Docuseries Team Races to Add New Chapter After DNA Breakthrough in 1991 Murders

Margaret Brown’s HBO docuseries on the 1991 Austin yogurt shop murders originally concluded without identifying a perpetrator, leaving families without closure. Two days after the series aired, lead investigator Dan Jackson revealed that DNA evidence connected deceased serial killer Robert Brashers to the crime, prompting Brown to halt a new project and return to Austin with producer Alice Henty. Within a weekend the team filmed an unexpected fifth episode, providing the victims’ relatives with a name after 35 years.

The series, which earned a nonfiction Emmy nomination, joins a short list of murder-focused documentaries recognized by the Television Academy in the past decade. Brown, whose first true-crime effort also lists Emma Stone as a producer, says the show aims to explore how people process grief through the genre. She notes varied reactions, especially among women, and wonders whether the genre’s dark content limits its awards appeal. Despite the genre’s popularity with audiences, industry recognition remains limited.