New England's Unsolved: Sheila Levesque of Malden

MALDEN, Mass. — It was a brutal murder that shocked the city of Malden. A mother of six, viciously attacked in her own bed, while her children slept in the next room.

Sheila Levesque was 35 years old.

On the night of March 12, 1988, five of Sheila's children were sleeping in an apartment at the Newland Street development when a killer struck.

“The only light that was on was the hallway light, so you couldn't see into the room,” said Ronell Levesque, Sheila’s daughter.

She was 9 years old that night and she was in the bedroom across the hall.  Ronnell thought she could hear her mother coughing just before 1 a.m.

“I remember walking in. I sensed it right away.  Something is not right. I could hear her moaning, but there is no body on the bed,” Ronnell recalled the night of the murder.

Ronnell remembers running out of the room screaming for help and her brothers rushing up the stairs. When she returned, she couldn't believe her eyes.

“She was stabbed a lot. There was a lot of blood in that room,” she said.

Sheila Levesque died more than 12 hours later at Mass General Hospital.

Almost 30 years later, they are still trying to find their mother's killer.

Sheila Levesque's five children were not the only people nearby when this happened. This brutal murder took place on a weekend night, a Friday into a Saturday.  It's believed these buildings in the development were filled with neighbors.

Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said that Sheila's case is still wide open.

“There was a party going on in another apartment where she lived. A lot of people coming and going. We have reason to believe that there might be someone in the coming and going during the time when this happened, saw something that could be important to us,” said Ryan.

“It was just too personal for it to be somebody we don’t know,” said Ronnell.

Ronnell has spent nearly her entire life thinking about the killer who snuck into her house and killed her mother.

That was the last night she spent in that apartment. Ronnell and her siblings moved in with their grandparents.  There was a vigil on March 12 this year at the Newland Street development in Malden, the anniversary of Sheila Levesque’s murder.

Ronnell’s brother Jeremy Ruschak was there to help light candles for their mother.

“Answers is kind of what I'm looking foe, not knowing is what hurts” said Ruschak.

It was the first time in 29 years that Ronnell returned to where it all happened.

“Her spirit was taken from that room finally. she was able to come out and say my children are fighting, my children are going to get justice,” said Ronnell.

If you have any information about what happened to Sheila Levesque contact the Massachusetts State Police at 781-897-6600 or Malden Police at 781-397-7171.

Cox Media Group