‘This tragedy has no bottom to it’: Mayor talks city responsibility in yogurt shop murders case

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Mayor Kirk Watson has now been part of two news conferences where the city, in coordination with the Austin Police Department and Travis County District Attorney’s Office, announced they had made a breakthrough in what is widely known as the yogurt shop murders case.

The first time Watson was part of one of those announcements was in the late 90s, when Watson was serving his first term as mayor. During that time, the Austin Police Department arrested and charged four men with capital murder.

“Of course, I was relying upon, at that time, experts in policing to tell me what it was that we had and why we were having such a press conference,” Watson said.

Last week, the mayor was part of another news conference where the city announced Robert Eugene Brashers had been identified as a new suspect — pointing away from those four original suspects.

“If the evidence as we now see it holds up, then there’s little question the city was wrong back in 1999,” Watson said. “I was mayor then, and I’m mayor now. And I will say that the city did wrong, and I will say that I’m sorry that the city did wrong.”

Watson talked about how emotional the announcement was last week, especially for the people who had been so near the investigation from the start.

“I get chills just talking about those girls, who would be grown women now probably with their own children, and those families would have grandchildren and nieces and nephews, and what a tragedy,” Watson said. “But there’s also a tragedy to accusations that get made about, I mean, to boys … now men, but they were teenagers at the time. There’s almost like … this tragedy has no bottom to it.”

Watson pointed to remarks made by District Attorney Jose Garza who also promised to apologize on behalf of the Travis County DA’s office for its part in the wrongful convictions, one of which sent a man to death row.

“The overwhelming evidence points to the guilt of one man and the innocence of four,” Garza said. “If the conclusions of that investigation are confirmed, the Travis County DA’s office will take responsibility … so much time has passed, but it is never late for justice and the families deserve justice.”

Watson said the district attorney’s office would be responsible for undoing any wrongful convictions and helping those original suspects with possible restitution, should the investigation ultimately find they were wrongfully accused.