Santa Clara County sheriff’s detectives and officers of the Stanford Department of Public Safety remain baffled by the brutal murder of a physics student here nearly two weeks ago.

Early on the morning of Sept. 11, a jogger found the body of David Sidney Levine, a senior in physics from Ithaca, N.Y., on a walkway just east of the Meyer Library. Levine’s assailant had stabbed him 15 times in the back and side.

Contacted on Friday, Santa Clara County Undersheriff Tom Rosa said, “We haven’t had any breaks at this pointing the case.” He added that eight to 10 investigators from his office were still trying to solve the murder.

Rosa said that his office and Stanford Public Safety Department have both supplemented their on-campus patrols at night.

Caution Urged

Stanford Public Safety Sapt. Frank Benederet urged students and the general public to be sensibly cautious when on campus at night. “If a motive isn’t estabished for the murder of David S. Levine, then there’s a possibility that a maniac is on the loose.”

Detectives said that there was no sign of a struggle near the spot where Levine’s body was found, indicating his assailant took him completely by surprise. Police found Levine’s empty wallet in his pants pocket and virtually ruled out robbery as a possible motive for the murder.

On the day of the murder, Dean of Student Affairs James Lyons announced that the University is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Levine’s murderer.

Information Sought

Witnesses saw Levine leaaving the physics department at approximately 1 a.m. the day he was killed. Investigators believe he was slain while returning to his home in the Mirrielees Apartments in Escondido Village.

The murder was the second on the main campus in the past decade. In 1969, Dr. Leslie Kuhanek was shot to death at the Medical Center by a gunman.

Levine was the son of Cornell University Agricultural Engineering Prof. Gilbert Levine. At the request of his family, the University established a David Levine Memorial Fund to help students studying in physics.