BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. — His photos still hang proudly in her Joppa home: the son Wanda Levasseur tells us had more friends than she could count.
Mark Levasseur was an Eagle Scout and a Joppatowne High School graduate. His yearbook note showed he played soccer, rocked out to Judas Priest, and loved his mom.
"My husband, Pat and I, we used to call Mark our 'ambassador.' Because anyone he met, he said he liked. They were his friend," recalled Wanda, in an interview with WMAR-2 News.
Mark worked as a manager at Gibby's Seafood and lived in a top-floor apartment on the 8500 block of Philadelphia Road in Rosedale.
"He saw me two days before and everything was fine. He wanted to come home because his roommate was leaving the apartment to get married. So Mark says, can I come home? I said of course you can come home," Wanda said.
It was the week before Christmas: December 16, 1988. Mark had returned home from work. Around 2:30 a.m., downstairs neighbors heard a 'commotion' and went upstairs to check on Mark.
"When they went upstairs using a back stairwell up to his apartment, they found him there, on the kitchen floor," said Corporal Dona Carter, who investigates cold cases for the Baltimore County Police Department.
Police believe there was some kind of struggle; then, Mark was shot once in the head. He died shortly after at a hospital.
For nearly 37 years, the motive behind Mark's murder has remained unclear. According to police, his valuables, including cash and gold, were not taken.
"A lot of different people were interviewed and a lot of different people were looked at. There were different people who came forward with information, saying they thought a certain person did it. Each person pointed to somebody else and at the end of the day, nothing came forward or transpired with any of those tips," Carter said.
Investigators knew of minor disagreements with restaurant employees and an old roommate, but nothing substantial enough to identify a suspect, Carter explained.
Carter believes whoever committed the crime knows what they did and hopes someone's conscience will eventually lead to closure.
Wanda Levasseur recalls the large attendance at her son's funeral, demonstrating how many people cared about him. She remains hopeful that someone will come forward with information.
"I think that there still should be someone who knew something during this happening. His circle of friends was so wide. Not only through school and scouts, but through his work. I still believe there has to be somebody, even after all these decades," Wanda said.
Anyone with information about Mark Levasseur's case is urged to contact the Baltimore County Police at 410-887-3943.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.