Ayers Family Launches National Cold Case Center 34 Years After 4-Girl Austin Murders
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Oct 24
Ayers Family Launches National Cold Case Center 34 Years After 4-Girl Austin Murders
2 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 24
Summary
Shawn and Angie Ayers have launched the National Cold Case Center, a nonprofit aimed at funding unsolved homicide investigations, training investigators and supporting victims’ families.
The effort grew out of the Ayers family’s 34-year search for answers in the 1991 Austin yogurt shop murders, which killed four girls including Shawn’s 13-year-old sister, Amy.
Robert Eugene Brashers was identified through DNA and ballistics in September 2025, but his 1999 suicide ended any chance of trial and left the family still questioning whether an accomplice was involved because two guns were used.
That case also produced major fallout: four local men were wrongly accused, later declared innocent in February 2026, and Austin approved a $35 million settlement for the three survivors and Maurice Pierce’s family.
The new center, built with former prosecutors Mindy Montford and Anne Marie Schubert, now seeks funding to open its first cases and connect law enforcement and families nationwide.