DNA imaging technology is being used for the first time in Queensland in the hopes of solving a 40-year-old murder. 

Owen ‘Eddie’ Crabbe was found naked and with stab wounds in the Beachcomber Hotel at Surfers Paradise on May 31, 1982.

He had recently separated from his partner and started dating men shortly before his brutal murder.

Police today released an image of what Crabbe’s killer may have looked like, made with DNA technology.

Criminologist Xanthe Mallett said the image isn’t expected to be highly accurate but could jog the memory of witnesses.

“What I’m not saying is this is a photographic likeness of what they looked like, but what we’re saying is, that is what your genes say you should look like, predict you look like.”

A $500,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to a conviction.

Image: Supplied