Geraldine Spencer Toohey was 73 when she was murdered in her Eugene, Oregon home in late February 1988. The night before her body was found her phone call with a sister abruptly ended; the next day, February 28, a neighbor looking through a window saw her lying on the floor. Medics deemed the death suspicious and the Oregon State Police were notified.

Investigators found forced entry — the back door had been broken down — and discovered Toohey had been sexually assaulted and subjected to brutal homicidal violence. The phone lines had been cut, which explained the sudden end to her call. Despite early investigation and a police sketch based on a witness description released March 5, 1988, detectives were unable to identify a suspect and the case went cold.

Decades later the murder was linked by DNA to two other unsolved Eugene homicides from 1986, and genetic genealogy narrowed the suspect pool to John Charles Bolsinger. Records show Bolsinger, 30 at the time of Toohey’s killing, had been released from prison in December 1987 and was living locally while enrolled at Lane Community College. He was found dead by suicide in his Springfield apartment on March 23, 1988. Does anyone who knew Geraldine or lived on the 5400 block of Franklin Boulevard remember details that could shed more light on her last days?