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During the 6th of December, 1991, Jennifer Harbison and her coworker Eliza Thomas, both 17, were wrapping up at the yogurt store where they worked. Remaining for a ride home were Jennifer's sister, 15-year-old Sarah Harbison, and Sarah’s friend, 13-year-old Amy Ayers.

Moments before 12 AM, a blaze at the store attracted emergency crews, who found a horrific scene: the young victims had been tied up, killed, and showed evidence of sexual violence. The blaze eliminated nearly all evidence, aside from a bullet casing that had ended up in a drain and trace amounts of biological evidence, notably traces found in her nail scrapings.

The Case That Shook a City

These horrific killings traumatized the community in Austin and were branded as one of the best-known cold cases in America. Following decades of false leads and mistaken arrests, the murders in time led to a federal law approved in recent years that allows families of the deceased to ask for cold cases to be reviewed.

However the murders stayed unresolved for almost thirty-four years – up to this point.

Significant Progress

Law enforcement officials disclosed on Monday a "major development" made possible by advanced techniques in bullet matching and DNA analysis, said the local leader at a press conference.

Forensic clues indicate Robert Brashers, who was confirmed following his demise as a multiple murderer. Further crimes may be linked to him as DNA analyses become more advanced and broadly applied.

"The sole forensic clue recovered from that scene corresponds directly to him," explained the top law enforcement officer.

The case isn't closed yet, but this marks a "huge leap", and Brashers is considered the only attacker, authorities stated.

Families Find Answers

A family member, a therapist, said that her mind was split when her sister was murdered.

"One half of my brain has been demanding, 'What happened to my sister?', and the other half kept insisting, 'I'll never learn the truth. I will die not knowing, and I need to make peace with it,'" she said.

When she learned of this breakthrough in the investigation, "the conflicting thoughts of my mind began merging," she said.

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

Wrongful Convictions Overturned

The breakthrough not only bring peace to the grieving families; it also fully exonerates two men, who were teens then, who claimed they were forced into giving false statements.

Springsteen, a teenager at the time during the crime, was sent to death row, and Scott, aged 15 at the time, was received a life sentence. Each defendant said they gave confessions following extended questioning in the year 1999. In 2009, they were freed after their verdicts were reversed due to legal changes on admissions without forensic proof.

The district attorney's office abandoned the charges against the two men in 2009 after a forensic examination, called Y-STR, revealed neither suspect aligned against the DNA samples left at the murder site.

Modern Technology Solves Case

This genetic marker – suggesting an unknown man – would ultimately be the key in resolving the murders. In 2018, the DNA profile was sent for reanalysis because of technological advancements – but a nationwide inquiry to investigative bodies returned no genetic matches.

During the summer, an investigator handling the case in 2022, had an idea. It had been since the ballistics from the cartridge had been entered to the NIBIN database – and in the years since, the registry had undergone major upgrades.

"The system has improved dramatically. I mean, we're talking like three-dimensional imaging now," he stated at the media briefing.

They got a match. An open homicide case in Kentucky, with a comparable method, had the same type of bullet casing. The detective and a cold case expert spoke to the local investigators, who are continuing to investigate their unnamed case – which involves analyzing evidence from a rape kit.

Building a Case

This development prompted further inquiry. Might there exist further clues that might correspond to investigations elsewhere? He considered right away of the genetic testing – but there was a challenge. The Codis database is the national DNA database for law enforcement, but the yogurt shop DNA was not complete enough and scarce to upload.

"I said, well, several years have gone by. Additional facilities are doing this. Registries are growing. I proposed a national inquiry again," Jackson said.

He distributed the historic DNA data to police departments across the United States, requesting them to manually compare it to their local systems.

A second connection emerged. The genetic signature corresponded precisely with a genetic evidence from a city in South Carolina – a 1990 murder that was solved with help from a DNA firm and an expert in genetic genealogy in 2018.

Building a Family Tree

The researcher developed a genealogical chart for the offender and identified a family member whose DNA sample pointed to a direct relationship – likely a brother or sister. A judge ordered that the suspect's remains be removed from burial, and his DNA matched against the forensic proof from Austin.

Typically, this expert is puts behind her resolved crimes in order to concentrate on the following case.

"However I have {not been