Denver detectives, laboratory analysts and prosecutors have linked a deceased serial killer to four unsolved murders from 1979 and 1988, using DNA and circumstantial evidence.

Vincent Groves, who died in prison in 1996 while serving sentences for two other murders, may have committed as many as 20 murders altogether, according to Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey.

"It's a proud day for us," Morrissey said Tuesday. "We now know that he killed these four women. That's really important to the families of the victims. This gives them an answer."

Denver police obtained DNA from an earlier murder committed by Groves. Then crime analysts used the DNA to link Groves to the murders of Emma Jenefor, 25, Joyce Ramey, 23, and Peggy Cuff, 20, all strangled in 1979. Cold-case Detective Mylous Yearling said strong circumstantial evidence also tied Groves to the murder in August 1988 of Pamela Montgomery, 35.

Yearling said it was very gratifying to call family members of the victims who have gone so many years without knowing who killed their loved ones and tell them the cases were solved.

"They were very surprised. They thought their cases had been forgotten," Yearling said. "I was ecstatic we were able to give them closure."

Jenefor's body was found in a bathtub of her home on the 100 block of Garfield Street in March 1979, according to Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for Morrissey's office. Ramey's body was found in an industrial park near East 56th Avenue and Havana Street in July 1979, Kimbrough said. Cuff's body was found in an alley in the 1500 block of South Ogden Street in November 1979, she said.

Nine years later, a witness last saw Montgomery with a man matching Groves' description driving a very loud, beat-up car that looked and sounded identical to his car, Yearling said. Montgomery's body was found in an alley in the 1700 block between Locust and Leyden streets.

Yearling said that, as part of a cold-case project funded with federal grants for police and prosecutors, he was reviewing unsolved murders when he had an "aha moment." "These were more than coincidences," he said. Yearling tracked down DNA that could be used to compare with the cases.

Groves was an active killer who stalked the Colfax Avenue corridor. Different jobs also brought him to locations throughout the Denver area, Yearling said.

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DNA, other evidence links serial killer Groves to 4 cold cases