Chasing a Ghost: Robert Brashers

Bonus episode: Kathy Sweeney previews HBO’s The Yogurt Shop Murders Episode 5—“The End of Wondering”—with director Margaret Brown and Austin detective Dan Jackson. They discuss the rushed return to Austin for the suspect announcement, what the new evidence means for families, and why investigators say the public should learn Robert Brashers’ name as they continue checking for additional cases.

Episode 11: “Never Again.” Kathy Sweeney examines the growing network of investigators and families working to uncover more crimes tied to Robert Brashers. Austin detective Dan Jackson takes Brashers’ timeline, DNA, and ballistics details on the road to help other agencies compare cases—while victims’ families and prosecutors build the National Cold Case Center to connect the dots and support families still waiting for answers. 

Episode 10: “No Set Path.” Kathy Sweeney explores how Robert Brashers’ constant movement—and lack of a consistent “hunting area”—may have helped him evade detection for decades. Investigators discuss key time windows they’re now rechecking, what genetic genealogy makes possible today, and what newly shared Navy records reveal about a younger Brashers before the crimes.

Episode 9: “He Can’t Be That Lucky.” Kathy Sweeney digs into the string of breaks that helped Robert Brashers evade detection for decades—from an early release after attempted murder to missing firearms investigators believe are tied to multiple cases. The episode traces the .380 linked to the Yogurt Shop murders and Lexington, the missing .22 connected to the Scherer murders, and why agencies across the country still want ballistics answers.

After 20 years, investigators exhume Robert Brashers’ body to confirm—by DNA—that he killed Sherri and Megan Scherer. But Brashers’ death doesn’t bring closure. In Hide and Seek, detectives in Texas, Missouri, and beyond trace how he stayed hidden while alive—using aliases, false documents, and stolen vehicles—and why the search now focuses on where he traveled and what other crimes may be connected.

Deborah Brashers grew up loving her dad...until she learned he was a serial killer. In Chapter 7, “A Daughter’s Reckoning,” Deborah tells Kathy Sweeney what it’s like to lose your childhood memories to a brutal timeline of crimes, and why she only speaks about her father when she’s asked. The conversation returns to the spotlight as authorities and media revisit Robert Brashers’ past, including attention tied to the 1991 Austin Yogurt Shop murders.

A breakthrough in the Austin Yogurt Shop Murders case collides with a devastating media leak. In Chapter 6 of Chasing a Ghost, Kathy Sweeney traces the hours when families learned that serial killer Robert Brashers is the new prime suspect and then watched the news spread before all loved ones were notified. Featuring Shawn and Angie Ayers, Det. Dan Jackson, and Mindy Montford, this chapter explores the human cost of leaks, the pressure of public disclosure, and what it will take to prove the case—beyond doubt.

A major breakthrough in the 1991 Austin Yogurt Shop Murders identified Robert Eugene Brashers as the prime suspect... linking the brutal killings of Amy Ayers, Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Jennifer Harbison to a transient serial killer whose crimes stretched across multiple states.

In Episode Five of Chasing a Ghost (“The Yogurt Shop Suspect”), veteran reporter Kathy Sweeney interviews Shawn and Angie Ayers as they process the shock of learning that DNA under Amy’s fingernails and ballistics evidence now point to Brashers. Cold case detective Dan Jackson and prosecutor Mindy Montford walk through the 2025 investigative dominoes: NIBIN shell-casing hits, Y-STR DNA matches to South Carolina, and new testing that strengthened the identification.

The episode also reveals a crucial timeline detail: less than 48 hours after the Austin yogurt shop murders, Brashers was stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint near El Paso/Las Cruces in a stolen car with an AMT Back-Up .380 pistol. It was the same make and model tied to the crime scene.

If you’re following the decades-long push for answers in one of Texas’ most haunting unsolved cases, this chapter explores what “knowing” finally brings and what questions remain.

Content warning: This episode contains references to murder, sexual assault, and disturbing crime-scene details.

In Chapter Four of Chasing a Ghost, Kathy Sweeney reveals how the 1998 murders of Sherri and Megan Scherer were linked to a 1997 Memphis home-invasion sexual assault... after an untested rape kit sat for years before finally generating a CODIS hit. As investigators race to identify the unknown suspect, the case becomes one of the early multi-state breakthroughs powered by investigative genetic genealogy. Genetic genealogist CeCe Moore’s work leads authorities to Robert Eugene Brashers, and a 2018 exhumation confirms the DNA match—finally naming the killer and opening the door to even more victims.

A double homicide in 1998 could have gone cold—but investigators in southeast Missouri refused to let the Scherer case fade. This episode follows the exhaustive, multi-state search for a suspect, the early warning signs of a traveling predator, and the breakthrough that finally came with new DNA testing and a CODIS match linking Missouri to a 1990 murder in South Carolina. The trail points to a violent criminal who disappeared in plain sight.... and whose story is only beginning to surface.

It was a warm Saturday afternoon in Portageville, Missouri. A mother and her 12-year-old daughter were working in the yard. By nightfall, they were gone, and nothing in this small, tight-knit community would ever be the same.

On March 28, 1998, Sherri Scherer, 38, and her daughter Megan, 12, were found murdered inside their home. The crime scene was unlike anything local law enforcement had ever encountered. Within hours, 75 to 100 officers had mobilized across New Madrid County. They knocked on every door. They chased every lead. And they found almost nothing.

In Chapter Two of Chasing a Ghost, host Kathy Sweeney brings you inside the investigation through the voices of the people who lived it: the family members left behind, the first responders who can't forget what they saw, and the investigators who took this case personally and refused to let it go.

Ten days after the murders, a shooting 40 miles away in Dyersburg, Tennessee would crack the case open. It linked the same gun to a second crime committed the very same night, and gave investigators their first look at a suspect: a white male in a maroon van. But the man they were hunting was closer than anyone realized. Robert Eugene Brashers, a serial killer, was living just one hour away.

And somewhere in a sealed evidence envelope, a single saliva swab collected at autopsy was quietly waiting. It would sit untouched for six years, until investigators finally learned just how much was riding on it. 

The trail is just beginning. And there's no going back.

⚠️ Content warning: This episode contains descriptions of a crime scene and references to murder and sexual assault. Please listen with care.

Veteran television journalist Kathy Sweeney launches "Chasing a Ghost," a true crime podcast investigating the deadly trail of serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers. The series examines how a 20-year investigation in Missouri helped identify a suspect in one of Austin, Texas's most notorious cold cases—the 1991 Yogurt Shop murders.