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Murder-mystery: 1989 Catonsville movie theater manager's killing still unsolved

Who killed Walter Robinson?
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CATONSVILLE, Md. — Aside from jam-packed traffic, nearly 40 years on, Route 40, the Baltimore National Pike, looks very different than it used to.

West of the Beltway, many remember catching a movie at Westview Cinemas, on the 6000 block of the major artery in Catonsville.

Walter Robinson was a manager there. In early March 1989, late on a Friday night, Robinson was walking the halls of the theater, roaming the floor and collecting the money. It was just after midnight.

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A photo from inside the theater, March 1989.

The morning crew came in for their shift that Saturday and found Robinson stabbed to death. Not only were the night's receipts gone, but so was a bag of cash.

"The night's receipts were missing. They were missing from an office adjacent to the office where Mr. Robinson's body was found," a police spokesman said the day after Robinson's killing.

"He was found in an usher's office that was used for dressing and changes. It's the last thing, of course, he does before he leaves. He still had his work tuxedo on," the police spokesman said.

Robinson was 69 years old when someone killed him. A coworker told police he saw Robinson alive not long before his death.

Though Westview Cinemas was demolished in 1997, police are still looking for whoever could have killed him. They recently recirculated a plea to find a man for questioning.

A composite sketch describes the man as about 6 feet tall with a thin build, long dark hair and acne scars on his face. He was in his 20s or 30s at the time of the murder.

If you remember anything from March 3 or 4, 1989, investigators say nothing is too small to tell them. Call them at 410-887-3943.

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