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On the 6th of December, 1991, seventeen-year-old Jennifer Harbison and her coworker Eliza Thomas, both seventeen years old, were wrapping up at the frozen yogurt shop where they worked. Waiting for a pickup were Jennifer's sister, 15-year-old Sarah Harbison, and Sarah’s friend, 13-year-old Amy Ayers.

Shortly before the clock struck twelve, a blaze at the store attracted emergency crews, who found a horrific scene: the four girls had been tied up, killed, and showed evidence of sexual violence. The blaze destroyed the bulk of physical proof, with the exception of a shell casing that had fallen into a gutter and tiny traces of DNA, among them evidence found in her nail scrapings.

The Case That Shook a City

The yogurt shop murders profoundly shook the Texas capital and evolved into one of the best-known unsolved mysteries in America. After years of false leads and false accusations, the murders ultimately helped prompt a U.S. law enacted in recent years that allows loved ones to request dormant cases to be reinvestigated.

But the murders remained unsolved for nearly 34 years – until now.

A Major Breakthrough

Investigators announced on Monday a "major development" powered by new technology in firearms analysis and forensic science, said the city's mayor at a media event.

The evidence point to Robert Eugene Brashers, who was confirmed following his demise as a serial killer. Further crimes are likely to be added to his record as DNA analyses become more advanced and widespread.

"The single piece of proof found at the crime scene has been linked to him," explained the city's police chief.

The case isn't closed yet, but this marks a "major step", and the individual is considered the sole perpetrator, police stated.

Healing Begins

A family member, a therapist, said that her psyche was fractured after her sister was murdered.

"One portion of my mind has been demanding, 'What happened to my sister?', and the other half kept repeating, 'It will remain a mystery. I'll pass away without answers, and I have to be OK with that,'" she said.

Upon hearing of this breakthrough in the case, "both sides of my mind started melding," she noted.

"Now I understand the truth, and that relieves my anguish."

Mistaken Arrests Corrected

The news not only bring resolution to the victims' families; it also definitively absolves two men, teenagers at the time, who claimed they were pressured into admitting guilt.

Robert Springsteen, a teenager at the time during the crime, was given a death sentence, and Scott, aged 15 at the time, was received a life sentence. Each defendant said they admitted involvement after marathon interviews in 1999. In the following decade, both men were freed after their convictions were thrown out due to legal changes on confessions absent forensic proof.

Legal authorities withdrew the case against the two men in the same period after a forensic examination, known as Y-STR, showed neither suspect matched against the samples left at the yogurt shop.

The Investigation Advances

This genetic marker – suggesting an unidentified male – would eventually be the crucial element in resolving the murders. In 2018, the profile was sent for reanalysis because of scientific progress – but a nationwide inquiry to other police departments found no matches.

During the summer, the lead detective assigned to the case in 2022, had an idea. Time had gone by since the ballistics from the spent round had been uploaded to the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network – and in that time, the registry had undergone major upgrades.

"The technology has gotten so much better. In fact, we're talking like advanced modeling now," he stated at the media briefing.

They got a match. An unresolved killing in Kentucky, with a identical pattern, had the identical kind of cartridge. Jackson and a cold case expert spoke to the Kentucky detectives, who are actively pursuing their open file – including analyzing evidence from a rape kit.

Building a Case

The new lead prompted further inquiry. Might there exist any other evidence that might match against crimes in different locations? He thought immediately of the Y-STR analysis – but there was a challenge. The national DNA registry is the national DNA database for police, but the yogurt shop DNA was insufficiently intact and limited to submit.

"I said, well, several years have gone by. Additional facilities are performing these tests. Databases are getting bigger. We should conduct a countrywide check again," the detective stated.

He distributed the years-old DNA data to law enforcement agencies across the United States, requesting them to manually compare it to their own databases.

A second connection emerged. The DNA pattern matched perfectly with a genetic evidence from another state – a killing that occurred in 1990 that was resolved with assistance from a genetic genealogy company and a celebrated genealogist in recent years.

Building a Family Tree

The researcher developed a ancestry profile for the offender and identified a relative whose DNA sample pointed to a close tie – probably a brother or sister. A magistrate approved that the suspect's remains be removed from burial, and his genetic material corresponded against the forensic proof from Austin.

Usually, the genealogist is able to set aside closed investigations in order to concentrate on the following case.

"Yet I have {not been