The Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected an appeal by convicted murderer James Cruz on Wednesday, bringing closure to a case now almost 30 years old.

In March 1993, a passing motorist found the partially clad body of a deceased 17-year-old woman along a road in Spring Township, Centre County. Her wrists had been bound tightly with yellow rope, and a piece of that same rope had been drawn fast around her neck, causing her death by ligature strangulation.

The trail of evidence would eventually lead investigators to Maine, where the victim had lived, then to Ohio, where police arrested cross-country trucker James Cruz for the murder.

Former Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar prosecuted the case against Cruz, winning a conviction of first-degree murder after a lengthy trial in June 1994. Gricar’s evidence included testimony by an FBI microscopic hair comparison analyst that a hair found underneath the ligature matched Cruz’s hair, and hair found in Cruz’s truck matched the victim’s hair.

In a press release dated April 20, 2015, the FBI disclosed that an investigation undertaken jointly by the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Innocence Project and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers determined that there had been widespread error in the conclusions of FBI microscopic hair comparison analysts prior to 2000.

Based on this press release, Cruz filed a motion for a new trial in September 2015 alleging that he had been convicted on the basis of erroneous microscopic hair comparison testimony.

After about 6.5 years of litigation on Cruz’s motion, the Superior Court determined that the analyst had not committed the errors alleged by Cruz. On Feb. 15, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to review the Superior Court’s ruling.

Cruz’s life sentence remains in effect.