A fugitive killed in a shootout with authorities in Ohio last month was identified Monday as the suspect in the decades-old unsolved murder of an 18-year-old woman.

New DNA evidence established proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” that James Vanest, 68, was responsible for the April 29, 1981 murder of Debra Miller, 18, the Mansfield Police Department said in a news release.

Miller, a waitress, was fatally beaten with an oven grate in her apartment, the Associated Press reported.

Vanest, who…