Twenty-five years after an attendant's body was found in a Toronto gas station, police have made an arrest in connection with the fatal stabbing and robbery.
Surinder Singh Parmar was found stabbed to death in the area of Danforth Road and Eglinton Avenue, in the early hours of Monday, Nov. 19, 1990.
The 38-year-old's body was found in the men's washroom of a building on the lot of Penny Gas Bar, at 1039 Danforth Rd. It was discovered by a customer who stopped for gas shortly after 1 a.m.
"The motive for the murder appeared to be robbery," Toronto Police Det. Sgt. Stacy Gallant said Tuesday.
"It appears a very violent struggle took place in the confines of a small bathroom."
Parmar had come to Canada from India five months before he was killed, Gallant said. The father of two planned to return to India in January 1991.
"(Parmar's children) were shocked when we called them last week to give them an update on the investigation after all these years," Gallant said.
Police reassigned the case several months ago to a member of the Toronto cold case unit. Gallant provided few details about the investigation, but said that the evidence collected in 1990 was reviewed again by the cold case team.
Gallant said they've made an arrest in the case, just nine days shy of the anniversary of Parmar's death.
Rupert Richards, 61, was arrested Monday in connection to Parmar's death. Richards, who was 36 at the time of the stabbing, has been charged with first-degree murder.
Gallant said Richards was not a suspect in 1990, but he was brought to police attention through DNA and fingerprint analysis. Gallant could not provide more information as the case is before the courts.
