DNA links two unsolved cold cases

DNA collected in the 1980s has linked two unsolved crimes committed in Melbourne.

A sexual assault from 1988 and a suspicious death from 1989 have been linked by the DNA collected by Victorian police during the original investigations.

Police say a male taxi driver, believed to be named Khalid, may be responsible for the crimes.

He gave a woman and her male friend a lift in his taxi to a St Kilda nightclub in 1988, before meeting them again at the end of the night and offering them a lift home in his private vehicle, police say.

After dropping off the man, he drove to a paddock in Dandenong where he raped the woman.

This crime has been linked by DNA to the suspicious death of 21-year-old Nichala Barber, whose body was found on a Caulfield nature strip in 1989.

A review of all cold case crimes identified the link.

Detectives believe the suspect was a drug dealer and may be known to people in the St Kilda area.