Laura Long, 18, disappeared from Claremore, Oklahoma, on July 10, 1977, after driving her new car to a local shopping center to get gas and meet a friend. Her parents last saw her that evening. On July 20 a young boy found her body on a rural roadside; the remains showed she had been dead for some time and the cause of death was ruled suffocation.

The investigation stalled amid jurisdictional disputes between local and state agencies. Several individuals were scrutinized over the years. Ted Bundy was briefly considered but was soon eliminated because he was incarcerated at the time. Henry Lee Lucas confessed but his admission was unsubstantiated and he was not in the area when the crime occurred. The case went cold for decades, though Laura’s mother, Ima Long, kept pressing for answers.

A 1997 reopening produced a significant person of interest who had lived in Claremore in 1977; anonymous letters pointed to him and he failed a polygraph about the murder, but authorities lacked physical evidence to charge him. Does anyone from Claremore in 1977 have information that could help finally resolve this case?