LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A Kentucky cold case that troubled a Lexington family for nearly 30 years has been tied to a suspected serial killer.
Linda Rutledge, 43, was found dead Nov. 7, 1998, inside the Nixon Hearing Aid Center after a fire broke out at the business.
Firefighters discovered her body inside the building, and investigators later determined she had been shot multiple times in the head. The case remained unsolved for decades.
In July 2025, Lexington police said a breakthrough came when the Austin Police Department contacted investigators.
According to FOX 56, a .380-caliber shell casing recovered from Rutledge’s crime scene was an exact match to shell casings and a gun tied to the 1991 “Yogurt Shop Murders” in Austin, Texas, which left four teenage girls dead.
Police said DNA evidence from both crime scenes also matched, pointing to Robert Eugene Brashers, a man authorities believe was responsible for at least eight killings nationwide.
Brashers died by suicide in 1999, police said, meaning he was never charged in Rutledge’s killing.
Lexington police said they hope the case’s resolution provides long-awaited answers for Rutledge’s family and noted there may be additional unsolved cases linked to Brashers.
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