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- [00:00]
A
Okay. I know it's kind of cliche, but I really, really love fall. I just do. Partly because I get to break out my fall wardrobe. And this year I know I'm going to be leaning on my favorite clothing brand, Quince. They're going to help me refresh my wardrobe, get some new pieces and help me feel a little bit more luxurious.
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B
Quints has good stuff that'll last and stay in style. Plus their pieces are half the cost of that of their competitors. This year we're looking to get more cool pieces and we'll keep you all posted on what exactly those are. Last year, of course, I got their suede bomber jacket. I love it and I'm looking forward to wearing it again. I think it's very warm and comfortable and Anya thinks I look great in it and she tells me her opinion is important.
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A
It is. It just frankly is. And I'm excited to look into getting some more Mongolian cashmere sweaters, maybe some new colors. We're going to mix it up and I'd like to add those to my Quince collection. They start at just $50, so it's a steal. All Quint's pieces are like half the cost of similar brands, so check them out today. Quince saves you money by cutting out the middlemen.
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B
Keep it classic and cozy this fall with long lasting staples from quince. Go to quince.com msheet for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com msheet to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com msheet not great with finances.
- [01:35]
A
That's okay. Experian is your big financial friend. Explore credit card offers, some labeled no Ding decline, which means if you're not approved, they won't hurt your credit scores. See experian.com for details. Applying for no Ding Decline cards won't hurt your credit scores if you aren't initially approved. 2025 Experian Experian content warning this episode contains discussion of suicide, murder, violence and rape, including the murder and rape of children. So today we're going to talk about a man who was a serial killer. This is Robert Dean Brashers. He's in the news currently because he has been linked to the yogurt shop killings of Austin, Texas. This is a case that is haunted Austin, wider Texas and the whole country. I think anyone who really reads about this case, it's, it's truly horrific. The murder of these Four young girls. And we're going to start off this episode with an introduction into that case. But the reason we are putting this episode out now is because we've found some things about Brashers that have not been reported yet. We actually both spent some time digging through newspapers.com archives and obtaining court records on Brashers and a related case. And what we found is breaking and exclusive to the murder sheet. This was not reported before, from what we can tell at least. So this is going to get into some of the shocking family background of this man because this is the thing, this is what we found. Brashers is not the only murderer in his family. So we want to talk about this. I think this is important for context and because the more we know, the more we can evaluate why serial killers like this develop and, and what places we should be possibly looking in for other victims. So let's get started. My name is Anya Cain. I'm a journalist.
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B
And I'm Kevin Greenlee. I'm an attorney.
- [03:22]
A
And this is the Murder Sheet.
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B
We're a true crime podcast focused on original reporting, interviews and deep dives into murder cases. We're the Murder Sheet.
- [03:31]
A
And this is the Yogurt Shop Murders. Who is Robert Eugene Brashers? Sam?
- [04:21]
B
Well, Anya, before we get into the more recent developments, I think it would be helpful if we jump back and provided just a little bit of context so we're all on the same page here. This case began all the way back on December 6, 1991. A young police officer notices that the I can't believe its yogurt shop in Austin, Texas is on fire. After the fire is put out, police, to their horror, discover four nude bodies inside. Each of them have been shot in the head. The victims are 13 year old Amy Ayers, 17 year old Eliza Thomas, 17 year old Jennifer Harbison and 15 year old Sarah Harbison. All of the girls, except for Amy were bound and gagged with their own underwear and also severely burned. Amy actually was found in a different part of the shop and she was not burned as badly as the others and she had been shot twice. There's quite a bit of community pressure to solve this crime is very challenging crime to solve. Police end up focusing their attention on four young men. Maurice Pierce, Forrest Welborn, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott. These men are interrogated. Some of the interrogations are handled by a police officer named Hector Polanco, who had been accused in some other cases of coercing false confessions. And in fact, Scott and Springsteen end up making Incriminating statements. Charges against the other two end up being dropped, but Scott and Springsteen end up going to trial and being convicted and they actually serve some time before those convictions are overturned and the men are released. And at that point it was not clear who the actual culprits were until the events of last week.
- [06:42]
A
When do you want to explain what that is?
- [06:45]
B
There news has come out that DNA recovered from the crime scene, his link, this, this man, Robert Eugene Brashers, to these murders.
- [06:57]
A
Yes. So we're gonna learn more about hopefully how all that happened this coming week. Hopefully some more answers will come about. But obviously it's a tremendous tragedy, not only these four young lives lost so brutally and so horrifically, but then you have a group of young men who are sort of, you know, also maligned and in, in some cases use lose many years of their lives to wrongful convictions. So it's a double tragedy. So this man, Robert Eugene Brashers, he is a serial killer. He's been linked to a number of other homicides. If you recognize his name, it's probably because several years back he was linked to a number of other murders and, and rapes. And so he's been out there for a while. But this is a new development that he's being linked to the yogurt shop case. So I thought it would be interesting. We're going to get into some of the other cases he was linked to. And I think though, before we get into it, like, who is this guy? I wanted to know, like, who's his family, what's his background, where's he from, what's going on? How does someone become like this? And what I found was pretty interesting, actually. I wasn't really expecting to find this much, but I did some research and I want to share this with all of you. So we're going to kind of go into his family background. And I found that his family had another murderer in it. And I think it's, it's interesting. So let's talk about it. So his parents were married on February 7, 1948. That was Nellie Louise McClelland of Newport News, Virginia, and a man named Doulas Woodward Brashers. And he was listed as being from Perrigold, Arkansas. And Robert Eugene Brashers was born on March 13, 1958 in Newport News, Virginia. And in terms of his parents, Nellie Brashers pre deceased him, she died on November 3, 1980 at the age of 50. She died in Newport News and it listed her as a Wilco department store former, you know former employee of them and a lifelong resident of the Peninsula. And she had a long illness and passed away in in 1980. And her obituary lists her husband for some reason is living in Corpus Christi, Texas, and her sons, Robert Brashers living in New Orleans, and her other son, Gary Dean Brashers, living in Huntsville, Alabama. So at some point, Woody Brashers, as the father is known, remarries a woman named Inez lovely Scott Brashers, and she dies on February 17, 1992. And that was in Glendale, Arizona. A Paragould Daily press article from March 17, 1995 has Woody Brashers Sr. Again, the serial killer's father says he's 71, he's living with a dog named Skipper, and he's moved back to Arkansas after traveling through 24 states with Inez. And it's his dog is named Skipper, and he's apparently the first possession that he and Inez had together. So hit list. His father is being born in I don't know if I'm saying this right, but Okene, Arkansas, and graduating from Perigold High School and then Virginia Tech University, and that he was a person who served in World War II, graduated high school through the Navy in 1943, and then most interestingly actually worked for a number of years with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, also known as NASA. So he worked there from 1963 to 1969 in Huntsville, Alabama. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Huntsville is where the Marshall Space Flight center is, or rather it's technically in Redstone Arsenal, but Huntsville, you know, basically the same area, but this is the largest NASA center. And he worked on the team that developed nuclear powered submarine technology stuff with aircraft carriers, partially responsible for the design of the Saturn 5B rocket. So he's an educated man. He's an engineer with obviously a pretty successful career from 71 to 92. He's listed as a contract engineer in the following states, Indiana, so close to home for us, New Mexico and Arizona. And also he apparently served in the Navy in the Korean War as well. He dies on April 13, 2004. And so he actually outlives his son, Robert Eugene Brashers. We'll get into what happened to him towards the end of this episode. But the thing is, Robert, Eugene and you know, I mentioned he's not the only murderer in his family. So I'm going to get into a story that kind of connects some of these different things with a different relative who actually killed somebody. So it's September 13, 1979, a man named Robert Hogan is the manager of Sandy Motors. And that's a used car lot along Highway 31 south in Decatur, Alabama. And two men come inside his office, and they're asking about a two 80Z Datsun automobile. It's around 3pm in the afternoon, and these two guys arrive together in a brown and beige Chevrolet Malibu. They are both young men. One looks a little bit older. The older one is bearded, wearing a straw kind of almost cowboy type hat. And in between their two visits, they come at 3, and then they come back at 3:15. In between these two visits, they actually call Hogan and say that they're ready to, you know, maybe make a purchase of this car. And they go into his office again, and then they pull a gun on Hogan. So they bind and gag him, and they put him on the bathroom floor. They take about $320 from him, and they also take the car keys for the Datsun and flee. So Hogan is able to untie himself after about 10 or 15 minutes, and he, you know, alerts authorities. So to give you a bit of a sense, Decatur is in Alabama's Morgan County. A portion of it is actually in Limestone County. So things kind of start going out towards Limestone county, so around Mooresville, which is nearby, Alabama Department of Public Safety. So they don't call them the state police, that's Alabama Department of Public Safety. And then there's the Alabama Highway Patrol. So Highway Patrol Trooper David Temple, you know, police are alerted that there's, you know, stolen cars out there. So he sees these two cars and, you know, there's this report of an armed robbery. So Temple begins following the cars, follows them for about two miles. He's waiting for backup, apparently, and he pulls up on the suspect on Highway 20 near Mooresville. And it's kind of unclear, depending on what you're looking at. It's either maybe in front of the Madison Manor Nursing Home or Mac Bedingfield General Store. The thing is, like, a lot of these articles were written as this was breaking, so I think they got some details confused. But either way, I mean, give you a sense of David Temple because he's important in this story. He, at that point, had worked for the Highway Patrol for four years. He had an infant daughter with his wife. He was originally from Michigan, and he had served in the United States army. And he previously worked at a Decatur motorcycle shop. He was big into citizens band radio. His nickname was Motorcycle Man. And he used to be an officer with the Huntsville Police Department, which ironically, was the same place where the guy who's pulling over. Used to work. So we'll come back to that. And Doug, here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us. Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty, Liberty. Liberty Savings Ferry unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Affiliates excludes Massachusetts. But he essentially, you know, he pulls them over and he's aware that this is a dangerous situation. So he actually gets out of his car with his gun drawn. But the driver of this car. So one of the robbers, the younger one, is driving the Chevrolet. And then the older driver with the straw hat is driving the Datsun. So the Datsun driver gets out. He's got a gun under his arm, his left arm, and fires twice, and he hits Temple and he is knocked to the ground. And the. The shooter gets out again and shoots him as he is attempting to get up. And then he drives away. So a citizen sees this and gets into the trooper's car and radios in about the shooting. Emergency response, you know, takes place, and they get Temple to Decatur General Hospital, but he's been shot multiple times with a.44 Magnum pistol and is declared dead on arrival. So then the robbers continue on, and they are spotted by Madison, Alabama policeman Edgardo Eliel Velez. And he's on patrol. He's aware that there are stolen car, a stolen car involved in a shooting. And he kind of tracks them down, and he finds this Datsun, like spun off into a cotton field. So he gets out and is approaching the car, but there's no one in the car because the man who shot Trooper Temple is actually hiding in the cotton field. And he stands up and then shoots Velez. So Velez falls down, but gets up and then he shot a second time. But at that point, the guy who shot Temple, his gun is empty. So the man who shot Temple, he wears apparently this almost belt with a scabbard with this really long knife inside. So he pulls out the knife and starts going over to stab Velez, who pulls his revolver and shoots and kills the guy. So the knife falls to the ground, the man dies. And Velez is in very serious condition, but is ultimately civilians kind of intervene to help him. And then he's rushed to the hospital. He ultimately survived. So one robber is dead and the other is a fugitive. Uh, the fugitive's name is David Edwin Ledbetter. That was the robber who got away. He was 22 years old. And they searched southern Tennessee and northern Alabama for him. He's pretty quickly caught and charged. And the man that was killed, the robber that was killed, was Duellis Woodward Brashers J Jr or Woody Brashers Jr so this is Robert Eugene Brashers, his older brother. Isn't that insane?
- [18:24]
B
That. That's insane?
- [18:27]
A
Now it gets weirder. Ledbetter claims that he was living in Huntsville, Alabama with his wife and child. Brashers also lived in Huntsville at the time. And that Brashers one day, the day of the shootings, shows up and says, I want you to ride with me to Decatur to get a car. He's driving the car. And that Chevrolet belonged to Brasher's girlfriend. So they drive to Decatur. They stop at the Kroger's in Huntsville, the Kroger in Huntsville, to cash a check and gas up. Then they get to Sandy Motors. And then Brashers, after he makes this kind of weird phone call to Hogan, he tells Ledbetter that he's gonna steal the Datsun 280Z. So Ledbetter claims that he, quote, did not want any part of stealing anything, but that Brashers threatened to kill him and his wife and child and took a pistol from his briefcase, said it was unloaded, gave it to the defendant, and then got another pistol from under his driver's seat. And that he also had a, quote, factory made knife in a brown pouch or holster on his side. And then this is a quote from Ledbetter from his own testimony, quote, while we were in there, Woody and I, Woody kept asking me if I was going to do it, if I was going to do it and if I was afraid to do it. And that made that me that much more frightened of him because I didn't want to do it. I knew that if he didn't, he would kill me and my family and kill my family. End quote. So Ledbetter drove off in the Chevrolet and Brashers drove off in the Datsun. And of course, Brashers is the one who then shot those two policemen, killing Temple and severely wounding Velez. So I. So essentially what happened was Ledbetter was ultimately convicted of armed robbery charges on October 17, 1979, got a life sentence. And there was, you know, he said he was coerced into the robbery, but understandably, prosecutors and police didn't really believe that. He said, quote, if I didn't do it, he would kill me. I kept telling him I didn't want To I was nervous and afraid of the man. He threatened to kill me and my family, end quote. A lot of people use that excuse. I don't find it very compelling. But now currently Ledbetter is on the Chilersburg work release program. So he's, you know, still in the system in that sense. So apparently duelist Woodward Brashers Jr. Was 28 years old at the time. He was living at 2221 Euclid Road in Huntsville, Alabama. Of course, as I mentioned, the older brother, Robert Eugene Brashers, and the namesake of their father. And he was listed as being born on June 24, 1951, and then of course, killed on September 13, 1979. He was said to have served as some kind of private secretary in Huntsville for a time and was also a fingerprint technician with the Huntsville Police department in late 1972 and early 1973. His gravestone reads, our loving son. And I thought it was interesting that somebody on his find a grave page, an anonymous person, a gentle hearted soul, I think, said, quote, poor soul, you should have been the one who lived instead of your brother who used his life to do nothing but cause suffering, end quote. And I certainly agree that the crimes of Robert Eugene Brashers are more disgusting and horrific. But I think it would have been better if neither of these guys had been born, honestly. So here's the other weird thing I found about stuff involving this family. And this goes back a couple years. Both Brasher sons are still alive and. And this involves the third son, Gary Dean Brashers, who at the time was 21 and serving as a quote, unquote, relief manager at the Burger King on 1004 North Memorial Parkway in Huntsville. And this incident occurs on January 13, 1977, around 10pm Two robbers come into the store and demand money from him. One has a revolver and they flee on foot and a portion of the money is dropped as both escape. Kind of interesting. Kind of reminds me a little bit of Burger Chef, if I'm being honest.
- [22:36]
B
It does a little bit.
- [22:38]
A
It does something to look at. So that was the brother. I mean, what do you make of there being two murderers in this one family?
- [22:47]
B
It's certainly very interesting. It really makes you think about the genetics there.
- [22:54]
A
And it certainly, obviously is not linked to the yogurt chop killings or any of Robert Eugene Brasher's crimes because he, this man, Woody Jr. Was killed in 1979, well before any of that happened. But it does make you wonder, and frankly it makes me wonder if that Burger King robbery was an inside job. So now we're going to move on to a crime committed by Robert Eugene Brashers. And this is some interesting tidbits but it also is something where I wanted to go over it because unfortunately if things had been handled differently in this case a lot of the victims of Brashers would still be alive today. So this occurred in Florida. And the reason we're talking about this is because I was able to get documents on this case including a probable cause affidavit for arrest. One bizarre twist is that in this document Robert Eugene Brashers is listed as having an additional name or like an alias of Gary Dean Brashers. So it seems like he may have been using his younger brother's name as some kind of alias. Kind of odd.
- [24:03]
B
That is odd.
- [24:05]
A
And this Incident occurred on November 22nd, 1985. Rashers is listed as being 5 foot 8, 140 pounds, white with brown eyes and brown hair and that he's a self employed aluminum staller installer. And the affiant in this is Detective Oscar L. Farless of the St. Lucie Sheriff's Department. So this is St. Lucie county in Florida. I'm going to just read the probable cause affidavit. It's not very long and I think it kind of just summarizes everything.
- [24:38]
B
Yeah, I think that's important.
- [24:40]
A
There are a couple of instances here Kevin that are redacted and then other things where it's like I maybe I'm having a little bit of trouble reading the cursive handwriting so apologies if I get anything wrong. So just keep that in mind. I'm going to do the best I can though. Quote at 2:43am 911 received a call from a redacted who was very unsure of where she was at and stated she had been beat and shot. She described where she was at and 911 traced the call to a phone at redacted. This is located 4.2 miles west of redacted. DEP Deputy V. Day found this victim on carport of this home completely covered with mud and blood. There is an outside telephone on car part and no one lives there. Corporal Day called rescue for the victim and inquired as the details of how she was injured. She. She gave Corporal Day a description of the subject. A white male, 30 years old in a dark colored pickup, possibly brown. She stated the subject had a gray pullover shirt with a hood on it. She also told Corporal Day that the subject told her his name was Gary. I was called out at 3am and I proceeded to the emergency room and there I talked to the victim. She was still covered with mud and blood and her left eye was completely swollen shut and bleeding. There were cuts on her head and. And Dr. Riviera found two gunshot wounds in her head and neck. She stated to me that this subject had picked her up in redacted club and took her west of town where he beat her severely and shot her. She described to me him to me as dark hair, small build, first named Gary and was in a pickup truck with a camper shell on it with no black gloss on the camper shell. Okay, one thing is I don't know what that portion was. So it was something. No black something. I, I couldn't really tell. And anyways let's go back to it. She also stated she left a pack of Marble Light Hundreds in the truck. She also stated that there was a magnetic sign on the passenger door and he took it off and put it in the truck. I called 911 and put out a BOLO for the subject and vehicle. At 4:32am Deputy Angela Darling stopped a subject walking on so a IA by Frederick Douglass park and he told her his truck was stuck on the beach and and wanted a ride to quality and motel. The subject had told the victim he was staying in a motel. The subject's description matched the description I had B O L boloed for earlier and Deputy Darling was instructed to bring him to us. I met her there and got subject's name and he told me his truck was stuck on South Beach. His description was same as what the victim told me. I had the suspect transported to sheriff's department and I went to the beach and looked at the truck. There I found the Marlboro Light, 100 cigarettes and the truck had no tailgates. Also in the truck was a magnetic sign and on the passenger door was a clear spot where the sign was removed. I also got a further description of the interior of the truck and had the truck towed to sheriff's department compound. I then went back to the hospital and talked to the victim again and she gave me a further description of the interior. She told me there was a red T shirt on the dash, Marlboro cigarettes in the red box in a truck, a fan on the ceiling of the cab plus a toolbox between the seat and Budweiser beer in the truck. All of this matched the description of the interior of that which where I looked at it. Also in the truck was pieces of orange and I, I, I read the word green oranges. I Don't really know what it says here. So I. We'll see. Let's go back to it. I returned to the jail and then at 7:15am I read the suspect his Miranda rights and waiver of rights. And he signed the waiver of rights and stated that he underst. He gave me a topical statement. He picked the girl up and drove her west of town and drank a six pack of Budweiser beer. He stated that the victim and him argued about sex and she slapped him. He stated he struck her in the face and she had his.25 automatic pistol. While in the truck. He took this away from her and struck her in the face and then shot her at a distance of approximately 2ft in the face. She broke and tried to run from him and he stated he tackled her and knocked her to the ground and beat her repeatedly, causing lacerations on her head. She got. She again got up and he shot her again in the neck. He stated he went to this truck and put away his gun and turned and the victim was gone. He searched up and down on the road and also drove around an orange grove searching for the victim. He then left and drove to the beach where he stated he waited out in the ocean waist deep and threw the gun into the ocean. He also stated he threw the gray pullover shirt into the ocean. He got his. In his vehicle stuck. He got his vehicle stuck and then walked out to soaia where he was picked up by Deputy Darling. In a statement he stated he just went into a frenzy and shot the victim and beater. I then placed subject under arrest for attempted first degree murder. This subject is also wanted for a violation of probation in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, end quote. So this is an attack on a woman named Michelle Wilkerson. At that time, Brashers was 27 and Michelle was in her mid-20s, around 25. She had been shot three times. She had been beaten so severely that she lost vision in one eye. And he apparently told her he was the devil as he did all this. And this was because seemingly she did not want to have sex with him. So you would. I mean, I don't know. What do you think about a crime that. I mean, in terms of the brutality level of that.
- [30:08]
B
That. That is pretty horrifying. And it is obviously something that should have been taking extraordinarily serious because that sounds like that's a very dangerous individual.
- [30:21]
A
Yes, but unfortunately this was not taken very seriously, frankly. So he was ultimately sent. So he was charged with first and second degree attempted murder, possession of a weapon, aggravated Battery, a couple of different things. But he was ultimately. Oh, and also possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. So apparently at that point he was already a convicted felon. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison by Circuit Judge Rupert J. Smith, did not serve even close to that. But let's look at what Assistant State Attorney and the Assistant public defender in this case had to say, because I think this is the kind of thing that would certainly not fly today. So Assistant State Attorney Tom Walsh negotiated this plea and said to the Fort Pierce Tribune that the jury would have a hard time, quote, identifying with the victim because of her lifestyle, end quote. So that's. He's essentially saying, I don't think a jury is going to blame the victim here for putting herself in the situation.
- [31:29]
B
Yes.
- [31:32]
A
To me it's like, yeah, maybe they would, but maybe you should still try to get a conviction because it's pretty clear. I always, I almost feel in some of these older cases, like an attorney, like attorneys will almost be like, well, the jury's gonna think this. And it's like, sounds like you kind of think that, you know, I mean, I'm sure again, like this, this was a long time ago. I'm not saying that what, what the assistant public defender had to say was significantly worse. So Jay Kirschner said, this is the assistant public defender that quote, there's a co. There's competent evidence to indicate that at the time of the incident she was in a cocaine induced psychotic frenzy. End quote. Yeah. That's why your client ended up shot and beaten. Oh, wait, no, it was actually her. Like what? And also complained about how she was subpoenaed five times and never came in and that how it was actually self defense because Wilkerson was threatening to kill Brashers with the gun and he took the gun away from her and fired. I wonder how this guy feels now knowing that he actually helped get a serial killer off who went on to kill multiple women. I don't know. That would be pretty rough.
- [32:41]
B
Yes.
- [32:42]
A
More details came out. They met in this parking lot of Frankie and Johnny's Lounge around midnight. They went to go together to buy cocaine and then he, when he attacked her, he. She managed, managed to get away despite being shot three times and hid in a muddy, slimy, snake ridden culvert. But of course, you know, she was, I guess, I don't know whether they were implying that she was doing sex work or she just led a lifestyle that involved in hanging out at bars a lot. You know, people can. What's tragic is that people can be in a marginalized lifestyle or kind of be in a bad situation, and they're probably going to be more likely to be victimized. And when you don't take those cases particularly seriously or sentences aren't handed down because it's assumed that, quote, unquote, she brought it on herself, that's when you let really dangerous people out.
- [33:30]
B
Yeah. That's when you start creating an atmosphere where that sort of crime is tolerated.
- [33:35]
A
Yes. And in this case, had this guy gotten the book thrown at him, it. There would have been a different outcome, you know, and perhaps not all of the victims of his later crimes would have been saved, but I imagine some of them certainly would have. And at the very least there would have. There would have been more justice for Michelle Wilkerson. I don't know what happened to Michelle Wilkerson. I can't really find her in, in the records. But I, it's, it's pretty, it's pretty tragic here. She was almost treated as the problem when she's the one being beaten and shot. So I was able to get documents for that. And I also got from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, I got the criminal history of Robert Eugene Brashers in Florida. We're going to talk in a minute. You're going to take us through some other crimes he did. Yes, this is just for Florida because Florida is very easy to get records from. So in, in this, once again, he's listed as both Gary Dean Brashers and Robert Eugene Brashers. So again, it seems, I could be wrong about this, but it almost seems like he's using his brother's name in some of this. He's listed as having a tattoo on his right ankle, scar on his right knee, and having the address as PO Box 4183, North Fort Myers. So interesting. And he's initially listed as being arrested on October 10, 1984, for carrying a concealed weapon by the Lee County Sheriff's Office. And he's guilty on that one. So he's either convicted or found guilty or whatnot. Then, of course, the November 22, 1985 incident that we discussed just now with the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, and that's attempted first degree homicide, second degree homicide, aggravated battery, possession of a firearm during a felony. And then there's something about an arrest on December 12th of that year about a possession of weapon as a convicted felon. Then he's listed as being rearrested Nov. 14, 1986, for a probation violation for Lee County Sheriff's Office. The Northwest Florida Reception center is listed as the judicial ish judicial agency name. So I imagine that was almost something that happened while he was still incarcerated. And there's a criminal registration for him listed for May 5, 1989. So that's kind of Florida. But unfortunately that that did not. Wilkerson was just the beginning or at least the first case that we're we know about for Brashers.
- [36:08]
B
Yes. Often of course, as we all know, some of these people actually commit far more crimes than we are aware of. So we're just going to tell you about some that we are aware of. And I'm not going to have the level of detail that Anya just had. This is just kind of a litany of misery I'm going to be sharing with you. On April 4th of 1990, he breaks into the apartment of 28 year old Genevieve Zatricky in Greenville, South Carolina and he's believed to have attacked her as she slept. He bludgeons her, he sexually assaults her and then he drags her remains to the bathroom and leaves her in her bathtub. That's April 4, 1990. December 6, 1991. Of course that's the date of the murders at the yogurt shop in Austin. On February 18, 1992, he was actually arrested in Cobb County, Georgia for possession of a stolen pistol and a stolen vehicle. I also found it interesting that at the time he also had a scanner, a police jacket that's described as burglary tools and also a fake Tennessee license. At that point, he's not only arrested, he actually serves time until February of 1997. Just one month later, in March of 1977, he breaks into a home near Memphis, Tennessee where he sexually assaults a 14 year old girl. About a year later, March 28, 1998, he shoots and kills Sherry Scherer and her 12 year old daughter Megan at their home in Portageville, Missouri. The 12 year old is also sexually assaulted. The victims were bound, which I suppose is also somewhat similar to what we saw in yogurt chop. Later that same day, he goes to a home in Dyersburg, Tennessee. He stops, he's pretending to ask for directions. The door is answered by a 25 year old mother who's at home with a small child. He tries to force his way in. She resists and struggles with him and she actually ends up getting shot in the arm. She, thank God she survives. And when the bullet is removed, it is found to match the weapon that was used earlier that day in the sharer murders. On April 12, 1998, he is arrested while trying to break into another woman's home. He was armed. He is taken into custody, but released. And then we come to the final chapter in his story. On January 13, 1999, he is linked to a car with stolen plates. He's located in a hotel room. He takes the others in the room hostage. He lets them go hours later, but ends up shooting himself.
- [39:44]
A
So he dies by suicide and he's not linked to this, these, most of these crimes until significantly later, I believe. Cece Moore, the investigative genetic genealogist from, you know, working with Parabon Nanolabs, begins linking him to some of these cases based on DNA. But of course, yogurt chop came significantly later. So what was so troubling about this is that with the Wilkerson case, had he gotten a longer sentence or had he not been released on, you know, parole for good conduct in, in 1989, some of these cases wouldn't have been able to happen. So that initial failing is disastrous. And the people he took hostage, I believe were his family members, his, his children and wife. He had several, I think adopted daughters and a daughter and was married. And his obituary lists him as a Carpenter who is 40 years old, does not mention any of his legal issues, but he's listed as being from Paragould, Arkansas. So we're going to keep looking into this, but we just kind of came across some of this initial information and wanted to provide it because I think people right now are understandably taking a look at this and trying to figure out who is this guy. But also his family seems to be linked with a lot of different locations. And I think with a serial killer this vicious, there should be an effort to kind of go in and look at where places that he may have been visiting or had access to or journeyed to for whatever reason, either because he was living there or someone he knew was living there.
- [41:20]
B
Exactly.
- [41:21]
A
And see if there's other cases that perhaps resemble this and perhaps be looking at him as a possibility. But in the meantime, we'll be looking forward to the press conference that's coming up about the yogurt chop case and learning more that time. So I do wanna go over our sources. I'll start. For me, I was, I got the case on some documents in the case on David Ledbetter from casemind.com I'll link to that. And I also got some information from the officer Down Memorial page on Trooper Temple. And then I also used a lot of newspapers.com so the Daily Press of the of Newport News, Virginia, the Tennessean, the Huntsville Times, the Jonesboro, Arkansas Sun, Paragould Daily Press, the Birmingham Post Herald, the Pensacola News Journal, and the Fort Pierce Tribune. And of course I mentioned some of the case documents I got throughout the episode.
- [42:17]
B
I also access the Greenville News and Austin Chronicle via newspapers.com I also looked at some of the Austin Chronicles, more recent coverage, and I also got some information from the website for Wayne 15. That's W A N E 15 okay.
- [42:34]
A
So we'll keep on following this case as it develops, but thank you all very much for listening. We really appreciate it.
- [42:39]
B
Thanks so much for listening to the Murder Sheet. If you have a tip concerning one of the cases we cover, please email us@murdersheetmail.com if you have actionable information about an unsolved crime, please report it to the appropriate authorities.
- [43:00]
A
If you're interested in joining our Patreon, that's available at www.patreon.com murdersheet if you want to tip us a bit of money for records requests, you can do so at www. Buymeacoffee.com murdersheet. We very much appreciate any support.
- [43:23]
B
Special thanks to Kevin Tyler Greenlee, who composed the music for the Murder Sheet and who you can find on the web@kevintg.com if you're looking to talk with.
- [43:35]
A
Other listeners about a case we've covered, you can join the Murder Sheet Discussion group on Facebook. We mostly focus our time on research and reporting, so we're not on social media much. We do try to check our email account, but we ask for patience as we often receive a lot of messages. Thanks again for listening.