BALTIMORE — Anita Buckson loved to reminisce with Antonio, the youngest of her four brothers.
"Oh gosh, he was funny," Anita replied. "He loved family. When he'd come around, he'd just always make you laugh."
"When he was here," she remembered, "we would get together, Thanksgiving and Christmas we'd spend time with our family. And we'd take a lot of pictures. And we just talk about when we were little, when we were growing up. Always talking about the good old days with him."
Buckson, 38, was a truck driver who had lived in Baltimore his whole life, Anita told WMAR in a March 2025 interview. Her brother, Anita said, was fun to be around, and was very sociable.
"He was a loving person, a giving person. He was the sweetest person. He was a real nice guy," Buckson added.
At the Buckson family house, his pictures are well-displayed. The little brother of the family was loved.
"He said, 'I love you,' I said, 'I love you,' and that was our last conversation. And that was during the day on May the 7th," Anita said.
May 7, 2016 was a Saturday. Mother's Day was that Sunday. Antonio was out overnight in East Baltimore, Anita said.
“He was partying, because he was home for the weekend. That’s what he liked to do," Anita told WMAR.
In the early hours of Mother's Day, someone murdered Buckson on Decker Avenue, about a month before his 39th birthday.
"It was like somebody ripped my heart out," Anita said. "It was terrible. I cried every day. I cried every day, and I still cry. It seemed like it just happened and it's hard. That was my baby."
Buckson's family reached out to WMAR-2 News to highlight his case, hopeful that answers arise in their youngest brother's murder.
Antonio Buckson was one of the city's more than 300 homicide victims that year, and his case is yet to be solved.
Baltimore police did not provide an on-camera interview for Buckson's case.
A spokesperson said detectives are not considering the case 'cold'. Homicide detectives typically manage their cases for the duration of their time in the unit, the spokesperson told WMAR. Cases typically go to the cold cases unit if unsolved for at least ten years, or if the primary or secondary detectives are no longer in the homicide unit.
It has been almost nine years without closure for the Bucksons, and her brother's murder has never left Anita's mind.
"I don't want this to happen to somebody else's son, brother or uncle. Just come forward if you know anything from Mother's Day 2016," Anita pleaded.
Over the years, the Bucksons have learned little about what happened.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
If you know something, give Metro Crime Stoppers a call at 1-866-7LOCKUP.
If you have a cold case you want us to highlight, please email us at storyideas@wmar.com.
