Windsor police offer $10K rewards for information on historical homicide cases

Windsor police are again offering $10,000 rewards for information that leads to a murder charge or arrest in four historical homicide cases.

Knight homicide 

Kirk Knight's body was pulled from the Detroit River bound and anchored with cement blocks on May 25, 1980, according to police.

Five days earlier, his father Ed had reported the 25-year-old missing and that his son had recently been assaulted by members of the Lobo's Motorcycle gang.

A neighbour said he saw three men in dark clothing drive up to Knight's home in a 1972 green Nova, spoke with Kirk, then forced him into the back seat.

Police found the car two days later in Colchester South and believe the motive for the kidnapping was a feud between a gang member and Kirk's brother who was suspected of shooting a gang member near the Seminole Tavern.

Police add they spoke with persons of interest at the time, but did not have eyewitness accounts or enough evidence to lay murder charges.

Sweet - Sweet homicide

The badly decomposed bodies of Marlene Sweet, 31, and her seven-year-old son Jason were found at their apartment at 8671 Wyandotte St. E. on Sept. 13, 1982 — about two weeks after police believe they were "violently murdered."

Police interviewed persons of interest at the time, but did not have crucial evidence or an eyewitness account that could lead to criminal charges.

Williamson - Rucker homicide

Thirty-year-old Debilleanne 'Dee Dee' Williamson and her five-year-old son Brandon 'Xavier' Rucker were found dead at their home at 1323 Tilston Dr. on Feb. 27, 2003.

At the time of their deaths, Rucker's biological father was serving time in a Florida prison. Debilleane was known to date men on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, so Windsor police continue to work with officials in Michigan to identify persons of interest.

Family, friends, co-workers and associates were interviewed by police, and some even underwent a polygraph examination, but "while there are a number of persons of interest who remain under investigation, to date no one has been identified as the person or persons responsible for this crime nor has an obvious motive emerged," according to police.

Topic homicide

Ljubica and Michael Topic were playing outside their family home at 1290 Drouillard Rd. on the evening of May 14, 1971 when a man who was hanging around the restaurant across the street walked up and offered the six-year-old girl some money to go with him, according to police.

The man offered Michael some change to go ride a bike and the last the eight-year-old saw of his sister was her walking south down the road, holding the man's hand.

Police launched a large-scale search for the girl and found her body four hours later in the backyard of 1690 Hickory Avenue near a gate to a back alley that no longer exists today.

"She had been violently assaulted," stated police in a media release. "The brutality of the case, coupled with the innocence of the victim prompted an impassioned response from the community at large with tips coming to Windsor from the United States and across Canada."

Hundreds of people have been interviewed in connection to the case, but police were lacking evidence or an eyewitness account.