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A true crime fan who used to spend weekends poring over police files and sharing theories in online message boards put up the money for private DNA testing and actually helped solve a 40-year-old cold case.

After she donated about $7,000 to fund the investigation, Jeanne Ayotte learned last month that the remains of Francis Patrick Fitzpatrick were finally identified in August. The 43-year-old man was last seen in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1983, but his loved ones never knew what happened to him.

Thanks to Ayottes donation to a private DNA laboratory that uses advanced technology and forensic genetic genealogy to identify human remains, Fitzpatricks son was finally able to bring his father home. The finding closes out a cold case with the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which determined that the long-unidentified man died by suicide.