Toronto police make arrest in 25-year-old murder case

Toronto police have made an arrest in the death of a woman whose body was found by her six-year-old son 25 years ago.

Det. Sgt. Stacy Gallant says 63-year-old Charles Mustard of Toronto was charged Friday with first-degree murder in the death of Barbara Brodkin, who died in March of 1993 when she was 41.  

Police say Brodkin’s son called 911 when he found her, stabbed in the chest, early on a Friday morning.

Brodkin worked various jobs as a secretary and typist while raising her son as a single parent.

Gallant noted that Brodkin and Mustard, who was 37 in 1993, were not strangers.

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He says DNA evidence led to a break in the case, and Mustard was identified and investigated.

“Now, 25 years later, the boy who found his mother murdered in their apartment can have some answers,” Gallant told a news conference. “Although there will be a process for this case to work its way through the justice system, at the very least he can know that we never gave up.”

Gallant also noted that the first officer to respond to the 911 call, “a young constable named Rob Thomas,” is still involved in the case.

“Twenty-five years later, this same officer, now Det. Rob Thomas, the lead polygraph officer in Toronto, once again became part of this investigative team,” Gallant said. “He prepared for and became the lead interview officer on the team responsible for conducting the interview of the now-accused.”

“Det. Thomas continued to feel a connection to this case over the years, and he never forgot it.”

Gallant says police are still hoping to speak to people who knew both Mustard and Brodkin at the time of the alleged murder — particularly someone named Dirk and another person named Linda.

Brodkin’s cousin, Herb Brodkin, attended the news conference and thanked Gallant and his team.

“Up until recently, I thought cold cases were just something that happened in a TV series in the States,” he said.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press