Eliza Hope Thomas, 17, was among the victims; the others were Jennifer Harbison, 17, Jennifer’s sister Sarah, 15, and Amy Ayers, 13. Responding firefighters found the girls bound with their own clothing, each shot in the head, and the shop deliberately set on fire, which destroyed evidence and left key details uncertain.

Initial investigations explored robbery as a possible motive but produced no definitive timeline or surveillance or payment records to identify a perpetrator. In the early 2000s two local men, Robert Springsteen Jr. and Michael Scott, were convicted after interrogations and confessions, but DNA testing later excluded them and those convictions were overturned in 2009.

In late 2025 police announced that ballistics and Y-STR genetic evidence point to Robert Eugene Brashers, who died by suicide in 1999 after a police standoff; authorities say they have not established a motive or a clear Austin link for that winter. Does anyone have information about the shop, the night of December 6, 1991, or contacts who knew the victims or Brashers?