Yolanda Herrera was 23 years old when she vanished walking home to Universal City in the early hours of April 11, 1981, after leaving Johnny’s Inn in Schertz. Two days later, two children discovered her nude body in a greenbelt off East Aviation Boulevard, her body showing evidence of beating and sexual assault. For 45 years, the case sat unsolved — until DNA collected from underneath her fingernails during her original autopsy finally pointed investigators to a name.
Universal City police announced this week that Kelly Lee Brower Sr., now 68, has been arrested in Cottonwood, Arizona, in connection with Herrera’s murder, according to WOAI. Brower was 23 years old at the time of the killing — the same age as Herrera — and lived in Universal City in 1981, according to reporting from Oliver Willis. Investigators say they do not believe Herrera and Brower knew each other.
Corporal Caitlin Brown told WOAI the killing appeared to be a crime of opportunity, with no indication the two had any prior relationship. Assistant Chief Steve Mahalski said the case was never removed from investigators’ desks, adding that detectives remained committed to solving it and never gave up on Yolanda or her family, the station reports.
How a 45-Year-Old DNA Sample Finally Talked
Investigators preserved DNA collected from underneath Herrera’s fingernails during her 1981 autopsy, but for decades the sample was too small for the testing technology available at the time. In 2021, testing did manage to produce a male DNA profile, per WOAI’s reporting, but it turned up no matches in any available databases, leaving investigators without a lead…