Sarah Yarborough murder in 1991 on her high-school campus may now finally be solved – thanks to the DNA of a 17th century family.

Seattle police investigating the death of 16-year-old Sarah Yarborough from Washington say they are one step closer to catching her killer.

Investigators have matched crime-scene DNA samples to the historic family of Robert Fuller, from Massachusetts, whose ancestors settled in Salem in 1630 after coming over on the Mayflower.

Sarah Yarborough was murdered in 1991 on her high-school campus

It means one of Robert Fuller’s descendants could be responsible for Sarah Yarborough’s death in 1991. But as almost 400 years have passed, the number of suspects could now run “into the thousands”.

Forensic consultant Colleen Fitzpatrick said: “The most important thing is having a last name.

“People get excited about having a Mayflower connection, but the most important thing is having a probable last name for this guy.”

Following the murder, the King County Sheriff’s Department circulated two composite sketches of a possible suspect.

Suspect was a man in his 20s at the time of the attack, with shoulder-length blonde or light brown hair. But a name was never put to the sketch.

Last month, Colleen Fitzpatrick was sent the DNA profile. She compared it to others in genealogy databases and found the closest match was to the family of Robert Fuller.

Colleen Fitzpatrick revealed that, since the DNA trace follows male descendants, there was “a high degree of probability” that the man police are looking is named Fuller.

King County investigators disclosed the test results yesterday.