Cobb Cold Case Murder, Rape Suspect Arrested

Cobb County and Marietta police say a 60-year-old Pennsylvania prison inmate has been linked to the 1986 double rape and murder of a mother and her 13-year-old daughter, the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

Sharon Brady and her daughter Samantha were found dead in their Cole Street apartment on Sept. 12, 1986. Evidence was collected and leads were followed up on, but the case went cold and lay dormant for over 25 years.

In 2013, Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds invited local police departments to collaborate with a newly-formed cold case unit in the DA’s Office. Marietta police re-opened the Brady Case, and worked with the cold case unit to submit original biological evidence to a private lab in Utah for DNA testing, the DA’s Office said.

Technicians were able to match evidence left at the decades-old crime scene to Ronald Lee Kyles, 60, the DA’s Office said Friday. Kyles lived in the Brady’s apartment complex at the time of the murder and has been sitting in a prison cell serving a nine-year sentence for aggravated assault.

Kyles will be extradited to Georgia and stand trial on charges of two counts of murder, two counts of rape, two counts of aggravated assault, and one count of burglary, according to the DA’s Office.

“This case is a prime example of the need for the Cold Case Unit, and it beautifully illustrates what can be accomplished when we work together as partners with local law enforcement,” Reynolds said. “The Marietta Police Department did a stellar job investigating this case and preserving evidence in 1986. The technology just did not exist at the time. Now that it does, I’m pleased that we were able to assist MPD in making an arrest. We hope we will finally be able to bring justice to these victims soon.”