WHITBY -- A view of an historic homicide from a fresh perspective resulted in the break police have been seeking since Beverly Smith was found murdered in her north Oshawa home almost 34 years ago.
    
Ten Durham detectives backed up by other officers have worked intensively on the cold case since May. They revisited every aspect of the file and sought new leads in an attempt to solve a killing that has long puzzled observers and left a grieving family searching for answers, said homicide Detective Leon Lynch Tuesday, shortly after the announcement of a suspect’s arrest.
   
“We went back to square one -- we started right from scratch and re-interviewed everybody,” Det. Lynch said.
   
“We uncovered people we’d never spoken to before and that was helpful.”
   
Det. Lynch wouldn’t say exactly what break led police to the suspect or when he became a person of interest. But he said the case was solved as a result of revisiting historical information rather than new tips coming in after police issued an appeal for tips earlier this year.
   
Police haven’t hinted at a motive or the exact circumstances in which the killing occurred, but have indicated through the charge laid -- second-degree murder -- that they believe the killing was not premeditated.
   
An elated Det. Lynch, whose recent cases have included the arrest and conviction of several bikers in the killing of a Keswick man and the arrest of a suspect of a trucker found dead in his rig in Pickering, said the arrest in the Smith case is an enormously satisfying development.
   
“I think today is up there with any case I’ve been involved with,” he said.
   
“We’re happy; we’re excited for the family, that we could get them some answers. We didn’t promise anything to the family,” Det. Lynch said. “We just said we’d do our best.”
   
For Durham Regional Police spokesman Dave Selby, the publicity about the case in early February was a boost.
   
“The media push certainly helped with tips. A number of tips came in,” said Mr. Selby, who would not say if officers had a suspect in mind when they held the news conference.