Las Vegas police cracked a 42-year-old homicide case of a 16-year-old with the help of advanced DNA testing and genome sequencing. The victim, Kim Bryant, was reported missing on January 29, 1979, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a press release. She was reported missing after she didn’t return home from her school.

Almost a month later, the teen girl’s body was found in a desert area on February 20, 1979, police said. At that point in time, it was found out that Kim had been sexually assaulted. Police had recovered DNA evidence from a suspect. However, they were unable to make an identification, Lt. Ray Spencer with the LVMPD homicide division said during a news conference.

Police “investigated this case for years without being able to identify a suspect,” Spencer said noting multiple LVMPD detectives had worked to gather new leads.

DNA evidence from the case was sent to Othram, Inc., for testing and genealogical research after a financial donation from Las Vegas resident Justin Woo, police said. Othram Inc is a Texas-based forensic sequencing laboratory.

“Ten days ago we were notified that the genological profile built by Othram labs, based on sperm recovered from the body of Kim Bryant at autopsy, revealed that Johnny Blake Peterson was the person that kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered Kim Bryant,” Spencer said at the news conference.

At the time of Kim’s death, Peterson was a 19-year-old Las Vegas resident. “He was never on the radar as a suspect for this murder,” Spencer said. Peterson died in January 1993, police said.

The teen’s father, Edward Elliott, thanked the investigators for their work. Edward’s statement were read by Spencer during the news conference.

“Kim was a beautiful girl with a bright future, and it makes me happy that something is being done to help solve cases such as hers,” Edward Elliott said in the statement.