The Windsor Police Service Board has doubled the reward for tips to solve four of Windsor's unsolved murder cases.
The board is offering $20,000 for any information that leads to the identification, arrest and charge of suspects in the murders of Ljubica Topic, Kirk Knight, Marlene and Jason Sweet and Dee Dee Williamson and Brandon "Xavier" Rucker.
"We have information that we believe that these are all solvable homicides, it's always that one unknown piece of information we don't have yet. Hopefully, that increase of $10,000 making it a $20,000 reward will help us get that one piece of information that will help solve these crimes," said Deputy Chief Brad Hill.
In 1971, six-year-old Topic was lead away from her home on Drouillard Road and her body was found just four hours later. She had been violently assaulted. Hill said new technology has helped them uncover new information in the case. He could not expand on what those advancements are but said he feels encouraged that the crime can finally be solved.
In 1980, 25-year-old Knight went missing. Police believe he was kidnapped in retaliation for a shooting of a known motorcycle gang member. His body was later pulled from the Detroit River. He had been bound, restrained, and anchored with cement blocks. Police said persons of interest have been identified but they lack the evidence or eye-witness account to lay murder charges.
Windsor police are also looking for information on the murders of Marlene Sweet and her son Jason in September 1982. They were found badly decomposed around two weeks after the murder occurred.
Finally, police continue to investigate the murders of Williamson and her five-year-old son Rucker. They were found deceased in their home in February 2003. Hill said he was one of the investigators who initially worked on this case.
"It still bothers me that we haven't solved that because that was a solvable crime. We thought we had a couple of good suspects at the time but we didn't have that one little piece of information to make sure that we had the right person," said Hill.
More on these historic cases can be found here. Anyone with information is asked to contact Windsor Police Service at 519-255-6700 ext. 4830, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 519-258-8477 (TIPS), or online at www.catchcrooks.com.