A New Hampshire beauty school student was found dead in 1981. Her killer has finally been identified.

More than four decades after a young New Hampshire woman was killed, law enforcement officials have solved the crime through DNA analysis and the use of forensic genealogy technology, the state attorney general said Thursday.

But solving the case doesn't bring with it the satisfaction of seeing justice: The man responsible for killing 23-year-old Laura Kempton died from an overdose in 2005, Attorney General John Formella said.

Formella told reporters at a news conference in Portsmouth, where the killing took place in September 1981, that the investigators' conclusion was "bittersweet" but underscored their resolve.