The Greenwich Police Department and Greenwich Time have reached an agreement that puts on hold a state Freedom of Information Commission hearing on the newspaper's request to see the Matthew Margolies homicide investigation files.

On Friday, police officials agreed to provide Greenwich Time with edited copies of its investigative reports for the unsolved 1984 murder, from which the names of suspects, key witnesses and other information about the investigation will be deleted.

The process of editing the more than 600 pages of reports will take at least two months, Greenwich police officials said.

As a result of the agreement, Greenwich Time has requested a postponement of the Freedom of Information Commission hearing in which the newspaper had planned to present arguments in favor of making the Margolies case file public.

Greenwich Time sought the entire investigative file in an Aug. 31 request made under state Freedom of Information laws. The request was denied by Police Chief Peter Robbins, citing a state law that exempts certain records from public disclosure when withholding such information is in the public interest.

The denial was appealed by Greenwich Time, and a hearing had been scheduled for tomorrow afternoon before the Freedom of Information Commission in Hartford.

The agreement mirrors a 1983 commission ruling that ordered the Police Department to release an edited version of its investigative reports concerning the unsolved 1975 murder of Martha Moxley.

Matthew Margolies, 13, of 8 Pilgrim Drive, was last seen alive the afternoon of Aug. 31, 1984, as he set out to go fishing in the Byram River near his home. His body was found five days later in a shallow grave off Pemberwick Road. The official cause of death was multiple stab wounds and strangulation.

Police have said a list of suspects was narrowed to five, with one of them being the prime suspect.

A reinvestigation of the homicide was launched by Greenwich police in June 1998.