The Yogurt Shop Murders and Serial Killer Robert Eugene Brashers: Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick on Holograms, Hate Mail, and Homicide
Murder Sheet
MurderSheet
3.8 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2026
⏱️ 67 minutes
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Summary
Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick is a major figure in the world of investigative or forensic genetic genealogy, and she's helped solve many cold cases. Today, we will speak about a few of those cases.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Anya, and today we're going to talk to a woman who's responsible for a lot of cold cases getting |
| 0:06.0 | solved. Content warning, this episode contains discussion of murder, suicide, and rape. Dr. Colleen |
| 0:11.7 | Fitzpatrick is a figure in crime solving who truly needs no introduction, but we'll give it a go anyway. |
| 0:18.3 | Her background is in nuclear physics, and she earned her doctorate from Duke University. |
| 0:23.9 | She spent years working with lasers and holograms. |
| 0:27.3 | Then in 2005, she published the book Forensic Genealogy. |
| 0:31.4 | For years since then, she's helped pioneer investigative genetic genealogy, |
| 0:35.8 | or forensic genetic genealogy, commonly called fig. |
| 0:39.8 | She's helped solve numerous cold cases, from unsolved murders to unidentified do's. |
| 0:45.7 | Dr. Fitzpatrick co-founded the DNA Doe Project. |
| 0:49.7 | She also founded Identifinders International, a company specializing in using forensic genetic genealogy to solve violent crime cases and cases of unidentified human remains. |
| 1:03.6 | Dr. Fitzpatrick's career is truly remarkable and in many ways singular. So it's no surprise that her name recently came up in yet another big cold case. |
| 1:12.7 | When the Austin Police Department in Texas announced the identification of serial killer Robert |
| 1:17.8 | Eugene Breshears as the perpetrator of the vicious December 6, 1991 killings at the I Can't Believe |
| 1:24.8 | It's Yogurt Shop, where he terrorized and murdered 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, 13-year-old Amy Ayers, and the Harbison sisters, 17-year-old Jennifer and 15-year-old Sarah. |
| 1:35.8 | Lead Detective Dan Jackson thanked many different people for their help on the case. |
| 1:40.3 | Dr. Fitzpatrick was on that list. |
| 1:42.7 | Today, we will speak with her about her career, which went through a variety of iterations |
| 1:47.3 | across many disciplines before she actually began her genetic genealogy work. |
| 1:52.4 | We will also talk about some of the cases that she's worked on, the Phoenix Canal murders, |
| 1:56.9 | the Yogurtop murders, the murder of Gwen Miller, the identification of Joseph Newton-Shandler, |
| 2:02.6 | and more. We'll also get a sense of her personality. I love her sense of humor, and talking to |
... |
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