The Disappearance of Sabrina Long

Name: Sabrina Leigh Long
Age: 19 years old
Last seen: February 14, 1991
Location: Macon, Georgia
Status: Still Missing

Case Information

19-year-old Sabrina Long was last seen in Macon, Georgia on February 14, 1991. She disappeared after telling her mother she was going to visit a neighbor.

Background

Sabrina Leigh Long was born on October 17, 1971 in Memphis, Tennessee. She grew up in Macon, Georgia and graduated from Southwest High School in 1990.

In 1991, Long was a resident of Macon, Georgia. She lived with her stepfather, Charles Daniel Corley, in a residence on Ashland Drive after moving out of her mother’s place in southern Bibb County in late 1990.

Charles and Sue Corley married in the early 1980s but they separated in June 1990. Long was allowed to stay at her stepfather’s place rent-free but had to pay for her own telephone line and some groceries.

Long worked at Bibb Manufacturing Company in Macon, cutting packaging labels for linen products. She was in a relationship with Scott Bradford.

Disappearance

Around 11:00 pm on February 13, 1991, Sabrina Long completed her work shift at Bibb Manufacturing Company.

Long left the factory in her boyfriend’s Chevrolet Camaro, as her own vehicle was not operating properly at the time, and drove to a house where her boyfriend was staying, arriving around 11:30 pm.

Sabrina was last seen by her boyfriend shortly before midnight when he dropped her off at her stepfather’s residence on Ashland Drive in Macon, Georgia.

While at her stepfather’s home, Sabrina wrote a three-page letter to her boyfriend, telling him she was looking forward to cooking a lasagna dinner for him the following evening. She also mentioned the Arsenio Hall Show, which aired between 11:30 pm and 12:30 am that night.

Between 12:30 am – 1:30 am, Sabrina called her mother and said she was going across the street to visit a friend, Keith Daniel Loyd, to help him with a birthday gift for his mother.

During the call Sabrina asked her mother to call back if she didn’t hear back from her in a half hour, but her mother said she would most likely be asleep by that time.

Around 3:00 am her stepfather returned home after visiting friends in Warner Robins, but Sabrina was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t initially worried since Sabrina would sometimes stay the night with her boyfriend.

Sabrina never returned home and hasn’t been heard from since. She didn’t report to work the next day and never retrieved her last paycheck.

Investigation

Sabrina left her purse, makeup, and money behind in her bedroom. Her work clothes were lying on the floor and her truck was parked in the driveway. The door to the house was locked and the lights were on inside.

A neighbor reported hearing a muffled thump, like a pounding on a wooden wall or the slamming of a car door, around 1:30 am that night, but authorities found no apparent signs of a struggle.

Keith Daniel Loyd

In 1991, 21-year-old Keith Daniel Loyd was a friend of Sabrina’s who’d also attended Southwest High School. He lived with his parents at the south end of Ashland Drive, below Rocky Creek Road in Macon, Georgia.

Loyd told police that he never asked Long to come over to his house on the night she disappeared, and that his mother’s birthday was a month away. He said he was out with his girlfriend that evening and returned home between 1:00 and 1:30 am.

On September 25, 2017 Keith was scheduled to be interviewed by police again, however the 46-year-old committed suicide by jumping in front of a freight train in downtown Macon.

Loyd had passed multiple polygraph examinations over the years and was initially cleared as a suspect, but left a suicide note indicating his involvement with a woman named Melinda McSwain in Sabrina’s disappearance.

Melinda Pogue McSwain

In 1991, 19-year-old Melinda McSwain was a former classmate of Keith Loyd and Sabrina Long at Southwest High School. She lived on Bloomfield Drive in Macon, Georgia.

On October 18, 2018, 46-year-old Melinda McSwain was arrested on charges of murder and kidnapping in connection with Sabrina’s disappearance. She was a motel housekeeper, mother of four, and a resident of Broxton, Georgia at the time.

McSwain gave multiple statements to police, admitting her involvement in Sabrina’s kidnapping and murder. She also made claims implicating different people in the investigation, but they were later proven to be untrue.

On August 31, 2021, McSwain was released from jail on a $100,000 bond and ordered to home confinement until her trial. The judge pointed out apparent holes in the case and potential inaccuracies in her alleged confession.

Whereabouts

Foul play is suspected in Sabrina Long’s disappearance. She was declared legally deceased by her parents in 1999. The suspect in Long’s murder and kidnapping, Melinda McSwain, is currently awaiting trial.

The circumstances of Sabrina’s disappearance remain unclear and her case is currently classified as missing. Her case remains unsolved.

Appearance

Physical Description:
White female born on October 17, 1971. Sabrina has brown hair, blue eyes, stands 5’6 – 5’8 tall, and weighs 127 – 135 pounds.

Distinctive Physical Features:
Her ears are pierced.

Clothing and accessories:
Sabrina was last seen wearing a dark blue flower-print dress and a gold necklace.

Investigating Agency

If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Sabrina Leigh Long please contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (800) 597-8477 or the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at (478) 746-9441.

Resources & Further Information

Sabrina Leigh Long #MP530 – National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
Sabrina Leigh Long – The Charley Project

News & Media Links

Who was Sabrina Long, who went missing from Macon in 1991? – Macon Telegraph 10/2018
Melinda McSwain arrested in 1991 Sabrina Long disappearance – Macon Telegraph 10/2018
Man run over by train in Macon suicide linked to 1991 vanishing of Sabrina Long – Macon Telegraph 2/2019
New twists in 1991 vanishing of Macon teen Sabrina Long as suspect is granted bond – Macon Telegraph 9/2021