Maggie Long Murder: Billboards Offer Rewards For Teen Burned Alive
BAILEY, Colo. (CBS4) - Thirteen months after the murder of 17-year-old Maggie Long, people in Park County are hopeful that a new strategy and a new sheriff will bring leads. On Tuesday night, newly elected Sheriff Tom McGraw held a community meeting to update residents on the case.
"The silent treatment the past year-and-a-half hasn't done anything. It's time to break that and get it open. This is the kind of thing that will do it," said Mike Quaintance.
Quaintance has lived in Bailey since the 80s. He has known the Long Family for years and, like many in the community, has wondered why more information didn't come sooner.
"Breaking this thing open and opening it up to community input. You never know where something might come out of a crack in the wall," he said.
A new task force dedicated to Maggie's case -- plus eight billboards across Denver and Colorado Springs offering a reward for information -- has renewed attention to the crime.
"I think the community really needed to hear this case be alive and to hear what information we had and to hear there was actually action being taken and to move it forward again," said John Vandoren, a neighbor of the Long family.
On Monday, McGraw also announced that Maggie was burned alive. He told community members at Tuesday's meeting while it was upsetting for people to hear, he hoped the detail would garner more attention.
"That was horrifying for a lot of us in the community that had never heard that before, but I trust that it was revealed for a good reason and it will generate leads and interest," said Vandoren.
McGraw encouraged everyone to visit the website set up for tips: MaggieLongTaskForce.com. It contains sketches of two of the three suspects along with other details about the case.
The Park County Sheriff's Office says it plans to release a sketch of a third suspect sometime within the next week.