Windsor

Ljubica Topic: Police release composite DNA image of suspect

Windsor police have released a composite DNA image of a suspect in a 44-year old cold case involving a homicide of six-year-old Ljubica Topic.
Six-year-old Ljubica Topic was killed in 1971. (Windsor Police Service handout)

Windsor police have released a composite DNA image of a suspect in a 44-year-old cold case involving the homicide of six-year-old Ljubica Topic.

The image was created using DNA imaging technology from a private Virginia firm to predict the person's ancestry and potential appearance.  

According to the images released by police, the man is likely from Northwest Europe, had fair skin, brown eyes and black hair at the time Topic was killed. 

Windsor police Const. Scott Chapman speaks to media about the Ljubica Topic cold case (Amy Dodge/CBC)

Const. Scott Chapman, with Windsor Police's Major Crimes unit, says these images are close to the person's appearance, but they are "not likely to be an exact replica" since the imaging process cannot take into account lifestyle factors that would affect how someone looks.

Police released an image of what the person may have looked like 25 years ago, and how he likely looks today at age 70.

Chapman said th image closely resembles an eyewitness composite created in 1971. The two images show a person with a similar face shape, but different colour hair. 

Last April, Windsor police said they had a profile of a suspect in a 44-year-old cold case in the brutal homicide of the six-year-old girl.

At that time, police said 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. Her body was found four hours later.

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.