As the 27th anniversary of the murder of Sonya Cywink nears, provincial police are renewing a public plea for information that could finally solve the case.
Elgin OPP announced on Thursday the 31-year-old woman's family is continuing to offer a $10,000 reward, in addition to a $50,000 reward being offered by police, for help leading to an arrest and conviction of those responsible.
Cywink was originally from the White Fish First Nation territory on Manitoulin Island but had moved to London and was living in the east-end of the city at the time of her murder. She was 24 weeks pregnant when she was last seen alive near the intersection of Dundas and Lyle streets around 2 a.m. on August 26, 1994.
Her body was found four days later at Southwold Earthworks, an Indigenous historical site on Iona Road in the Township of Southwold. Clear signs of blunt force trauma were found on her body, leading police to rule her death a homicide.
"Someone out there knows something about this case, even the smallest detail could help," said OPP Detective Inspector Randy Gaynor. "We urge anyone with information to step forward and help bring this investigation to a successful conclusion. We certainly want to solve this homicide and bring the person(s) responsible to justice for Sonya and her family."
Police and Cywink's family first began offering the reward for information leading to a conviction in 2014. Five years later, police erected two 'find my killer' billboards in London in hopes of tracking down Cywink's killer. The slain woman's family has also visited the city on several occasions, canvassing the old neighbourhood where Cywink lived and the intersection where she was last seen alive.
Anyone with information about this unsolved case is asked to call the OPP's director of criminal investigation services at 1 888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222- 8477 (TIPS).
