NOVOSIBIRSK, February 28. /TASS/. A jury in Novosibirsk, southwestern Siberia, delivered a guilty verdict on Wednesday against former police officer Yevgeniy Chuplinsky over the murder of 19 women, the investigative department’s press service said.

The killings were committed over a seven-year period covering autumn 1998 to July 2005. The victims were prostitutes between 18 and 31 years of age. The man murdered them shortly after using their sexual services. To conceal the crimes he dismembered the bodies and left the victims’ remains in various areas of the city and its vicinity.

The investigators tracked the serial killer down only last year thanks to cutting-edge DNA testing.

"The jury considers that the evidence collected by the detectives from the Russian Investigative Committee is enough to deliver a verdict against the 52-year-old citizen of Novosibirsk, Yevgeniy Chuplinsky," the statement said. He was also found guilty of robbery.

Chuplinsky was arrested on April 23, 2016. Investigators had more than 5,000 men under suspicion for committing the crimes. As a result, they questioned 200 witnesses and carried out more than 300 tests. The defendant initially pleaded guilty but then started insisting that he was innocent. He was judged to be sane during an examination.

The district court will announce Chuplinsky’s sentence on March 5.