KY Lexington police seeking public help with decades-old cold case (Linda Rutledge murder)

[Oakie]

Lexington police seeking public help with decades-old cold case

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - A cold case nearly 27 years old is being brought to light once again.

“I don’t want her family to think that we forgot, that, ‘okay, its been 27 years, we’re not gonna do anything with this,’ she doesn’t deserve that and her family doesn’t deserve that either, and that goes for any case we still have open,” said Detective Kristyn Klingshirn with Bluegrass Crime Stoppers.

Police said it was November of 1998 when fire crews were called to 121 Malabu Drive for a fire at Nixon Hearing Aid Center.

When they got there, they found the body of Linda Rutledge, but it wasn’t the fire that killed her.

Police said it was multiple gunshot wounds and that someone started the fire to cover up her murder.

Now, Bluegrass Crime Stoppers is trying to remind the public of this case in hopes someone with information will come forward..... (More at link)

 

[LR1]

Brashers linked to unsolved Ky. murder

 

[dotr]

Jan. 7, 2026

Lexington police solve 27-year-old homicide case through ballistic, DNA evidence

Lexington police have solved a 27-year-old homicide case, identifying the suspect in the November 1998 murder of Linda Marie Rutledge.

www.wkyt.com

''LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Lexington police have solved a 27-year-old homicide case, identifying the suspect in the November 1998 murder of Linda Marie Rutledge through ballistic and DNA evidence that connected the case to an unsolved crime in Austin, Texas.

The suspect was identified as Robert Eugene Brashers, who died in January 1999. If alive, he would face murder charges in Rutledge’s death, police said.''

 

[dotr]

January 10, 2026 Lengthy article detailing each of his known crimes.

Timeline suggests Kentucky woman may have been serial killer’s last victim

After 27 years without answers, Kentucky police have tied the unsolved homicide that haunted the Lexington department to a known serial killer.

www.aol.com

“This guy is your worst nightmare. This guy is terrifying to me,” Áine Cain, journalist and co-host of “The Murder Sheet” podcast, told Nexstar’s WDKY. “He was so violent. He was so cruel. He would bind victims. He would shoot them multiple times with guns. He would rape, and he just left a trail of carnage across the United States.”

Composite sketch of 1997 rape suspect (Missouri Highway Patrol)
Nexstar’s KXAN in Austin spoke with Brasher’s daughter, Deborah, who said she was born the same year he took the lives of four young girls.

“I am just finding out recently, today, about them,” Deborah said. “And when I got the email about them, I was cooking dinner, and I seen it on my phone, and I was like, wait a minute. So, I Googled my father’s name, which I hadn’t done in a while. For the longest time, I would Google my name or my father’s name, just to see if there were new things that came out. My first thought was I was born in August 1991 — where was he at then?”

Deborah said she doesn’t know why her father was in Austin at the time, but that he was a contractor and worked in construction for a while.''