By Antonio Planas -
NBC News
Nearly 40 years later, Virginia authorities have linked a man to the murders of two women in separate years in the 1980s.
A county grand jury on Monday indicted Elroy Harrison, 65, on first-degree murder charges in the 1986 death of 32-year-old Jacqueline Lard, the Stafford County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
Authorities will also try to charge him with the murder of 18-year-old Amy Baker in 1989.
Investigators said they used genetic genealogy to link Harrison to both murders.
The technique allows investigators to compare DNA samples with public genealogical databases, narrowing lists of suspects to small geographic areas, families or individuals.
Jacqueline Lard, 1986 murder victim.Stafford County Sheriff's Office
Repeated searches of national and Virginia DNA databases had failed to identify Lard's killer, according to the sheriff's office.
Investigators then turned to genetic genealogy, which in December helped them establish the last name of the suspect in his death.
Detectives then obtained a search warrant for Harrison's DNA, which was consistent with Lard's murder, according to authorities.
Lard was last seen alive on the night of November 14, 1986, when she closed the real estate office where she worked.
The next day, workers discovered a crime scene in the office that “indicated a horrible struggle,” the sheriff said.
Stafford County detectives, with the help of the Virginia State Police and the FBI, collected blood and other evidence.
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Two young men found Lard's body on Nov. 16 in a wooded area under a pile of discarded rugs.
Evidence collected at the scene would help them identify a suspect 37 years later, authorities said.
Baker was last seen alive on March 29, 1989, in nearby Fairfax County, the Fairfax County Police Department said in a statement.
That night he had headed home after visiting his family in Falls Church, according to police.
That same night, a state trooper found Baker's unoccupied vehicle on the shoulder of the road, according to Fairfax County police.
The next morning, thinking it had been abandoned, the police officer had the vehicle towed.
Baker's family reported him missing after he did not return home and, upon learning that his car had been towed, they went to the area where he was located and discovered his body in a wooded area next to an exit ramp, police said. Fairfax County Police.
Detectives determined he had run out of gas and got out of the car to try to get help at the nearest gas station.
After that, she encountered the suspect, who strangled her, Fairfax County police said.
Fairfax County cold case detectives are working alongside the county's Commonwealth's Attorney's Office to seek charges against Harrison, the sheriff's office in Stafford County said.
Harrison was arrested Tuesday and was being held without bond at the Rappahannock Regional Jail, the sheriff's office said.
Harrison's attorney listed in court records could not be reached Wednesday night.