that's why. But I'm so excited for this because this is something that people have been asking for. And let's go to the fucking annex bitch.

Welcome to the Lethal Library and exhibition.

Dani:

The 1991 Austin Yogurt Shop, murderers were a quadruple homicide that took place at an, I can't believe it's Yogurt Shop in Austin, Texas on Friday, December 6th. The victims were 14 girls, 13-year-old Amy Ayers, 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison, and Jennifer's 15-year-old sister Sarah. Jennifer and Eliza were employees of the shop while Sarah and her friend Amy were there to get a ride home with Jennifer when the store closed at 11:00 PM about an hour before closing time, a man was allowed to use the public restroom in the back. He waited for a while and may have jammed a rear door open. A couple who left the shop just before 11:00 PM as Jennifer was closing, reported seeing two men at a table acting strangely, unlike the others, Amy's body was found in a separate part of the shop. She was not charred, but she had received second and very early third degree burns on 25 to 30% of her body. A sock like cloth was found around her neck. She had been shot in the same manner as the others. However, the bullet had missed her brain,

Stephanie:

ugh.

Dani:

She had also had a second bullet wound that caused severe damage to her brain, exiting through her lateral cheek and jawline This is.

Stephanie:

Already. It's a, again, guys, this is something that we're getting straight to the details in this, so that's maybe why it feels that way to me. But already,

Dani:

no, these were brutal murders. The

Stephanie:

fuck?

Dani:

They were brutal, brutal murders. And these girls were just work kids. They were just working at a job and their friends were hanging out. We've done it. Yes, we've done it.

Stephanie:

all of you out there have this experience too, I'm sure, and for this to hear this about a child is absurd.

Dani:

But now the most important part of this is gonna be for me, because I am for me, and hopefully for you, is the investigation and how it goes forward. So, yes, it is an absolute brutal crime. There's gonna be a few more icky details, that are gonna come in, but to watch, just remember that this is yay for DNA yes. And that we get some solution to this, a light at

Stephanie:

the end of the tunnel

Dani:

because it has been. Yeah, and what

Stephanie:

I'll say is also, y'all might be very familiar with this case. I, there's some famous cases I am first on, but overall. I am not the true crime connoisseur girly. I, I, I strive to be. It, it just, I don't know how, I don't know what other hours I can fit in the day. I'm very busy. Just kidding. Not really, but I, I'm just kind of a, a procrastinator. so Danny knows this case well and has known of this for years. I have never heard of it, so if it seems like I'm overreacting, it's not, it's just this is my literal first time hearing the details of this case. So,

Dani:

and I think the details, you know, we, some cases we've gone into details, but I think let's just get'em out there letting up how brutal it is. Yeah. We try not to, and then the struggle that it's been 1991, that's

Stephanie:

insane. So the

Dani:

struggle. So, and there's going to be people that are gonna be, that have confessed to this crime convicted, you're, so this is the part where it's not the gruesome details for me. It's a very, very sad thing, but how something could take so long to figure out and affect so many

Stephanie:

people. Oh, this

Dani:

was over decades. That's insane. Absolutely. No, this rocked Austin. It rocked it. It is so sad. These girls were just being teenagers, doing what teenagers do. Go to school, go to work, hang out with your friends as much as possible, and especially when it's slow. Have fun. Yeah. You

Stephanie:

know, it's slow. Right? And you're like, no. I remember those days at pizza places

Dani:

coming out with me. It's so boring.

Stephanie:

Yeah. Had my friends come by and no one's a wiser and it feels cool, you know? And it is cool like. Come to my job.'cause you get to show someone, be kind of proud of I'm working

Dani:

like, look, I just filled these salt and peppers. Can you go put'em out on the table? Let me get outta here early. No harm, no foul.

Stephanie:

Such a fucking pure experience. Yeah, absolutely. As a younger kid,

Dani:

investigators initially identified a significant number of potential suspects. Including a 15-year-old cop a few days later and a nearby shopping mall with a weapon of the same caliber used in the killings. Although the teenage suspect initially provided promising information, after tough questioning, detectives decided he was trying to escape the gun charge and they eliminated him and the three petty criminal friends he had implicated none older than 17 at the time.

Stephanie:

A bunch of kids, another bunch of kids, yeah. Running around with

Dani:

a gun, not a normal, and

Stephanie:

now they're roped into a quadruple murder. Crazy.

Dani:

Several years later, a new detective on the case theorized that those four teens from 1991 were credible suspects. Oh, by then they were in their twenties. And in a string of interrogations conducted by various detectives, confessions were obtained from some of the suspects

Stephanie:

as we've seen and has been demonstrated in, especially with kids.

Dani:

They said all four, Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce, and Forest Welburn had all participated in the murders. Because there was no record of what was said to the boys in the 1991 interrogation. It was impossible to know whether detectives had supplied information in those initial sessions

Stephanie:

that would make their information,

Dani:

information that could could later be referenced to implicate the suspect.

Stephanie:

Always record. I hate that this is a thing. I think it's good that there's awareness about it, but there are so. Yeah, because the, the base logic of it is why would you ever say you did something that you didn't? But there has been studies interations with even people that they know are innocent. Sometimes they're lasting like 10 hours when they've lost their spouse or something. So you're talking about a person in a traumatic event, your sister or brother, spouse, whatever. And sometimes they are interrogating these people. For 10 hours

Dani:

and they're babies.

Stephanie:

Imagine your entire workday as a baby or adult. Your entire workday is the police questioning you and starting off real easy and nice, and then it gets to a point where you're like, you're all alone. You have no access to the outside world. And yeah, you have the ability to leave. They make sure they tell you that, but you don't truly believe that you do. And so then it's. They try to present you options like, well, if you just, well, if you say this now, it'll, it will help you. The

Dani:

first to talk is gonna get the best deal. And it's

Stephanie:

true if you are in a, if you actually have done something, the first to talk

Dani:

is, and then they go in after you. You're like, fine, say something because I don't wanna get the death penalty. And then, then they go in and they're like, Hey, your guys squealing on you. We know what's up. So it's just, it's

Stephanie:

easy to say no one would ever do that. But like you said, studies have shown mm-hmm that people, kids and adults do this because of the situation that they're in and the pressures. So it's just crazy to see this.

Dani:

Springsteen and Scott were sent to trial entirely because of their self-incriminating statements. The prosecution described the horrific nature of the crimes against the young victims in great detail, but presented no hard evidence other than the confessions. Both men were convicted of capital murder. Springsteen was sentenced to death, and Scott, who was 15 at the time, was sends to life imprisonment

Stephanie:

again, and now we see the consequences of that and how. Our judicial system as much as it's continuously worked on to try to eliminate certain things, something can slip through the cracks and sentenced to death whether you agree with the death penalty or not. At some, I think that everyone can agree whether you agree with the death penalty or not. You don't want to kill someone who's not actually guilty and clearly. This was a possibility. Could you imagine? As a kid, oh my

Dani:

God. But in 2005 Springsteen who had been 17 at the time of the offense. Had is sentence commuted to life in prison by Governor Rick Perry as a result of Roper versus Simmons. And so we see a lot of these now. Yes. We're like, we're not sentencing 17 and 15 year olds to death. We're, we're not doing that. We're giving

Stephanie:

them

Dani:

life. Which,

Stephanie:

sure. It's something, it's

Dani:

still brutal. I mean, and I don't know. It's complicated. And I didn't deep dive. Like I said, I didn't deep dive into this to see what this, this Roper versus Simmons was about, but we've seen this in a lot of states where, no, it's effective. They go back and retroactively change the sentence because it's not okay. The prosecution's tactic of using excerpts of each suspect's alleged confessions at the other's trials was later ruled to have violated the confrontation clause because the co-defendant did not testify.

Stephanie:

Mm.

Dani:

Both convictions were overturned on the confrontation clause grounds alone, and the men were freed in 2009.

Stephanie:

Okay.

Dani:

Prosecutors insisted. I mean, but 91, it's just too long. Prosecutors insisted they would retry the cases. However, forensic investigation showed that DNA found in a victim was not theirs, nor was it that of the other two suspects implicated through confessions.

Stephanie:

And that's just wild. And I, I think it really highlights this time, pre DNA of how much easier it was. And it still happens even with all of these technological advances. Mm-hmm. With DNA and everything, it still can happen, especially, but jury can still. On next to no evidence convict to a death sentence or life in prison. But one thing that I've really tuned into recently, and this is no hate to law enforcement officers and detectives and prosecutors in general, but there are many cases where it's incredibly obvious that. Either incompetence or laziness or just not being great at your job. 10 year later uncovers when they give it to a new person is like you interviewed the suspect the first day. Yeah. And they find that it's them. And so there is so many unsolved cases and missing persons where it's, it truly is just the lack of accountability and or maybe people that are just aren't meant to do the job.

Dani:

Look at you being so kind. I think that there are just. There is law enforcement out there that just wants it closed, whether no

Stephanie:

matter the consequences,

Dani:

no matter the consequences, they're like, eh, they're gonna make it fit. I need to check that box. They're gonna make it fit. And also I do think, with that being said, to relieve the families of some pain that, Hey, I got your guy, they're gonna suffer. The

Stephanie:

intention might be pure, but the consequence and reality of it sucks. Uh, no, I think you, I, I think I like that you brought that up because I didn't think of that perspective.

Dani:

The prosecution, consequently abandoned plans for retrial. Texas courts later decided that those released we're not entitled to compensation because they had not proven, they did not commit the crime. Which, what a crock of shit. You've wasted your whole fucking life. Your whole, I mean, we all know how this starts, right? You're, you're in your twenties and then you work, go work some shit jobs. Or you go to college and you get a degree that you don't need. Yeah. And then, and then you figure out your calling and then you start building, like you figure out what you wanna do and two,

Stephanie:

and then

Dani:

deprive

Stephanie:

someone. Yeah. And then of the opportunity then,

Dani:

you know. You meet somebody and then you have a family, and then you go on vacations like you're, well, even

Stephanie:

if you've been acquitted or they say this isn't you, they're, you still have a reputation. You have all these new news articles about you, and you

Dani:

can't go back and start a life over. You can't start your life. I can't

Stephanie:

imagine at

Dani:

50 the way you would start your life when you're 30, I mean even 40. You just think about all those different times in your life and think. God, if I started this pivotal, if I would've started this job

Stephanie:

10 years ago.

Dani:

Right. I could be the fucking

Stephanie:

CEO. Exactly. So anyways. Oh, you're totally right. And especially as a kid, can you imagine being institutionalized for something you didn't do that young

Dani:

and the heartache that their families go through, like we all, I mean, and I, I am going to do a, a story on is probably one of our. Short stacks or something, but I coming

Stephanie:

soon, short stacks, um, put a pin in that. Sorry for the COVID speak.

Dani:

Uh, I'm, I'm gonna talk about how the, um, the penal system. Just jacks these families out of money and makes it so difficult to talk to their families, to see their families to. It is

Stephanie:

literally a money making endeavor

Dani:

and so you have, you can't

Stephanie:

fart without it costing money.

Dani:

So to have these kids be convicted and spend their lives, the, the trauma that it's ex, it doesn't just affect these kids, it affects it banks, brothers and sisters, and moms and dads, and it's just, ugh.

Stephanie:

A weight that, that everyone carries. No, a hundred percent.

Dani:

One of the detectives involved in the interrogations, Hector Polanco, had previously been accused of coercing false confessions and notorious case involving exonerated defendants Christopher o Chacha and Richard Danziger. Oh, Oh, Diddy really both were released after 13 years in prison. Danziger was assaulted in prison resulting in permanent brain damage. Seven jurors from the trials later stated they would not have convicted Scott and Springsteen. Had this evidence been available at if they'd known that there had that, that detective had coerced false confessions out of two other people? Mm-hmm. I don't wanna call'em inmates. Two other people. They wouldn't

Stephanie:

because they

Dani:

shouldn't

Stephanie:

have been

Dani:

inmates.

Stephanie:

Mm. This is why this is a travesty. I feel like you and I are both going to crush out a little bit over this and I'm down for it. We've had a few cocktails,

Dani:

but it's just, that's why I wanted to tell you the story, Seth, because it's why relevant right now. And no, this

Stephanie:

is the type of shit that we talk about just with each other. So it's very much like this is our jam

Dani:

at the time of the killings, A known serial killer, Kenneth McDuff was in the area. He had a history of multiple murders involving teenagers, but was soon ruled out. He was executed on November 17th, 1998. Austin Police acknowledged more than 50 people, including McDuff on the day of his execution, confessed to the yoga shop murders.

Stephanie:

What is up with that? Can I just say. Inmates stop confessing to crimes you didn't do. Because what in the fucking why? What in the fucking why? Truly, I hate when people do that and it's like a common thing. What is up with that? Can I literally pull inmates and be like, why are y'all doing this? Can, why are y'all doing this?

Dani:

A 1992 confession by two Mexican nationals held by Mexican authorities was soon disputed and ultimately ruled false.

Stephanie:

Why are the false confessions going international, Mr. Worldwide? What exactly?

Dani:

In 2006, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Robert Springsteen's conviction based on an unfair trial. The US Supreme Court refused to reinstate the conviction in February of 2007. On Wednesday, June 24th, 2009, judge Mike Lynch ruled responding to a Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lindbergh's request that one of the trials be continued, that the defendant Springsteen and Scott be freed on bond pending their upcoming trials. This is when they were trying to recon convict them. Sure. Right. Retrial. but at 2:50 PM that day, both men walked out of the Travis County Jail with their attorneys. Mm-hmm. Because they were. They wanted to go for it again, why this is, this is a very hard thing for me. Like prosecutors take the loss. Just take the loss. Yes. Just cash it in. Take the loss walk out because you retry these people over and over again when you can clearly look back and see that this was a coerced confession. It's not correct. The DNA isn't happening for you. Let it go. Yeah. You've lost, you gotta know when to fold them.

Stephanie:

Exactly. And I listen, it looks so bad. I can understand by human nature, I do a lot of work, If I'm talking about something to ensure that I'm correct, in my job and stuff, I don't comment or I'll get back to someone I want, I wanna provide the correct information. So I get that of. Digging your heels in and listen, I've had times where I was wrong and it fucking hurts from, especially because I take so much care to not say something wrong or give the wrong information. It fucking does hurt me when I, when I have to say, I know that I told you that this was the X, Y, z right answer, but actually I didn't consider this. I wasn't aware of this or this just changed and I understand the human nature to be like, no, to try to cover it up and try to not Be transparent with someone and say, listen, and have the humility, I guess, to do that, but doing this on a fucking judicial scale. Where you're spending tax, pay your dollars on a case that you pro that what are the, what are the odds? Chat, what? What are the odds of this passing when all of this has come out? Mm-hmm. And you're still willing to spend tax taxpayer money. Money, you're gonna tow

Dani:

the line.

Stephanie:

It's just not smart. And this is another little thin, blue line type of thinking that I think we all know about. So. I get it, but God damnit, when it's someone's life, you cannot fucking dig your heels in like this.

Dani:

Not even a, a day, a week, nothing. You lose. Anyway, that'll be another story for another time. The impact

Stephanie:

is

Dani:

far too great. Later that day, Lindbergh issued a statement explaining her request for a continuance and the court's decision to release the defendants on a personal bond. With conditions requiring them to remain in Travis County. Report any change of residence, have no contact with the victims families or witnesses. Refrain from carrying weapons or consuming alcohol or illegal drugs or

Stephanie:

fraternizing with any other person that's been involved in any crime of any type. Report to the court

Dani:

routinely and attend all their court appearances. She noted that both men had been convicted by juries in 2001 and 2002, and that their convictions were overturned on appeal, but their statements to law enforcement were found voluntary and that new developments and D-N-D-N-A technology, specifically why STAR testing, which isolates male DNA as is considered the most accurate for mixtures, has been used since March, 2008. And that reliable scientific evidence in this case presented one unknown male donor.

Stephanie:

Okay. What the fuck's her name again? Lin something. Lindberg, Lindbergh, sis. Uh, all I gotta say is, um, fuck you.

Dani:

So let me, do you wanna know what, why? Star DNA is.

Stephanie:

I do.

Dani:

They are fun fact, our specific short sequences of DNA on the Y chromosome that repeat in a pattern, these repeats are called short tandem repeats or ST

Stephanie:

obviously,

Dani:

and the number of repeats at each STR marker is unique to an individual's y chromosome signature By comparing these STR values between individuals, you can trace paternal lineages, identify common ancestors, and determine the ancestry of male lying individuals. So all that to say. Yeah, they got you. Good. It's, it's an adv. Yay. DNA. It's an advancement in DNA where they can start tr they can find you through ancestral DNA. Yeah. Is is basically what it is, my understanding.

Stephanie:

But it sounds like that isn't the standard now, am I?

Dani:

No, they're using that way more now. Although the defense asserted that testing revealed more than one unknown male. Evidence presented at a June 18th hearing contradicted that claim. Limber concluded she could not in good conscious take the case to trial before the identity of the unknown male was determined. Even though she remained confident that both Springsteen and Scott were responsible. Yeah, confident she pledged that her office and the Austin Police Department would continue investigating. Until all responsible parties were brought to justice and on October 28th, 2009, all charges against Scott and Springsteen were dismissed. Mm.

Stephanie:

You're lacking that DNA sis in in oh nine. That's saying a lot. Yeah, that's saying a lot. Drink break. Cheers. Homies.

Dani:

On December 23rd, 2010, Austin Police officer Frank Wilson and his rookie partner, Bradley Smith, conducted a traffic stop in the northern part of the city on a vehicle driven by Maurice Pierce. Remember, he was one of the original four kids? Maurice? After a brief foot pursuit, Pierce struggled with Wilson, removed a knife from his belt and stabbed the officer in the neck. Wilson, who survived, drew his gun and sh shot and killed Pierce.

Stephanie:

You know, I'm just another fucking tragedy based on all the, and I'm not excusing. I'm not, no, but

Dani:

when you start, look, when you start off being treated as you're institutionalized a bad person. No, this is one of the original four, like way back. Yeah. That was associated with these other kids, but he was still associated as a bad kid. And it's very difficult to overcome that between, especially when it hasn't been solved, right? Because that's always gonna be a question

Stephanie:

mark. So that was, that was just to have that put on you as a kid and try to live a normal

Dani:

life and just, you're probably gonna get tangled up like, oh, you buddies,

Stephanie:

and you don't trust law enforcement. No. Period, end of story. And I can already give 17 different reasons why, why someone, a rational person wouldn't just from this

Dani:

episode, thank you. On December 8th, 2021. The House Judiciary Committee passed legislation from Representative Michael McCall, giving families of cold case victims the opportunity to petition the federal government to reexamine cases older than three years.

Stephanie:

Hmm.

Dani:

And on February 5th, 2022, it was announced that advanced DNA technology was bringing investigators closer than ever to solving the Austin

Stephanie:

murders. And I like this because we've heard from Datelines and other stories how someone will want to reopen a cold case, like no. But, and there's options available like that 1D NA test that can tell you what the person looked like. Yeah. It like their hair, eyes, bone structure maybe.

Dani:

And they're even willing to pay for it themselves. Yes. And they won't release the evidence for it to be done. Yes.

Stephanie:

Redick.

Dani:

Sorry, I said that I'm passionate about it. Like, no, I love it. No, if you're. If I have five, if I have a family member that has been murdered and I am willing to give a state entity or a federal entity money to do their fucking job, the test that will work and help, and then you tell me, no,

Stephanie:

I'm sorry. I'm slapping a bitch. I, I'm going to jail over it.

Dani:

On August, uh, this is for the Law. On August 3rd, 2022, president Joe Biden signed into law the Homicide Victims' Family's Rights Act of 2021, motivated in part by the 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders. Oh shit. The law is intended to ensure that federal law enforcement reviews cold case files and applies the latest technologies and investigative standards. And it allows federal agencies to receive the request for cold case reviews.

Stephanie:

I like that because they, the federal government does have so many more different ways to investigate. So more, that's why they're

Dani:

calling the FBI

Stephanie:

the, we need the big dogs in here. Sometimes they have so many more resources. Mm-hmm. And listen, enforcement has gone a long way, state to state as far as. Having an actual thing to share information. Huge. When it would take months or never even get passed along. So yes, there is that, but what if you get a federal entity involved? There's just so many more resources and this is the shit we pay for folks. who doesn't want to know who murdered their sister, brother. Justice is important and let's fucking go. FBII

Dani:

On September 26th, 2025, it was formally announced that Robert Eugene Brashers. A serial killer identified through investigative genetic genealogy by Cece Moore in 2018 had been linked to the yogurt shop murderers by DNA. Rashers committed suicide in a standoff with police. In 1999, a partial Y star DNA profile developed from a vaginal swab from one of the victims'. Did not match any of the previous suspects. However, Brashers YDNA STAR profile provided enough of a partial match to pursue the lead. Testing of a bullet casing found in a drain at the crime scene was consistent with the patterns produced by the gun. Brushers used to commit suicide in 1999.

Stephanie:

All I can say is if my jaw could physically hit the floor like a cartoon, it's there. 99, he committed suicide and

Dani:

they still, yeah, and they still had that bullet casing and it

Stephanie:

went on for 25 more, 26 more years. But they didn't

Dani:

have the DNA technology. I know, or I, they didn't wanna find it. No, but he was already a serial killer. And I'm gonna tell you all about him coming up next. So I'm gonna tell you about this motherfucker. Are you ready? He's a bad dude. Sounds like it. Robert Eugene Brashers was an American serial killer. Mass murder and a rapist who committed at least seven murders between 1990 and 1998 in Missouri, South Carolina, and Texas. He died by suicide in 1999 to avoid arrest on an unrelated crime. So in

Stephanie:

eight years, seven verifiable murders. One a year.

Dani:

Yeah. Well,

Stephanie:

that he was caught for. Yeah, because who knows,

Dani:

I think they're including the four, uh, the girls. Yeah, the four girls. But during his lifetime, Brashers was not identified as a suspect in any of his murders and remained in relative obscurity until decades after he died. What a

Stephanie:

treat for him

Dani:

in the fall of 1985, bras was arrested in ports St. Lucy for assaulting a 24-year-old woman, Michelle Wilkerson. On November 22nd, he met Wilkerson in Fort Pierce and convinced her to go with him to a bar. After spending the evening there, he took her to a dark alley near Citrus Grove, where after the two had drunk six Budweisers, he attempted to make sexual advances. When Wilkerson refused and tried to leave his vehicle, a fight ensued and Brasher shot her twice in the neck and head. Despite the severity of her injuries, she remained conscious, got out of the car and hid in a culvert under the road, having lost track of her brasher, went to the beach and threw his gun into the sea. He then tried to leave, but his truck became stuck in the sand, forcing him to walk the street. Dip

Stephanie:

shit

Dani:

to look for help.

Stephanie:

You see it all like on the beaches that you can go to in Oregon and Washington where they're like, don't drive here. And then there's always that inevitable motherfucker DBA that drives there. Yeah. And everyone just points and laughs, absolute fucking dipshit.

Dani:

Meanwhile, Wilkerson reached a nearby apartment building, received medical attention, and before being taken to a Lawnwood hospital, gave police a detailed description of her assailant and his car. A few minutes later, officers apprehended brass while he was wandering the beach and charged him with attempted first degree murder, aggravated battery, and a use of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Thank you. He was convicted the following year and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. Under more lenient laws in place. We all know how this works. He was released for good conduct on May 4th, 1989.

Stephanie:

I just, this happened so often. I want

Dani:

fourth, four fucking years, four. Four years he spent in jail for shooting a, for sexually assaulting a woman and shooting her in the neck and head and leaving her, shooting someone in the head and leaving her for dead. Four years. What was happening in the eighties?

Stephanie:

Well, and this type of shit still happens now with like stalking type of laws where people can literally fuck with you. Not just stalking, but they can interfere with your life. And they're like. But have you had any personal harm? Has they, have they inflicted any physical harm? Yeah, I'm mentally

Dani:

fucked.

Stephanie:

Like, no, they haven't actually sliced me with a knife, but they're following me and literally they were in my house six times hiding in my closet when I got home. And it's like, well, yeah, that's, that's kind of bad, but that only carries like it's a misdemeanor. People can, when you say that, it's like people are allowed to fucking do this. There so you can just go hide in someone's closet and terrorize them for years and there is not laws for it. And four years,

Dani:

I'm spiraling I'm, and that's normal. Four years for shooting a woman in the neck and the head.

Stephanie:

Imagine being shot in the neck and head and someone gets to spend four years in prison How that is. And it's just because you didn't die, right? That's bullshit. I do not. It's by luck.

Dani:

She didn't die and we have discussed the second degree murder bullshit and it can get very attempted murder. Very

Stephanie:

fucking stupid.

Dani:

Well, after his release, Brashers moved a among South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia, often changing his reside. And on, on February 18th, 1992. He was arrested in Cobb County, Georgia for a grand theft auto unlawful possession of a weapon'cause you're a convicted felon and theft. A search of his vehicle and apartment, turned up a radio scanner, a police jacket, lock picking tools, and a fake Tennessee's driver's license.

Stephanie:

So he's only gotten better of At his craft. Yeah. Of being an absolute man. You get caught, you get better

Dani:

fearing. Another long sentence. He struck a plea deal. He pled guilty to the most serious charge and had the others dropped, he received an additional five year sentence, served it in full, and was released in February, 1997, I don't know, five

Stephanie:

years later.

Dani:

Yeah, I, I don't know how he didn't get a parole violation and have to. S serve more. Anyway, I, like I said, not deep dive, not my style. Right. You know, I like to deep dive, but not on this one, but it is a question like, why didn't you get a parole violation and have to, how I understand your parole violation, you could have to end up serving your fool amount of time.

Stephanie:

And this is just an assumption, but it's an assumption based on hearing different things, is a lot of parole programs or probation programs. Things slip through the cracks where shit,

Dani:

especially in the eighties and nineties, if you don't have

Stephanie:

someone that is actively engaged in their job well, and

Dani:

he's moving around too,

Stephanie:

like someone we know, not a serial killer, but just looks like one, just looks like one check out the TikTok. Um, but no, it's, things slip through the cracks and there are so many missed opportunities where it's like, God damn, if he would've just been busted or she on this thing, this next, you know, next murder wouldn't have happened. And it's a fucking shame.

Dani:

During the following two years, he moved between Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri on April 12th, 1998. He was arrested while attempting to break into the home of an unmarried woman in Arkansas. He had previously been employed by her. He had cut the wires to her home, oh my. And was armed at the time of his arrest. Police also seized a video camera and locksmithing tools,

Stephanie:

again, almost as if. There's a pattern, and I'm so sorry. I do believe in rehabilitation, but there's so many of these like it's not happening. Pervert style crimes like peeping toms and people that break into people's houses to get their panties or wanna record videos of women or just cannot hot take. I'm open to criticism on this. I don't know if that is. Rehabilitative, if, if, if you're already in a, he's walking

Dani:

around with a rape kit.

Stephanie:

Yeah.

Dani:

Basically like

Stephanie:

if you had to kill someone in self-defense and you went to jail, I could consider it if you, there's, there's certain circumstances, but these types of crimes, especially when you can prove that they've, it's a habitual thing that they have done relentlessly.

Dani:

Mm, I You ready to get more mad? No, Danny, I'm not, but here we go. He was taken into custody, but later released after someone posted his bill. Of course, he was so forward. In January 13th, uh, 1999, police discovered a stolen vehicle in the parking lot of a super eight hotel in Kennet, Missouri. Classy. I love a super eight motel staff confirmed that Brasher and his family had arrived in the vehicle days earlier. Officers forced entry into his room and found him hiding under a bed with a loaded gun. When they had attempted to arrest him, he resisted an open fire forcing the officers to retreat and call for backup. Within minutes. The motel was surrounded by police. Brasher took his wife, daughter, and two stepdaughters hostage. After four hours of negotiations, he released the hostages and shot himself in the head. He, sir,

Stephanie:

what the fuck? So this is the suicide that you Yeah. Death by suicide. Mm-hmm.

Dani:

He survived six days, but died from complications on January 19th. brashers name remained obscure until 2018 when genealogist, Cece Moore of Parabon, Nana Labs identified him through investigative genetic genealogy as a suspect in three murders and several rapes dating to 1990. I love. He was

Stephanie:

really prolific.

Dani:

I really love that. They were like, let me just see if this guy. Like right there. Can

Stephanie:

you imagine the

Dani:

dopamine hit of seeing those hit? Like, fuck I got'em. And just solving it and just solving it. Fucking way

Stephanie:

to go, Cece. And just knowing the difference it's gonna make, because DNA is just such an incredible advancement of, it's not perfect. There are certain things where your DNA could be on whatever, blah, blah, blah. Not talking about that, but all of these unsolved cases and the way that you can use. Like, oh, this is a third cousin to someone that's used, you know, ancestry, DNA, or whatever the fuck these things are, or doing the pathology one where it's like, well, this is what that type of person would look like based on their DNA. There's so many cool fucking shits.

Dani:

Yay. DNA, yay, DNA. Love that. Oh God. So he was just a suspect, right? Mm-hmm. To all of these things. Yes. Prosecutors and. Missouri then sought to exhume his remains for additional testing. On September 27th, 2018, his casket was exhumed in Arkansas and DNA was extracted from his bones. testing revealed. A perfect genetic match to the murder of 28-year-old Genevieve Jenny Reiki. I hope I said that right, who was bludgeoned, raped and strangled with pantyhose in South Carolina on April 5th, 1990. Investigators determined that after killing her in her bedroom. The perpetrator dragged her body into the bathtub and submerged it, and then wrote, don't fuck with my family on the bathroom mirror. A DNA sample from the perpetrator had been isolated in 1995 and uploaded to codis. I haven't got to say that I don't think yet. What co. investigators later established that Brashers was living in Greenville at the time, not far from z Tricky's home. He's a bad fucking dude. DNA, all

Stephanie:

literally terrible bottom of the barrel scum piece shit. And that's his last motherfucker. He held his family

Dani:

hostage

Stephanie:

Luther looser. Truly. Truly bring up. Why couldn't you have just off, off yourself sooner in the privacy of your own company?

Dani:

Thank you.

Stephanie:

Like literal. Let's have some dignity. You absolute

Dani:

fuck. DNA. Also linked bras to the double murder. Oh my God. You're gonna be so mad about this one. DNA, also linked brass to the double murderer of 38-year-old Sherry Sheer and her 12-year-old daughter Megan, who were found shot to death. In their Missouri home on March 28th at 1998. Wait, when did he, oh my God. That's like within a week of him shooting him. Oh, no. Wait, when did he shoot himself

Stephanie:

January

Dani:

13th, 19, 19 99.

Stephanie:

Not that long. Less than a year.

Dani:

Less than a year.

Stephanie:

He was still out. And, and understandably, if you haven't been caught for all these things, you think that you're fucking smarter. You think you're fucking a genius. I can see how someone's evil fucking brain could work this way and be like, I'm invincible, bitch.

Dani:

You're delusional. Fuck.

Stephanie:

Oh, I'm so mad that he killed himself because I want him to answer for this shit.

Dani:

It looks some prison justice right about now. Yeah. both victims had been tied up and Megan was raped before she was shot with a 22 caliber gun.

Stephanie:

So again, an absolute fucking cunt of a person. And I mean that in the most derogatory way because listen, cunt can be. Like it's a bad

Dani:

word. We

Stephanie:

appreciate, it's a bad, it's a bad word, but it also does have a slay hunt type of, so it can be a compliment. It's not complimentary. No. I mean it in the severest form of the word. And if I could say it in a way that was more offensive, I would

Dani:

approximately two hours later. He broke into a home in Tennessee and attempted to assault a 25-year-old woman, like a fucking

Stephanie:

crackhead,

Dani:

like a crackhead for fucking, there was drugs hurting people. I'm there was

Stephanie:

sure. Drugs.

Dani:

Drugs. she fought back and he fled. Although no useful biological evidence was left forensic ballistics proved that the same gun was used in this attack and in the sheer murders. Brashers was also linked to a March 11th, 1997 rape of a 14-year-old girl, Jesus Christ in Tennessee. In that case, the victim and four others were inside a home and Brashers knocked on the door and forced his way in with armed with a revolver and tied up the occupants after ending entering. Oh my God. Just literally an

Stephanie:

absolute piece of shit terror

Dani:

I will say that this was, this was interesting to me because of always the case stuff, right? Like I'm very into Yeah, the judicial side of how we end up, where we end up, and to have those poor kids. In prison all those years by a false confession, and I love DNA for, you know? Mm-hmm. Even if you get, this is the thing too. Even if they can't convict you later on and you've been released because they don't have enough, and whatever the laws, you're still living with that over your fucking head, your whole life. Like, oh, you're a murderer.

Stephanie:

And as a child, that's

Dani:

fucked. So these, these poor men, I mean, not to mention all the poor victims, Jesus, how

Stephanie:

the ripple effects of this man on the false convictions on the other victims, all their families being shot in the head. Like the, the negative impact that this fucking person has left on the world. Fuck you bitch and rot.

Dani:

He is, he's in hell. I promise. Thank you. Thank you. So what'd you think of our first annex Steph?

Stephanie:

Um, loved it because just so you guys know, Danny and I can fucking chat each other's ears off on the regular. So this felt a lot. Not that I don't love our other episodes because I learned so much and that's totally a focus of mine, but this just felt like. A lot of you guys have made comments and stuff and it's like if you guys were sitting in the garage with us, this is the type of fucking, not quite as structured, but this is how we fucking chat. So let me tell you about this one. We are interested in your feedback though, we're trying new things based on your feedback. We've had a lot of people ask for cases outside of our area. This is a way we thought we could do it where it's not so intensive on the research part, but we can still talk about the details of fully formed cases. So we're interested in your feedback. How do you guys like it? We want to hear from you. Comment to us. Email us for Lethal library@email.com. what do you think? We have other plans as well based on your feedback. So more to come soon. Danny, what do you think about the episode?

Dani:

I love. Resolution. Yes. That's weird. Um, no, truly. And so, uh, when I saw this come up in the news, I was a, I knew of the case, um, and I had listened to podcasts about it. And so yeah, all those details, but you know, to have'em stick.

Stephanie:

Yeah. So

Dani:

I was excited to go back. I'm like, let me just do a quick overview. and I know quick, it's not a 15 minute quick'cause it was so much, but it's just an overview. And my deep dives, you know, it'd been going off in everybody else's business way, deep overview because it was finally solved and those poor, those poor victims finally have somebody. To be held accountable even though he's fucking dead rotten hell. but now you know, now you know for sure there is scientific evidence, not looking over your shoulder, yay. Science. And also makes me very happy when we have people that have been wrongly convicted. Really, even if they're not in jail, even if they're not in jail, you know that it's still hanging over their head. Now we have a true, they're exonerated, truly because of science.

Stephanie:

Science Bitch. It's quote, breaking bad. Anyway, thank you guys for listening. we're gonna

Dani:

have another cocktail.

Stephanie:

Shit.

Dani:

Thank you

Stephanie:

guys. I might be sleeping at Danny's tonight.

Dani:

Um, word of mouth, please tell other people who, you know, enjoy podcasts, share our stuff. Also, check out our social media, especially our ticky talks. We're doing ridiculous things, but we're having a good time doing it. So yeah, a hundred percent. See you on the next one. Bye bye.

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Dani

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Stephanie

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