One woman’s body was found in 1986, under a pile of old carpeting in a wooded area near a roadway in Northern Virginia. Another woman’s body was found in 1989, in underbrush off a Virginia interstate, with a large shirt wrapped around her neck.

For more than three decades, the authorities had not been able to determine who was behind the murders, despite many potential leads.

Then, in February, the police got a DNA match. They used genetic genealogy to make an arrest in the 1986 murder and found a link to the killing from 1989, the authorities said.

Elroy Harrison, 65, of Stafford County, Va., was indicted on Monday by a grand jury in the murder of Jacqueline Lard, 40, the victim found in 1986 in Woodbridge, Va., the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Tuesday. DNA from Mr. Harrison was also linked to the murder of Amy Baker, 18, the victim found in 1989 in Springfield, Va., the Fairfax County Police Department said in a statement.

Mr. Harrison was arrested on Tuesday at his home in Stafford County in Northern Virginia and was charged with murder, abduction, assault and burglary, the police said. He was held without bond at the Rappahannock Regional Jail in Stafford, Va., according to inmate records. His arraignment is scheduled for April 5, according to court records. A lawyer for Mr. Harrison did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

Many questions remain about how Mr. Harrison evaded the police for so many years. Before the killings, he was arrested in 1983 for robbing a bank in Virginia, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on June 1 that year.