Suspect arrested in 1981 cold case murder of 23-year-old woman who was found dead after leaving bar

BEXAR COUNTY, Texas. (KBTX/Gray News) - Authorities have identified a suspect in the 1981 cold-case murder of a 23-year-old woman who was found dead after leaving a bar.

The suspect, Kelly Lee Brower, 68, was arrested on Aug. 19, 2026, in Cottonwood, Arizona, in connection with the death of 23-year-old Yolanda Herrera.

On April 13, 1981, Herrera’s nude body was discovered by children in a field. Police said she had been sexually assaulted and beaten to death after she was last seen walking home from a bar shortly after it closed, just a few days before.

In the years after Herrera’s murder, investigators made extensive efforts to identify her killer, but all known suspects were eliminated, and the case went cold for more than 40 years.

In late 2020, the case was identified as eligible for the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. Funded by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, the program allowed the Texas Rangers and the Universal City Police Department to submit evidence collected during the original autopsy for advanced DNA testing and genealogy research.

In 2021, BODE Technologies conducted a surname search that provided a lead to investigators. That same year, BODE Labs extracted a small amount of DNA from critical evidence; however, the amount obtained was too small for genealogy testing at the time.

In 2025, Othram Laboratories further analyzed the DNA sample to identify a possible suspect.

Investigators traveled to Arizona to meet with Brower, and he allegedly confessed to Herrera’s murder after multiple interviews.