In less than two weeks, the second anniversary of Peter J. Bassett’s shooting death will come and go, probably with no suspect under indictment.

Last week’s conviction of a Bangor man in a double murder makes the killing of the off-duty letter carrier, who died in uniform outside Judy’s bar, the lone unresolved Bangor homicide case from 1988. During that violent spring, summer and fall, nine people were slain in the immediate Bangor area.

One fact distinguishes the death of the 39-year-old Bassett, who left a wife and four children, from the other eight: A suspect was charged, but the indictment was later dropped. Terry Thompson, then 28 and from Hermon, was accused of pulling the trigger that killed Bassett.

According to court documents, witnesses at Judy’s told police they had seen Bassett in a confrontation with a man wearing a white tank top, jeans, and fitting the general physical description of Thompson. Some said they had been arguing in the bar and had carried the dispute outside about 10 minutes before the shooting.

One witness identified Thompson by name. Thompson, he said, had introduced himself earlier in the evening and displayed a high-school class ring with the name “Terry” inscribed on it.

When Thompson was arrested the next day at the Bagel Shop in Bangor, his clothing and a ring that police confiscated fit the witness’ descriptions.

Another witness saw Thompson put his hand to the back of Bassett’s head, “then heard two gunshots and observed the man in the postal outfit fall immediately to the ground,” according to an affidavit filed by Detective James F. Libby.

According to court papers, the medical examiner believed the fatal wound to be a “contact wound,” meaning the gun was close to its target.

Two months after he was arrested, the state set Thompson free, saying that new information had led them to question the extent of his involvement. But authorities stressed that he was still a suspect and could face charges later.

Thompson’s lawyer, Martha J. Harris, at the time pointed the finger at another man who was seen leaving the area that night. He is identified in court documents as James Reynolds, the owner of both a yellow Oldsmobile sedan that witnesses said they saw leaving the scene of the shooting and a blue pickup truck found near the Bangor dock.

A witness reported seeing the sedan pull into a Brewer driveway about a half-hour before he started hearing scanner traffic about the shooting.

During a police interview, Reynolds told police that he and Thompson had slept the night of the shooting at the Bangor dock in the cab of the pickup truck, which had broken down.

Reynolds, who has never been charged in connection with the killing, has an extensive record of unrelated misdemeanor convictions.

A search for the murder weapon, believed to be a handgun, yielded no immediate results in the days after Bassett’s death.

Officials remain quiet about the Bassett investigation, as they typically do about pending cases, but emphasize that the inquiry is continuing. Their silence extends to Harris, who technically is no longer involved in the case, although her client apparently remains a suspect. She said Thursday she knows “absolutely nothing” about the current status of the case.

“We’re still working on the case,” Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Hjelm said Thursday. “We’re still pursuing whatever information we have.”