A suspect has been identified in the murder of a 25-year-old University of Texas nursing student that happened more than 40 years ago, Austin police said.
Dec Brewer Jr., 78, was charged with murder Wednesday after DNA testing on evidence relating to the sexual assault of Susan Lee Wolfe turned up a match, police said in a news release. Brewer is already serving time in Massachusetts on unrelated charges.
Wolf, a nursing student at the University of Texas at Austin, was walking to a friend’s house on the night of January 3, 1980, after having her house sprayed with insecticide. Witnesses say they saw a 1970 Dodge Polara pull up, the driver get out, grab Wolf in a “bear hug,” pull his coat over his head and force him into the car. The witness also saw the passenger door of the car open, but “did not see what the passenger was doing during the kidnapping.” Police are still searching for the person.
Wolf’s body was discovered the following morning in an alley in the 2000 block of East 17th Street in Austin. The cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound to the head, and the manner of death was determined to be homicide. Police said she had been strangled and there were signs of having been sexually assaulted.
Evidence of the sexual assault left behind by one of the suspects was kept by the Austin Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab throughout the investigation.
Over the years, the investigation has yielded more than 40 suspects, with six suspects being interviewed. In April 2023, detectives submitted evidence relating to Wolf’s sexual assaults to the Texas State Police Crime Lab. Nearly a year later, the six suspects were ruled out and profiles were created using DNA test results.
Texas DPS entered the profile from the results into the Combined DNA Index System, which operates local, state and national DNA profiling from convicted offenders, missing persons and unsolved crime scene evidence. In March, APD received notification from Texas DPS that a possible match had been found in Massachusetts. Detectives reviewed a report from the Massachusetts State Police Forensic Science Division and identified Brewer, 78, as a possible contributor to the profile created by Texas DPS.
In July, Austin police detectives obtained a DNA sample from Brewer and interviewed him in Massachusetts. During the conversation, Brewer said he was in San Antonio and Austin at the time of the murders and asserted his right to legal representation after being told his DNA was found at the murder scene.
Brewer’s DNA sample was tested and it was determined that “he cannot be excluded as a partial major component contributor in this DNA profile,” the report excerpt states.
“The probability of randomly selecting an unrelated individual who could be a partial major contributor in this DNA profile is approximately 1 in 550.5 quintillion – 1 quintillion followed by 18 zeros,” the report said.
In August, Austin Municipal Court determined there was probable cause to issue an arrest warrant for Brewer for Wolf’s murder.
The investigation is ongoing and APD is following up on leads to find the passenger who was in the car when Wolf was abducted.
APD is asking anyone with information about the incident to contact the Cold Case Unit at (512) 974-5250. Anonymous tips can also be submitted at austincrimestoppers.org or by calling (512) 472-8477.
