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During a Friday in December 1991, Jennifer Harbison and Eliza Thomas, both 17, were finishing their shift at the frozen yogurt shop where they were employed. Remaining for a pickup were Jennifer's sister, 15-year-old Sarah Harbison, and Sarah’s friend, 13-year-old Amy Ayers.

Just before midnight, a fire at the shop attracted emergency crews, who made a grim discovery: the young victims had been tied up, fatally attacked, and showed signs of sexual assault. The configration wiped out most of the forensic clues, with the exception of a bullet casing that had rolled into a drain and minute samples of DNA, including traces beneath Amy Ayers' nails.

The Murders That Rocked Austin

These horrific killings profoundly shook the community in Austin and became one of the most infamous unsolved mysteries in the nation. Following decades of false leads and wrongful convictions, the murders eventually led to national legislation enacted in 2022 that allows loved ones to petition unsolved investigations to be reopened.

But the murders continued to baffle investigators for nearly 34 years – until now.

A Major Breakthrough

Law enforcement officials revealed on recently a "important advance" powered by new technology in bullet matching and forensic science, announced the Austin mayor at a press conference.

The evidence point to Brashers, who was identified after his death as a repeat offender. Further crimes may be linked to him as DNA analyses evolve further and widespread.

"The only physical evidence recovered from the yogurt shop corresponds directly to him," said the head of police.

The case isn't closed yet, but this represents a "major step", and Brashers is considered the only attacker, officials stated.

Closure for Loved Ones

The sister of Eliza Thomas, a therapist, said that her psyche was fractured following the tragedy occurred.

"One portion of my mind has been yelling, 'What occurred to my sister?', and the other half kept saying, 'I will never know. I will die not knowing, and I need to make peace with it,'" she recalled.

When she learned of this progress in the case, "those two parts of my thinking began merging," she noted.

"Now I understand the truth, and that lessens my suffering."

Wrongful Convictions Overturned

The news not only bring resolution to the loved ones; it also completely clears two men, who were teens then, who claimed they were pressured into giving false statements.

Springsteen, who was 17 when the murders occurred, was sent to death row, and Michael Scott, aged 15 at the time, was received a life sentence. Each defendant asserted they only confessed after hours-long interrogations in the year 1999. In 2009, the two were set free after their convictions were overturned due to legal changes on admissions lacking forensic proof.

The district attorney's office abandoned the prosecution against the defendants in the same period after a DNA analysis, known as Y-STR, showed neither individual matched against the samples left at the yogurt shop.

The Investigation Advances

The DNA signature – indicating an unidentified male – would eventually be the crucial element in cracking the investigation. In 2018, the genetic data was sent for reanalysis because of improved methods – but a countrywide check to other police departments returned no genetic matches.

During the summer, Daniel Jackson working on the case in recently, had an idea. Time had gone by since the firearms evidence from the cartridge had been submitted to the NIBIN database – and in the years since, the registry had undergone major upgrades.

"The system has advanced significantly. I mean, we're talking like advanced modeling now," he said at the news event.

There was a hit. An unresolved killing in the state of Kentucky, with a identical pattern, had the identical kind of cartridge. Investigators and a colleague met with the Kentucky detectives, who are actively pursuing their unidentified investigation – including processing samples from a forensic kit.

Linking Multiple Crimes

The apparent breakthrough made the detective wonder. Was there further clues that might correspond to cases in other states? He considered right away of the Y-STR analysis – but there was a obstacle. The Combined DNA Index System is the national DNA database for investigators, but the evidence from Austin was not complete enough and limited to upload.

"I suggested, well, it's been a few years. More labs are conducting this analysis. Registries are growing. I proposed a nationwide search again," he stated.

He circulated the historic genetic findings to investigative units nationwide, instructing them to check by hand it to their own databases.

There was another hit. The genetic signature aligned exactly with a genetic evidence from another state – a 1990 murder that was solved with the aid of forensic experts and a well-known researcher in recent years.

Identifying the Killer

The expert developed a family tree for the murderer from that case and identified a family member whose biological evidence suggested a immediate family link – probably a sibling. A court official authorized that the suspect's remains be removed from burial, and his DNA matched against the crime scene sample.

Typically, this expert is able to set aside resolved crimes in order to focus on the new mystery.

"However I have {not been