A man confessed to killing a 23-year-old woman 45 years after children discovered her body in a Texas field on their way to school, police said.
The ongoing investigation into Yolanda Herrera’s cold-case murder involved further testing of DNA evidence, leading Texas Rangers to Arizona, where they met with her alleged killer, Kelly Lee Brower Sr., according to a Universal City police news conference on Tuesday, August 25, shared by KSAT-TV.
Herrera vanished on an early Saturday morning, on April 11, 1981, after leaving the Johnny’s Inn bar, which had been located in Universal City and is no longer in business, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Universal City is a suburb of San Antonio.
Two days later, she was found dead, and naked, in a field, authorities said.
Schoolchildren had discovered Herrera’s body, WOAI-TV reported.
An investigation revealed Herrera had been killed and died of several injuries, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“Evidence suggests she was sexually assaulted prior to her death,” the department said.
During her autopsy, fingernail scrapings and bodily fluid were collected as DNA evidence, Universal City Police Department Lt. Stephen Rios said at the news conference, per KSAT-TV.
The investigation into her murder continued over the years without any leads to potential suspects, according to Rios. But that would change.
“DNA technology was advancing, and in 2021, a male DNA profile was obtained,” Rios told reporters. “But there were no matches in the database.”
The last name, Brower, was eventually linked to the case due to genetic genealogy, according to authorities. However, DNA testing was still limited until 2025, when Othram Laboratories tested the available evidence.
Othram’s forensic genetic genealogy team helped investigators in identifying Brower, 62, as a suspect, according to the company.
Authorities learned that Brower was a Universal City resident when Herrera was killed, KSAT-TV reported.
As a result of the new breakthrough in the case, Brower allegedly admitted to killing Herrera when Texas Rangers met with him in Arizona, according to authorities.
Brower was arrested in Arizona in relation to her death, and is awaiting extradition to Bexar County, Texas, police said.
“It’s a rewarding feeling to know that we never gave up on Yolanda,” Steve Mihalski, assistant chief of the Universal City Police Department, said at the news conference, according to WOAI-TV.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Brower had retained legal counsel.
