WINNIPEG - A Winnipeg newspaper says evidence that may have linked Terry Arnold to the murder of a Winnipeg waitress apparently vanished before it could be tested.

A police document obtained by the Winnipeg Free Press says the evidence includes Stoppel's underwear, shoes, socks and a discarded tissue.

Arnold, who was a prime suspect in the 1981 slaying of Barbara Stoppel, killed himself last weekend in Victoria.

In his suicide note he denied killing anyone.

The report prepared in 2002, by Winnipeg police Sergeant Andrew Mikolajewski outlined the alleged difficulties Mikolajewski faced in trying to re-investigate Stoppel's killing.

The report has been kept secret by the Winnipeg police service since the day it was filed.

Stoppel's brother Rick says he obtained the report it from an anonymous source and released it to the media to show how police failed to properly investigate his sister's murder.