Gladys May Hensley, 62, was found dead in her ground-floor apartment in Eugene, Oregon, on June 5, 1986, after an employee of the senior complex did a welfare check following several days without contact. Investigators determined she had been murdered, likely in the early hours of June 4. The killer had cut the screen of an unlocked window to enter; the curtains were drawn and the scene was described as brutal.

Hensley’s death remained unsolved for years but was later linked to two other violent killings: Janice Marie Dickinson, 33, found murdered two weeks after Hensley behind a car dealership, and Geraldine Spencer Toohey, 73, killed in February 1988. All three women had been sexually assaulted and died from brutal homicidal violence. In August 2000 DNA testing confirmed the same individual was responsible for all three murders.

Using genetic genealogy and a Parabon NanoLabs snapshot profile after detectives reopened the investigation in 2016, officials identified John Charles Bolsinger as the killer. Bolsinger had a prior 1980 murder conviction and was paroled to Springfield three months before Hensley’s death; he died by suicide on March 23, 1988. Did anyone in Eugene recall suspicious activity near senior housing or unusual visitors in June 1986?