NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Authorities say a DNA test has confirmed that skeletal remains found in Alabama decades ago belong to a missing Louisiana woman believed to have been killed.

The Advocate reports authorities said Tuesday that they learned this week the remains belong to Mary Ann Perez, who disappeared in 1976. Authorities say Perez's daughter provided a DNA sample that matched DNA from the remains. The findings have revived the possibility that a man who claimed responsibility for Perez's slaying may be charged in her death.

That man, 74-year-old David Courtney, is currently serving a life sentence in Kansas in an unrelated killing. News outlets at that time report Perez was having car trouble near a New Orleans lounge when she was spotted by Courtney, who's believed to have strangled her.