Robert Eugene Brashers, who was identified posthumously as the suspect in the infamous 1991 Yogurt Shop Murders in Austin, has now been linked to the 1998 killing of Linda Marie Rutledge in Lexington, Kentucky. The connection was made after a .380 shell casing from the Kentucky crime scene was matched to one found in Austin, as reported by CBS Austin. Investigators from the Lexington Police Department shared how a call from Austin police in July 2025 led them to thoroughly re-examine Rutledge's case.
"That call from Austin, where our shell casings matched, you know, that was some information that we could do something with and could run on," Ann Witte with the Lexington Police Department said in a statement obtained by KVUE. The confirmed link between the shell casings from both crime scenes led to a breakthrough in the cold case that had been unsolved for nearly three decades.
Brasher's DNA was previously connected to a number of violent crimes across several states before his death by suicide in 1999, including a homicide in South Carolina and a rape in Memphis. In the Lexington case, DNA evidence from a sexual assault kit taken from Rutledge also matched the profile discovered in the Austin Yogurt Shop Murders, extending the string of crimes associated with Brashers. "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," Lexington police said, according to CBS Austin, emphasizing the tragedy of Rutledge's death.
Efforts to solve these grisly crimes spanned decades, with investigative teams applying advances in DNA technology and genetic genealogy to link Brashers to the cases. It was the pioneering work of Parabon NanoLabs that helped identify Brashers as a possible suspect through genetic genealogy technology. This led to obtaining DNA samples from surviving family members and exhuming Brashers' remains for further confirming DNA matches. The Kentucky State Police Forensics Lab confirmed the shell casings came from the same firearm, providing another piece to confidently assert the connection between Brashers and the murders. The collaborative investigation involved multiple agencies, including Texas and Kentucky police departments, the FBI, and ATF, a testament to the determination and coordination required to bring resolution to these cold cases.
