Seven years after a 17-year-old girl died when she rushed home to collect home baked cookies for a concert, the FBI continues to insist on answers.
It now offers no less than $ 75,000 for anyone with information about the murder of Maggie Long in her parents' house in Bailey, Colorado on December 1, 2017, according to the Denver Post.
“She told her friends that she will be back in no time, and she was never seen again,” said Park County Sheriff Tom McGraw at a press conference on the occasion of the seventh anniversary of Long's death.
“We believe that someone knows something that can help solve the matter and bring a degree of justice to the family of Maggie and the Bailey community.”
The police have long said, a senior at flat Canyon High School, returned that afternoon after the lessons to the vast ranch of her parents to pick up cookies for a concert of a local Denver -rock band that she helped organize.
But Maggie never showed up and when the band started playing, her sister became nervous.
“I had a strange feeling,” Connie Long told CNN. “I knew something was very wrong.
'Maggie was responsible, reliable. She had helped to organize this concert. There was no reason for her to be late or not to appear. '
Seven years have passed since the 17-year-old Maggie Long died when she rushed home to collect cookies she had baked for a concert
She returned to the house in Bailey, Colorado on December 1, 2017 after the lessons – where the police say she confronted at least three invaders to rob her parents' house
It turned out that when the teenager started to collect her fried goods, a fire broke out at the house of her family – and firefighters later discovered her remains between the charred ruins.
By the time Connie arrived at the house, she said she found a fleet of police cars and fire trucks outside, together with the Zilveren Cadillac from Maggie.
“I could still smell the smoke – they had just put out the fire,” she said. “And I asked:” Where is my sister? What happened? '' '
In a continuation, Maggie stated on at least three invaders trying to rob her parents' house, and a physical exchange of words started between high school senior and the potential robbers.
Been Buren even reported that they heard a fight from the house of the Longs, and a tenant who rented a guest suite in the house had called 911 to report that he heard loud whose sounds.
At one point during the fight, the robbers set the house on fire, where McGraw said earlier that Maggie was “deliberately set on fire and burned alive.”
A coroner also ruled Maggie's death as a murder.
But the intruders were able to make it alive and took a Beretta gun, an AK-47-style rifle, 2,000 rounds of ammunition, a green safe and jade sculptures.
The robbers set the house on fire and firefighters later found the remains of Maggie among the charred ruins
Composite sketches of three of the suspects have been released, but no one has ever been brought to court
Composite sketches of three of the suspects were released, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said that it has since received around 415 tips regarding the case – but no one has ever been brought to court about killing.
A motive also remains unclear – although the FBI announced in 2021 that they were investigating whether the theft and murder could have been the result of a hate crime.
The Longs, Chinese immigrants who were forced from Vietnam during the war, had lived in the vast 6000 square feet of real estate for almost 20 years.
They had emigrated to Colorado in the late 1980s, after having lived in Hong Kong for years as refugees, with Connie said they had hoped to build a safe life for their family.
“They were so resilient and all went on to come to America – just to face even more trauma.”
Maggie was the youngest of three sisters. Lynna is shown on the left and Connie is shown on the right
Once in Colorado, San – the father of the girls – started working as a chef in a Chinese restaurant.
The owner eventually sold him the company after retired, and San then owned four restaurants in the Denver area, while he and his wife, a boy and three girls raised in the small community of Bailey.
Long -sisters, Lynna and Connie Long, said they never noticed an open Asian discrimination when they lived there.
“It wasn't just a small community, our house was behind trees and our driveway was like a mile long,” Connie explained to CNN.
“We were not nearly near the main road of the country, so there was not much concern about something sketchy happening.”
Lynna also said she believes that the case was classified as a hate crime based on the conviction that Chinese immigrants rarely use banks, and money can be stored in the house.
A motive for the murder of Maggie and the robbery remain unclear, but the FBI announced in 2021 that it was investigating whether it might have been a hate crime
Maggie was the daughter of Chinese immigrants, San and Hy Long
Members of the FBI, CBI, Sheriff's Office and desk or alcohol, tobacco and firearms continue to meet regularly to discuss the cold case.
But as the research continued, the Longs sold one of their restaurants and moved to the suburb of Denver of Broomfield, where they now live with their son.
“My parents were already retired from the restaurant industry,” Lynna explained. 'This has just accelerated their plans to leave the area.
“It was difficult for them to be here.”
In their new house, however, the lungs have set up a room in honor of Maggie, complete with her personal belongings and photos of her on the walls.
Among the many items is a diary in which Maggie wrote a year before her murder about the death of a friend and classmate.
'I think the only real remedy to losing the head is to stay good people. Be friendly. Be caring. Be passionate. Be aware, “the teenager wrote at the time.
'Share love and consider everyone around you, from strangers to acquaintances to peers to friends.
“Enough people have experienced pain to understand that life is much more measurable in joy and good memories than to be deterred with cruelty and loss.”
Maggie's family says they now strive to live according to those words.
