Officer James Nathaniel Mason, 35, was ambushed and shot while completing paperwork inside his patrol car near the Mantua Hall Housing Project in the spring of 1981. A five-year city police veteran and a U.S. Army veteran, he was struck by a rifle round and died three days later on May 7, 1981, leaving a wife and two children.

An 18-year-old was arrested, charged and, according to police, confessed to the killing. The case went to trial but ended in acquittal about a year after the arrest. No one has been convicted in connection with Mason’s murder and the case remains officially unsolved.

What details about Officer Mason’s last shift or the area around Mantua Hall might help explain how the ambush was carried out or who was responsible?