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During a Friday in December 1991, seventeen-year-old Jennifer Harbison and Eliza Thomas, both seventeen years old, were finishing their shift at the dessert shop where they were employed. Remaining for a ride home were Jennifer's sister, 15-year-old Sarah Harbison, and her friend, 13-year-old Amy Ayers.

Shortly before the clock struck twelve, a fire at the store drew emergency crews, who uncovered the tragedy: the young victims had been restrained, murdered, and showed indicators of assault. The blaze eliminated most of the forensic clues, except for a bullet casing that had rolled into a drain and tiny traces of DNA, including traces found in her nail scrapings.

The Crime That Stunned Texas

The frozen yogurt shop case deeply affected the Texas capital and were branded as one of the most infamous long-lingering investigations in America. Following decades of investigative roadblocks and mistaken arrests, the homicides in time helped prompt a federal law enacted in the year 2022 that allows victims' families to request unsolved investigations to be reopened.

However the crimes stayed unresolved for over three decades – up to this point.

A Major Breakthrough

Police authorities announced on this past Monday a "major development" powered by modern methods in bullet matching and forensic science, stated the local leader at a press conference.

Genetic matches indicate Robert Eugene Brashers, who was identified after his death as a serial killer. More murders are likely to be added to his record as DNA analyses evolve further and more commonly used.

"The only physical evidence recovered from the crime scene has been linked to him," stated the head of police.

The murders isn't closed yet, but this represents a "significant advance", and the suspect is believed to be the lone killer, police said.

Closure for Loved Ones

Eliza's sister, Sonora Thomas, expressed that her mind was split following her sister was murdered.

"One portion of my consciousness has been screaming, 'What took place to my sister?', and the other half kept repeating, 'I'll never learn the truth. I'll go to my grave unaware, and I must accept that,'" she recalled.

After discovering about this breakthrough in the case, "both sides of my mind started melding," she said.

"Now I understand the events, and that relieves my pain."

Wrongful Convictions Overturned

This development not simply bring resolution to the loved ones; it also completely clears two men, who were teens then, who claimed they were coerced into confessing.

Robert Springsteen, a teenager at the time during the crime, was sentenced to death, and Michael Scott, who was 15, was sentenced to life. Both men asserted they gave confessions after marathon interviews in 1999. In 2009, they were freed after their convictions were thrown out due to court rulings on confessions absent physical evidence.

Legal authorities withdrew the case against the two men in the same period after a genetic test, called Y-STR, revealed neither man matched against the samples recovered from the yogurt shop.

The Investigation Advances

This genetic marker – suggesting an unidentified male – would eventually be the decisive factor in cracking the investigation. In recent years, the genetic data was reexamined because of scientific progress – but a national search to investigative bodies yielded no results.

During the summer, the lead detective assigned to the investigation 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 system had undergone major upgrades.

"The technology has advanced significantly. I mean, we're talking like 3D stuff now," Jackson commented at the press conference.

The system identified a link. An open homicide case in another state, with a identical pattern, had the matching variety of shell casing. Jackson and a colleague consulted the local investigators, who are actively pursuing their unidentified investigation – including testing materials from a rape kit.

Building a Case

The new lead made the detective wonder. Might there exist further clues that might link with cases in other states? He recalled instantly of the DNA profile – but there was a challenge. The national DNA registry is the national DNA database for police, but the yogurt shop DNA was too fragmented and scarce to enter.

"I said, well, it's been a few years. More labs are doing this. Databases are getting bigger. We should conduct a national inquiry again," he stated.

He distributed the historic DNA data to investigative units across the United States, asking them to manually compare it to their internal records.

They found another match. The genetic signature matched perfectly with a sample from another state – a 1990 murder that was resolved with assistance from a genetic genealogy company and a celebrated genealogist in 2018.

Building a Family Tree

The researcher created a genealogical chart for the South Carolina killer and located a relative whose genetic material indicated a direct relationship – almost certainly a brother or sister. A court official ordered that the deceased individual be dug up, and his DNA aligned against the crime scene sample.

Normally, the genealogist is can move on from solved cases in order to concentrate on the next one.

"Yet I have {not been