Jennifer Bastian went for a training run on her bike in August 1986 but her body was found three weeks later in Tacoma's Point Defiance Park

A man has been arrested in connection with the kidnap and murder of a 13-year-old girl more than three decades ago.

Robert D. Washburn of Eureka, Illinois, was detained by police in the state after DNA evidence produced a breakthrough in the case of Jennifer Bastian.

The 60-year-old is alleged to have killed her in Tacoma's Point Defiance Park, Washington state, in August 1986.

'I think everybody who has been involved with this over the years is extremely happy that it's been solved,' said Tacoma police spokeswoman Loretta Cool.

Washburn lived less than nine blocks from the Bastian home, property records show, the News Tribune, of Tacoma, reported.

On the day she vanished, Jennifer, a keen cyclist who was eager to train for an upcoming race, asked her dad if she could take her bike to the park.

He agreed but only if she called him when she arrived back home.

When she did not return home by 8.30pm, her parents called the police and scores of officers, assisted by dogs searched for her.

Point Defiance closed for two days while searchers looked for Jennifer, whose remains were recovered three weeks later after a jogger noticed an odd smell.

Robert Washburn has been arrested after a three decade hunt for the killer of Jennifer

Her body was hidden beneath brush, with her bike nearby, and she been strangled.

In 2013, Jennifer's mother, Pattie Bastian, told The News Tribune, 'Not a day goes by that we don't think of her. She's our little girl.'

A six strong task force put in at least 10,000 investigative hours in the hunt for her killer and DNA tests have been run on evidence since 1988.

A behavioral profile of the killer was developed in 2013 but despite the DNA being run through a national database, not matches were found.

The case was examined by experts at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Jennifer's murder was believed to be linked to the death of 12-year-old Michella Welch around the same time.

In 2016, using technology called DNA phenotyping, Tacoma police and a Virginia based company, Parabon Nanolabs, produced computer generated composites that could reveal the faces of two killers responsible for murders.

More than a 100 new tips were generated when Tacoma police activated its Child Abduction Response Team to rework the case as if Jennifer had just been kidnapped.

Washburn is not linked to the murder of Michella Welch.