'We are desperate': Family of slain Toronto tech CEO renews $250,000 reward in unsolved murder case

Nearly five years after Matthew Staikos was gunned down in Toronto, the family of the tech CEO has renewed a $250,000 reward in the unsolved murder case.

Nearly five years after Matthew Staikos was gunned down in Toronto, the family of the tech CEO has renewed a $250,000 reward in the unsolved murder case.

“To say that the last four years, eight months, and 10 days have not been easy would be a gross understatement. Every day has been excruciating, insufferable, seemingly unsurvivable,” the family said in a statement at a news conference Tuesday.

“Today is no different. And yet, here we are. We don’t want to be here. It is incredibly difficult for us to once again be standing in front of the cameras, sharing our pain with the world. But we are desperate.”

Staikos, a former BlackBerry employee and CEO of the Toronto-based Vleepo, was shot and killed while he was walking in the area of Yorkville Avenue and Bay Street on the night of May 28, 2018.

Surveillance video released at the time shows Staikos walking in the affluent neighbourhood at approximately 11:30 p.m. with another person when the pair passed a Mercedes-Benz that was parked on the street.

A man appeared to exit from the passenger side of the vehicle and follow the two men out of the surveillance camera’s view. Then, the man is seen running back to the Mercedes and fleeing southbound on Bay Street.

One witness described hearing loud gunshots before he discovered Staikos’s body. The 37-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.