Man pleads guilty in grisly 1983 killings of 2 Toronto women

A man charged in the grisly killings of two women in Toronto that took place nearly four decades ago pleaded guilty in court Thursday afternoon.

Joseph George Sutherlandof Moosonee, Ont. was facing two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of Susan Tice and Erin Gilmour in 1983. The two women didn't know each other.

Sutherland was arrested by provincial police in his home town last November. Hewas 61 at the time.

Gilmour was an aspiring fashion designer and the daughter of mining tycoon David Gilmour. Tice was a family therapist and mother of four teenagers.

WATCH |Advances in DNA technology helped investigators find killer, police say:

Arrest made in 1983 killings of 2 Toronto women

2 years ago

Duration 5:33

A 61-year-old northern Ontario man has been charged with first-degree murder in the grisly killings of two women in Toronto nearly four decades ago. Toronto police said advances in DNA technology helped investigators find him.

Tice, 45, and Gilmour, 22, were bothsexually assaulted and stabbed to death in their beds in August and December 1983.They lived just kilometres apart in the city core Ticein theBickfordPark neighbourhood andGilmourin aYorkvilleapartment.

Sutherland's sentencing is set to take place inDecember.

The women's murders went unsolved until a breakthrough was announced last year. Police credited theadvances in DNA technology in recent years that helped them find him.