A skull found almost four decades ago on the banks of the Delaware River was recently identified as the remains of a man who has been missing for about as much time, authorities said this week. Advanced forensic testing shed new light on the cold case when a genealogy database matched the man’s remains to his daughter, who is now 49 and living in Florida.

The man, Richard Thomas Alt of New Jersey, was 31 when he disappeared, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office. Alt was last seen on Dec. 24, 1984 by his parents, and was reported missing to the Trenton Police Department early the next year.

Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub, whose jurisdiction includes Morrisville, Pennsylvania, where the skull was discovered in 1986, announced on Monday that forensic testing has now confirmed the remains belong to Alt.

“I can’t even imagine wondering and worrying about a lost family member for even a day, let alone for 37 years. That wait is now over for Mr. Alt’s family,” Weintraub said in a statement. “I’m just glad that we could give them some peace of mind with this identification, and the eventual return of his remains to his family.”

At the time of Alt’s disappearance, he and his girlfriend, Laurie Suydam, were both suspected homicide victims in New Jersey, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said…