A little more than 46 years, the body of a rock musician was found stabbed to death in his Cedar Street apartment in Bristol Borough, according to state police.
Mark Barocas, 24 at the time, was found nude on the floor of his apartment with several stab wounds to the chest and arms, authorities said.
According to several published media accounts, State Police responded to Barocas’ apartment after receiving an anonymous tip. They found he had been dead for about 12 hours when his body was discovered on July 31, 1980 at 11 p.m.
Barocas was a drummer in two local bands and worked as a forklift operator, police said.
The case remains unsolved to this day and is under the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP), Troop M, Bethlehem, Criminal Investigation Assessment Unit.
State Police in October of 2024 through their Meta page published a seeking tips post on the cold case. It is unclear if there were any tips that led investigators to develop case-specific leads as of publication time.
There was little to no media coverage in the Lower Bucks area based on the state police’s social media outreach efforts on the case.
Credit: Submitted
Information about the murder and follow-up stories was also scant.
Credit: Lower Bucks Hospital
Stacy Horn, a writer, who wrote a book called the “Restless Sleep” (RS) that covered New York City detectives working on cold cases and who operated a website by the same name had an interesting exchange with a woman who self-identified Barocas as her cousin a little more than five years ago.
She posted the comment below to a page dedicated to cold cases.
Hi Ms. Horn. I am writing to you regarding the death of Mark Barocas n Bristol PA. someone commented on your blog I believe in 2017 Stating that she is the girlfriend of Mark at the time of his death. I’d like to find out who made that post. My husband was the cousin of Mark who is murder remains unsolved.
Horn provided the requested information privately to Marchiondo.
Any person with information related to the death of Barocas is asked to contact the Troop M Criminal Investigation and Assessment Unit at 610-861-2026 or PSP Tips Toll Free at 1-800-4PA-TIPS (8477) or by clicking this link.
Investigators say all callers to PSP Tips could be eligible for a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest, the solving of a crime/cold case or the location of a wanted person/fugitive or missing person.
State Police on Patrol in Levittown
Credit: Jeff Bohen, Lower Bucks Source
Pearl1862
August 2, 2026 at 9:31 pm
https://shorturl.fm/WbYtK
Maryanneboyle
August 3, 2026 at 2:55 pm
I never heard of this story. This is the first time and I’ve loved her all my life. Maybe something should be put on social media or TV a cold case to find out who did this.
Mike
August 3, 2026 at 4:53 pm
I Never heard about this either, And I lived in the Borough from ’66-June of ’90, And moved back in January of 15