The Travis County Sheriff’s Office and the Austin Police Department offered updates today on separate, haunting cold cases that have left families and the community seeking closure for years. In 1980, University of Texas at Austin nursing student Susan Leigh Wolfe was abducted and murdered, a case which perplexed the Austin Police Department (APD) for over 44 years until new DNA evidence led to the recent arrest of Deck Brewer Jr., according to a report by KVUE. Concurrently, the Travis County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) is renewing its call for information in the unresolved 2022 murder of 18-year-old Wilbert "Willie" Vázquez-Lopez.
Details from the cold cases shed light on the tireless efforts to find justice for victims; the APD's Cold Case Unit submitted DNA evidence last year in Wolfe's case, which led to a match with Brewer Jr., a 77-year-old man currently in prison in Massachusetts, as detailed in the original report by KVUE; TCSO detailed the night of August 19, 2022, when Vázquez-Lopez was shot on his front porch and later succumbed to his injuries, outlined in an update provided by KXAN. The events surrounding the shooting and Wolfe's abduction remain pieced together by witness accounts and forensic science, years apart but unified in the common pursuit of truth and justice.
The case of Wolfe's murder turned a critical corner when APD detectives received Brewer Jr.’s DNA match from the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) this year after the sample was submitted to the Texas Department of Public Safety's Crime Laboratory in April 2023, Brewer Jr. was formally charged with Wolfe's murder following a direct comparison of his DNA with the evidence found on Wolfe's body, but the questions linger as APD continues their search for another individual believed to be involved in the abduction.
As for the 2022 cold case of Vázquez-Lopez, Sheriff Sally Hernandez is hoping for "answers for Willy’s family" and emphasized that they should "not lose hope and get the justice they need" during a briefing, where Willy’s mother remembered her son fondly, noting his kindness and affability, with her statement captured and translated by KXAN, "I remember him for who he was, always happy, always friendly, always loving with everyone he had so many friends. We his family and all his friends always remember him all the time." Sheriff Hernandez and APD echo a united call for the public's assistance in these ongoing investigations, urging anyone with information to step forward.
While the successes in Wolfe's case offer some measure of solace, the TCSO's search for answers in the death of Vázquez-Lopez evidences that closure remains a priceless commodity in the economy of justice—difficult to secure, yet indispensable for peace. Information related to Susan Leigh Wolfe’s cold case can be submitted to the APD Cold Case Unit at 512-974-5250 or to Crime Stoppers at 512-459-TIPS, and details on the Vázquez-Lopez case to the TCSO cold case hotline.
