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The case remains under investigation, Williams said.

A former detective in the major crimes unit, Williams said homicide probes can be “painstaking” work.

“You have to have a lot of patience, you have to be innovative, you have to be meticulous,” he said. “That perseverance is required to see these cases through. . . . It could take months, sometimes years, to actually put the case together so a Crown attorney can actually prosecute it in court.”

The work of London homicide investigators paid off this fall when two men were convicted in the shooting of Jonathan Zak, 29, who died during a botched robbery behind a Boullee Street housing complex on May 31, 2012.

Though it took police nearly five years to charge William McDonald and Thomas Lako, details revealed during their joint trial showed police had a good idea who killed Zak from the beginning, but investigators encountered a string of unco-operative witnesses and individuals.

McDonald, 29, who fired fatal the shotgun blast, was convicted of second-degree murder, while Lako, 28, was found guilty of manslaughter for knocking Zak to the ground.

Williams said the convictions were one of the highlights for police this year.

“I have to hand it to the investigators because there was such dedication, determination and perseverance. . . . You don’t see that in the TV shows, even the so-called reality shows,” he said.

“I don’t think most people really appreciate the work that goes into a homicide investigation. There are a lot of investigative avenues and tactics that are utilized or deployed sometimes for an extended period of time before an investigation is able to result in charges being laid.