AUSTIN, Texas — Police have identified a deceased man as a new suspect in the 1991 murders of four teenage girls at a yogurt shop in Austin. This development follows a significant breakthrough in the case, attributed to DNA evidence. Authorities announced on Friday that DNA tests have linked Robert Eugene Brashers, who died by suicide in 1999, to the brutal crime that has long haunted the city.

The announcement coincides with renewed interest in the case, spurred by the recent release of the HBO documentary series "The Yogurt Shop Murders." Austin police stated that the investigation remains open and a news conference is scheduled for Monday to provide further details.

The murders shocked the Austin community and are considered one of the most notorious crimes in the area. The victims, Amy Ayers, 13; Eliza Thomas, 17; and sisters Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, ages 17 and 15, were found bound, gagged, and shot in the head at the "I Can't Believe It's Yogurt" store, where two of them worked. After the attack, the building was set on fire. Firefighters discovered the bodies while battling the blaze.

The autopsy reports revealed personal details about the victims, including jewelry they wore at the time of their deaths. Investigators believe the assailant entered the store through a back door around closing time, attacked the girls, and then set the fire.

In 1999, four men were arrested in connection with the murders. Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, both teenagers at the time, initially confessed and implicated each other. However, they later recanted, claiming their confessions were coerced. Despite this, they were tried and convicted. Springsteen was initially sentenced to death, but his sentence was later commuted to life in prison. Their convictions were eventually overturned, and they were released in 2009 after new DNA tests indicated another male suspect.

In 2018, authorities in Missouri linked Brashers to several violent crimes, including the strangulation of a woman in South Carolina in 1990 and the shooting of a mother and daughter in Missouri in 1998. He was also connected to the 1997 rape of a 14-year-old girl in Tennessee. Brashers died in 1999 during a standoff with police at a motel in Kennett, Missouri.