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1986 Marietta rape and murder case heads to court Monday

Marietta Police did not have enough evidence to make an arrest initially, but an examination of forensic evidence in 2014 allowed them to make an arrest.
In 2015, Ronald Kyles was charged with the rapes and murders of Sharon Brady and her daughter, 13, who were found dead in their Marietta home in 1986. In 2017, he was returned to Cobb County to face charges. Mug: Ronald Kyles, 2017 (Cobb County)

MARIETTA, Ga. -- More than 30 years ago, Ronald Lee Kyles allegedly raped and murdered Sharon Brady and her teenage daughter Samantha in their Marietta apartment.

Kyles, now 62, will face a judge in Cobb County on Monday morning on charges connected to the September 1986 double rape and murder.

According to Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds, Sharon and Samantha Brady were found dead in their apartment at 132 Cole Street on September 12, 1986. Sharon's 3-year-old daughter was also in the apartment at the time, but was unharmed.

In November 2015, Kyles was serving time in a Pennsylvania state prison on an unrelated assault conviction when he was arrested and charged in the Cobb County murders.

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A Cobb County Grand Jury indicted Kyles in January 2016, charging him with two counts of malice murder, eight counts of felony murder, burglary, two counts of rape, two counts of aggravated assault, aggravated sodomy and aggravated child molestation.

Though Kyles attempted to fight his extradition, Pennsylvania officials turned him over to Georgia in April 2017.

Marietta Police did not have enough evidence to make an arrest when they initially looked into the crime in 1986, but in 2013, Reynolds formed a Cold Case Unit and invited the Marietta Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies to review unsolved murders and sex crimes. They were able to determine through a comprehensive examination in 2014 of forensic evidence preserved in the case that Kyles was the person responsible.

“Since forming the Cold Case Unit in 2013, we’ve had remarkable success in solving some of these cases thanks to the partnership we’ve developed with local law enforcement agencies such as the Marietta Police Department and the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office,” Reynolds said.

The case goes before Cobb Superior Court at 9 a.m. Monday.

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