Who Killed Laura Long?

For 21 years, Laura Long's killer has roamed free. On July 10, 1977, Long, 18, who lived with her parents in the quiet town of Claremore, Oklahoma, drove into town for gas. Her parents never saw her alive again.

Ten days later, police found her body by the side of a country road near town.

Despite hundreds of hours of work, police never arrested anyone. Last year, Claremore police decided to reopen the case. After an article about their work appeared, someone wrote three anonymous letters to the investigators, pointing the finger at a man who lived nearby.

Laura Long shortly before she was killed.

Police found the man who was accused in the letters, a former Claremore resident who had moved an hour away from town.

He claimed he was innocent. He took a lie detector test, and failed. But failing a polygraph has no weight in court.

Intent on solving the case, the FBI is in the process of conducting DNA tests on Laura Long's clothing to see if traces on them match the suspect's DNA. The cold trail may be getting warmer.

If you have any information about the case, please call Claremore Police Detective Tim Norris at 918-341-1212

Written by David Kohn