The Denver Police Department’s cold case unit solved two homicides from June 1993 by finding a common trail that led to a man already in jail.

Theodore Moore, 36, currently doing time for aggravated assault, admitted to both crimes, according to police.

Last Friday, Moore pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of John Maxwell and Robin Hoard and was sentenced to 64 years in the Department of Corrections.

The cases, which always were believed linked to a drug deal, came together for Detective Dixie Grimes when she found enough common elements leading to Moore.

John Maxwell, 26, and Robin Hoard, 22, apparently lived together in northeast Denver and are believed to have had key information about the death of 18-year-old Tymond Reagor.

On June 5, 1993, a man mowing his daughter’s lawn found Maxwell shot to death at the rear of 4562 E. 16th Ave.

The following day, Hoard was shot to death in her father’s Montbello home in the 4900 block of Crown Boulevard by two men who chased her into a bedroom where she was shot in front of her family.

The home Hoard and Maxwell shared earlier had been raided by Denver narcotics detectives and drugs were confiscated.

At the time, police believed the cases were linked, either because of the couple’s involvement in drugs, or because they had information about the slaying of Reagor.

Once Moore became the prime suspect, Grimes and District Attorney Investigator Tom Haney were able to get him to confess to both cases and the Denver District Attorney accepted the plea agreement reached Friday.