On February 2, 2022, police announced that John Charles Bolsinger (b. September 17, 1957) was identified as the lead suspect in the killing of three women in Eugene, Oregon, in the 1980s.
Gladys Mary Hensley, age 62, was killed a few days before her body was found on June 5, 1986. An employee of the apartment complex in which she lived went to check on her after she had not been heard from for several days.
Janice Marie Dickinson, age 33, was killed on June 19, 1986. Her body was found behind a car dealership. She was naked and had been sexually assaulted.
Geraldine Spencer Toohey, age 73, was found dead in her home on February 28, 1988. She had also been sexually assaulted.
The FGG investigation was conducted by Parabon Nanolabs, who had earlier performed forensic phenotyping for this case in 2016. They produced a Snapshot of the suspect in 2017, but all of the suspects thus identified were cleared. The FGG investigation produced four possible suspects.
Bolsinger died by suicide on March 23, 1988, at the age of 30. Bolsinger had a lengthy record for violence against women. He was convicted of the 1980 murder of 33-year-old Kaysie Sorensen in Salt Lake City, Utah. Sorensen’s body was found with a clock radio cord wrapped around her throat. Bolsinger claimed that the sexual intercourse and the use of the cord were consensual, and that her death was accidental. He was released on parole a few months before Hensley’s murder.
After Dickinson’s murder, Bolsinger was arrested for breaking and entering into another woman’s home and attempting to attack her. She managed to fight him off, and he was captured with the assistance of the K9 unit. He was given a 5-year sentence but was released again on parole in 1987, a few months before Toohey’s murder.
Police state that throughout the years of the investigation, several suspects had their DNA taken, and were excluded as suspects.
Sources:
Hunt, Chelsea. “New DNA Technology Identifies Lane County Serial Killer.” KEZI 9 News, February 2, 2022. Accessed February 7, 2022. https://www.kezi.com/news/new-dna-technology-identifies-lane-county-serial-killer/article_67663d6e-847d-11ec-93d6-db043e7c701e.html.
Tron, Gina. “DNA Identifies Oregon Serial Killer as Man Who Died by Suicide in 1988.” Oxygen, February 3, 2022. Accessed February 7, 2022. https://www.oxygen.com/crime-news/john-charles-bolsinger-idd-as-1980s-oregon-serial-killer.
Urenda, Gabby. “New Tech Helps Solve Decades-Old Serial Killer Case.” KOIN 6 News, February 3, 2022. Accessed February 7, 2022. https://www.koin.com/news/new-tech-helps-solve-decades-old-serial-killer-case/