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At round 7 p.m. on Dec. 1, 2017, Park County Sheriff’s deputies have been dispatched to a name of a home fireplace at a house in rural Bailey, Colorado. A witness had referred to as 911 to report that not less than one man was inflicting harm on the property, a 27-acre ranch within the mountains between Denver and Breckenridge.
Firefighters put out the blaze, however as they investigated the scene, they found the charred stays of one of many house’s residents, 17-year-old Maggie Lengthy. Her demise can be categorized as a murder and later, a attainable hate crime. Seven years because the fireplace, nobody is aware of who killed her or why — a tragedy that rocked not simply her household, however the small group the place the teenager was already leaving her mark.
It had been a typical Friday night for Maggie, a highschool senior at Platte Canyon Excessive Faculty who was energetic in theater and group service. She was accountable for a live performance being held at her highschool that evening, however returned house to get extra water and cookies for the viewers she was anticipating, Sheriff Tom McGraw mentioned at a information convention in 2019. Maggie advised her buddies she can be proper again, however she was by no means seen once more.
Her family and friends instantly started to fret, with posts on social media and a area people discussion board looking for info and asking individuals to look out for the teenager.
“I keep in mind being up all that evening on the cellphone with everybody saying, ‘Have you ever seen Maggie? You realize what’s occurring to Maggie?’ As a result of at that time, they have been saying that Maggie was lacking, and so we have been all very entrenched,” Amy Fletcher, Maggie’s theater instructor on the Venue Theatre Firm in Conifer, advised JHB in an interview.
Earlier this month on the anniversary of Maggie’s demise, authorities as soon as once more requested anybody with info to return ahead.
“It’s a really disturbing type of factor to be residing in a spot the place one thing so horrific may occur, and we do not know why or how, or if it may ever occur once more, proper?” Fletcher mentioned. “That’s one thing that all of us should stay with.”
Proof on the crime scene allowed investigators to piece collectively what occurred to Maggie earlier than she was killed. And over time, although no suspects have been named, a number of theories have sprung up round why her house was focused.
As members of their household have been making an attempt to determine the place Maggie was on Dec. 1, 2017, her sister Connie Lengthy advised Colorado Public Radio {that a} tenant who lived in an upstairs unit of their house was texting her that he was listening to loud noises. After not discovering Maggie at one among their household’s eating places or the highschool, she advised Colorado Public Radio she went house round 7:20 p.m., solely to seek out firefighters within the driveway and smoke within the air.
Authorities in the end decided that when Maggie arrived on the home earlier that night, she walked in on not less than three males who had damaged in, and a bodily altercation came about between Maggie and the burglars. McGraw mentioned the assailants spent a major period of time inside the home the place Maggie was “purposely set on fireplace and burned alive” to hide their crimes.
A number of objects have been stolen, together with a Beretta handgun, an AK-47-style rifle, 2,000 rounds of ammunition, a inexperienced protected and jade collectible figurines.
Based on FOX affiliate KDVR, Maggie’s physique was formally recognized six days after the home fireplace. Months later, in Might 2018, Sgt. Greg Jones, the lead detective investigating the case, decided that Lengthy’s home was focused by the suspects.
“We really feel strongly that whoever did this most likely had a robust feeling that there have been objects of explicit worth to them that may have been within the Lengthy family, and that’s why they focused that home,” Jones mentioned.
Authorities launched sketches of the three males, primarily based on witness descriptions. One man was seen on the Lengthy property, whereas the 2 others have been seen in a van leaving the property that day. FBI spokeswoman Amy Meyer advised native NBC affiliate KUSA {that a} fourth individual could also be concerned as effectively.
“It might be a male or a feminine, however we consider there may be probably a fourth individual that’s both concerned within the housebreaking on Dec. 1, 2017, or that is likely to be a key witness that we want to discuss to,” Meyer mentioned.
Few different particulars have been publicized. Simply three days after the home fireplace, a native decide issued a gag order stopping authorities from releasing any additional info. Lynna Lengthy, Maggie’s different sister, advised Colorado Public Radio that her household was not allowed to be wherever close to the house for days after the fireplace as a result of it was a criminal offense scene.
“We acquired a tour of the home by the sheriff, mainly displaying us the place the harm was. And we noticed simply the harm within the storage as effectively. As a result of the perpetrators have been making an attempt to set a number of beginning factors of the fireplace round the home,” Lynna Lengthy mentioned.
Maggie’s case was reclassified by the FBI as a possible hate crime in 2021, and a multi-agency job power took on the investigation.
“It’s an possibility now we have by no means explored earlier than, however we’re taking a look at now to see if it’s a actual risk,” McGraw, the Park County sheriff, advised KDVR on the time.
Based on Colorado Public Radio, Maggie’s household immigrated to the USA a long time in the past and was one among just a few Asian households residing within the space. Her mother and father have been financially profitable, operating a number of Chinese language eating places on the time and investing in actual property.
“They labored onerous. They labored within the restaurant all their lives and so they constructed all the things from scratch,” Benjamin Cheang, a household good friend of the Longs, advised ABC affiliate KMGH.
The household bought their house years after Maggie’s demise. Cheang advised KMGH it was their dream house and the place Maggie grew up.
“It took me a very long time to persuade them that life wants to maneuver on,” Cheang mentioned.
Connie Lengthy advised Colorado Public Radio that Maggie’s sudden demise was devastating for the household.
“My mother and father’ retirement from the restaurant enterprise was type of in-the-making, however Maggie’s demise actually catapulted that course of. The evening that she died, they stopped working and they didn’t return to the restaurant,” she advised Colorado Public Radio. “It’s been an enormous change in each of my mother and father. …I don’t suppose they’ll ever really heal from the demise of our sister.”
Regardless of authorities providing up a $75,000 reward for info resulting in the three suspects’ arrests, the case stays unsolved. A spokesperson for the Colorado Bureau of Investigations advised JHB that the Maggie Lengthy job power continues to be energetic and composed of the CBI, Park County Sheriff’s Workplace, ATF and FBI. They are saying the duty power meets as soon as each few months.
The aftermath of Maggie’s demise left individuals in Bailey, an unincorporated group of about 9,000, and the encircling space in shock, in line with Fletcher. Many proceed to really feel a way of frustration that no suspect has been caught or named.
“It simply appears so merciless to not be capable to know what occurred, and to have one thing like that occur in a small group,” Fletcher mentioned. “ I imply, it solely makes you marvel about who your neighbors are and what’s occurring.”
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Fletcher described Bailey and neighboring Conifer as the kind of cities the place everybody knew one another, and the place the theater is a second house to many younger individuals residing there, together with Maggie. She remembered the lady fondly as a “compassionate one who needed to at all times be of service.”
“Maggie would come into the room and everybody would really feel higher, and I do know that appears very cliche, however she introduced along with her this power of taking life by the palms and operating with it,” Fletcher mentioned.
The theater created a tribute video with clips of Maggie’s performances and positioned a plaque within the foyer of the theater in her reminiscence. Fletcher advised JHB they proceed to present out an award named after Maggie to one among their college students annually.
Based on Fletcher, shifting on from Maggie’s demise is not only onerous, however unimaginable. She believes discovering these accountable would possibly “deliver some sense to one thing that’s so mindless.”
“I take into consideration Maggie day by day as a result of I stroll into the theater and I see her image, and he or she deserves to be at peace,” Fletcher mentioned. “And her household deserves to seek out some solace.”