Break in 1980 Texas cold case gives victim’s brother hope

AUSTIN ( KXAN ) — Charles Wolfe was only 15 years old when his sister, Susan, was murdered.

“Susan was always a surrogate mom to me,” Charles said. “She was 10 years older, and when I look back at the family videos and movies, I’m always in her care.”

On the night of Jan. 9, 1980, Susan Leigh Wolfe, who was only 25 at the time and a nursing student at the University of Texas, was kidnapped while walking to a friend’s house, according to Austin Police.

A witness saw a car stop and the driver exited. The witness said someone “bear hugged” Susan, placed a coat over her head and forced her into the car. Susan’s body was found the next morning in an alley.

“[Her death] certainly left a scar, an open wound, in our family that we never thought that there’d be any type of healing for,” Charles told NewsNation affiliate KXAN.

That was until Friday, nearly 45 years later, when a crack opened in the case.

A break in the case

During Susan’s autopsy, the pathologist found evidence of sexual assault left by one of the suspects. That evidence was kept by APD and the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory throughout the investigation.

In 2023, investigators from the APD Cold Case Unit concluded evidence from the sexual assault was suitable for testing. In February, a male DNA profile obtained from the sexual assault testing was entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a database of DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime evidence, and missing persons.

In March, APD was alerted about a possible DNA match with 78-year-old Deck Brewer Jr., who is incarcerated in Massachusetts on unrelated charges. On Aug. 14, the Austin Municipal Court determined it had probable cause to issue an arrest warrant charging Brewer Jr. in Wolfe’s death, police said.

‘I couldn’t believe what I was watching.’

Charles said he and his family held on to hope for decades that justice would eventually be served. But as the years progressed and no updates surfaced, he started to let go of that hope.

“Then, [on Friday], I turned on the KXAN broadcast, and there it is, the break that we had been waiting for,” Charles said. “My mother unfortunately died four years ago and wasn’t able to see the perpetrators brought to justice.”

Still, he was overjoyed by the update.

“It was amazing. It was an out-of-body experience. It was as if a dream had come true. I actually was dumbfounded,” he continued. “I couldn’t believe what I was watching.”

While Charles was happy to learn of the break in the case, he said he was disappointed he learned from the news.

“I expected to hear something from APD prior to the broadcast being aired,” he said. “I’m certainly happy that there’s been a break, and they did some due diligence here to identify a possible assailant. But I’m really disappointed with the communication.”

When asked why Austin Police detectives didn’t alert Charles, APD said they are working with detectives to find out more. APD made contact with Charles Monday afternoon.

The night Susan was kidnapped, the witness described seeing an additional person in the passenger seat of the car that abducted her, APD said.

“I’d like to keep the pressure on to locate the other individual and to bring them both to justice,” Charles said.

But after 44 years of dead ends, Charles feels more hopeful than ever.

“I know that there is a higher power at work, and I think that we’re on the road to finally seeing some justice for her homicide.”

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