A Windsor cold case homicide has been solved, almost 50 years after the homicide occurred.

Windsor police announced Friday a deceased male was responsible for the death of Ljubica Topic.

In 1971, the two Topic children were playing outside their Drouillard Road home when a man offered the six-year-old girl money to go with him. Eight-year-old brother Michael was given change to go "ride a bike" said police.

Ljubica's body was found four hours later, on May 14, 1971, in an alley that no longer exists. She had been violently assaulted.

In 2015, police revealed the profile of a suspect after new evidence — two of Ljubica's teeth and one adult tooth — were found near where her body had been discovered.

Police have not named the deceased male responsible.

"The male responsible for the murder is not being named as he will never have his day in court to answer to the charges," said documents released by Windsor police.

Police said the man was only recently identified as a suspect in the case and while he was a Windsor resident at the time of the homicide, had lived out west in the years following. The man deemed responsible was 22 at the time of the 1971 murder.

Investigators met with the Topic family to update them on the development in the case. The family has requested privacy.

The case had been reopened six times since the 1970s, with hundreds of tips from across Canada and the U.S.

Eight different Chiefs of Police managed "a huge number of officers" who worked on the case.

The identification was made possible due to advances in DNA technology.

"The male's DNA matched separate sources of DNA seized from the crime scene," said WPS documents. "Based on the nature of the DNA and where it was located, investigators are confident that the identified male is indeed the individual responsible for the murder."

There were more than 500 person of interest in the case over the years.