EUGENE, Ore. — A convicted murderer who died by suicide in 1988 has been identified through genetic genealogy as an Oregon serial killer who killed at least three women in the two years before his death.

Eugene police officials said last month that DNA left at the crime scenes has been matched to the genetic profile of John Charles Bolsinger, who took his own life in March 1988, less than a month after what is believed to be his final murder.

Bolsinger, who was 30 when he died, is suspected of killing Gladys May Hensley, 62, Janice Marie Dickinson, 33, and Geraldine Spencer Toohey, 73, according to police officials.

All three women were subjected to “very violent strangulation, sharp force injuries and sexual assault,” Eugene police Det. Jennifer Curry told reporters in 2018.

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Bolsinger was identified through collaboration with Parabon Nanolabs, a Virginia-based forensic genealogy service that works with law enforcement agencies across the country to solve cold cases.

Genetic genealogy is a process through which genealogists upload an unidentified person’s genetic profile into public DNA databases and use the data to reverse engineer the person’s family tree. Investigators are then able to use other public records to narrow down a pool of suspects, or the potential identities of an unidentified crime victim.

The investigative method exploded in popularity after…