A man who strangled a Massachusetts college student with a tank top nearly 40 years ago received a life sentence on Thursday.

John Carey, age 66, was sentenced after being found guilty on March 3 of first-degree murder in the death of Claire Gravel, a student at Salem State University.

“Claire Gravel’s family has endured a four-decade-long wait for justice,” stated Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker. “The prosecutors, along with our law enforcement partners, remained committed to Claire’s case. Today, we are gratified that the family has some answers and a measure of closure.”

At the time of his arrest for Gravel’s murder, Carey was already serving a sentence at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Concord for an unrelated offense from 2008.

Claire Gravel, who was only 20, was a Salem State student murdered in June 1986. John Carey received a life sentence for her murder on Thursday. (Getty Images; Essex County District Attorney)

The case dates back to June 29, 1986. Gravel was last seen alive between 1:30 and 1:45 a.m. after visiting Major Magleashes’ Pub in Salem with her softball team. She was dropped off at her Loring Avenue apartment in Salem shortly before she vanished.

Two days later, three workmen discovered her body in the woods.

The cemetery on Bridge Street in Salem, Massachusetts, on March 30, 2011. (Yoon S. Byun/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

The killing went unsolved for decades until investigators linked Carey’s DNA to samples collected from a tank top, the district attorney’s office said.

Carey was serving time for an unrelated 2008 conviction when he was charged with Gravel’s murder. (iStock)

“What he left behind was his genetic blueprint on the murder weapon,” Deputy First Assistant District Attorney Kim Faitella told jurors during her closing arguments at Carey’s trial.

At the time of his arrest for Gravel’s death, Carey was already serving a prison sentence on charges related to trying to strangle another woman to death.

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