Police solve cold murder case once believed linked to serial killer Bruce McArthur

Police have solved a cold murder case that was once thought to be connected to serial killer Bruce McArthur.

Back on Sept. 12, 1995, police were called to an apartment on Cosburn Avenue, where they found the body of a male victim. He was later identified as Dennis Joseph Colby, 47.

A post-mortem examination concluded that Colby died from "extreme trauma to the head, consistent with a beating," according to a Toronto police news release issued Thursday.

"Investigators interviewed numerous witnesses and released media appeals along with a composite drawing of a person of interest," the release said.

"The case remained unsolved."

But back in 2016, the force's cold case unit began a review of the case and submitted items to the Centre of Forensic Sciences for DNA analysis. In 2018, police identified the case as one that "would require further review for any connection to Bruce McArthur," the release said.

In the end, police "determined there were no identified links" to Project Prism and Project Houston — investigations into men missing from the city's Gay Village — or to McArthur.

But as this work was ongoing, the Centre of Forensic Sciences put an unknown DNA profile into the National DNA Data Bank that matched an offender's profile. Police determined that the offender had been staying with Colby at the time of his death, and he "strongly resembled" the composite image that was released to the media at the time.

"The offender also had a history of violence," Thursday's news release said.

But police determined that the offender, now their suspect in Colby's death, died in 2015.

Had he been alive today, the release said, "he would have been arrested and charged with the second-degree murder of Dennis Joseph Colby."

The victim's family has been notified of the development, police said. Because no charges will be laid, the suspect's name will not be released.