Ricardo Eugene Levenberry, known to loved ones as Ricky and also by the nickname DC, was 19 years old when he was last seen in Elkton, Maryland, on August 19, 2014. NamUs lists him as missing from Elkton with a date of last contact of August 19, 2014, and NCMEC case number 1236875. He was described as a Black male with black hair and brown eyes, standing about 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing about 150 to 160 pounds.
He had multiple tattoos, including the word Love on his left arm, the word Hate on his right arm, stars near his collarbone, and other tattoos on his chest and forearms. He was reported to have been wearing a purple shirt with AE on the front and green shoes with zig-zag markings when he disappeared.
The circumstances of Ricardo’s disappearance quickly became alarming because they closely mirrored the disappearance of 16-year-old Jesse Grant Veasey Jr., who vanished from the same Elkton neighborhood about 18 hours earlier. Early reporting from Elkton police said Jesse was last seen getting into a blue four-door Chevrolet in the Hollingsworth Manor neighborhood with a heavyset white man and a white woman inside. The next day, Ricardo was seen riding his bicycle near a park on Cow Lane in Hollingsworth Manor sometime between late morning and noon, when a car matching the description pulled up and he got inside. Police said Ricardo’s phone was shut off around the time he was last seen, deepening concern among family, friends, and investigators.
As the search continued, Ricardo’s family and community were left in a state of fear and uncertainty. Friends and relatives gathered for a vigil, hoping public attention and a reward would bring forward someone with information. A family friend said it was unlike Ricardo and Jesse to vanish without contact, and community members described the situation as frightening and hard to understand. Ricardo, who was also remembered as a young father, had a seven-month-old daughter at the time, and later case summaries note that he left behind two baby daughters. The human weight of the case was felt not only in the investigation, but in the anguish of people who knew that two young lives had seemingly been pulled out of their neighborhood in nearly the same way.
Investigators eventually identified the driver as Donald Ray Bennett. According to case summaries, Bennett and the female passenger acknowledged that Ricardo and Jesse had been in the vehicle at separate times but claimed both had been dropped off alive and well. Evidence later connected Bennett to the disappearances, including Ricardo’s cellular phone, which was reportedly found under a mattress in Bennett’s motel room. Text messages on the phone showed Bennett had contacted Ricardo about drugs and offered items in trade, including a video game console and a Casio G-Shock watch; Jesse was known to have owned a Casio G-Shock watch. In March 2015, Bennett was charged in connection with the deaths of both teens.
In August 2015, Donald Ray Bennett pleaded guilty in Cecil County Circuit Court. WBAL reported that he admitted murdering Jesse Veasey Jr. and Ricardo Levenberry before disposing of their bodies, and that he was sentenced to 60 years in prison with all but 30 years suspended. The Charley Project reports that Bennett pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, said he strangled both teenagers about 16 hours apart, apologized to their families at sentencing, and agreed as part of the plea to lead authorities to their remains. Investigators later recovered remains believed to be Jesse’s in Little Elk Creek beneath an Interstate 95 overpass, while authorities said Ricardo’s remains were not expected to be recoverable after Bennett said he placed his body in a trash bin whose contents were taken to the Cecil County Landfill.
Ricardo Levenberry’s case began as a missing person investigation after a young man in Elkton got into a vehicle and never came home, but it became part of a broader tragedy involving two teenagers who disappeared from the same neighborhood within hours of each other. The public record shows a case marked by urgent searches, a frightened community, grieving families, a criminal prosecution, and a painful absence that remains especially hard because Ricardo’s remains have not been recovered. The known facts point to Ricardo last being seen in Hollingsworth Manor on August 19, 2014; law enforcement later connected Donald Ray Bennett to both Ricardo’s and Jesse’s deaths; Bennett pleaded guilty and was sentenced; Jesse’s remains were reportedly located, while Ricardo’s recovery has remained unlikely. At its heart, this is the story of a 19-year-old son, friend, and father whose life ended violently, whose family was left without the comfort of bringing him home, and whose name remains tied to the need for remembrance, accountability, and compassion.Last Seen: Aug 19, 2014
