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Man arrested for 1981 Universal City cold case murder, police say

Police say they linked Brower to the crime through DNA from a separate, unrelated case in Arizona

Kelly Lee Brower Sr. was arrested for the 1981 murder of Yolanda Herrera in Cottonwood, Arizona, on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026.

SAN ANTONIO – A man in Arizona has been charged with capital murder in connection with the 1981 killing of a 23-year-old woman in Universal City whose case had been unsolved for decades.

Kelly Lee Brower Sr., 68, was arrested Wednesday in Cottonwood, Arizona, according to the Universal City Police Department, for the murder of Yolanda Herrera.

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Yolanda Herrera, 23, was found dead in a Universal City field on Monday, April 13, 1981. She was last seen leaving a bar two days earlier.

Investigators said they linked Brower to the crime through a DNA match, while Brower was already in custody in Arizona on a separate, unrelated charge.

Herrera was last seen in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 11, 1981, leaving Johnny’s Inn, a bar in Universal City. Witnesses reported she was last seen walking away from the establishment.

Two days later, her nude body was discovered in a field near the 500 block of East Aviation Drive. An autopsy determined her cause of death was homicide due to multiple injuries. Evidence also suggested she was sexually assaulted before her death.


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