Ljubica Topic: police have suspect profile in 44-yr-old cold case
Windsor Police say they have a profile of a suspect in a 44-year-old cold case in the brutal homicide of a 6-year-old girl.
Police released new details on the death of Ljubica Topic Thursday.
The six year old was was lured from her Drouillard Road home on May 14, 1971 shortly before 9 p.m. by a man who had been hanging around a restaurant across the street. Four hours later her body was found.
Now, decades later, police are releasing new information on the case.
"We have what we believe is a suspect DNA profile," said Const. Scott Chapman with the Windsor Police Major Crimes Branch.
Missing tooth
More than 40 years ago near where her body was found, officers discovered two of Topic's teeth, along with an adult tooth investigators believe belonged to the suspect.
Police are now sharing that information with the public in the hopes it will spark new leads. Police are asking if anyone remembers a man who had a lost front tooth around the time of the death to contact them.
"We've had some calls in today that we'll be following up on," said Chapman.
Back in the 70s, the case gripped the city in what Chapman describes as "one of the most tragic cases in Windsor's history."
Lured from her home
On the evening of May 14, 1971, Topic and her brother Michael were playing outside when a man approached them. He offered Ljubica some money to follow him down the street and her brother some change to ride his bike.
Michael last saw his sister walking south on Drouillard Road holding the man's hand. Michael then told his mother, who went looking for Ljubica. When the mother couldn't find Ljubica, she called police.
A search ensued, and hours later the young girl's body was found severely beaten and sexually assaulted in a backyard on Hickory Avenue.
Held back information
Information on the missing tooth was held back years ago, a tactic that could have been used by police to wade through tips from the public, according to Chapman.
"Sometimes there's information that's held back on purpose in the interest in protecting the integrity of the case," he said. "It helps to feel out when we get information brought into the office, tips, whether or not there's some validity to them."
"Sometimes that information is held back, and in this particular case when we reevaluated it at this point, we decided that the best chance we have to resolve this case was to get it out there and generate some interest."
Hundreds of tips
Over the years, hundreds of tips across Canada and the United States have poured in.
Hundreds of people have been interviewed and the case has been reopened six times since the 70s.
A number of suspects have been ruled out but thanks to advancements in science over the years, police belive DNA can help them with the case.
"What we need is help from the community to point us in the right direction," said Chapman.
"We need somebody to call in and say, 'you know, this person, I never really thought about it before but this person might be somebody you want to look at.' Whether the person is alive or deceased, it gives us direction that we can work on and hopefully provide some closure to the family and resolve this case."
