Lexington police solve 27-year-old murder, connect it to serial killer
The Lexington Police Department has solved a 27-year-old cold case involving the murder of Linda Rutledge.
Her killer is an infamous one: Robert Eugene Brashers, the suspected serial killer in the high-profile case known as the “Yogurt Shop Murders,” a quadruple homicide in Texas that killed four teenagers inside a I Can’t Believe It’s Not Yogurt shop in 1991. Brashers committed at least eight murders from 1990 to 1998.
Lexington police announced Wednesday they solved Rutledge’s murder with DNA testing and matching firearm ballistics alongside law enforcement in Austin, Texas.
Rutledge, 43, was found by police Nov. 7, 1998, at the Nixon Hearing Aid Center on Malibu Drive. Crews were called to the scene for a structure fire and found heavy smoke coming from the building.
When the smoke cleared, Rutledge’s body was found in the back hallway.
Over the past 27 years, detectives and investigators continued working on the case, reviewing notes, re-entering evidence, investigating leads and tips, and researching how new technologies could help further the investigation, according to police.
Lexington detectives were contacted by the Austin Police Department in July 2025 after they received a match from the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network regarding the .380 shell casing that was recovered from the Nixon Hearing Aid Center in 1998.
The casing matched another found in Austin in December 1991 after the “Yogurt Shop Murders.” Texas police had announced Brashers as the suspect in that case in August 2025.
The Kentucky State Police Forensics Lab examined the two shell casings and preliminary comparisons revealed the spent casings came from the same firearm, which belonged to Brashers.
DNA evidence from both cases was also a match, police said. In September 2025, a sexual assault kit from Rutledge was sent to DNA Labs International for testing and matched the profile from Austin.
Brashers died in January 1999.
“If he were alive today, he would be arrested and charged with Linda’s murder,” police said in a press release.
“But most importantly, the Lexington Police Department wants to honor Linda,” Lexington police said. “Her life was cut short at just 43 years old, and her family has had to live with the pain of losing her and not knowing who took her life. While her case may be solved, it does not bring Linda back, but we hope that by knowing who killed her, her loved ones can begin to heal. “
The Rutledge family asked the media and public respect their privacy, police said.
