In September 1989, the owners of the Good ‘n Loud Music store in Madison, Wis., made a grisly discovery: a human skull seen through a pipe connecting the boiler to the chimney. Further investigation uncovered a full skeleton with a faded, paisley dress and pointed heels.

For years, the unidentified bones were locked in a cabinet in the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office, which estimated that the remains had been in the chimney for anywhere from two months to two years.

An autopsy determined that the skeleton belonged to a thin man, who was 5 feet 7 inches tall and between 18 and 35 years old. For decades, he came to be known as Dane County Doe, or Chimney Doe, featured in television programs about cold cases and unsolved mysteries with a sculpted reconstruction of his face.

Now, his name has been returned to him: Ronnie Joe Kirk.

He was born in Tulsa, Okla., in 1942, was adopted and had family ties to Wisconsin, Madison police officials said at a news conference on Monday. They described a breakthrough using DNA and genetic genealogy techniques that have revolutionized cold-case work in recent years.

The identification has relaunched a Madison Police Department investigation that had idled for decades.