Teen Drove Home for Cookies, Then Vanished Before Being Found Dead in House Fire. Police Believe It Was Hate Crime

Around 7 p.m. on December 1, 2017, deputies with the Park County Sheriff’s Office were called to a house fire at a home in Bailey, Colo.

The 911 caller told a dispatcher that there were people inside the home “causing damage.” At least one male was seen on the property.

After the fire was extinguished, authorities found the remains of 17-year-old Maggie Long in an area that was badly damaged by flames. Three days after the house fire, the El Paso County Coroner’s Office ruled her death a homicide.

More than seven years later, her murder, which was reclassified as a hate crime, is still unsolved.

State and federal authorities are offering up to a $75,000 for information leading to the arrest of a suspect or suspects.

"We believe someone knows something that could help solve this case and bring a measure of justice to Maggie's family and the Bailey community," said Park County Sheriff Tom McGraw. "It could take just one person to help our investigation, and we are determined to bring a resolution to one of Colorado's most high-profile cold cases.”

Related: Colorado Girl, 17, Was 'Purposefully Set on Fire and Burned Alive': Police

On the day of her killing, Maggie, a high school senior, stopped by her home after classes to change her clothes and pick up cookies for audience members who would be attending a concert she was managing at the school, per Oxygen.

When Maggie didn’t show up to the concert, her older sister Connie "had a gut feeling,” she told NBC's Dateline. “Something wasn’t right. Maggie is very responsible and would’ve never flaked on something like this.”

Connie called her sister but there was no answer. She drove to the family home and “when I got closer, my gut feeling just got worse,” she said, per Dateline. “I drove up as close as I could and that’s when I saw the chaos. The fire trucks. Our house had burned.”

Initially, Maggie's killing was believed to be a crime of opportunity. Investigators also determined that Maggie had struggled with her assailants prior to the arson fire. Before leaving, her killers made off with a Beretta handgun, an AK-47-style rifle, 2,000 rounds of ammunition, a green safe and jade figurines.

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However, in 2021, authorities announced that Maggie may have been targeted because she was Asian American.

In a statement to KCNC at the time, an FBI spokesperson said, "The FBI is investigating the murder of Maggie Long as a Hate Crime Matter. A Hate Crime is a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by the individual's bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnicity/national origin, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity."

Related: Colo. Teen, 17, Was Slain in Family Home in 2017 — Now FBI Thinks It Was Possibly a Hate Crime

Authorities have released composite sketches of the men who they believe are responsible for her death as well as the make and models of the vehicles — a late 1990s to 2000 light-colored Chevy Astro van and a Ford pickup — they were believed to be driving, per Dateline.

“The legacy she’s left behind is pretty amazing,” Connie told Dateline. “She left a lasting impact on people.”

“When we get together with her friends for her birthday, I love seeing how they’ve changed and what their lives are like now,” Connie said, per Dateline. “So many paths she could’ve gone… but hers was cut short. It’s not fair and I don’t think we’ll ever understand why. But we can’t let her be forgotten.”

Anyone with information about the murder of Maggie is asked to contact the Maggie Long Task Force tip line at 303-239-4243 or email maggie.long.tips@state.co.us. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

Read the original article on People