The Unsolved Murder of teenager Letha Rutherford
Tuesday May 14, 2024
The Murder Police Podcast has once again gripped its listeners with a haunting episode that delves into the cold yet still smoldering case of Letha Rutherford. This week, with Wendy away, David brings us closer to the heart of darkness that is an unsolved homicide, with the help of two seasoned detectives from the Lexington Police Department.
The episode begins with Travis Holt, a detective who started his law enforcement career in 2009 and later
joined the Lexington Police Department in 2013. Travis shares his journey from patrol to detective work,
painting a picture of the dedication and passion required to solve crimes and bring justice to the victims and their families. Brandon Gibbs, who started with the police department right out of college in 2013, accompanies Travis. He shares his childhood dream of becoming a detective, a dream he’s now living. The two detectives provide a rare glimpse into the world of homicide investigations, discussing the challenges and the perseverance it takes to work on cases that often span decades.
The heart of the episode beats around the tragic case of Letha Rutherford, an 18-year-old whose life was cut short in December 1991. The detectives walk us through the initial missing person’s investigation, the
discovery of her body, and the subsequent transformation into a homicide case. They discuss the painstaking work that went into the investigation and the forensic breakthroughs, including the involvement of the University of Tennessee’s body farm, which brought new insights into the cause of Letha’s death.
But this podcast does more than recount the details of an unsolved crime; it ignites a call to action. The
detectives discuss the rebranding of ‘cold cases’ to ‘unsolved homicides’ and the importance of community engagement and modern technology in breathing new life into investigations that have gone cold.
Listeners are invited to not just hear a story but to become part of it. The detectives urge anyone with
information, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, to come forward. They remind us that these
cases are not forgotten files gathering dust but active investigations waiting for the key piece of evidence
that could bring closure to grieving families.
This episode of the Murder Police Podcast is a must-listen for anyone who believes in the power of justice
and the role we all play in upholding it. Tune in, listen closely, and perhaps you could be the one to help
solve the mystery of what happened to Letha Rutherford.
Don’t miss this compelling episode – listen now and join the quest for truth and resolution in the face of the unknown.
Show Transcript | Part 1
Travis HoltGuest00:00
Sure enough, they’re like yeah, this is a set of human remains. The coroner comes out, medical examiner’s team comes out and later on they do find and confirm that it is Letha’s body.
David LyonsHost00:13
Warning the podcast you’re about to listen to may contain graphic descriptions of violent assaults, murder and adult language. Listener discretion is advised. Who Killed Letha? Part 1 on the Murder Police Podcast. Welcome back to the Murder Police Podcast. I’m David. Wendy couldn’t make it today. She has that real job and it’s taken her away again. But today to talk about Letha Rutherford is, I’ve got two fantastic detectives from the Lexington Police Department that are going to introduce themselves and then give us the rare bones of what this case is, the things that they’ve seen inside the file and where we can go from there. So if you don’t mind, travis, you want to tell people who you are.
Travis HoltGuest01:10
Sure Travis Holt. I’ve been at the Lexington Police Department since 2013. Started my law enforcement career in 2009 at another agency. Enjoyed it there, worked patrol, worked as a detective. Decided to make the move to Lexington and I’ve been there ever since and I’ve had several assignments since I’ve been here.
David LyonsHost01:31
Good deal. What agency did you start?
Travis HoltGuest01:32
at. I started in Versailles. Actually, what a great place, great place.
David LyonsHost01:35
Not just a great place to live, but that’s a great PD.
Brandon GibbsGuest01:38
It is.
David LyonsHost01:38
So you have good bosses and stuff like that. Absolutely so absolutely so it uh, and my friend, tell us who you are. My name is.
Brandon GibbsGuest01:44
Brandon Gibbs. I started with the police department in 2013. I graduated college in May of 2013 and started the police Academy in November Wow Of 2013.
David LyonsHost01:53
Gotcha, did y’all come in the same recruit class had to be close.
Travis HoltGuest01:57
Close.
Brandon GibbsGuest01:57
Very close Gotcha.
David LyonsHost01:59
Uh, well, starting. Uh, travis, tell me what got you, got you interested in death investigations to begin with, because that’s pretty interesting stuff.
Travis HoltGuest02:07
It is Like I said, I was a detective at Versailles. I really liked the investigative work. I liked that side of it, getting to kind of see the whole picture and see it come together and much of the same. When I came to Lexington, you know, started on patrol, much of the same. When I came to Lexington, you know, started on patrol. It was really interesting to me to see just how it operated at a larger agency with the different units. Didn’t take long to become interested in becoming a detective in Lexington. And you know, going to calls, shots, fired calls, you know a homicide call as a patrol officer and seeing those guys get out of their car and they’ve got their suits on and you know, they just get out of the car and they look like they’re ready to handle business and figure things out and I’m like man, that’s what I want to do. So yeah, and developing those relationships with the guys that were in the robbery homicide unit was very impressionable on me.
David LyonsHost03:03
So I think we all share that and I still, I tell the story too. I remember when I was a kid growing up in Louisville. I think I knew I wanted to be a cop, since I was six, Billy Richmond would argue. I haven’t gotten much taller since then, but I remember, unfortunately, like a couple blocks over from my house there was a guy taking his own life and we learned later he’d shot himself in an upper floor. And, like you, I remember these men, and back then it was predominantly men, but I remember these men coming out of the house with white shirts and ties, with paper bags, and I’m like they know. They know exactly what. We’re all out there guessing, we’ve got no idea. And I think that that’s that curiosity. And then it folds into finding those answers and everything. But same way here. When I came on, I didn’t have any desire to be a detective until I got close to a few and then I think I got the bug. So, brandon, tell me the same thing for you. How did you?
Brandon GibbsGuest03:58
get into detective. So my story is actually very similar to yours. As a kid, age six to eight, this is exactly what I knew I wanted to do my whole life. I always, to me, people that handled those type of cases were superheroes as a kid and I always looked up to the TV shows, to the movies and pushed myself that that was a dream of mine. So now I’m actually living that. Uh, I was fortunate enough. Um two years on the police department, I got selected to go to a temporary assignment and that was called the violent crimes unit, um, and I got to work with some veteran detectives that had been there for years and they guided me and mentored me and molded me into, you know, gave me the opportunities that I had, and I eventually just stayed until I got promoted and then I was able to come right back. I was just living out a childhood dream, basically.
David LyonsHost04:51
Yeah, it’s so funny how many people I meet that I know. When Rob Hart, he came on in my class and he retired before I did, but we were at his retirement party and he talked about his AAA crossing guard badge and I was like that’s the same rush I got when I was in elementary school not at a power trip or anything, but the idea that you could do something to help other people, which is and I started on a TDY temporary duty, up in homicide too. That just didn’t stop for several years, which was a magical thing. So it’s neat for you all to talk about that, because most of the people that watch this show or listen to this show in a true crime thing are the same way.
05:27
Is there people inside the community that hunger to find answers? And some of the people that we talk and meet to, that listen to the show, are very gifted lay investigators themselves, and so we try to educate on that a little bit. So you’re in personal crimes. That’s kind of like the big boilerplate. Specifically, where are you guys assigned right now and what’s your role?
Travis HoltGuest05:48
So I am currently assigned to the Homicide Unit, more specifically as the Unsolved Homicides Detective Used to be referred to as Cold Case. We always had a Cold Case investigator, you know Chris Schoonover obviously was doing that job when I came up to the homicide unit, so we have since changed that name. We’ve talked about this offline and we think that’s a more appropriate title per se for that position. So I’m the unsolved homicides investigator for the police department.
David LyonsHost06:23
And I love that, I love that. I love that Because that whole cold case thing. I would bet five bucks that that wasn’t coined inside of a police department. Oh, no, probably not, that was from the outside again and you know the thing is that kind of takes away hope.
Travis HoltGuest06:36
Sure.
David LyonsHost06:37
And we know that. I always tell people that it’s true that first 48, that first couple of days is pretty significant and as frustrating as it is for a family. Sometimes time starts to be your friend.
Travis HoltGuest06:49
Absolutely.
David LyonsHost06:50
Maybe in this case 30 years, some odd years out that we’re about to talk to, as it might be too, but got to keep that hope alive.
Brandon GibbsGuest06:57
Absolutely.
David LyonsHost06:58
Those people that are dealing with us as survivors. They are in a place that I pray pretty much every day that I don’t find myself in, and we got to keep that hope alive too. Survivors, they are in a place that I pray pretty much every day that I don’t find myself in and we got to keep that hope alive too. So, brandon, what do you do?
Brandon GibbsGuest07:09
um, so I’m a sergeant assigned to the personal crime section. Like we said, this is kind of the boilerplate, um, that is divided into the robbery and homicide unit, and so there are two of us sergeants that are assigned to the day shift spot there and we both supervise directly, directly, detectives that are assigned to robberies as well as homicides.
David LyonsHost07:28
Fantastic.
Brandon GibbsGuest07:28
So I’m just a first-line supervisor.
David LyonsHost07:31
Yeah, that’s a big deal. Do you feel a difference when you get into supervision from when you were a detective and actually doing the work?
Brandon GibbsGuest07:40
It’s a different perspective. For sure, for me it was hard because I was assigned there as a detective from 2017 to 2022. So I have a lot of personal hands-on experience. So you just kind of have to let them do their job, because there’s not one way to solve a case. I’m just there to facilitate and be a resource and give them anything that they need to be as successful as they can be.
David LyonsHost08:02
I’d work for you in a heartbeat because I did work for a couple that weren’t quite that good. So yeah, a little meddlers and stuff like that.
Travis HoltGuest08:08
Yeah, well, that’s the benefit of having him as a supervisor is? You know, when I came to the unit in 16 and he came up there, he and I quickly developed a bond and became friends and we worked almost every murder that we had together. You know, there were obviously other guys that were number twos on cases and that sort of thing, but if I was up next for the next homicide and I got the phone call generally most of the time unless I knew he was out of town he was the first guy I called Like hey, we got one, you got to come in. So it’s good for me as a detective to know that I can go to this guy as a supervisor and he’s going to know exactly what I’m thinking. He’s going to be able to give me sound advice because he himself has been there as a detective 100%.
08:56
I love having him up there. He’s a good supervisor.
David LyonsHost08:59
That’s the difference between a leader and a supervisor. By the way, and your lady, yeah he is.
Brandon GibbsGuest09:03
I appreciate this. Yeah, that’s kind of the thing I do on the side hustle.
David LyonsHost09:06
I always look for that difference. So good stuff there. And because detectives well, all cops need autonomy. And the worst thing, nobody wants to be micromanaged. I always say, if you want to be micromanaged, you can pay people online for like four hours at a time and get micro in ways we don’t want to talk about here. But nobody really wants to be microbed in. And the idea that we can all come to a different resolution and the big thing is allowing people to be creative and use their imagination, especially in unsolved homicides. It’s because if there’s something I think that is a big deal on those when they sit, it’s a new set of eyes coming and looking at it, and you all know it’s not always critical of other people’s work, but sometimes the forest for the trees is a new set of eyes coming and looking at it, and it’s not you all know it’s not always critical of other people’s work, but sometimes the forest for the trees is a real thing.
Brandon GibbsGuest09:54
You can get mired down in the details on that too. So excellent work, sound like a good boss, I’d work for you. I think that’s the beauty of the unit that we have right now is there’s so many different backgrounds and types of people there that bring different things to the table, and that’s what makes our team what it is. And, like we had said earlier, just because people go a different route to get to the same solution doesn’t mean that it was the wrong way. There we go. You just have to realize that. There we go.
David LyonsHost10:15
Yeah, and it’s diverse. When I came up and visited a couple weeks ago and walked through that bay, I didn’t know who any of those people were Of course like when I left I was me and Dwayne Holman were tied for fourth in seniority and it’ll happen to y’all.
10:27
One day You’re like when the hell did that shit happen? I mean, it’s like I’m not that old, am I? Yeah, I’m that old, but enjoy it, because it always tell people and the people listening have heard us a thousand times in 28 years that assignment was the one that meant the most to me. And in that little badge case up there. I’ve got a significant collection of badges, as I say, and the one that means the one is that I’ve got the one copy of it says detective and stuff like that.
10:53
So eat it up and soak it up and I’m glad you got back into it. It’s a big deal. So talk about unsolved. And while we’re here today is you know we’re big on social media and I remember reaching out to a young woman here in this community called hannah hafley who had started a post about a unsolved homicide from lexington from about 32 years ago on letha rutherford and I remember seeing her sharing information and I keyed into it because, uh, a blast from the past is.
11:24
I remember being in the police academy in 93, early 93, and having the original case detective on this case come and talk to the class and share. That was Lynn Dalton, who is now Lynn Thompson, a fantastic detective who’s retired now no-transcript. So I reached out and I said would you like to talk about that? Because here’s the other thing, aside from maybe a news channel covering it several years ago, it’s been dormant and usually cases like that you see a little bit more on. So I thought, okay, we’re overdue. And that’s when I hit you all up and hit your bosses up and and again, thank you for coming and talking about it and share that. So if y’all want to kind of walk through, what we know about letha because I know in the broad picture of things is we have a young lady that disappears and then she’s found, yes, and we wind up with a, with an unsolved murder so the best of your ability, you can walk us through that.
Travis HoltGuest12:45
Yeah, yeah, and just to kind of touch on that, you know is, you know there’s there’s cases where so much time has went by, you know it’s. It’s good that people are still around that are still willing to come forward and post things, you know, not only to to draw our attention to possible leads and witnesses and that sort of thing, but people in the community, and I think that’s why we’re we’re here talking about this today. So, yeah, so Letha Rutherford, you know she was an 18-year-old female resident of Fayette County. Lived out in the county Dry Branch Road. It’s pretty far south out into the county, kind of a rural area. Family reports her missing in December of 1991. You know Letha was last seen at the house there on Dry Branch Road by family and then is just gone.
13:41
So initially starts out as a missing persons investigation, right, so from December of 91 until April of 92, it’s just that it’s a missing persons investigation. So detectives are working at, you know, trying to find Letha where she’s at and then ultimately in April of 92, her body’s discovered out on the property there on Dry Branch. So then it, you know it goes from a missing persons investigation to a homicide investigation investigation and you know other detectives got involved, forensics came out, you know, photographed the scene, that sort of thing, and then ultimately Letha goes for autopsy, for, you know, examination and that sort of thing. So that kind of gets that aspect of the homicide investigation started which you know, for us as homicide investigators you know when you’re, you know three to four months behind the power curve it’s a challenge. So you know when you’re, you know three to four months behind the power curve, it’s, it’s a challenge oh, so you know, yeah, that’s it, you know.
David LyonsHost14:40
The other thing, too is that we try to talk about on here too is uh, uh, when do when do adult missings become something of a suspicious nature? And uh, we, we try to educate people. We actually had david hester come and do a really good thing, yeah on missings because people get frustrated. But it was my experience, probably you all’s experience too, that most every adult missing is not a criminal event.
15:06
And that’s what makes it tough, and we just covered one in Louisville where there was a little frustration over a 41, 42-year-old woman goes missing. A few days later the car is located and the police just called and said come pick it up.
15:21
And you know, could they have dropped the ball? Maybe, but, like I explained to the family too, there’s a fuzzy period of when you have limited resources. You have to triage just to look if you went to an ER and not everybody is going to be seen, and so in a case like that, you have somebody who’s literally of an age to leave and whatever. But it’s my understanding talking to some of the family and friends, though that the police did a pretty exhaustive search of that rural area?
15:48
Absolutely, and when we say rural, I’ll have images on the channel on the YouTube channel. This is about as rural as it gets. Yeah, it’s enough to. Where have images on on the channel, on the youtube channel.
Brandon GibbsGuest15:55
This is about as rural as it gets.
David LyonsHost15:56
Yeah, it’s, uh, it’s. It’s enough to where your cell phone will not work down absolutely yeah, it’s down down by the river that’s it uh, the kentucky river.
Travis HoltGuest16:04
So it’s, it’s pretty rural and, and you know, to answer the, the, the missing persons, uh thing is it all depends, you know, that’s that’s probably the most appropriate answer. Is, you know, we’ve been assigned adult missing person cases and you’ll read it and flip through it and you’re like well it depends. Is there a circumstance that makes me think, hey, we probably need to look at this a little closer?
David LyonsHost16:24
There we go.
Travis HoltGuest16:25
Or is it? You know, the guy’s probably had a bad day and he’s out for a walk and doesn’t want to talk to him, and we’ve had it from on both ends.
Brandon GibbsGuest16:33
A lot of the times it’s not necessarily a box that’s checked on paper or an electronic report. You’ve seen enough of these. Your senses kind of take over in your instincts and you can kind of tell which ones are. Well, this one I don’t feel as good about. We probably need to look into this one a little bit more, and if that’s the right or wrong answer, I don’t really have the answer to that because it’s not a standard run-of-the-mill Scantron test where you just check boxes.
David LyonsHost17:02
Well put, Well put, yeah, yeah, experience, intuition and instincts and being able to smell that little curiosity item which I think separates investigators who really mean business from people that are casually involved with it. So yeah, they talk about some ground searches in a thick wooded area. That’s one thing the family was very happy about in retrospect was they said it was exhausting.
Travis HoltGuest17:29
Well, yeah, and I can, you know, having the benefit of doing what I’m doing now, you know I go through some of these old case files and some that are recent, and you know I know I’ve worked homicides to where I don’t want to say I would be embarrassed, because I certainly wouldn’t be, because I feel like I do the best that I can on each and every case that I’ve worked. But you know how it is as an investigator, like man, I’ve got to get caught up on that memo. I need to type that today. And some case files are we’ll say maybe the documentation wasn’t the best for that time period, and then some are excellent and I can say, just by having the benefit of seeing all these cases and working them myself, that Letha’s case was worked pretty hard, very exhaustive.
18:19
There’s so much documentation. It’s probably one of the better situations or cases that I can, as somebody who wasn’t there and did not investigate this from the get-go, that I can pick it up and be like, hey, that question was answered, this was documented, and unfortunately that’s not with every case that’s ever worked. Sometimes I can go through a case file and say, man, why didn’t they do this? And maybe they did. It just may not have been documented, but in Letha’s case they did a really good job.
David LyonsHost18:53
Yeah, again, I’m handing it back to to lynn thompson, yeah if you ever had and you could just again, the emotional attachment which is a big driver for most of us is somewhere in there. We, we go into that next level of latching in. So and the other thing too is I remind people is that we’re talking a long time ago and, uh, I’m, I’m, I’ve been around enough to remember in this y’all bullshit. But I remember a computer on the fourth floor and the server was in the basement where they keep all the extra uniforms and stuff, and it was Donnie Frederick and Roger Black that started. I remember one PC in the detective bureau and the detective bureau. So yeah, what we’re talking about is somebody, um sitting down in an ibm selectomatic and hammering these out on paper with a thing of a whiteout ribbon and putting them together.
19:44
And it’s long before record management systems where you had electronic files and I’ve always thought there’s people I coach that are in the podcast business or the writing books and I’ll coach them on on open records. And, uh, they’ll get one from back in the day and go, oh my God, and I’m like, well, I mean that, that’s the horse everybody was riding. So when you all might have a case now, that’s two, three inch binders. I can guarantee you that some of my mentors had that stuff packed up in a inch and a half folder and they were successful.
20:14
It’s just a big change, but uh, that’s one thing with letha’s case that I’ve been grasping to is that it was. It was really handled as much as you could handle one in the beginning absolutely absolutely let’s go back. She’s missing. Uh, they uh talking to the family and friends. They really interviewed a lot of people. Try to try to really get to the bottom of it, um, how she found.
Travis HoltGuest20:34
She’s actually found by a resident who lived in that area. Gentleman was out on his four-wheeler riding back in the woods and the area down there there was a. I don’t know if you could call it a junk pile, but for lack of better terms you could kind of call it a junk pile. We all know that you go around Kentucky enough. You know when somebody owns property, if they’ve got a, uh, a washer and dryer that goes bad or whatever it’s like, I just throw it in the junk pile. So that’s kind of what it looked like. Uh, and uh, letha was discovered, uh, by that person riding the four wheeler, uh, and then the and then the police are called and they come out and sure enough they’re like yeah, this is a set of human remains. The coroner comes out, the medical examiner’s team comes out and later on they do find and confirm that it is Letha’s body.
David LyonsHost21:27
Oh there we go yeah.
Travis HoltGuest21:29
Yeah, and initially it was. We don’t know who this person is had an idea. Sure, I think it was very well noted in the case file that that was. The suspicion early on was that it was Letha’s body. But it was not confirmed until the medical examiner’s office did dental records and that sort of thing.
David LyonsHost21:46
So yeah, some pretty safe assumptions in the beginning. Yes, maybe some clothing things like that. We can always, but we always emphasize too that it ain’t over till the fat lady sings. That’s right as insensitive as that might sound, but it has to be a firm thing. But you’d be stupid to sit and wait 12.
Travis HoltGuest22:04
Oh, absolutely well it’s and it goes back to uh intuition, experience and a little bit of common sense. Um, you know, this is where uh letha was essentially last seen. Um, you kind of put it together and you’re like, hey, I’m going to assume that this is her body, sure? Instead of sitting around you know seven, ten days, two weeks, to say, hey, yeah, sure, it’s her.
22:28
You know, um lunch, yeah, yeah absolutely, especially especially that time frame of when she was missing. You’re already behind the power curve. You’re talking several months now, so we’re going to assume that it’s her and we’re going to take it and run with it different, uh, different degrees of how we find victims right.
David LyonsHost22:48
I mean anything from somebody’s been dead for an hour to a long time, several months maybe. Of course, that has to be determined to. Uh, what kind of work did they do to to identify her? And then, uh, were they able to come up with any causes of death, manners of death or theories about that?
Travis HoltGuest23:11
so initially, uh, with with the circumstances of how she was discovered and in the condition and the environmental conditions, the medical examiner’s office actually came to the scene to help recover the remains of Letha’s remains Early on because of environmental factors. Stages of decomposition you know it wasn’t a clear cut obvious. This is her stages of decomposition. It wasn’t a clear-cut obvious. This is her Dental records were done by the medical examiner’s office and compared to family dental records and that’s how they confirmed.
23:44
Initially the medical examiner’s office ruled that the cause of death was undetermined. But given the overall circumstances of where she was found, how she was found the overall circumstances of you know where she was found, how she was found they did say that they more than likely was due to a homicide Right. So she was actually. Her remains were actually reexamined. Later. That was done by the University of Tennessee, of course. You know, we know that the University of Tennessee kind of. You know they are kind of the forefront in forensic anthropology with the body farm and that sort of thing. So Letha’s remains were reexamined and the best determination they came up with was it was more than likely a sharp instrument, basically a stabbing. That was the cause of death.
David LyonsHost24:33
Yeah, I think Dr Bass, that’s Dr Bass and a body farm. It was insane Based on some, maybe some metallic stuff or something like that. What an incredible bit of work.
Travis HoltGuest24:44
Isn’t that crazy? It is crazy.
David LyonsHost24:46
Exactly. You look at that and you’re like, wow, what if somebody didn’t think with that? There’s the imagination again and thinking conceptually to go. Look at that.
Travis HoltGuest24:56
Well, I’m just glad that there’s people that do that kind of work and have that capability and the intelligence and the experience to do it. And you know it was very it was obvious to me, based on notes and correspondence between Dr Bass and the investigators, that you know he kind of at that time, and maybe still like, is the guy he was very much the expert and was able to say, yeah, due to this, metallic remnants inside of one of the bones, like this, is it Crazy?
David LyonsHost25:29
Yeah, it’s crazy, yeah, and again we’re talking early 90s stuff, man, where you know let’s back before. Even DNA was like a thing thing. So it um, yeah, that the imagination it takes to take that that far is is pretty incredible. So we have that information. It, um, where does it go from there that you can talk about looking at the file and how to go after that?
Travis HoltGuest25:55
Well, I think there was a pretty exhaustive effort, interviewing witnesses, interviewing people that knew Letha, knew kind of who she was as a person, because you know victimology is a huge part of an investigation, especially in a case where you know where a person goes missing and they’re found later on, months later.
26:14
You really want to try to get to know your victim, what their habits were, who they hung out with, the people that lived in the area and I think the investigators they did a pretty good job checking all those boxes of interviewing people, trying to gather evidence, chasing down leads. Somebody says you know, hey, we heard that you know so-and-so knew Letha immediately you know that person was, was located and interviewed. So, um, early nineties police work. It’s a lot of going out and knocking on doors, talking to people, just like it is today, but you know they didn’t have the benefit of of computers and the internet and research and that sort of thing. So a lot of legwork, a lot of interviews, a lot of memos and you know that’s kind of where the case was until you know we. We pick it up today.
David LyonsHost27:04
So yeah, talking to family and friends, there’s a lot of rumors and stuff and again on here on the show, we don’t track down rumors because, it’s unnecessary. I think you informally indict people and make accusations which I’ve never been crazy about. This whole business is not based on that. Moving forward, then is again we’re talking like over 30 years.
27:27
We’re probably at the time of this recording, like 32 years, 30 years, or probably at the time of this recording, like 32 years. Um, as, as people that did have access to this case. And one more time, it’s not pended, or it’s pended in a sense that that it’s uh, unsolved but it’s not code. Um, what kind of things would you want the community to be aware of that would crack that book and make it make it go that? What kind of stuff would you all want to look for on that?
Travis HoltGuest27:54
Well, I think the biggest thing for us is you know, we have, we understand that in the past there have been detectives that have investigated what we used to refer to as cold cases, and there’s always been like the who’s who that did that work you?
28:06
know, at the police department, the Chris Schoonovers and the Rob Wilsons. So we wanted to, uh, since they’ve retired, we wanted to reinvest in those cases because they are important. Um, part of that is to have someone who is dedicated to be responsible for those cases, which is me, um, trying to get away from that, that negative, uh, referring to something. As for those cases, which is me trying to get away from that negative, referring to something as a cold case, because it’s not a cold case, right, it’s a case that is unsolved and that’s what we’re referring to them as. And my goal, ultimately, is to try to bring these cases up to today’s investigative standards. And in the event that somebody, a witness, a relative, somebody that was involved in the case, they pick up the phone and they say, hey, I want to know about this homicide from 1985. I can go and look and I can say, oh, yeah, okay, here it is, do you have information to provide? And somebody can properly channel that and and chase down those leads, if they need to be chased down, and document that so that the next person that that gets into that case file can basically pick up where that person left off.
29:22
Um, you know, we’ve we’ve pushed for the website to be to be started. Yeah, and that’s. And again, we live. We live in a modern age with technology and podcasts and websites, and we want to try to put out the information that these cases are unsolved. They are open. However, we do want to solve them and we do want to give people in the community and witnesses and that sort of thing a channel to get in contact with somebody at the police department so that I can go and I can get this case file and I can pick it up and I can see if there’s something that can be worked, something added to the case file. Good, deal.
David LyonsHost30:02
Where would people find the website you’re talking about on the unsolved?
Travis HoltGuest30:06
So you can go to the city website lexingtonkygov and you can navigate through the city’s website. You can Google Lexington Unsolved Homicides and it’s the very first website that pops up and it’s a city website. It’s a government website that’s attached to the police department and the city’s main web page and when you go there and you look at it it’s broken down by years. So you just scroll down. It’s got a photo of the victim. You can click on that individual victim’s photograph on a tile it gives a brief synopsis of the case.
30:42
Below that it’s almost set up like the Crimestoppers website. There’s actually a portal on each individual case where someone can leave information via the website. It can be anonymous. Obviously, me, as an investigator, I would love to have a name and a phone number. That way, if I have follow-up questions usually I do it’s just our inquisitive nature and it’s part of the job. You’re there to ask questions, but we certainly don’t want to sway anybody from providing information. It can be anonymous. It could be that anonymous piece of information that cracks the case wide open or gets it going.
31:19
So that was kind of our goal with the website specifically.
Brandon GibbsGuest31:23
One of the resources that is being used. As soon as somebody sends the tip in through our webpage, myself, travis and the other sergeant in the homicide unit will actually get an email immediately once that tip is sent, with everything that the tipster has sent in all the information. So whether we’re on vacation, at work, home with our family, our phone will go off and we’ll get a notification email saying everything that the tipster just sent.
David LyonsHost31:46
So it just streamlines all the information directly to us yeah, we’ve all said that that smallest thing could make this thing just go, and, in a case, this old too. One thing that I’ve always thought about, from starting to look at it, is that a lot of time has passed and, for example, if people were afraid back then they’ve all gotten older, everybody’s gotten older, and I and I think that that that fear dissipates a little bit. You know how we perceive things. Maybe people could come forward with what they have heard or what they were told, and if there’s a foundation in some of the rumors, then they go. But it also just also too is to squash a rumor.
32:24
I mean, we don’t need that stuff floating around and wasting time on that too. So for our viewers and listeners, web sleuths that out there. Go tear this thing up. I’ll put a link on the show notes and on here on youtube and, uh, get there and and let’s smoke that website.
32:40
And take a look at some of these cases yeah, absolutely because there’s a lot of people out there that have they’re very skilled lay detectives, as I call them, and, uh, they, they can get this under their nails and take a passion and share that information. If you’re part of a social media group with true crime or anything like that, share this link so that other people can take a look. We live in a global community. We can’t say that these things well, that’s just in Lexington, kentucky. We know the nexus to these things can just be far reaching, especially with a little bit of time covering there too. These things can just be far reaching, especially with a little bit of time covering there too. So, in the end, what would you ask people to do if you could ask that?
Travis HoltGuest33:17
Well, I think the biggest thing would be that if somebody has information, obviously we want that person to come forward. We would like to speak with them. We would like to especially me as someone who is, you know, 30 years removed from when this occurred. You know there’s a lot of insight that I don’t have just because I wasn’t there, I wasn’t part of the initial investigation. We would just ask them to come forward.
33:44
You know, there’s something to be said about a case that is unresolved after 30 years because at the end of that, there’s always family, there’s always loved ones, friends that want closure. We, as investigators, that’s what we want, you know. That’s that’s why we do what we do. We want these things to be closed, solved, bring closure for victims, families, for their friends, for their loved ones and for the victims themselves. So we just want people to come forward. There is something to say about all those years passing. You said the fear dissipates Something’s weighing on someone’s conscious. We want those people to come forward. At the end of the day, there’s the right thing to do and we would always encourage people to do the right thing and the information we want to actively work these cases.
34:37
It’s something that we want to get that information and pick up and run with it. It’s exciting. It’s exciting like we were talking about it earlier. It’s exciting to say, hey, man, look, there’s this open homicide from 82, and this guy called, or this gal gal called and she wants to provide information. You think we could solve this. And it’s. It’s exciting from an investigative standpoint, um to hope to bring closure for, for something like that.
Brandon GibbsGuest35:00
So yeah, and I think this is a good opportunity too, just to just to show people that this isn’t just a case file in a closet somewhere collecting dust. Um, I know it’s hard to see when you you know, or you can’t see anything really when you’re just listening to a podcast or a YouTube video, but these cases are just as close to Travis’s fingertips as a case that happened last year, two weeks ago.
David LyonsHost35:26
And.
Brandon GibbsGuest35:26
I’ll walk over to his desk and I’ll see cases on his shelves from the sevents, the 80s, the 90s that he’s continuing to work and I think it’s a good reminder for them, like no matter what information they have, that we’re always willing to listen, because these cases are just as close to us as everything else.
David LyonsHost35:44
What a good thing to remind people of. They’re not like warehoused off-site somewhere and we call them FR numbers on a solved case. And I tell a lot of victims’ families I meet doing the podcast. I said these things are there. It was like that back in the day when I was there, there was a cabinet in the middle to where and the whole thing is that phone call, or these days it could be a text message or a text to tip, anything like that. It could be that simple. But that’s how that’s for people inside these families that have lived this nightmare. A little bit of hope in that is that it’s not off shelved anywhere. It’s somewhere that somebody can grab it and immediately go to work.
Travis HoltGuest36:22
Yeah, and we’ve done this long enough that we understand that families get frustrated, sure, and we empathize with what they have gone through and what they continue to go through. We share some of that frustration, just kind of in a different way. So we get that we can level with them on a human level. And also part of why we want to do this and do what we do is to bridge that gap with families of the victims. So we understand that their case has been unsolved for 10, 20, 30 years and we want to develop that relationship and keep that relationship alive with someone that’s in the family so that, in the event, we do have something that we can go on and run on and hopefully ultimately bring some closure. We’ve at least got a point of contact. So that’s another thing.
37:12
I would like to add that we would like families of these open cases that we have here in Lexington we want to touch base with you. We don’t want you to think that you know you’re left out in the dark. You know there’s some of these cases that may have so much age on them that the families that are documented in the case file. They may not, they may no longer be here, they may be deceased Right. So, uh, I would encourage that and that helps me that. You know I’ve got this open case. I know I can call Dave, cause Dave is the surviving nephew or or whatever brother. Um, so we want to develop those relationships, just to, uh, it benefits us, it benefits the victims and the families.
David LyonsHost37:53
And again, there’s a lot of frustration. Sure, but I’ve always said too that to get in the business that you guys are in, if you’re not ready for that, then it may not be the gig that you should be in, because you’ve got to take some of it and hopefully walk people through that pain.
Brandon GibbsGuest38:07
And again, we don’t want to be in that position. No.
David LyonsHost38:16
But also it’s a thing of uh that I don’t think there’s anything that takes more effort to be patient in than that.
38:18
Oh sure, but it is patience in the end. Uh, walking people through that and the only reason the the only way to stay, uh, out of the dark is to stay in contact, sure, even when it, when it’s frustrating. Yeah well, good deal. Thanks again for coming it. You know the listeners are about to hear and see more from some family and some friends to talk about who Letha was. Um, we’re going to paint a really good picture of who she was as a young woman and and while there’s a demand for that justice that we’re seeking on that and hopefully, uh, you all get that ding here shortly or down the road that just cracks this thing open and and we get where we need to be.
Travis HoltGuest38:53
Yeah, yeah, we hope so. I mean it’s uh, I think Brandon will agree it’s it’s a very, very good feeling to pick up the phone and say, hey, we’ve got an answer.
Brandon GibbsGuest39:02
So it’s some of the best phone calls.
Travis HoltGuest39:04
Yeah, it’s great.
David LyonsHost39:07
There we go and uh and again. That’s what. That’s what I hope people are getting from talking to people that do the work on our show is the passion that’s in there, it’s real.
Brandon GibbsGuest39:14
It’s not a job.
David LyonsHost39:15
It’s something you love. You all five bucks says you’re investigating cases and never getting paid for it because it never leaves here. You can be at a show with your family and you know what I’m talking about.
Brandon GibbsGuest39:26
Some of the best things I’ve ever thought about was in the shower. Yeah, I’ll come into work best things I’ve ever thought about was in the shower. Yeah, I’ll come into work when me and travis were working together, but you’ll never have we tried this. I was in the shower this morning getting ready for work and I thought about this.
David LyonsHost39:37
Yeah, yeah, it never leaves your mind, no, never leaves your mind. So well, fellas, thanks a whole bunch. Appreciate you coming and taking the time and keep us posted. You know definitely, if we, if something shakes loose on this, is that, uh, we’ll, we’ll be right by you like a hot pig to cool mud, to talk about how well it went.
39:54
So stay safe and keep that passion alive, appreciate it. Thank you, hey. You know there’s more to this story, so go download the next episode, like the true crime fan that you are. The Murder Police Podcast is hosted by Wendy and David Lyons and was created to honor the lives of crime victims, so their names are never forgotten. It is produced, recorded and edited by David Lyons.
40:17
The Murder Police Podcast can be found on your favorite Apple or Android podcast platform, as well as at murderpolicepodcast.com, where you will find show notes, transcripts, information about our presenters and a link to the official Murder Police Podcast merch store where you can purchase a huge variety of Murder Police Podcast swag. We are also on Facebook, instagram and YouTube, which is closed caption for those that are hearing impaired. Just search for the Murder Police Podcast and you will find us. If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe for more and give us five stars and a written review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you download your podcasts. Make sure you set your player to automatically download new episodes so you get the new ones as soon as they drop, and please tell your friends Lock it down Judy!
Episode Keywords
Murder Police Podcast, Lexan Police Department, Homicide Investigation, Detective Work, Unsolved Cases, Patrol Officer Experience, Death Investigations, Forensic Analysis, Letha Rutherford Case, Missing Persons, Cold Case Rebranding, Community Engagement, Forensic Anthropology, University Of Tennessee Body Farm, Victimology, True Crime Community, Law Enforcement Career, Evidence Collection, Justice And Closure, Rural Crime Scene