A man convicted of strangling a Massachusetts college student student with a tank top nearly four decades ago was sentenced Thursday to life in prison.

The sentence handed down to John Carey, 66, came after he was convicted on March 3 of first-degree murder in the death of Salem State University student Claire Gravel.

"The family of Claire Gravel has waited 40 long years for justice," said Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker. "The prosecutors here today, together with our partners in law enforcement, never gave up on Claire’s case, and today we are pleased that at least the family has some answers—some closure."

Carey was already serving time at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Concord for an unrelated 2008 conviction when he was charged with Gravel's murder.

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The case dates back to June 29, 1986, when she went to Major Magleashes’ Pub in Salem with members of her softball team. Gravel was last seen alive between 1:30 and 1:45 a.m. after being dropped off at her apartment on Loring Avenue in Salem.

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

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.

"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.