King County Sheriff's detectives are re-investigating a South Park double homicide from 18 years ago.

On January 15, 1990, a neighbor found the bodies of Steven Dorobis, 34, and Eric Hoyer, 36, in their residence in the 1200 block of South Southern St.

Both men were Seattle attorneys who had been shot at close range, probably the day before, with a .38 or .357 handgun. The case was thoroughly investigated well into 1993, but no arrests were ever made. Eventually the case file was put on a shelf when there were no more leads to pursue.

Recently, Major Crimes unit detectives re-opened the investigation at the suggestion of one of detectives who did follow-up work on the case in 1992.

"We have many, many 'cold' homicide cases, many of which could be solved with the improvements in technology over the years, especially DNA technology," said Sheriff Sue Rahr. "This is one of those cases. But we have to prioritize which cases we look at because of a lack of resources. Nevertheless, a homicide case is never closed."

Detectives looked at several motives for the killings in the 1990's and conducted dozens of interviews. The family of one of the victims even hired a private detective to look into the case. A reward of $10,000 was offered at one point.

Detectives are now confident they know the motive for the killings. They have also re-interviewed some of the persons initially questioned in the 1990's.

The residence where the killings took place was owned by Hoyer, and both men were remodeling it in their spare time. The house is across from the Duwamish Waterway and near the 16th Avenue South Bridge, in what is still unincorporated King County.

Currently, detectives feel they are making progress and are confident they will be able to present a solid case to the prosecutor's office.

"We believe those responsible for this crime are still walking around, free. We intend to rectify that," said Rahr.

Anyone who has information on this crime is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 296-3311, 24 hours a day or 9-1-1.