Kansas City, Mo. ? Police were stumped more than two decades ago after Shelley Rosted was raped and killed in her home.

It took the advent of advanced DNA testing to find the long-haired, bearded man who had been seen before the killing. That man, Blake McMilian, of Independence, was sentenced Thursday to two life terms in the October 1984 killing of Rosted, who was 21.

McMilian, now 47, was convicted in December of first-degree murder and rape. The charges were filed in 2004 after McMilian’s genetic profile was linked to DNA samples found at the scene. McMilian’s DNA was on file because he had been convicted of sexual abuse, sexual misconduct and burglaries.

Rosted’s husband, Brad Rosted, and a former neighbor later picked McMilian out of a photo lineup as being the long-haired man they had seen before Shelley Rosted’s death.

Brad Rosted said he saw the man while dropping his wife and 3-year-old son off at their house. When Brad Rosted returned later, he found his wife’s bloody, naked body on a waterbed that had been punctured several times with a knife. His toddler son was playing in the bedroom.

Upon his arrest, McMilian denied having sex with the woman or being in her house.