Arrest made in 1986 double rape, slaying in Cobb County

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — An arrest has been made in the 1986 double slaying of a mother and her 13-year-old daughter.

On Sept. 12, 1986, Sharon Brady and her daughter Samantha were found stabbed to death in their apartment at the now demolished Fort Hill Homes community in Marietta.

Sharon Brady's 3-year-old daughter was also in the apartment, but was unharmed.

According to the Cobb County Office of the District Attorney, an intensive investigation saw all leads exhausted and the case went unsolved.

Channel 2 Action News was there in 1986 and talked to a young girl who discovered the scene when she knocked on the door and found the toddler inside.

“She said that she couldn’t wake her momma up,” she said.

In 2013, Cobb District Attorney Victor Reynolds formed a cold case unit to review unsolved killings and sex crimes.

Preserved evidence samples from the Brady case were sent to private lab for forensic DNA testing.

Ronald Lee Kyles, 60, was arrested Friday and charged with two counts of murder, two counts of rape and two counts of aggravated assault in the killing of Sharon and Samantha Brady.

Kyles lived in the same apartment complex as the Bradys in 1986 and was a suspect in the case early on, but was never charged. DNA linked Kyles to the case nearly 30 years later.

He is currently serving a nine-year sentence for aggravated assault in Pennsylvania and will be extradited to Cobb County to face charges.

“Thirty years ago in Marietta, this crime was sensational and it rocked the community," Marietta Police Chief Dan Flynn said. “Closure is so important and you don’t ever know how many people were touched by a horrific crime.”

According to the arrest warrant, on Sept. 12, 1986, Kyles entered the Bradys' apartment through a bedroom window, raped Sharon and Shannon Brady, then stabbed them to death.

"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 (the) MPD in making an arrest."

WSBTV