COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after being sentenced Friday in the cold case murder of a Marietta mother and her 13-year-old daughter.
Sharon Brady, 40, and her daughter Samantha were found dead on Sept. 12, 1986 in their apartment in the Fort Hill Homes community. Brady's youngest daughter, 3 years old at the time, was also inside the home but was unharmed.
Ronald Lee Kyles, now 63, was arrested in connection to the murder in 2015. Keys was a neighbor of the Bradys who lived just two doors down.
Channel 2's Chris Jose was in Marietta, where the victims' family members and friends were in the room as Kyles was sentenced.
Brandi Stone was just a toddler when her mother and sister were killed while she was inside the apartment with them. Stone told Jose she is still haunted by that day.
"I've had nightmares and everything else for years," Stone told Jose. "He’s literally been my boogy man for 30 some-odd years. You know, to me, he’s not even human."
More than 3 decades later, a family has some closure after a man who assaulted a mother & daughter learned his fate. I spoke to the then 3-year old daughter— now an adult— who was inside the home & spared in the attack, Live at 5. @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/aadCVPM7fK
— Chris Jose (@ChrisJoseWSB) October 5, 2018
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In 2015, DNA linked Kyles to the crimes. Kyles was already in prison in Pennsylvania for an unrelated aggravated assault conviction.
On Friday, Kyles reached a plea deal of two consecutive life sentences.
Stone said the DA's office, investigators and police officers who worked on the case for 33 years are her heroes.
Breaking: “Heartless monster” Ronald Kyles sentenced to life in prison in the 1986 rape and murder of Marietta mother Sharon Brady & her daughter, Samantha. @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/D6mt210aJR
— Chris Jose (@ChrisJoseWSB) October 5, 2018
Stone said the murders of her mother and sister changed her life, but that seeing justice served brings some closure.
"I’m not a victim of his. I’m a survivor," Stone said. "I’m a grown woman, I have a family of my own. And this did not defeat me like people thought it would."
Also in the courtroom Friday was Tiffanie Zabriskie, who was 13-year-old Samantha's best friend when she was killed. Zabriskie told Jose she made a promise all those years ago at Samantha's funeral that she would find her killer.
It was important for Zabriskie to be in the courtroom as Kyles was sentenced and to address him. She called him a "heartless monster."
"I definitely made sure I looked him in the eyes," Zabriskie said. "It was just important for me, for my closure, to look him in his eyes and know what's been done to everyone involved."
Both women said seeing justice served would help give some closure. But it will never bring back the loving mother and sister they both looked up to.
Still, seeing Kyles put away was an important step in the healing process.
"I'll probably go to the graveyard and and be able to make peace finally and be able to put flowers down," Stone said, then addressing her mom and sister: "You can rest in peace now."
Cox Media Group
