On a December night in 1991, four teenage girls were found bound, gagged, and burned inside an Austin yogurt shop, a crime so brutal it stunned the nation. For years, police pursued a tangled investigation that led to false confessions, overturned convictions, and lingering doubt. Decades later, advances in DNA testing would upend everything, pointing not to the four accused young men, but to an unknown perpetrator whose identity remains elusive. In this episode, we revisit the case that defined a generation of true-crime skepticism, unpack the missteps that derailed justice, and explore how the cosmos of that night mirrored the tension between illusion and truth, a tragic reflection of innocence lost and faith in the system forever shaken.

SHOW NOTES:

Connect with us across streaming platforms and social media, and explore ways to support our work through our Linktree.

Cosmic Crimes Podcast Linktree

If you are new to astrology and/or are getting lost or confused during the episodes, we created a free guide of all-things-astrology on Substack for you to reference so you can listen along with ease. Click the link below!

Astrology Basics

SOURCES:

ABC News. "Genetic Genealogy, Police Work Credited with Solving 1998 Murders of a Woman and Her Daughter." ABC News, 5 Oct. 2018.

Associated Press. "I Can't Believe It's Yogurt Murders: The DNA Breakthrough." AP National Wire, 27 Sept. 2025.

City of Austin. "Austin Police Make Significant Breakthrough in 1991 I Can't Believe It's Yogurt Murder Case." AustinTexas.gov, 26 Sept. 2025.

District Attorney's Office of Travis County. Yogurt Shop Murders Case Resolution Notice. Public statement by District Attorney José Garza confirming DNA match to Robert Eugene Brashers, Sept. 2025.

FBI Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP). Cross-Jurisdiction Violent Offender Profile: Robert E. Brashers. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Genealogical Forensic Unit Records, 2025.

Greenville News. "DNA and Genetic Genealogy Link Robert Brashers to Zitricki Murder Across Three States." GreenvilleOnline.com, 5 Oct. 2018.

KFVS-TV. "'My Father Was a Serial Killer': Robert Brashers' Daughter Speaks Out." KFVS12.com, 5 Feb. 2019.

KUT / Texas Standard Public Radio. APD Confirms Genealogical DNA Match in 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders. Broadcast segment and transcript, 28 Sept. 2025.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Records Archive. Incident Report: Self-Inflicted Gunshot Death of Robert E. Brashers, Kennett, MO, Jan. 1999.

People. "Austin Police Make 'Significant Breakthrough' in Murders of 4 Teen Girls at Yogurt Shop, Name New Suspect 34 Years Later." People.com, 27 Sept. 2025.

The Austin Chronicle. "Case Against Springsteen and Scott Collapses After New DNA Evidence." Austin Chronicle Archives, June 2009.

The Guardian. Dodd, Vikram. "Men Freed After DNA Fails to Link Them to 1991 Austin Yogurt Shop Murders." The Guardian, 2009.

The New York Times. "Cold Case Cracked by Genealogical DNA: Texas Yogurt Shop Murders Linked to Serial Offender." NYT National Desk, 29 Sept. 2025.

The Washington Post. "DNA Testing Links Dead Man to Texas Yogurt Shop Killings, Police Say." The Washington Post, 27 Sept. 2025.

Travis County Medical Examiner's Office. Yogurt Shop Homicides: Autopsy File Compilation, Case Nos. 91-12-07-A1 to A4 (including soot inhalation determination for victim Amy Ayers).

WYFF-TV. "Suspect in 1991 Texas Yogurt Shop Murders Tied to 1990 Greenville Killing." WYFF4.com, 29 Sept. 2025.

In September 2004, London was gripped by a wave of seemingly random violence that left four people dead and two others severely injured. The attacker, 24-year-old Daniel Gonzalez, moved through the city like a horror-film villain come to life, mask on, knives drawn, and an obsession with becoming a "famous serial killer." Diagnosed with schizophrenia years earlier, Gonzalez had cycled through psychiatric care and warning signs that went unheeded until it was too late. In this episode, we trace the brutal timeline of his two-day killing spree, the chilling writings that revealed his fantasies, and how his chart, anchored by a Cancer Sun and Libra Moon, reflects the desperate need for validation, emotional chaos, and fractured sense of self that spiraled into real-world horror.

SHOW NOTES:

Connect with us across streaming platforms and social media, and explore ways to support our work through our Linktree.

Cosmic Crimes Podcast Linktree

If you are new to astrology and/or are getting lost or confused during the episodes, we created a free guide of all-things-astrology on Substack for you to reference so you can listen along with ease. Click the link below!

Astrology Basics

SOURCES:

Independent Investigation into the Care and Treatment of Daniel Gonzalez. NHS South East Coast Strategic Health Authority, Department of Health, 2009.

Dodd, Vikram. "Man Guilty of Killing Four People in Two-Day Stabbing Roam." The Guardian, 16 Mar. 2006.

"Spree Killer 'Like Horror Movie Villain.'" BBC News, BBC, 16 Mar. 2006.

Laville, Sandra. "Killer Who Wanted to Be Freddy Krueger Jailed for Life." The Telegraph, 17 Mar. 2006.

"Mother Warned Doctors Son Would Kill." BBC News, BBC, 17 Mar. 2006.

Hansard. Parliamentary Debates (UK House of Commons), vol. 446, 2006. Reference to constituent correspondence regarding Daniel Gonzalez.

Regina v. Gonzalez (Old Bailey Court Records), 2006. Crown Prosecution Service Archive Summary.

Crown Prosecution Service. "Press Statement on Sentencing of Daniel Gonzalez." CPS Media Briefing, 2006.

"Daniel Gonzalez: Timeline of a Spree Killer." Evening Standard, 18 Mar. 2006.

"Inside Broadmoor: The Case of Daniel Gonzalez." Channel 4 Dispatches Documentary Transcript, 2007.

Behind the lace curtains of a modest Sacramento boarding house, Dorothea Puente cultivated the image of a kind grandmotherly caretaker. But in reality, she was orchestrating one of California's most chilling murder-for-profit schemes. Throughout the 1980s, Puente preyed on the vulnerable, elderly and disabled tenants who trusted her with their lives, while secretly cashing their benefit checks and burying their bodies in her backyard. In this episode, we unravel the haunting timeline of her crimes, explore how she evaded suspicion for so long, and examine her astrological chart. With both her Sun and Moon in Capricorn, Puente embodied cold pragmatism and ruthless ambition, while her Gemini Mars added a calculating, manipulative edge, making her a master at deception, control, and survival.

SHOW NOTES:

Connect with us across streaming platforms and social media, and explore ways to support our work through our Linktree.

Cosmic Crimes Podcast Linktree

If you are new to astrology and/or are getting lost or confused during the episodes, we created a free guide of all-things-astrology on Substack for you to reference so you can listen along with ease. Click the link below!

Astrology Basics

SOURCES:

"Dorothea Puente." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, last edited 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Puente. Accessed 15 Sept. 2025.

"Dorothea Puente home and more historic stories." The Sacramento Bee, 27 Oct. 2024.

"The People v. Dorothea Montalvo Puente criminal case records." California Digital Library, Online Archive of California, Center for Sacramento History, oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8b85fn5. Accessed 15 Sept. 2025.

Padock, Richard C., and Carla Norton. "Landlady Guilty in Murders of Three Tenants." Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 1993.

"Landlady Guilty in 3 Murders." The Washington Post, 26 Aug. 1993, d45e4906-5c7e-486a-9737-a2832d953d9d.

"Oxygen: Who Were Serial Killer Dorothea Puente's Victims?" Oxygen.com, Gina Tron, 9 Apr. 2021.

"Dorothea Puente: How California Serial Killer Was Caught." Oxygen.com, Becca van Sambeck, 15 Apr. 2021.