Mar 19, 2008 - 06:00 PM

By Jeff Mitchell

WHITBY -- Her quavering voice belying a resolve that's helped keep a cold case active for more than three decades, Barbra Brown somehow found a way to describe her reaction to learning the identity of the man charged in her twin sister's long-ago killing.

"I now know the who," she told reporters gathered at Durham police headquarters in Whitby Wednesday afternoon. "I will have to wait a little longer to know the why."

Ms. Brown has waited almost 34 years for the answer to the question that has haunted her: Who killed her 22-year-old sister Beverly Smith with a single gunshot to the back of the head on Dec. 9, 1974?

Ms. Brown was shocked to learn that Durham police have charged 56-year-old Alan Smith, a former neighbour and friend of her sister's in the north Oshawa hamlet of Raglan, with second-degree murder. Police arrested the man at his Cobourg home Monday, culminating an intensive review of the murder probe that was launched last May.

Mr. Smith, no relation to the victim, was among those questioned during the original investigation of Beverly Smith's killing in 1974; it was his wife who found the slain woman's body on the floor of her home, metres from the crib in which her infant daughter lay sleeping.

"It was a terrible blow all over again," Ms. Brown said. "He made himself out to be a hero.

"Part of my healing was waiting to forgive and I hope in the future it still will be, but right now it's not on the table," Ms. Brown said.

"I just need to hate him a little longer."

Ms. Brown spoke to the media in early February when Durham police held a press conference to issue an appeal for tips in the case. She and Ms. Smith's daughter, Rebecca, spoke then of the anguish they'd lived with for years, knowing Beverly's killer had not been brought to justice.

Wednesday Rebecca hinted at the toll those years have taken when she described how news of the arrest had come as a relief to her father Douglas Smith, who raised Rebecca after his wife was slain.

Mr. Smith has lived for years under a cloud of suspicion, she said.

"I had people who would say it was my dad -- they were pointing fingers," she said. "He lost his wife."

A team of 10 detectives backed up by numerous other officers relaunched the investigation into Beverly Smith's murder last May, relying on information gathered in past efforts and pursuing new leads that cropped up. They also gathered DNA samples from a number of people, said Durham police spokesman Dave Selby.

But no one piece of information or investigative method cracked the case, Mr. Selby said: "Everything helped, but no one thing was the tipping point.

"Probably several hundred police officers over the years have looked at this case and none of their work was lost," he said.

Police continue to investigate the case but believe the killer acted alone, Mr. Selby said.

"There are no other suspects," he said. "We aren't anticipating any other charges."

Ms. Brown, who has lobbied police over the years to keep looking for her sister's killer, said she plans to attend a trial when it is held. She praised the investigative team that made the arrest.

"I knew that there was an answer and I finally found the right team that would listen. I dug in my heels ... I felt Beverly was worth it," she said.

"For now I can say, 'You can rest now, Beverly'."

Alan Smith appeared in court Tuesday and was remanded in custody.