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Toronto police‘s cold case unit is appealing to the public for help identifying a suspect in the murder investigation of 28-year-old Richard Thomas Moore, who died more than 31 years ago.

Police say on Dec. 3, 1988 at around 7 a.m., a cyclist riding his bicycle on Colborne Lodge Drive near High Park discovered Moore’s body just off the roadway in the grass.

Investigators allege Moore had been beaten and stabbed multiple times. He lived in the Parkdale area and was also employed as a labourer at a nearby business, police said.

An area search revealed Moore’s empty wallet several hundred yards from where he was found, according to police.

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The victim was last seen on the evening of Dec. 2, 1988 at the Edgewater Hotel near Roncesvalles Avenue and Queen Street West, police said.

A photo from the scene in 1988. Handout / Toronto Police

Homicide cold case Det. Sgt. Stacy Gallant said “robbery appears to have been the motive” in Moore’s death. Gallant said a knife, believed to be the murder weapon, was also found at the scene.

That knife was recently sent for analysis to the Centre for Forensic Sciences to develop an offender DNA profile.

“The technology of what we’re looking for didn’t exist back in 1988 or in subsequent years. It’s only now that we can handle other profile items that may have been used during crimes. So it’s relatively recent technology,” Gallant said.

“If they’re on the DNA data bank, that’s one way. Second, is if somebody calls us and tells might be responsible we can make a match that way. The third way is using the new genealogy sites and that sort of technology that we’ve seen unfold in some other cases recently.”

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A photo of the suspected murder weapon from 1988. Handout / Toronto Police

1988 homicide victim Richard Thomas Moore, 28. Handout / Toronto Police

“If you know who is responsible, take that step and help bring this offender to justice,” Gallant said. “If you want to remain anonymous, that’s OK. There are people out there who know who is responsible for this murder and need to come forward now.”

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477) or online.

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A photo of Colborne Lodge Drive in 1988. Handout / Toronto Police

A photo from the scene in 1988. Handout / Toronto Police