August 20, 2024
Susan Leigh Wolfe was just 25 years old when she was found murdered on a street in Austin in January of 1980.
Wolfe, a student studying natural sciences at the University of Texas, also worked nights as a mental health aide. She was working towards becoming a nurse, and was due to begin her first nursing class just days before she was slain.
She regularly walked or cycled to and from the nightshifts at the hospital, and although it worried her parents that she was walking alone at night, they said Susan was never worried for her own safety.
Those who knew her described her as compassionate towards others, and hard working. She wanted to make her own way in life without help from anyone, a quality her parents admired.
On January 9, 1980, at around 10:45pm, Wolfe left her home on 212 Franklin Boulevard, and began walking to a neighbor’s house. Wolfe's home, which she lived at with fellow nursing student, Robert Schacher, had been fumigated for cockroaches that day, and she planned to sleep over at a neighbors place 109 E 49th Street, while her own home aired out.
She was carrying an overnight bag with things she would need, and passed a resident feeding his dogs outside on the 200 block of Franklin Boulevard.
Wolfe dropped something, and leaned over to retrieve it, when, suddenly, a car with two male passengers wearing trench coats, pulled up at the curb side.
One of the men sprung out of the car, threw a coat over Wolfes head, and grabbed her in a bear hug, bundling her into the vehicle.
It was only after he heard the victim drop something, that the resident feeding his dogs realised that anything untoward was occurring. He looked up to see Wolfe being stuffed into the vehicle before it tore off into the night.
Noone would ever see Susan Leigh Wolfe alive again.
The abduction was reported, and police at the scene found the victim’s overnight bag on the ground. They put out a description of the vehicle, but no tips leading to an arrest came in.
The witness said the vehicle looked like a 1971 or 1972 white vinyl / maroon, two door, Dodge Polara, with a damaged passenger-side door- likely sustained in a major collision.
The next morning, at around 8:00am, a woman on 17th street discovered Wolfe's body in an alleyway along the 2000 block of E. 17th Street.
The details of what happened to Wolfe following her abduction will never be fully known, however, trauma and injuries to her body painted a grim picture of the students last moments.
She was naked from the waist up, and had a black eye, as well as bruising to other parts of her body, and there was evidence of sexual assault.
She had been strangled with a ligature, but the cause of death was later deemed to be a fatal gunshot wound to the left temple.
DNA evidence was collected from the victim’s body, and kept in evidence for four decades.
For a few nights before Wolfe's abduction and murder, residents in the surrounding areas had complained of seeing a car with two male passengers circling the area at night. They described the vehicle as "dark" and "beat up."
According to articles from the time, police obtained a composite sketch of the vehicle in an unconventional way- by apparently hypnotizing a witness, an auto body repairman, who had seen the abduction happen. They took the image of the vehicle and canvassed the area in the hope that residents would recognize the car.
At the time, detectives admitted this was their “best clue.”
Although investigators followed up on leads, and questioned persons of interest in the case, no arrest was ever made.
In April 2023, four decades after Wolfe’s murder, DNA evidence taken from the victim's body was deemed viable, and a male profile was created. This DNA profile was then entered into the Combined DNA Index System, CODIS, and a possible match came back. This profile belonged to an incarcerated individual in Massachusetts.
Two months later, in June 2024, a DNA search warrant was issued, and a sample was taken from the inmate for comparison to the DNA evidence found on Wolfe's body.
The suspect was identified as Deck Brewer Jr., 78.
The results, as published on the City of Austin government website, are as follows:
Deck Brewer Jr. cannot be excluded as the contributor of the partial major component in this DNA profile. The probability of selecting an unrelated person at random who could be the contributor of the partial major component in this DNA profile is approximately 1 in 550.5 quintillion. One quintillion is followed by 18 zeros.
Media outlets report that Brewer Jr. is incarcerated due to violating parole in connection to a 2006 kidnapping and rape conviction in Massachusetts.
He also mentioned to police that he was in Texas in 1980, specifically Austin and San Antonio. He stopped talking to detectives after being informed that his DNA was recovered from the victim.
Police are still searching for the identity of the second man, and the case is ongoing.
If you, or anybody you know, has any information, is urged to call the APD Cold Case unit at 512-974-5250.
Tips can be submitted anonymously through the Capital Area Crime Stoppers Program either online at austincrimestoppers.org or by phone at 512-472-8477.
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