Convicted serial killer Peter Dupas has been charged with the brutal murder of an elderly woman at a Melbourne nursing home 21 years ago.

Kathleen Downes, 95, was found stabbed to death in her room of the Brunswick nursing home on the morning of December 31, 1997.

Police alleged Dupas, 64, used bolt cutters to gain entry through a kitchen window and escaped out a fire exit.

Convicted serial killer Peter Dupas (pictured) has been charged with the brutal murder of an elderly woman at a Melbourne nursing home 21 years ago

Mrs Downes (pictured) was found stabbed to death in her room at the Brunswick Lodge Nursing Home on the morning of December 31

He was charged with one count of murder last week and will be presented direct to the Victorian Supreme Court on March 14, bypassing the usual committal process.

Police had initially questioned him over the murder in 2013.

Mrs Downes, a great-grandmother who had lived at the home since 1989, was found lying in a pool of blood beside her bed in the Brunswick Lodge Nursing Home in Loyola Avenue.

A staff member found her about 6.30am. She was last seen alive at 12.30am.

Staff at the nursing home told reporters at the time Mrs Downes was active for her age, despite a recent stroke, and was the matriarch of the nursing home.

Mrs Downes had three children, nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Dupas is serving life without parole after he was convicted of killing Mersina Halvagis in Fawkner Cemetery in 1997 and of the mutilation murders of Margaret Maher in October 1997 and Nicole Patterson in April 1999.

In 2015, Sergeant David Dimsey told a Victorian Coroners Court inquest into Ms Downes' death that there were clear links between her murder and Dupas' other killings, such as the choice of weapon.

Police alleged Dupas, 64, (pictured) used bolt cutters to gain entry through a kitchen window and escaped out a fire exit

Dupas is serving life without parole after he was convicted of killing Mersina Halvagis (left) in Fawkner Cemetery in 1997 and of the mutilation murders of Margaret Maher in October 1997 and Nicole Patterson (right) in April 1999

He added that Dupas' motivation for killing the 95-year-old was likely to be her close appearance to his own mother, whom he was known to have disliked.

Dupas was revealed to have called his alleged victim's nursing home under a false name in the month leading up to her death, claiming to be inquiring about a place for his mother.

Andrew Fraser, a convicted drug trafficker who shared a cell with Dupas, told the inquest that the 64-year-old spoke of the murder of the 'old sheila' while they were imprisoned together.

Mr Fraser claimed Dupas once told him, 'I reckon I'm going to end up wearing the old sheila Downes too.'

Duplas' extensive criminal career began in 1968 when he, at the age of 15, entered his neighbour's house under the guise of needing a knife to peel vegetables.

While wearing his school uniform, Dupas attached the 27-year-old mother and stabbed her in the face, neck and hand, according to the Herald Sun.

Dupas is serving life without parole after he was convicted of killing Mersina Halvagis (whose relatives are pictured in 2005) in Fawkner Cemetery in 1997 and of the mutilation murders of Margaret Maher and Nicole Patterson

He covered her nose and mouth with his hand before suddenly stopping the attack and bursting into tears.

'I can remember having the knife in my hand ... I must have been trying to kill her or something,' he told the police at the time.

Dupas has been convicted of rape three times. He was sentenced to nine years in jail for rape for the first time in 1974 at the age of 21.

Upon his release in 1979, Dupas raped a woman in a public bathroom in Frankston and attacked three others while wearing a balaclava and carrying a knife, the publication said.

He served five years in prison for the crimes before being convicted for the third time of rape in 1985.

After 10 years behind bars, Dupas was released again in March 1992.

Not long after, Dupas was convicted of false imprisonment after attacking a woman in a bathroom. He served almost three years in jail before walking free in 1996.

On October 4, 1997, Margaret Maher's body was found on Cliffords Rd, in Somerton.

Police said she was strangled to death and he left breast had been removed and put in her mouth, according to the publication.

A month later, Mersina Halvagis was murdered as she tidied her grandmother's grave at Fawkner Cemetery. She was stabbed more than 30 times.

Nicole Patterson was murdered in 1999 after she let Dupas into her home. The psychiatrist, who believed Dupas was a new client, was stabbed 27 times.