Going West: True Crime - Maggie Long // 367

Starting point is 00:00:00 What is going on to crime fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody, almost happy holidays and thank you to Chantelle, Jamie, Laura, and Suzanne for recommending today's case. I'm pretty sure other people recommended this on social media and it could have sworn we got in a request a while ago for this from somebody who either knew Maggie or is from the town that's happening, but I can't remember. So if

Starting point is 00:00:41 you recommended this case and you're not one of the four people I named, thank you so much. I also wanna mention we just came out with a new bonus episode on Michelle Martinko. That is a case from Iowa that happened years ago right before the holidays. It took 40 years to solve that case, but oh my God, the details are insane. So if you wanna check that out in 102 other bonus episodes,

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Starting point is 00:03:07 Get clear on cannabis facts at cannabismeanclear.ca In December of 2017, a 17-year-old girl headed home to change before volunteering at a holiday concert at her high school. A short while later, a resident of her household called 911 to report a break-in, but by the time her family arrived at the scene, the house was engulfed in flames. But with a confusing investigation and misreporting on the police's end, the community and family would be left with more questions than answers. So what really happened that night? And was her death related to a string of other cases? This is the story of Maggie Long was born on December 17, 1999 to parents Heather and San Long, joining older

Starting point is 00:04:42 sisters Lina and Connie, and then later being joined by a younger brother named Derek, who were all just extremely tight-knit from a young age. Their parents had a unique backstory, having been born to Chinese families in a refugee camp in North Vietnam in the midst of the Vietnam War. And then in the late 1970s, around the conclusion of this war, Heather and San immigrated to the United States to start a new life. They settled in Bailey, Colorado, which is a community of about 8,000 people situated in Park County, about an hour southwest of Denver.

Starting point is 00:05:20 And that is where today's story takes place. Now although they started out with very little, the Longes quickly became a pillar of their small community, eventually owning and operating multiple Chinese restaurants and a liquor store in the area. They purchased a sprawling home near the intersection of Deer Creek Road and County Road 43 that sat on 27 acres of woodlands. The home included two small residences, which were equipped to rent out as apartments, so the longs took advantage of this in order to create another stream of income.

Starting point is 00:05:56 Maggie can be described by her family in one word, majestic. She was known among her friends and peers as gregarious, warm, and silly, and was characterized by her passionate participation in local theater, both in school and in community theater productions. She frequently graced the stage at the venue theater company based in Conifer Colorado, and was known for the astute timing and antics of her onstage persona. But she was best remembered for her turn as the comedic relief of Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast. The managing director at the venue Nelson Conway described Maggie as quote,

Starting point is 00:06:37 �A truly sweet and giving person, respectful and kind, and active. We had to share her with the speech team and the drama program at her school, as well as numerous other activities. But she was a hard worker and very considerate and we loved her deeply. She was great to be around, always happy and enthusiastic, hopeful. She wanted to learn and act and sing with a great passion that seemed in contrast to her rather shy, tentative nature. Maggie wanted it badly. She even helped clean the venue so she could afford to stay in the program. She joined our summer choir last year and earned a solo in the final performance, which

Starting point is 00:07:18 I think pleased her greatly. Maggie was really coming into her own and I had high hopes and expectations for her in the coming season. Though Maggie seemed to fit in well at school and within her beloved theatrical community, her sisters remember that they were sometimes made to feel alienated and Bailey. Though her parents were well-known locally for their businesses and properties, Connie remembered that the kind of insular area could make them feel like they didn't belong sometimes. Connie explained, quote, Bailey Colorado is definitely a tight-knit community.

Starting point is 00:07:52 We shared all the same teachers growing up, all the way through grade school. Everyone knew our family because we had restaurants, and I think that's what made us feel so different from everyone else. We were the only immigrant Asian-American family. We were definitely different from our peers at school. Still, that didn't seem to deter Maggie's spirited nature. With her older sister, Lina, remembering, quote, she had that endless hopefulness, effervescence and optimism.

Starting point is 00:08:23 But the family had their first terrifying brush with crime in 2006, when Platte River High School, which all four of the long kids attended, was held hostage by an armed gunman. It was a shocking ordeal for the small mountain town, which wasn't used to seeing crimes of this kind of magnitude. So basically what happened is, on September 27th 2006, a 53-year-old man stormed the high school with a gun, locking himself in Maggie's sister Linna's classroom. Then he held them hostage as he lined the girls up one by one and molested them. So when police stormed the school, he fatally shot Linna's 16 year old classmate Emily Keeds in the head

Starting point is 00:09:07 Before taking his own life. What a horrible story. That's just like that is my worst nightmare You know getting older and realizing that at some point I'm gonna have kids like that is such a huge fear for me In the fact that this happened and just with everything else We're gonna talk about that that is going to happen to Maggie. Like, this is such a small community. These are two horrific tragedies. Like, the odds are small for, for that I would feel like. Yeah, in a town of about 8,000 people just doesn't seem like something like that would happen. Just awful. So this was just an absolutely harrowing and tragic ordeal for everybody involved, including

Starting point is 00:09:46 Lina, and support poured in from all over the state. In December of 2017, Maggie was wrapping up the first semester of her senior year at Platte Canyon High School, and had just closed her latest musical. And on the evening of December 1st, she was assisting with a holiday concert at school. So after school that day, she headed home to change for the concert and retrieve the cookies and bottles of water that she was set to be distributing to concert goers. Then afterward, she planned ahead to one of her family's restaurants to help out for a while. So Maggie arrived home, she parked her car in the driveway, and she went inside. Around 7pm, 9-1-1 received a call from the tenant who was renting out the Long's upstairs

Starting point is 00:10:34 apartment. According to the caller, a break-in was taking place and at least one male intruder was ransacking the home and causing damage. Meanwhile, Heather, who was waiting at the family's restaurant for her daughter to arrive, was growing anxious that she hadn't heard from Maggie. Her sister Connie remembers, quote, my mom was working and she was stressed out.

Starting point is 00:10:59 She was like, where's Maggie? I thought Maggie's gonna come in and work tonight. At the time, I was actually getting text messages from our tenant who lived in the upstairs unit of the house. And he was telling me that there were a lot of loud noises that he was hearing downstairs. So puzzled, Connie headed to Maggie's school, wondering if she got held up while helping out with the concert.

Starting point is 00:11:23 Connie continued, quote, I waited in the auditorium and just kept looking at the door to see if Maggie was going to come through. And then, when the opening band started, I just felt like I couldn't stay because I just had a gut feeling that something was wrong. So then I thought, I just need a drive home. Connie arrived at the family home around 7.20pm to find firefighters in the driveway and the stench of smoke hanging in the air.

Starting point is 00:11:53 The rest of the family raced to join her, including Lina, who was in Minnesota pursuing a nursing degree. They waited eagerly for any sign of Maggie, hoping to see or hear from her, and that her having gone missing during a massive house fire was purely a coincidence. But at 11 p.m., the Park County Sheriff emerged from the house to reveal that they did in fact locate a body inside. While the remains would have to be officially identified as Maggie's, her family could only assume the worst, knowing that her car was parked out front, and no one was able to locate her.

Starting point is 00:12:32 The initial assessment of the investigators was that Maggie had been at the wrong place at the wrong time, having walked in on an active burglary. So in a panic, the perpetrators lit the house on fire and then fled. Left with the charred remains of Arsene, a burglary, and a teenage girl caught in the crossfire, police were careful not to leak the information to the public until they had more details. Outside of Maggie's close friends and family, no one knew that there had been anything but a house fire. Meanwhile, her remains were brought to the coroner's office, who ruled that her death had been

Starting point is 00:13:11 a homicide. The Park County Sheriff's Office remained tight-lipped on their findings, which began years of criticism against them for not prioritizing the case. So, in the aftermath of the fire and losing their beloved magi, her family was barred from entering the house for four days as police conducted their investigation. The day after the arson, the park county sheriff's office announced on Facebook that a fire had taken place and that there was a person missing from the residents, but confirmed that no search efforts were being dispatched

Starting point is 00:13:45 and did not name the long family as the victims of this attack. Then in a completely shitty twist of events, the following day, they told a local news outlet that they did not find a body in the home. They again took to a Facebook post and said, quote, we're sorry we're unable to reveal more information at this time we do not believe that there's any risk to the public which is insane like you find a body in the house you say there's a body in the house and it can be it's confirmed to be a homicide as well

Starting point is 00:14:18 yeah and now you're saying actually there was no body in the house and there's no risk to the public like i don't know if they're just trying to keep everybody calm, but like, you can't lie. Yeah, you literally just... You're just trolling the fucking public at this point. And strangely, and much to the dismay of both law enforcement and Maggie's family, the Colorado State District Attorney's Office issued a gag order prohibiting anyone involved in the investigation of the attack to speak

Starting point is 00:14:45 out about it publicly. Three days later on December 7, 2017, the gag order was lifted. That same day, six days after Maggie's death, police announced the discovery of her body and their belief that foul play was suspected. They established an alert offering a loose description of one of the supposed attackers, and mentioned that there were guns and ammunition missing from the longs home following this break-in.

Starting point is 00:15:15 Her family were horrified at the findings of the investigative team. Though evidence was marred by smoke and damage from the fire, they were able to surmise that Maggie had been attacked prior to the fire happening, making them wonder if the fire had been a cover-up for Maggie's murder. I mean, basically, that's what it looks like here. Right, and though the Sheriff's Office has kept a lot of the details close to their

Starting point is 00:15:41 chests, they revealed what they felt would serve the investigation and hopefully prompt witnesses to come forward. After speaking with the tenant of the Long's house, police reminds that a broken and burglary perpetrated by at least one man, but more likely three men, was in progress when Maggie arrived home. When she walked in on the crime-taking place, just trying to change her clothes so she can go back out, the men changed course and the burglary became a hostage situation. Though investigators have not announced how they were able to determine this, they have admitted that they believe that Maggie was detained inside the house for some time before her death.

Starting point is 00:16:27 But the most horrifying detail was that police believe that she had been alive when these men fled the home, setting it on fire in multiple locations on the property, leaving Maggie trapped inside. According to the press release from the sheriff's office that day, quote, "... investigative efforts at the scene revealed a physical altercation took place between long and her assailants before the fire started." Then they added that she had been, quote, "... purposefully set on fire and burned alive." When the family were able to re-enter the home, they pinpointed to police what was missing, and stolen from the lungs was an automatic rifle similar to an AK-47, a Beretta handgun,

Starting point is 00:17:15 and 2,000 rounds of ammunition. Also missing was a safe that had a number of jade figurines inside it. Maggie's parents and siblings stayed with family while they tried to make sense of what had happened, and Connie remembered those harrowing few days of confusion and grief, saying, quote, I think we need to be very clear that Maggie was murdered in a very violent heinous manner.

Starting point is 00:17:41 She was essentially burned alive. And anyone who could do something to our sister who did not deserve it at all is a threat to the community. We were not allowed to be anywhere near the home because it was a crime scene, so we actually didn't even see the house until four days when we got a tour of the house by the sheriff basically showing us where the damage was. And we saw just the damage in the garage as well, because the perpetrators were trying to set multiple starting points of the fire around the house. The good thing was that the small community really rallied around the long family, holding

Starting point is 00:18:16 a memorial that drew hundreds of people, including her high school principal, and the director of the theater company where she had performed multiple productions, both of whom spoke very highly of her through tears. The memorial was held on December 17, 2017, which would have been Maggie's 18th birthday. Left with the horrifying knowledge of what her final moments looked like, Maggie's family focused on determining who had done this to her and bringing them to justice. Police quickly formed a Maggie-long task force, and her sisters took it upon themselves

Starting point is 00:18:53 to become media liaisons, granting interviews and getting the word out. Postures and billboards could be seen all over the state of Colorado, boasting a reward that eventually climbed to $75,000, begging the public for information. After speaking with the only true eyewitness, the tenant of the Long's apartment, as well as other residents who were in the area in the aftermath of the crime, police determined that there were likely three men involved in Maggie's murder that day. They also surmised that the perpetrators were believed to have fled in an older model, pick-up truck, or van. So working closely with the man who was renting out the Long's apartment, police released

Starting point is 00:19:36 sketches of what these three intruders were believed to look like. However, alongside the sketches, they warned the public that, based on the profiles that they had put together of these men, they believed that they would have been quick to sell their vehicles, change their appearances, or even move away if they had been residing in that area. But over the next six years of this investigation, the theories concerning the motives of the attack evolved into something undeniably more shocking. Ready to get your money working harder? Switch to Quest Trade, can it is number one rated online broker by Money Sense.

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Starting point is 00:22:26 Product availability varies by region. See you after details. In the months after Maggie's horrific murder, her family was focused on finding answers. On February 7, 2018, to about two months after Maggie's death, the Park County Sheriff's Office finally held a press conference to reveal one of the police sketches. They also divulged, based on eyewitness accounts from the tenant and other residents in the area at the time, the description of the pickup truck or van that the men were believed to a fled in and detailed the items that were missing from the house. However, to the frustration of locals and community members in attendance, officials refused

Starting point is 00:23:21 to release many crucial details about the case, including that there may have been multiple perpetrators, and whether or not Maggie had been sexually assaulted before her death. Residents also held them accountable for mistakes made in the investigation, and again, that outright lie told to them when they announced that they had not recovered a body from the crime scene when they in fact had. To these criticisms, Sheriff Fred Wegener responded, quote, we made our comment, we'll live with it.

Starting point is 00:23:51 Simple as that. They initially announced a $20,000 reward in an effort to inspire tips to come forward, but sadly, with few tips or leads about who these men may be, the case went cold quickly, which only frustrated the residents of Bailey even more, who were growing impatient with the investigation, and the withholding of pertinent information. So grasping at straws and desperate not to lose their footing in the pursuit of answers for Maggie's family, the Sheriff's Office unveiled a website, MaggieLongTaskForce.com, where community members could view sketches of the supposed perpetrators, pictures of

Starting point is 00:24:32 the kind of cars they were believed to have been driving, and the items that were taken from the home. Later that year, a new sheriff, Tom McGraw, was elected, and after the formation of the website and the release of all three police sketches, Sheriff McGraw was elected, and after the formation of the website and the release of all three police sketches, Sheriff McGraw announced, quote, "'We encourage you to explore the website and go to areas of interest that your friends, family members, neighbors, and coworkers may have discussed. You can remain anonymous."

Starting point is 00:25:00 Some of the website pages are interactive, and some provide the opportunity to leave tips. Every tip will be addressed, and no tip is considered unimportant. Please look at the items that were taken when Maggie Long was murdered. The suspects likely held on to these for a few days before attempting to discard them, sell them, or give them to someone they trust. But to some, this was too little too late. One Bayley resident remarked quote, they didn't even hold a news conference until two months after her death, and then they refused to share relevant information with the public,

Starting point is 00:25:38 hiding behind the guys of not wanting the investigation to be compromised. Pretty sure Park County Sheriff's Office compromised the investigation plenty on their own by approaching and handling it so poorly. Yeah, I mean, I have to agree, and it's crazy, because I am not from a small town, but Heath is, and your town is even a little bit bigger than this. Like, imagine if something like this happened

Starting point is 00:25:59 even in your town, like all these people are desperate to know what's going on, and usually in cases that we cover where the towns are small, it feels like communication is pretty good, but it sucks here. Yeah, absolutely. And I can understand why these residents are worried about this, because this was a very brutal crime. They're wondering if these guys are still in the area,

Starting point is 00:26:21 if they're gonna do it to somebody else, like they want answers too. Yeah, nobody's feeling safe here. Well, at the behest of local agencies, the FBI joined the investigation, but were mum on their findings until an announcement came that changed how the town of Bailey looked at the murder altogether. To the shock of her family, following an intense scrutiny of the findings of the initial investigation. The FBI announced that they suspected that Maggie's murder

Starting point is 00:26:50 was a hate crime and in 2021 it was officially reclassified as such. Her family claims that while they didn't primarily consider that to be a possible motive, they now can see it as a viable cause of the heinous crime against Maggie. Connie explained, quote, it isn't something that we had thought about in the past, but knowing how awful the crime was and knowing the details of the crime scene, it makes sense that this was caused by hatred, by someone who thought of us as less than human. Linna added in an interview quote, I think when you look at the crime that occurred, it

Starting point is 00:27:30 would be hard to say that the brutality and violence of the crime got to that level without there being another factor of extreme hatred. And though this made the crime perhaps even more horrifying than it already was, Sheriff Tom McGraw said that he believed this would be a boon to the case, as it would allow more state resources to be put into the investigation. Maggie's murder has drawn numerous comparisons, though none have been officially linked to her death, which has made many people wonder if her attacker or attackers were targeting Maggie specifically, or were committing crimes against multiple people spanning across multiple areas.

Starting point is 00:28:13 Because one year after Maggie's death, a similar crime occurred in Missouri. Two young men, 22-year-old Vincent Rist and 24-year-old Antonio Bowen, broke into a home in rural centerview, Missouri, which is about an hour outside of Kansas City. Finding 20-year-old Bailey McMillan alone inside, the men tied her up and struck her in the head with a lamp. After Bailey refused to give them the combination to the gun safe inside her home, Vincent doused her with gasoline and told her to, quote, burn with the fucking house.

Starting point is 00:28:53 They then set the house aflame and fled, but thankfully, Bailey managed to escape, though she did sustain burns to 30% of her body. Back in 2018, a member of a web sleuth-true crime forum posted an account with a slew of new theories, claiming to be a local with first-hand information. And by the way, the family has not confirmed any of these allegations and the post was quickly deleted, but it was later shared for discussion in the Facebook group entitled, Please Help Bring Justice for Maggie Long. The post indirectly blamed Maggie's family for what had happened to her, accusing them of operating an illegal gambling business out of their home because they were struggling with debt accrued from their businesses.

Starting point is 00:29:43 The post read, quote, this has been reported to have occurred over money. The family ran gambling out of their basement, which has been reportedly known by law enforcement and many, many community members for a long time. Although this seems to be a fact, it was not purportedly over the gambling, but rather large amounts of money owed by the family. The family's businesses were not cash cows, and a lot of locals have not even eaten there for a long period of time. The restaurant in downtown Bailey closed a while back due to lack of business.

Starting point is 00:30:19 This goes in line with the rumors of debts owed by the family. Doesn't it make sense how the family is not speaking? Imagine how the public would react if they knew that it was over money that was owed by the family to some shady people. End quote. So this post continued on to say that the family was running the illegal casino to repay business debts from the family to the Chinese mafia and that the mafia was to blame for Maggie's murder.

Starting point is 00:30:49 Now although this may be kind of an intriguing theory, there doesn't seem to be any evidence to support it, at least not that the Sheriff's Office or the FBI have been willing to release. And again, the family has not addressed these rumors. In 2021, two men and three women were apprehended for another similar crime, but this one bore even more similarities to maggies. Between 2019 and 2021, 26 burglaries targeting Asian-American families occurred in Colorado and Wyoming. One woman and two men, Yeni Ziraya-Rotis-Floras, Carlos Flores-Malina, and Santiago-Oiose-Gaviria,

Starting point is 00:31:34 were arrested for the crimes, and they were believed to be operating on behalf of a larger organized crime group that was based in South America. Though there was not believed to be a woman present on the evening that Maggie was murdered, there was a fourth man connected to this crime spree who remains at large. John Flores Molina has managed to evade a rest and is believed to be hiding somewhere in Columbia, but Yeni, Carlos, and Santiago were charged with 24 counts of burglary, 20 counts of theft and criminal mischief, as well as racketeering and conspiracy. Helmed by the police department in Fort Collins, Colorado, an investigation that became known

Starting point is 00:32:17 as Operation Daylight targeted this team of criminals. And every one of their targets fit a similar profile, which also matched the burglary in Arsene leading up to Maggie's murder. The team would arrive at the home and knock on the door before breaking in, and the crimes always occurred in broad daylight, with the group specifically looking for jewelry, cash, guns, and safes, all of which were taken from the Long's house. Alongside these connections, the victims were all Asian Americans and local business owners. Detective David Lindsay, who was working on Operation Daylight, explained, quote,

Starting point is 00:32:57 These were not just random burglaries occurring that we were piecing together. These were calculated, organized efforts to go after a specific population and specific things within that house. Every victim family I spoke with shared a sense of violation, violation of their privacy, having their house broken into forcibly, during broad daylight. When the three were arrested, the Colorado Attorney General released a statement saying, quote, Today's announcement highlights the increase in crimes against Asian Americans.

Starting point is 00:33:31 We in Colorado won't tolerate it. Those who commit crimes against an individual or community because of their ethnicity or cultural background must be held to account. The similarities were such that law enforcement drew comparisons between Maggie's case and the perpetrators at the receiving end of Operation Daylight. But with no direct evidence tying the four people to Maggie's case and no indication that the criminals were involved in violent crimes, the connection ceased to be pursued. In 2019, Maggie's parents made the decision to sell the home that their daughter died in.

Starting point is 00:34:10 Though heartbroken to let it go, the reminder of what happened there became insurmountable to them. Their friend and realtor Benjamin Chong remembered, quote, it took me a long time to convince them that life needs to move on. It was their dream home. Maggie grew up here.

Starting point is 00:34:29 The longs relocated to a Denver suburb hoping to put space between themselves and the cruel reminders of their daughter's murder. But Maggie actually still has a room in her parents' new home. Connie says that she still regularly spends time there with Maggie's things to memorialize who her sister was before the murder. She explained, quote, every year on the anniversary of her death, I would kind of go through her personal stuff. I opened up her computer and I found a note that she wrote to herself for when she turns

Starting point is 00:35:01 18. The main message that she was giving herself was, no matter what you decide to do with your life, just be a good person. In 2021, the Park County Sheriff's Office inexplicably shut down Maggie's website. And strangely, the link now leads to a gambling website in Vietnamese, which seems as if it may be the purposeful work of somebody like poking fun at the family in the case, which is just, I don't understand that at all.

Starting point is 00:35:31 So December 1st of 2023 marked the six-year anniversary of Maggie's death, and it seems as if we're no closer to finding out what happened to her and why. Maggie's sisters, Alina and Connie have taken it upon themselves to become the de facto spokesperson for Maggie, regularly conducting interviews and just keeping the word out about their sister's unsolved case. They're still holding out hope that the guilty parties will be found, but definitely recognize the struggles that they're up against, especially given the small community in which the murder took place.

Starting point is 00:36:09 Linna said quote, Bailey is a very protective small town community. I've seen Bailey come together in great times of sadness as a community. There's a ton of support out there, but also being a small rural place, there's pockets of people that I'm sure were not in the mainstream that we really didn't encounter because it is a very private community at the same time. So I think that may be a part of why maybe there is a reluctance for people to speak out, but within the community, I guess we're just hoping that hearing the story again and again, that they'll be encouraged to come forward because we're going to continue to be here, asking them to come forward. Police still circulate missing posters bearing Maggie's name and picture and bold red

Starting point is 00:36:58 numbers that boast a $75,000 reward. If you have any information about the murder of Maggie Long, please call 303-239-4243 or email magi.long.tips at state.co.us. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and on Tuesday we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. Yes, and if you're listening to this, the week it comes out, we hope you have a great, we hope you have a great Christmas if you out, we hope you have a great, we hope you have a great Christmas if you celebrate and we hope you have a good weekend with family. We are not going to be taking any breaks this holiday,

Starting point is 00:37:51 so we will be back with a new episode the day after Christmas on December 26th, which is our regular Tuesday and same thing goes for the new year, so we'll see you then. But also, I just want to mention really quick, again, thank you guys for listening to this episode and don't forget to share because it is still unsolved. And Maggie's case deserves to be heard and it deserves to reach justice. Absolutely. And please go check out the photos from this case. And again, make sure you share. All right, guys. So for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. Thank you. you

Going West: True Crime - Maggie Long // 367

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