Denver police: Suspect identified in four cold case killings

DENVER (AP) - Denver police say they have identified a man responsible for killing three women and a 17-year-old girl in separate incidents between 1978 and 1981 by using DNA and genealogy to link the cold cases to a single suspect.

The man, Joe Michael Ervin, killed himself in a suburban Denver jail in 1981 while under investigation for another slaying - the shooting death of an Aurora police officer. Police identified the four other victims as 33-year-old Madeleine Furey-Livaudais, 53-year-old Dolores Barajas, 27-year-old Gwendolyn Harris and 17-year-old Antoinette Parks.

All but Parks were stabbed to death in Denver; Parks was stabbed to death in neighboring Adams County.

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