A Portland man was sentenced to four life terms in jail Thursday for murdering a couple 27 years ago after the case was solved by DNA evidence.

In August, Ryan Anthony, 48, was found guilty on two counts of felony murder and two counts of aggravated murder for the murders of Casper and Ottilia Volk.

The couple was found stabbed to death in their Lake Oswego home in 1980.

Anthony maintained his innocence up through the sentencing.

“With my conviction, this case is closed. However, the case hasn’t been solved. As God as my witness, I didn’t kill the Volks,” Anthony said in court.

Two terms will be served concurrently, meaning he’ll serve two life sentences without the possibility of parole for 40 years.

Lake Oswego police Detective Jon Harrington reopened the case after submitting a bloody pillowcase and towel preserved by the department to the Oregon State Police Crime lab for DNA testing.

Results showed the Volks' blood mixed with Anthony's on the cloth of both items.

At the time of the killings, prosecutors said, Anthony had recently been fired from his job, was borrowing money from his ex-wife and was using cocaine.

Anthony, a Portland Community College supervisor and computer database administrator who was once married to the Volks' granddaughter, denied that he killed the elderly couple. During police interviews, he admitted finding the bodies, but said he did nothing but attempt to remove his fingerprints with the towel and pillowcase before leaving.

Though the case went unsolved for more than a quarter-century, family members of the victims had never stopped sending letters to the police department, asking detectives take another look at the murders.