AUSTIN, Texas – Roadway safety is a major concern as students across Central Texas head back to school. 

We are just a few days away from the first day of school for Austin Independent School District and more drivers are expected to be on the roadways as classes start.

This month, districts across Central Texas are welcoming students back to the classroom.

The methods of transportation to and from class range from walking, cycling, car rides and school buses.

“It is really important that drivers should be prepared. For parents, talk to your kids. Back to school means back to safety,” says AAA Texas Spokesperson, Daniel Armbruster.

According to the Texas Department of Transportation, traffic patterns around school zones change yearly and so do bus routes.

AAA is highlighting steps parents and drivers should take to keep students safe and at the top of the list is staying off of electronic devices.

“In the state of Texas there is a texting law that is in place. You are not supposed to text and drive. It is against the law, and you can be fined for that. Certainly, you should never look at a smartphone, even just looking at a smartphone for two seconds doubles your risk for a crash,” says Armbruster.

In 2023, there were 748 traffic crashes in Texas school zones, resulting in one death and 14 serious injuries, according to TxDOT.

“It is really important for parents to walk routes with young children, point out potential traffic hazards and remind your kids just to watch the roads, not their phones” says Armbruster. 

The National Safety Council asks drivers not to block cross walks when stopped at a red light or while waiting to turn, never pass a bus from behind or from either direction if you’re on an undivided road or if it is stopped to load or unload children and stop far enough back to allow them space to safely enter and exit the bus.

“It is really important to talk about school bus safety with riders, including staying five steps away from the curb waiting until the bus comes to a complete stop, the driver signals for you to board first and then always look left to right for cars,” says Armbruster.

AAA recommends students using bikes to wear proper safety gear and for those walking to make eye contact with drivers and use crosswalks when crossing the street.

According to TXDOT the most common crash causes were speeding, distracted driving and failure to yield the right of way.

CNN
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One January evening in 1980, a 25-year-old nursing student began walking to a friend’s house.

She never made it. Instead, a man got out of a car, grabbed her, and drove her away.

Her body was found the next morning. She had been sexually assaulted, strangled and shot, police say – and their search for her killer began.

More than four decades later, there’s been a breakthrough in the cold case: Police have arrested a 78-year-old man whose DNA sample matched evidence from the autopsy, Austin, Texas, police said in a press release.

The Austin Municipal Court on Wednesday found probable cause to issue an arrest warrant charging Deck Brewer Jr. with murder in the death of Susan Leigh Wolfe. He already was being held by the Massachusetts Department of Corrections on unrelated charges.

The turning point came this year with DNA testing, police say.

Wolfe enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin nursing school on January 9, 1980, police say. That night around 10, she was walking to a friend’s house and was kidnapped about a block from home.

A witness told police a car stopped and the driver exited, grabbed Wolfe in a ”bear hug,” placed a coat over her head, and forced her into the car. The passenger door opened, but the witness said he did not see what the passenger did during the abduction. The witness said the car was a 1970 Dodge Polara.

Wolfe’s body was found early the next morning in an Austin alley. She had been sexually assaulted, strangled and shot. Investigators found DNA evidence at the scene.

“During the first year of the investigation, APD investigators tirelessly followed up on dozens of leads, investigated and tracked down numerous cars fitting the witness’s description, produced over 40 persons of interest, and interviewed at least six suspects, some as far away as New York state,” the police press release says.

In April 2023, detectives from the APD Cold Case Unit submitted evidence from the sexual assault to the Texas DPS Crime Laboratory. This year, police learned of a possible match in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) of convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence and missing persons.

They obtained a DNA sample from Brewer, who told them he had been in Austin at the time of the murder.

“Brewer invoked his right to counsel after he was told his DNA was found at the scene of a homicide,” the police release says.

“On August 14, 2024, based on the totality of the investigation thus far, the Austin Municipal Court found probable cause to issue an arrest warrant charging Deck Brewer Jr. with the murder of Susan Leigh Wolfe,” it says.

Information about Brewer’s arraignment and his attorney were not immediately available.

CNN affiliate KEYE-TV spoke with a cold case expert about advances in DNA technology that have led to many cold cases being solved after decades.

It’s possible investigators didn’t have enough of the DNA sample originally, said Michael Arntfield of Western University in Ontario, Canada.

“Until recently with improvements in DNA technology, a considerable amount of DNA was required to be uploaded to the system to be compared,” he said.

The station said Wolfe’s parents died since her killing, as did her then roommate.

A suspect in the 44-year-old cold case killing of University of Texas nursing student Susan Leigh Wolfe was identified as Deck Brewer — but authorities are still searching for one more person in connection with the crime, according to a news release from the City of Austin.

In 1980, Wolfe was enrolled at the UT Austin School of Nursing. Around 10 p.m. local time, authorities say she was kidnapped about one block from her home while walking to a friend’s house after having her house sprayed for bugs. 

A witness to the kidnapping says they watched as a car stopped and the driver grabbed Wolfe in a “bear hug,” placing a coat over her head and forcing her into the car. The witness also said the passenger door opened, but he did not see what the passenger did during the abduction. The witness described the car as a 1970 Dodge Polara.

Wolfe’s body was found early the next morning in an Austin alley at 2000 E. 17th Street. The pathologist found “evidence of ligature strangulation,” determined the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head, and that the manner of death was homicide. 

During the autopsy, the pathologist found evidence of sexual assault left by one of the suspects. That evidence was retained by the Austin Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory throughout the investigation.

In April 2023, detectives from the APD Cold Case Unit submitted evidence related to the sexual assault to the Texas DPS Crime Laboratory. The Austin Forensic Science Department and DPS Crime Laboratory evaluated the evidence and decided it was suitable for testing.

APD received the test results in February and Texas DPS entered the profile from the results into CODIS or the Combined DNA Index System. CODIS operates local, state and national DNA profiles from convicted offenders, missing people and unsolved crime scene evidence.

In March, APD received notification from TX DPS that a possible match in CODIS was found in Massachusetts. Detectives examined the Massachusetts State Police Forensic Services Division report dated March 7, 2024. This report identified Brewer, 78, as the possible contributor to the profile developed by TX DPS.

Arrest records show Brewer is incarcerated at the Massachusetts Department of Corrections on unrelated charges.

In June, Travis County District Court found probable cause to issue a DNA search warrant to seize a DNA sample from Brewer for direct comparison to the evidence found during Wolfe’s autopsy.

In July, APD detectives executed the DNA search warrant in Massachusetts by obtaining the DNA sample from Brewer and interviewing him. During that conversation, Brewer said he had been in San Antonio and Austin at the time of the killing and invoked his right to counsel after he was told his DNA was found at the scene of a homicide.

APD received the results of the direct comparison of Brewer’s DNA to the DNA that was located inside the victim during the autopsy.

According to the DPS report: “Deck Brewer Jr. cannot be excluded as the contributor of the partial major component in this DNA profile. The probability of selecting an unrelated person at random who could be the contributor of the partial major component in this DNA profile is approximately 1 in 550.5 quintillion. One quintillion is followed by 18 zeros.”

In August, Austin Municipal Court found probable cause to issue an arrest warrant charging Brewer with Wolfe’s killing.

The investigation is ongoing, and APD is following leads to find the passenger in the car when Wolfe was abducted. 

According to CBS affiliate KEYE-TV in Austin, both of Wolfe’s parents have since died, and her roommate at the time appears to have passed away last year.

Anyone with information related to this case is being encouraged to call APD’s Cold Case Unit at 512-974-5250.