HUNTER: Cops say 2018 tech whiz cold case all about money

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Matthew Staikos was murdered for money.

Toronto Police Cold Case detectives believe they know the “why” – now their intention is to zero in on the “who.”

Staikos, 37, a successful tech entrepreneur, was brazenly gunned down in a gangland-style execution on a warm Monday, May 28, 2018, around 11:30 p.m. on busy Bay St.

Three bullets were fired, with Staikos being hit in the back and head.

The Belleville native did not fit the mold as a victim in an underworld settling of accounts.

“Matthew Staikos was a completely innocent victim,” Det.-Sgt. Steve Smith, of the Cold Case Unit, told the Toronto Sun.

Despite Herculean efforts by homicide detectives, the case went cold. Now, Smith said, investigators are again targeting Staikos’ killers.

“We’re going through the entire file, and there are definitely some persons of interest in there,” the veteran detective said, adding that the Staikos murder was all about the money.

“There were some complex dealings, cryptocurrency and the like,” he explained. “We think that played a role, as did his personal relationships.”

Smith indicated there was “a lot of money” at play.

“But in the end, Matthew Staikos was completely innocent and worth so much more to people who loved him, who wanted him alive and expected he would lead a long life,” Smith said.

“We have to figure out who he was worth more dead than alive to,” he added. “But we’re certain it was all about money, and the killer is who benefited from his death.”

There were initially few clues.

Cops believed from the outset it was a professional who pumped the bullets into Staikos while his friend watched in horror.

After shooting Staikos, the triggerman retreated into the silver or grey four-door Mercedes from whence he came and vanished into the night. From the start, cops had no doubt the slaying was targeted.

At the time, investigators collected video surveillance from the area. They’re looking for a gunman described as Black and 5-foot-10 with a medium build.

Detectives are also certain Staikos did not know the triggerman. Instead, they believe the gunman was a hired hand with someone else in the background pulling the strings – someone who had their figurative finger on the trigger.

Solving historic homicides can be an incredibly tough slog for cops. Memories fade, evidence is lost.

But given that the Staikos murder is less than a decade old, there is reason for detectives to be optimistic that they will nail the puppet masters and the triggerman sooner rather than later.

And things do change.

Smith noted that unsolved murders are usually solved by new technology and the changing nature of people’s relationships. While fear of repercussions may have been stark in 2018, that may no longer be a factor.

In the interim, there is a mountain of evidence that investigators are scouring.

Among the pile of paperwork, interviews, evidence, persons of interest and myriad other clues, there is a stone-cold killer.

Thirty years ago, if seven years had passed following a homicide, the killer could reasonably be confident they were sailing into the sunset. Maybe with a guilty conscience, but free.

Those days are over.

If you have any information regarding this murder, contact the Homicide Unit at 416-808-7400 or homicide@torontopolice.on.ca, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or www.222tips.com.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun