More than a year after her death, the family of Sandra Long of Lusby is determined not to let her murder case go unsolved.
On Wednesday, relatives met with representatives from the Calvert County Branch of the NAACP, Maryland State Police, Calvert County State’s Attorney Laura Martin and the pastor from the Long family’s church, Greater Bible Way Church of Prince Frederick, to discuss ways communication between the police and family, and to the public, could be enhanced to help investigators locate Long’s killer and give the family some closure.
Hunters discovered Sandra Renee Harrod Long, 43, unresponsive in her car near Calvert Cliffs State Park on Nov. 30, 2010. Because the body was found in a state park, the investigation was given to the MSP Homicide Unit, located in Pikesville.
Michael Kent, vice president of the Calvert NAACP, said Long’s family members contacted him with concerns that state police were not being responsive to their inquiries about the investigation, and they were worried Long’s case might go cold, as is still the case with another family relative, Milton Harrod, who was killed 14 years ago. They were also concerned it might be a racial issue.
“If you get white females that are missing, it’s on the news every day,” Kent said, adding that missing black females often don’t receive the same press coverage. “We felt that was a concern,” he said.
After writing to MSP’s public information office in October and receiving no response, Kent said he contacted Martin about the issue and she set up the meeting for all of the parties involved. After that, he received a letter from MSP “pledging their support and cooperation with this,” he said.
“It was a great meeting in which we talked about some concerns about the case and the path moving forward,” the Rev. Neil Gross said.
Kent said everyone seemed to come away from the meeting feeling better about the situation.
“Everybody has a little assignment. We’re going to try to access some of the cable news stations and get fliers out, make things more visible,” Kent said, adding that Martin will even work with the Longs to update Harrod’s cold case file.
Two of Long’s sisters and her husband, Louis, attended the meeting. Louis said he was initially upset that the investigation seemed to be moving so slowly.
“We just wouldn’t settle for the answers we were getting,” he said. “I’m just glad to have everybody present for once because our goal is not to let this case get cold. ... We’ll do everything in our means to bring as much attention to this case as possible to catch this individual.”
Martin called the situation “more of a miscommunication thing,” especially since the family “rightfully want to make sure it’s not going to get put on the back burner.”
“The detective [leading the Long investigation] is a very dedicated young man,” Martin said. “He just felt bad calling the family to say he didn’t know anything new. It’s not that it wasn’t at the front of his mind.”
MSP Sgt. David Sexton of the Homicide Unit, the lead investigator in Long’s case, also stressed, “In no way is our investigation slowed down because of race or creed or anything like that. That’s not how we operate.”
What’s made this particular case difficult, he said, is that if a suspect’s fingerprints aren’t in the police’s system, “sometimes it takes a while to catch up to them.”
While there are no new leads in the case, Sexton said, “We do have evidence that will link a suspect to this case. It’s just a matter of finding the right suspect. ... We think this is someone close to the victim.”
Likewise, Martin said, “We truly believe whoever did this was known to her and someone in this community.”
Sexton said he thought the meeting was productive and is eager to start improving communication with the public, like putting out a new flier with Long’s silver 2009 Ford Focus and broadcasting radio updates, “just to spark the public’s interest if they saw or heard anything.”
He also hopes to partner with Metro Crime Stoppers of Maryland to help get the word out and come up with a reward for anyone who can identify the person, or persons, responsible for the murder. That reward would be in addition to the $5,000 reward the victim’s family already is offering. The family organized a motorcycle ride event over the summer to raise funds for that reward, as well as for Long’s two daughters.
Anyone with information on the crime should contact the MSP Prince Frederick Barrack at 301-855-1472 or Sgt. David Sexton of the Homicide Unit at DSexton@mdsp.org.
To contribute to the Sandra Long Memorial Fund, call 301-653-5449.
mrussell@somdnews.com
