More than 45 years after University of Texas nursing student Susan Leigh Wolfe was abducted off an Austin street and killed, a Travis County judge has finally sentenced the man police say is responsible. Last Wednesday, Deck Brewer Jr. received his punishment in a case that has shadowed Austin for decades, according to Forensic Magazine.
How DNA finally cracked the case
The break came when detectives submitted preserved sexual assault evidence from Wolfe’s autopsy to the Texas Department of Public Safety crime laboratory in April 2023. By February 2024, the lab had developed a male STR DNA profile that Austin police entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). Weeks later, CODIS flagged a possible contributor in Massachusetts, giving investigators the lead they had hunted for since 1980. As reported by Forensic Magazine, that match set in motion interstate warrants and additional testing.
From match to courtroom
After the CODIS hit, investigators obtained a DNA search warrant, and Austin Police Department detectives traveled to Massachusetts in July 2024 to collect a sample for direct comparison. Testing later confirmed the match. Records show the man identified by CODIS was already incarcerated in Massachusetts on unrelated charges when Austin detectives moved to secure an arrest warrant. CBS News documented the probable cause and warrant timeline and reported that the suspect invoked his right to counsel after being told that DNA evidence tied him to the homicide scene.
Sentencing and family reaction
Local reporting indicates Brewer was convicted and sentenced last week. He received an eight-year prison term as part of a plea agreement, according to MySA. The Austin Police Department praised its Cold Case Unit in a Facebook post, saying detectives’ persistence helped bring a measure of closure to Wolfe’s loved ones. Court coverage also notes that Brewer, described as frail, was required at sentencing to address Wolfe’s family and identify a co-conspirator. As reported by KXAN via Yahoo, the judge rejected earlier plea offers twice before accepting the deal that resulted in last week’s sentence.
What the evidence shows
According to investigators and the DPS report, the DNA profile developed from the preserved evidence could not exclude Brewer as a contributor. The laboratory estimated that the probability of an unrelated person matching the same profile was about 1 in 550.5 quintillion. That statistical weight, detailed in local coverage and forensic summaries, was the central reason prosecutors moved forward after decades without an arrest. Forensic reporting that republishes Austin police materials lays out the testing steps and the limits of the evidence in detail; see Forensic Magazine for the lab excerpts.
Investigators still want witnesses
Despite the conviction, Austin police say detectives still believe there was a passenger in the car the night Wolfe was taken. They are asking anyone with information to contact the Cold Case Unit at 512-974-5250. The department’s tip lines and its ongoing appeal for witnesses were detailed in local reporting by FOX 7 Austin.
For the Wolfe family, whose parents have since died, the conviction and sentence provide some accountability but not all the answers they waited a lifetime to hear. The Austin Police Department again highlighted detectives’ persistence in a Facebook post, as noted by MySA. An earlier report also tracks the moment the case first roared back into national view in 2024, when the arrest was announced: 2024 arrest that first made national headlines.
