Free Roaming Predator /// Part 2 /// 940 | Forensic Files

Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and
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>> All right, everybody, gather around, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime.
When we left off with episode one of the of this particular case here, Captain, we talked about an article that came
out, a very lengthy Sunday article that came out locally in Greenville. regarding where the case was and all the
work that had been done on it over the course of a span of 16 years. And so that's really where the case was
sitting. It was it was being worked and being worked pretty well, I believe, but
ultimately it wasn't really going anywhere, >> right? we will be able to understand why
that was very quickly here because we do get some very positive movement on this
case. So look, after 16 years, it looks like this renewed interest in the case from the public may have stirred
something up in the universe because action creates momentum and momentum, my friends, is hard to stop. So, just days
after that article ran, there is an announcement about a huge and a significant break in the Jenny Zatriki
homicide case. So, that same month on April 26th, 2006, a story ran from the Greenville News, the same newspaper that
we were talking about in episode 1, that laid out a development that the Greenville investigators had been
waiting years to see. DNA had finally stitched together the murder of Jenny Zatriki in Greenville from 1990 with two
violent crimes committed in two other states 8 years later. So this would be in 1998. Of course, the article starts
with the Zatriki case, the case that Greenville Police Department would never let go of, never give up on, with
finding her dead in the bathtub in her apartment in 1990, a crime scene that was brutal and personal. She'd been
beaten and strangled. But then the article goes into the murder case and the investigation.
You know, after the shock goes away, it settles into this long grinding reality of an unsolved homicide and an
investigation that's dragging on year after year after year. One where every new tip had to be chased, every
possibility checked, and every small detail preserved in a case that science would catch up to later. So 16 years had
passed by this time. Captain leads came in. They were worked. They went nowhere.
According to Greenville Police Chief Willie Johnson, investigators spent those years pushing the case forward in
every way that they could, eventually running down more than 150 leads. Even with that effort, the identity of the
person who killed Jenny Zatriki remained out of reach for investigators. Then a database changed the trajectory of this
case altogether. You're just going to gloss over the fact that the guy's name is Willie Johnson? I thought we were
friends. >> Lieutenant Michael Graham Bell of the Greenville Police Department explained
that DNA evidence from the Zatrice homicide was entered into the combined DNA index system, COTUS. This was in
2005. Now, remember, we're talking about a newspaper article and a big break in the case taking place with this
announcement in 2006. And what they're stating here is that this wasn't as simple as it would seem. Okay, so early
on in the KOTUS database when the DNA databases were first being built out, they were largely populated with known
samples, right? DNA samples that have a name, an identity connected to them. Now
also keep in mind this is a federal or national database and each and every state that is providing
and adding to this database they sort of have their own approach to collecting and contributing DNA to the database. So
in this case, the Jenny Zatriki homicide, Greenville, all they had was an unknown DNA sample that they
collected from the crime scene. >> Mhm. What they were saying was because the databases were heavily populated
with known samples that they had a bit of difficulty getting their sample in because they needed to get and I'm using
his words. All right, we are at the mercy of using the words in what Greenville PD stated publicly in the
case. They said we it took some time getting the quote appropriate amount into the system. So they say this would
be enough of a sample reliable enough for a comparison. And they said that that took time in their case. But once
it was in, Cotus then did what it was designed to do. It compared and it searched for a match. The match that
came back didn't just point to a single related incident. It reached across state lines and across time. Chief
Johnson said the DNA samples from the Zatriki homicide matched samples tied to a shooting in Portageville, Missouri.
This was a double homicide shooting in Portageville. Those Missouri events weren't isolated either. The
Portageville shootings had already been connected through ballistic tests to a separate incident, an attempted
carjacking in Dyresburg, Tennessee. I want to be clear here. It's reported in this article to be an attempted
carjacking in Dyresburg, Tennessee. We'll get into the details of that unsolved crime because nowhere else is
it reported as a carjacking, but that's neither here nor there for the moment. The Missouri crime and the Tennessee
crime happened hours apart on the same day, March 28th, 1998. So that would be 8 years after Jenny was killed in 1990
all the way in Greenville, South Carolina. The officer, officer Gumbrell, said that ballistic reports from the
Tennessee shooting occurring roughly two and a half hours after the Portageville
slayings showed that the same weapon had been used in both places. So, in other words, investigators already had and did
have for many years a weaponbased link between Missouri and Tennessee, >> right?
>> The crimes that took place in March 28th of 1998. What they didn't have was a
bridge back to Greenville and the murder in 1990. DNA supplied that bridge. >> Got him.
>> Well, no, because we don't know who any of this DNA belongs to. >> Okay. Premature. Got him.
>> The So, the DNA connections triggered direct cooperation between a bunch of agencies, right? So, I'll break this
down for you real quick. What they figured out is that the DNA from Greenville matched the DNA in the
homicides in Missouri and the gun used at the Missouri homicides was then used later that same night and what was
actually an attempted breakin to a home where the gun was was fired. Okay, so you got ballistics linking the two and
now you have DNA linking the other two together and a combination tells you that likely committed all by the same
person and the DNA confirms that at least two of them were. Okay, so this is going to trigger basically a task force
although they never refer to it as that. On the Missouri side, we're going to have agencies that get involved. We're
also going to have agencies that get involved from Tennessee and from South Carolina. Now, in regard to the DNA on
the Missouri side of it, they had their own timeline of evidence that was entered into the system. So, the
Missouri DNA sample had been entered into COTUS in March of 1998. That's what this article says. Again,
it's quite a bit more complicated than just that, and I'll have some better details and detailed information for you
in just a bit as we parse through this. So later after Missouri investigators reviewed the case, an additional DNA
sample was entered in March of 2006. This would be what would ultimately connect the incidents for
authorities. Well, and what's interesting in this investigation is early on they were looking at other
crimes and are there any other crimes that because we have some weirdness here. We have the victim in water. So,
is that happening in other crimes and can we connect those crimes to this crime? So, it shows that law enforcement
was looking into other crimes and are they connected? Are there some similarities here? I think the other
thing that's interesting in this case is also the manner of death. We have strangulation with blunt force trauma,
but I'm sure the amount of cases that have that similarity are very large. >> Yeah, it can be. The um you know, one
thing we talked about in our one of our previous episodes recently was the blunt
force trauma is a is typically a more rare form of homicide. here with the strangulation. I think the strangulation
was less intentional and more practical with Zatriki. I think that the killer thought that he had beaten her to death
and that used the panty hose to move her and did so by tying them around her neck
and then and dragging her whatever life was left ended at that time. Now, Bud Cooper, a spokesman for the Missouri
State Police, described the investigation as complicated, which I mean, we can already see that, but he
says, quote, "It's a tricky case." and he talks about how both states were now comparing details looking for
similarities that might identify the same offender across multiple crimes and of course across multiple jurisdictions
and state lines. So, we have this multi- agency task force, if you will, that was
created that would ultimately bring together the Greenville City Police Department, the Missouri State Highway
Patrol, the State Law Enforcement Division or better known as SLED, the FBI, the the 13th Circuit Solicitor's
Office, the US Marshall Service, and retired SLED Major Jim Christopher. Okay, so we have a lot of people
involved and several agencies involved in what is ultimately three homicides and what I would call an
attempted fourth or maybe even fifth homicide, >> right? But these are just the crimes
that we know of. There could be many other crimes in this case. On the Missouri side of things, their double
their double homicide case had been prominent enough to be featured multiple times on America's Most Wanted, and
investigators had already released a composite sketch. Greenville police in turn released that same composite sketch
connected to the Missouri case along with a suspect description. a white male, 30 to 50 years old, small build,
wearing glasses with straight medium length graying hair and a graying mustache. For Greenville investigators,
this was the kind of break that justifies years of hard work, years of interviews, and evidence handling. The
Zatriki case had been assigned to the department's cold case unit in 2005. And by April of 2006, the case was no longer
simply a local tragedy sealed in old files. It had become part of a larger pattern linked by DNA, reinforced by
ballistics, and now pursued by a network of agencies working collectively. Now the article closes not with a conclusion
but with the reality that a link connecting cases is not an arrest and the perpetrator had yet to be
identified. Okay, so this is major news obviously for our investigation. >> Absolutely.
>> But what but what is up with this newspaper? Again, it gives us no names. It simply just references this double
homicide in Missouri. Like it like it referenced the serial killers in other states but didn't name them. They're
hesitant to name anybody outside of their state for some reason. So >> maybe you should worry about yourself
>> and let them live their best life. >> Living their best life would be providing the best news coverage that
they possibly can. And that often involves naming people even if they don't live in the state of South
Carolina. So here we go again, Captain. We need the victim's names from the DNA linked cases. That will help make
telling our story more complete. So, we go to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
And from them, we get names and more importantly a very clear and concise timeline of events here, Captain. So,
this is March 28th, 1998, rural Portageville, Missouri. And from my understanding, I think there's only
like 3,000 residents that lived there at the time. So most of it's probably pretty rural. Anyway, at approximately
700 p.m. that night, the bodies of Sher Shearer, aged 38, and Megan Shearer, aged 12, were discovered in their home.
Both had been murdered, and Megan, the girl, had been sexually assaulted. This is from the St. Louis Post Dispatch just
days after the double homicide. And it reads, I'll just read a little part of it here. It says, "The weekend
murder of Sher Anne Shearer and her daughter Megan Elizabeth Shearer hit hard in Portageville. So far, no arrests
have been made. Anthony Sheerer discovered the bodies of his wife and daughter Saturday night at the family's
home in rural Portageville. Sheer and his son were returning home after completing farm work in nearby fields.
Authorities have not said how the mother and daughter were killed, but Missouri Highway Patrol spokesman Brett Davis
said robbery was not a motive. He reported no signs of forced entry to the home. And it says more than three dozen
officers in several departments have been called in to help investigate the crime. Many of the town's 3,000
residents offered to help investigators fixing meals, providing soda and coffee.
Dr. David Boyd, a local dentist, help cook chicken for police on Sunday, saying, "We are a strong community and
we will help the shearers through this." So, this is a double homicide at the Sheerers farmhouse. And while that
article from the the early points just days after the homicides >> does not describe how they were killed,
of course later in 2006 when we get our big breakthrough in the Jenny Zatrici case, we know that a gun was involved.
They were killed. They were shot to death. >> Right. >> And then later, >> a lot different than the case that we're
looking at. >> Absolutely. And then later about 2 and 1/2 hours or so later, we have
this that same gun is used in Dyresburg, Tennessee. All right. So approximately 2
and 1/2 hours later, an attempted home invasion and shooting was reported. A man in a van stopped, asked for
directions, and then attempted to force himself into the residence of a 25year-old female who was there alone
with a child. >> Ban the vein. >> The man produced a handgun and fired a shot during a struggle with the female.
A bullet struck her in the arm and she was able to fight off this dude and retreat inside her home. ballistics
connected the Dyer's or the Dyer County incident in Tennessee to the Sheerer murder.
>> Now, where we get the composite sketch obviously comes from the woman that fought this dude off. So, this female
provided a description of the suspect and assisted with a composite drawing of the suspect.
>> I bet he looks like a real douche burger. >> So, this is where the case gets really
complicated as the police were talking about to the public. So in 1998, a partial DNA profile was developed from
evidence at the sheer homicide scene. However, that profile lacked enough markers for entry into Cotus. So while
they had a sample, they did not have enough qualifying markers in that sample to submit it to Cotus.
>> So it it's there, they have it, but it's never entered. And then from 1998 to 2006, investigators conducted
numerous interviews, followed hundreds of leads in the Missouri case, and the cases, the Missouri case and the
composite drawing sketch from the Tennessee incident were featured on America's Most Wanted. Unfortunately,
that doesn't lead to identifying the suspect. By 2006, we have significant advances in DNA testing, which led to
evidence from the double homicide being resubmitted to the Missouri State Highway Patrols crime laboratory, which
then they develop a full suspect DNA profile and it is then entered into Cotus resulting in the match that takes
place to the April 6th, 1990 murder of Jenny Zertriki. So you can see how complicated and how over time these law
enforcement agencies refusing to give up on these cases is what is is now steering this ship and and getting
things moving in the right direction. Now obviously what they're going to do here, Captain, you have different
jurisdictions, different states, and you have different timelines because Jenny's
killed in 1990. These double homicides uh the double homicide takes place in 1998. So clearly what they want to do
now is figure out, all right, do we have anybody that lived in both places during
when these murders were committed, >> right? Because we have a distance and time and we have a distance and
distance. Right. >> Right. Did Did somebody live somewhere in in the greater Greenville area, kill
Jenny, and then later moved to the greater Portageville area? >> Yeah. and then commits the homicides
there. >> From my understanding, the the good thing here is you're also going to be
looking in Dyer County in Tennessee as well because you have the ballistics connecting the gun.
>> Yeah. Or is he a a traveler like a Israel Keys type? So they find five, I believe it was reported that five
individuals had actually lived in these two locations during the times that they're concerned about. They they put
all five of these individuals under the microscope and realize these aren't their guys
>> right >> now. These guys are the guy. And I would bet that they probably were able to
connect or sorry, collect DNA samples, buckle swabs from these individuals to confirm via DNA that that it wasn't
them. >> Open up. It's time for your buckle swab. >> Following the DNA match, investigators
from South Carolina, Tennessee, and Missouri, as said, work together to investigate over 1,200 leads. And once
again, they feature the case on America's Most Wanted. This time adding the South Carolina Greenville Jennings
and Tricky portion to the case. All right, tall cans in the air. Cheers to the people in the back.
Cheers to you, Captain. And cheers to the hardworking men and women of these law enforcement agencies that kept
working this case even as others come in. Right. And they they stuck with it and made the connections here. We're
going to have another connection. >> In May of 2017, the investigated yield the investigation yielded a COTS match
to a March 11, 1997 rape of a 14year-old female in Memphis, Tennessee. >> So different location.
>> Yeah. The victim and four other individuals were at a residence in Memphis when a man knocked on the door.
This sounds very similar to the Dyresburg situation. As the resident attempted to close the door, the man
pulled a revolver and pushed his way into the residence. The victim and witnesses provided a description and
assisted with a composite drawing of the suspect. And of course, this is 2017, so
it's going to take it wouldn't be until 2017 when they connect this to this 97 rape.
>> Mhm. >> But now we have one more violent crime. Thankfully, at this location, no one was
killed. >> Yeah. But this tells us something, I think, because in our case, in Jenny's
case, you go, "Okay, this guy knew his victim was going to be alone." But in these other cases, it's almost like he
didn't doesn't care if the person's alone or not. Especially if I have a gun, I can control the situation. I can
control the other individuals. >> Well, and some of these I try to play them out
>> with very little information. And I wonder with the Dyresburg, Tennessee case, if the mother and daughter that
were killed in Portageville, Missouri, would have been killed fairly early in the day because
we know that their bodies are found by 7:00 p.m. by the the husband and father who had returned home
>> two and a half hours later as it's reported. And this is only 40 this is only 40 miles away. So I think that when
we when we talk about the time it gets a little convoluted for some and you think that the distance is greater
than what it is. It's actually only 40 miles away. I think that it was maybe misreported as an attempted carjacking
because I think that maybe the asalent first encountered the victim maybe when they were walking from their vehicle
into their home because remember it was stated that he had knocked on the door and asked for directions. And I just
wonder if maybe they had recently arrived home and this this attacker saw a female by herself walking into the
house. I'm just kind of guessing here. >> That makes sense though. >> What we do have is we have a serial
rapist, serial murder, serial offender. And in almost all of these cases when we
are provided with some details about the crimes, the victims, the crime scenes, what was done, what was not done at the
crime scenes, we can typically see an evolution, an evolution, if you will, to their behaviors. They unfortunately, the
ones that go undetected for long periods of time, they learn from their mistakes.
They learn from their their uh their actions that and evidence that almost got them caught or identified prior and
they they get better at what they're doing. >> Mhm. >> You can almost see where this is this is
having some kind of evolution. We're just not able to put it all together here yet. And we have almost no
information regarding the the Missouri cases, the double homicide there. Even though they were fa featured on
America's Most Wanted, that they talked so little about that crime, everything they were looking for was based off of
this is the kind of gun that was used or or the the caliber of gun that was used
and this is our suspect composite sketch. That's really all they had on the America's Most Wanted
segments regarding that case. In 2018, where where we are at on our timeline, investigators sought the services of
Parabon Nano Labs, a DNA technology company. They're based in Virginia. So, Parabond's snapshot DNA analysis
technology combines DNA testing and genetic genealogy analysis to establish the relationship between an individual
and their ancestors. Parabon's process provided leads to law enforcement investigators that when combined with
traditional investigative techniques led them to the identification of Robert Eugene Brashers or as some say Brashier,
a white male date of birth March 13, 1958 as a suspect for the affforementioned cases. Bashers has been
deceased since 1999. Investigators obtained DNA samples from Mr. Brashier's surviving family members. Traditional
forensic STR test results indicated that Mr. Basher was with very little doubt responsible for those crimes. So those
crimes being the murder of Jenny Zatriki, the murders of the two shears from Missouri, and also this would be
right. We have Sher Anne Shears and her daughter Megan Elizabeth Shears. And then we know that the gun, the same gun
was used in what I think probably had he gained access to that dwelling would have resulted in the death of the woman
that fought him off and the child that was inside. >> Right. But we also have him connected to
that rape as well. Right. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. So he he is the person who committed all these crimes
deceased since 1999. They don't figure this out until 2018. And so who is this guy, right? Robert
Eugene Brashier, what we learn, he lived on Pelm Road. So he lived less than a mile from Jenny Zatriki at the time of
her murder. >> And he had been released from prison just months before Zatriky's murder
after serving time for beating and shooting a woman in Florida. So records show >> Yeah. Records show that Bashers lived in
an apartment now called the Park at Bonito at 25 Pelum Road in Greenville, South
Carolina. Now his truly it truly was the Brashier's life of crime when you look at his his life and his timeline. So
Robert Eugene Brashier's entered the world on March 13th, 1958. The story that followed would be marked again and
again by violence, confinement, and a trail of harm that investigators would spend decades trying to fully
understand. He spent most of his childhood in Huntsville, Alabama, growing up there before his family
eventually moved north to Southbend, Indiana. His school years were split between those two places. One high
school in Huntsville and another in South Bend. By the time he finished high school, his life had already carried the
sense of motion, relocations, new environments, shifting identities that would continue throughout his adulthood.
After graduating, he entered and served in the United States Navy. But this was pretty brief here, Captain. He only
served about 10 months before he was discharged due to what was described as a personality disorder or personality
disorders. Not long after, in the early8s, he moved to Louisiana and lived for a time in New Orleans. Then by the
mid 1980s, he relocated again, this time to Fort Meyers, Florida. >> Well, if you have one disorder, you
probably should have multiple disorders. >> It was in Florida that one of the earliest clearly documented acts of
extreme violence attributed to him took shape. On November 22nd, 1985, Bashiars was arrested in Port St. Lucy, Florida,
accused of assaulting a 24year-old woman named Michelle Wilkerson. So, according
to the reports, Bashiers and Wilkinson met in Fort Pierce. They spent part of that evening together at a bar.
Afterward, they left together in Brashier's vehicle. He drove them to a nearby citrus grove where they stayed in
the vehicle parked drinking Budweisers. At some point, Robert Brashier makes sexual advances. Michelle Wilkerson was
not interested and she then attempts to leave the vehicle. That attempt to get away or leave the vehicle turned the
situation violent. What a >> he reacted aggressively and a fight broke out during the struggle. He shot
Wilkerson twice. Once in the neck, once in the head. Now, despite the severity of these wounds, these injuries, somehow
she manages to get out of the vehicle. She runs and she hides. But shears gets out. He's looking around for her.
Eventually, he gives up. He can't find her. So then he drives his truck to the beach, which is nearby
>> here in Florida. He's going to start to want to try to cover up this crime, right? So he tosses his gun into the
ocean. But luckily for us, or luckily for who knows how many people, because he gets locked up for a period of time,
his little trip down to the beach is what gets him caught. His truck got stuck in the sand, and so now he's
walking out of there. Meanwhile, our victim, Wilkerson, she is able to get to safety, find her way to safety. She's
eventually taken to the hospital. But before this, she reports the crime and she tells patrol officers, "Look, she's
describing the attack, describing her attacker, describing the vehicle that she was in." And the response was
immediate. Within minutes, Brashier is apprehended while he's still walking along the beach late at night.
>> Yeah. >> So, he gets charged, captain, with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery, and using a firearm
during the commission of a crime. He receives a sentence of only 12 years in prison.
>> Not long enough. And look, most of the time, the Sasquatch is the champion of
hideand seek. But luckily for Wilkinson on that day, she was the champion of hideand seek and so glad that she was.
>> Well, and and keep in mind here too that back then in the 80s and before this as
well, of course, they were much more lenient back then with incarceration, with prison sentences, the length of
them. And unfortunately, this is going to lead to Brashier's ultimately getting an early release for good behavior. So,
he gets 12 years, but he's released on May 4th, 1989, right? And what we know is that less
than one year later, he kills Jenny Zatri. >> But isn't it a little bizarre our system, okay, this guy shoots his victim
twice. Okay, she lives, but now he gets charged with attempted murder. It should
just fall under the same category. The outcome just didn't go in his favor or the outcome didn't go the way he
planned. So what? You're going to spend the rest of your life in prison because we know
that you have the capability of doing this. >> Oh, absolutely. And I mentioned evolution earlier with these repeat
offenders, these serial rapists and serial killers. We also have the evolution of our societies. You know, in
today's trailer, I referenced the significant drop in violent crime recently here in the United States and
significant drop in homicide rates. Part of that comes it comes through by way of
of of a lot of different things here and a lot of different aspects. But but it also part of that is that we have as a
society gotten tougher on crime and these violent offenders, especially the extremely violent ones like we're
talking about here today, they're getting much lengthier sentences. I don't know because it's not in the
report to say that it never took place, but I'll take a guess here. When he was released, he wasn't placed on parole. If
he if somebody was released today, they'd be placed on parole. I'm guessing he wasn't parrolled that he was just
released because he lives in another state, >> right? >> When you're on parole, typically they
don't allow you to go move to another state. You have to get a lot of permission and there's a lot of things
that go into that. here. He's just kind of living in South Carolina, free to do what he wants. And what he wanted to do
was break into some young attractive woman's apartment in the middle of the night and rape and kill.
>> Yeah. >> Now, okay. So, we know that he's out in he gets out in ' 89, kills in 90. By
1992, Basher was arrested again, this time in Cobb County, Georgia. So, one thing I do
want to point out here is when when you review the totality of the violence and murder and evil that this guy did, we
also do need to be thankful that he was locked up a a couple of times. And in both cases, it was for roughly a handful
of years, >> right? >> Who knows how many lives were spared because of him spending what was it
about 5 years for that attempted murder. Here he gets caught again in ' 92. This
time when he's arrested in Georgia, he's arrested, he's in possession of a stolen
pistol, a stolen vehicle. What police found with him during that arrest painted a picture of someone preparing
for more than just simple theft. Okay. In his possession, officers discovered a police scanner, a police coat or jacket,
burglary tools, and a fake Tennessee driver's license. So that little collection of items suggest planning,
disguise, and an intent to evade detection and I think intent to commit some very horrific crimes.
>> Yeah. >> So he's returned to prison and he spent approximately 5 years incarcerated. He's
released in February of 1997. So, for a time that might have seemed just like another cycle for this guy,
crime, capture, prison, release, we have something a little bit different here. He's going to be met with consequences
far beyond what authorities could offer or a prison sentence could offer. Now, as we said, while he's out, we know that
he commits that double homicide in Missouri, 1998, the murder of Sherry and Megan Shears, the attempt in Dyresburg,
Tennessee, and also just before that, shortly after he was released, is that rape and hostage situation or, you know,
he ties up the the victims, the other victims that he didn't sexually assault in the house in Memphis, Tennessee.
>> Yeah. All of his crimes are similar, but they're also different. And I think that
makes him kind of unique. >> Well, and I'm wondering he's a unique piece of [ __ ]
>> Yeah. But I'm I'm wondering what prevented him from killing anybody in the Memphis situation in the Memphis
crimes because what we don't know about that incident was this did did he choose
not to kill or did something stop him from killing, >> right? >> Did he have to flee for some reason? Was
whatever he wanted to do ultimately cut short? It's it's very hard to say, but what we do know is that we do have
several crimes that he gets caught for because uh somebody fights him off or in this
situation, let's go to 1998. Bashers was arrested again, this time for another incident where he tried to break into a
home of a single woman who he had previously done some handyman work for. Okay. So, I'm guessing that he makes
bond here and then just fled. Look, I know that some people say it's unconstitutional or whatever. Sometimes
sometimes people should not be allowed bail or bond. They just shouldn't. In this situation, if that's why he wasn't
in prison, wasn't in jail waiting for the trial, then this was a huge mistake. Okay, so this is a guy clearly he's got
he's got a very violent history. He's got, even though they've not, they don't know that he's raped and murdered at
this point, he's arrested for this crime where he's attempting to break into the
home of a single woman who he had done some handyman work for. And listen to this. When he's arrested, he's caught
with a firearm, and in his possession, for some strange reason, he has a video camera, burglary tools, and he had cut
the phone line to the house. >> Well, at this point though, we do have the attempted murder. So, you got that?
>> Absolutely. That's why I'm saying I don't understand why he was released. What we do know is he was released from
custody the day after the arrest. >> Mhm. >> All I have for this one, Captain, unfortunately, is 1998. So, the the
actual release date is unclear to me, but again, it I'm guessing he may bail and they released him without having
more details of this situation. So less than a year later, his story thankfully will reach its end point. On January
13th, 1999, officers found a vehicle with a stolen tag at a motel in Ket, Missouri. Basher was located in a motel
room at a Super 8 motel along with his wife and children. It says children. He only has one daughter, so this would be
stepids. What followed was a 4-hour standoff. During the standoff, Brashier releases his wife and children. Then he
shoots himself. He did not die immediately. He was taken to a hospital. He died 6 days later. So that places his
death as January 19th, 1999. Now after his death, the cases did not end. They lingered unsolved, partially
understood, or disconnected from one another until advances in DA DNA work and forensic genealogy began stitching
separate events into a single terrifying pattern. Okay, so after his death, many
years after his death, we realize and learn that he's responsible for killing Jenny Zatriki and the double homicide in
Missouri and then the other crimes that were very violent and scary that did not
result in murder. >> It's crazy to think that somebody married this guy. Yeah, it's so after
they figure out that he's responsible for all of this these horrible activities on October 5th, 2018, the
Greenville police chief named the killer as Robert Eugene Brashers for Jenny Zutriy's death and the Shear's death in
Missouri and said, quote, "He's a violent serial rapist and murderer." Now, even with all those revelations, we
did still not know the extent, the true extent of his evil or his crimes. And I I sit here and say this in the middle of
2026 and I don't think we still know the extent of his violence and his crimes and probably murders as well, right?
>> Because now, >> we may never know. >> Yeah. So, let's let's go to the yogurt shop murders. December 6, 1991 at and at
the I can't believe it's yogurt shop in Austin, Texas. Around closing time, investigators say someone entered the
store through the back door and attacked and killed four teens before setting the
building on fire. Their hands were tied with underwear, and their mouths gagged with cloth. They were each shot in the
head, their bodies found by firefighters who were battling the blaze. Longtime listeners of this show know
that we've covered the yogurt shop murders and talked about them at length multiple times. We covered the Austin
yogurt shop murders as it was titled in February of 2017 in episodes 81 and 82. Also, yogurt shop murders 30 years later
was the title when we revisited the case in November of 2021 with episodes 539 and 540.
again in August of 2025 with two episodes, an update in September of 2025 with episode 913. That one where we
because of the good work of Austin PD were able to name Robert Eugene Brashiers as the person responsible for
the yogurt shop murders. So what led to that was again it was ballistics and DNA. Okay.
So, >> some would say one two punch. >> Yeah. Which which is what got him with those other cases as well. So, in 2022,
Austin Police Department began re-examining the 91 yogurt shop murders in Texas, collecting and testing DNA
from the scene. And they began working with and using YSTR testing and genetic genealogy. This is what would ultimately
connect Brashier to these murders. So, here we sit in 2026 with a lot more knowledge
about this guy. Several cases finally closed and solved. And we know that this guy, Robert Eugene Brashier, committed
eight murders spread out over time from 1990 to 1998 and spread out over distance
with four different states. South Carolina, then Texas, then Missouri, and ultimately Kentucky because he is then
later connected to another murder that took place in the state of Kentucky. And that was the murder of Linda Rutled. She
was 43 years old. And this took place in Lexington, Kentucky. Rutled's body was found in a
fire at a hearing aid business in Lexington on November 7th, 1998. Investigators determined that she had
been shot in the head multiple times. But that's what's fascinating though is in some of the crimes he's using water
to try to cover up the crime. In some cases, he he's using fire. And then when you see the totality
of the the br the brutal carnage that this guy, like you said, the evolution, it makes the yogurt shop case make a lot
more sense. He he didn't care if there was two people there or four people there. It didn't matter to him. We've
seen him in other crimes go, "Hey, doesn't matter that there's other people here as long as I can control them." And
then we see why I can control you with a gun and then can control you by binding
you. >> Yeah. In 91 he was probably he may have still been living in South Carolina. He lived in a
in several different states over the years. He did his father lived out west at some point and he would
travel out to see him and he also traveled for work conveniently for his purposes from time to time. And it could
be as simple as he stops in the yogurt shop. I think not for the purpose of getting a snack. I think he may have
stopped there on purpose because young people tend to hang out there. These types of businesses can be high risk for
robbery. While robbery may not have been his motive, maybe he stops in for a snack. I don't know. But what what I'm
getting at here is what do we see in some of these crimes? They're all sexually motivated homicides. The
break-ins are all sexually motivated. He he rapes and he murders. But when given
the opportunity, when there's more than one female present, once he takes control of the scene, he sexually
assaults the youngest female there. >> Right. And I think that somehow he ended up at that yogurt shop on that fateful
night and he discovered, oh, there's a couple teenage girls working. And if in fact he was the individual that went to
the back to use the restroom, as we know, did take place that night based off of several customers that were there
that night. A male did go to the back to use the restroom at some point. if he encountered the other two girls that
were staying back there that were waiting for the their girl the girls to get off work to close the shop. He
encountered two younger girls and he realizes, oh, I have a situation here. There's no adults. There's no male. He
may have wedged something in that back door and came in later or he may have remained seated at one of those tables
later that night. Like you said, the other crime that took place where he had other victims that he had tied up,
committed the rape, and didn't kill the victims. We don't know if his plan was foiled.
And but this guy is just uh like the definition of violence. >> I spent a good deal of time praising law
enforcement here in these cases, and rightfully so. They they did great work on these cases. Th this is where I'm
going to >> give [ __ ] >> Well, to give a little uh critique here because what do we have where it sits 2026?
We have multiple agencies all saying the same thing. Look, we think he's probably
good for other homicides in other states, other locations, what have you. Okay, how about you provide us with a
physical description of this bastard? Right. We provided to you a general appearance, a description of his general
appearance based off of what they collected and who they were looking for from the Tennessee case, the the
attempted breakin when he attempted to push that door in. And we have a a composite sketch of the guy. But nowhere
after more than a week of searching could I find any department anywhere telling us his height and his weight.
You have multiple agencies that all seem to agree that this guy's likely killed elsewhere, but they do not provide us
with his height and his weight. Size, we are told that he was on the smaller side.
>> But help us to help you. We saw in our recent case, suspect number one, as we
titled the episodes, how something so simple as just the height of an individual is very important to an
investigation. and it can separate someone and place them into one of two categories. A good suspect or someone
that we are not so interested in. >> Seems like some of these guys are small and angry.
>> He reminds me because of the way that the cases both played out and their level of violence and how evil these
guys were. This is very similar to the Colonial Parkway murders where they ultimately determined that
Allan Wade Wilmer Senior was responsible for some of those homicides. And of course, they didn't figure that out
until after he was dead. >> Yeah. There's something I guess not as satisfying. >> Oh, absolutely. because you want them to
have to face those charges to face society. But so what else has this guy done? I I
think hopefully if he's responsible for more that we will find that out and we'll get closer. Again, if you are a
member of one of those agencies or you have access to the information that we are seeking, let's let us know his
height and his weight. Um, look, he he had driver's license. He was sentenced to prison multiple times. So, that
information, those records exist. >> Um, there's no reason to not put them out there. Especially when your agency
is saying, "We think he's good for something else. Don't just walk away from this guy because you cleared and
closed your case in your jurisdiction." >> Yeah. And like in the Colonial Parkway
murders, when they figured out who it was that was at least connected to one or two of the crimes, they released a
bunch of photos of this individual, all all of his prison photos, and you could see that his look did change throughout
the years. So by releasing that information, you might get somebody else that never came forward.
>> Yeah. and you may have a incident where you don't have the DNA or you don't have
the ballistics. So, we have the Missouri crime and the Dyresburg crime. We should
point out that it would be nice to know exactly where he lived and when if that information if those records do exist.
He did live for a considerable amount of time in Arkansas near the end of his life. And in fact,
where he committed suicide in Missouri, where he committed the double homicide in Missouri, and where he committed the
attempted breakin in Dyresburg, Tennessee, were all very close to where he was living in Arkansas. But he was
sophisticated enough to know, you know what, I'll just because it's nearby, I'll just drive across state lines
and that will be advantageous to me potentially getting away with these murders, which ultimately he he did when
you think about it, he while he did take his own life and he didn't live a full life, thank God, he he did get away with
it while he was here. Yeah, he spent a little time in prison, but for the most part of his life, he spent freely
roaming the country committing these horrible crimes. >> And I don't know where he's buried now.
He may be in the same cemetery as he was before, but he was buried for a time in
Arkansas. >> Well, let's go find his grave and pee all over it. >> At least buried there before he was
exumed. The body was exumed for further DNA testing to confirm everything. What I'm really curious about here, Captain,
based off of what we know about serial killers and typically when they start in life. Now, they're all unique. They're
all different from one another and they all behave differently and start and may
even stop at different times of their lives. But I'm he would have been old enough that I'm really curious about his
time in New Orleans in Louisiana. I would look for a female victim there with a very similar MMO as what we saw
in the Port St. Lucy case. >> Mhm. >> We know that Brashier is attacked and killed close to home with the Port St.
Lucy and Greenville cases. So, I would look close to home for possible crimes, rapes, murders early in his adult life.
He also had some time in Tennessee and Georgia as well. The The other thing that scares me is the police jacket, the
fake driver's license. He's showing up to a crime scene with a video camera. So, Brashier's family life. Later in
life, he's committing crimes a little bit further away. He's kind of driving out doing this. And maybe this is
because he's getting, you know, he's got family by this time. His life has changed a little bit. But in regard to
his family life, Basher's family, his daughter, and remember, uh, there would have been some stepkids there,
>> his wife's mother, his wife's mother told her that you let the devil in when you met this man, and she could not have
been more right. Now, this is before anybody knew that he had committed all these murders. Basher's daughter
Deborah, who would now be in her 30s, was interviewed by reporters to recount some details of her father's life. This
is before he was identified as the perpetrator of the yogurt shop murders. So, she says she was born in 1991. She
says that she first saw her father in early 97. This makes sense because he would have just been released from
prison at that time, right? She's born in ' 91. He gets locked up in '92, goes away for about 5 years. She only
actually knows her father for two years because remember he dies by suicide in 1999. But according to the daughter for
those two years, Brashier lived with her her mother and her halfsisters. Deborah believes that her mother,
Dorothy, who died in December of 2018 at the age of 53, knew about her father's past activities
because she says that they were told as kids to call him by different names at different times and to keep him inside
the house. In addition to all of this, the daughter Deborah stated that his job at a
construction firm led him to be absent from the house. sometimes for weeks at a time. And we know that this guy, it's in
his blood. He's evil to the core. He's always looking for a victim. Now, one tool here, and this will be the
recommendation for this week. There is a interactive map that was put together by
WVLT8 News8. This is at wvlt.tv. TV. They have a great online coverage of this story on their website that they
put out in January of this year. I'll attempt to share that link on Instagram and Twitter. There is a video and
several pictures. These are images of the many victims of Brashiers. But this also contains an interactive map. So you
can click on it on the different points and it will bring up different parts of the story because with all of the
movement and all the different markers on our timeline here, this is not an easy story. Just like the detective
said, this is a complicated case. This is a tricky case. Want to thank everybody for joining us
here in the garage. Thanks for telling your mother. Thanks for sharing on social media and make sure you subscribe
to the podcast. Until next week, >> be good, be kind, and don't live. Heat. Heat.

Free Roaming Predator /// Part 2 /// 940

Part 2 of 2

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In 2006, the Greenville, South Carolina Police Department announced that they had connected one of their unsolved homicides from 1990 to two unsolved homicides that had occurred hundreds of miles away in Missouri. This meant that investigators were not dealing with isolated, unrelated crimes. They were dealing with a linked series. Events connected by a single source, a single method, a single offender who traveled. Yet, the announcement came with a crucial limitation: they did not know the identity of the killer. But they knew the nature of the threat.

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Brief Summary

The episode details the Jenny Zatriki case and its connections to multiple violent crimes through DNA evidence, leading to suspect Robert Eugene Brashier.

Key points

Significant Break in Homicide Case. After 16 years, renewed interest leads to a major breakthrough in the Jenny Zatriki case.
Double Homicide in Portageville. The bodies of Sher and Megan Shearer are discovered, marking a tragic event in the community.
The Evolution of a Serial Offender. Investigators discuss the evolution of Brashier's violent behavior over time.
DNA Technology Uncovers a Killer. Parabon Nano Labs helps identify Robert Eugene Brashier as a suspect in multiple cases.
Brashier's Violent History. A look into Robert Eugene Brashier's criminal past and violent acts.
The Yogurt Shop Murders Solved. DNA connects Brashier to the infamous yogurt shop murders in Austin, Texas.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's a tricky case.

Bud Cooper, a spokesman for the Missouri State Police, describes the investigation.

12:53WatchJul 1, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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