Mark Strandberg was just 15 years old when an intruder broke into his family's Bloomington, Minnesota home in November 1976, and his sister found him shot to death in his basement bedroom the next morning. Fifty years later, no one has ever been charged, and the case remains unsolved.
Strandberg had worked at a local bowling alley before the night he was killed, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, as reported by KARE 11. Investigators have said that no one in the Strandberg family heard any gunshots the night Mark was killed, nor did they hear the glass breaking as the intruder got into the home, according to a report from CBS Minnesota.
A Letter Arrives Years Later
Fourteen years after the murder, the Strandberg family received an anonymous letter confessing to the killing, per the Minnesota BCA. The letter's writer claimed the shooting happened during an attempted robbery and that it was never meant to be fatal. “The shooting was an accident. I didn't think he was even hit. I was just so scared that I ran out of the house,” the letter reportedly read, according to the same CBS Minnesota account.
Bloomington police Sgt. Mark Stehlik addressed the letter's credibility in the report, saying, “We have not been able to discount the letter as being truthful.” That statement stops short of confirming the letter's account, and the station's report does not establish who wrote it or whether its version of events has ever been verified.
A Fresh Look Decades Later
Thirty years after Strandberg's death, Bloomington police took a fresh look at the case, the outlet's report notes. Despite that renewed effort and the passage of still more time, Mark Strandberg's death remains unsolved five decades on, with investigators still hoping someone with information will come forward.
People with information are encouraged to contact the Bloomington Police Department. KARE 11 lists the department's information line as (952) 563-4997, while CBS Minnesota lists the number as (952) 563-4900. Half a century later, the Strandberg family is still waiting for answers about what happened to their son in his own bedroom.
