Investigators say cellphone data, surveillance footage and a witness connected Floyd Long to the disappearance and death of Shaquina Harris.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A trail of cellphone records, neighborhood surveillance video, physical evidence and an account from a man who spent time with Floyd Morris Long helped Charlotte-Mecklenburg police transform the disappearance of 29-year-old Shaquina Latavia Harris into a homicide investigation, according to court records and local reports. Long, 45, has been charged with first-degree murder, concealing or failing to report a death and larceny of Harris’ dog.

The case began with the sudden end of Harris’ ordinary communications after she visited family at an Atrium Health hospital in Charlotte in early July. It ultimately led investigators to a wooded area off Statesville Road, where authorities found human remains and belongings associated with Harris. Police later said Harris had been found dead and notified her family. Long was arrested Aug. 15 and denied bond two days later. The available court filings do not publicly establish a motive or a cause of death, leaving central questions about what happened inside Long’s home unresolved as the criminal case proceeds.

Harris was last seen leaving Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center at about 10 a.m. July 2 after visiting her sister, who had recently given birth. Investigators said Harris then returned to Long’s home on Woodford Bridge Drive in north Charlotte. Public accounts differ on the exact time of her final call with her grandmother: Law&Crime reported that the call occurred shortly before noon, while another account of the affidavit placed it later that day. Other local reporting said Harris also communicated with friends by FaceTime from the Woodford Bridge Drive area. What remained consistent across the reports was that contact soon stopped in a way relatives considered highly unusual.

Her cellphone became one of the most important pieces of the investigation. Records placed the phone at or near Long’s residence after Harris left the hospital, and reports based on the affidavit said it did not travel away from that location afterward. The phone last registered there on July 5, although public reports have given differing precise times for that final signal. For detectives, the location data was significant because Long told investigators that Harris had left his home. According to the affidavit, he said he returned around 5 p.m. and found her belongings gone, including her long-haired Yorkie-terrier mix.

Surveillance footage complicated that account. Investigators reviewing cameras from neighboring homes said the video showed Long and another man leaving the residence shortly before 5 p.m. with a dog resembling Harris’ pet following them. The three entered a vehicle and drove away, according to the court filing. Police later identified and interviewed the other man, whose account gave detectives information that went beyond what could be learned from the cameras and phone records. That witness became an important link between Long’s house and the location where Harris’ remains were eventually found.

The man told detectives that while he was riding with Long, Long said he had “done something bad” and needed help moving something, according to the affidavit. The witness said Long asked him about fishing locations and other isolated places. During one drive, they stopped near woods off Statesville Road, where Long appeared unusually interested in the area, the witness told investigators. The affidavit says the two later returned to Long’s home. There, the witness said Long led him into a bedroom, turned on a light and revealed a woman matching Harris’ description lying motionless on a bed. The witness told police the woman was cold when he touched her and appeared to have blood coming from her nose.

According to the filing, the witness did not help Long move the woman. Instead, he took Harris’ dog when he left. Police said the animal later changed hands again: the witness met Long at a gas station on July 16 and returned the dog to him. Investigators have said the dog’s whereabouts after that meeting were unknown. The animal’s disappearance became a separate part of the criminal case, with Long charged with felony larceny of a dog. The detail also mattered to Harris’ family during the search because relatives were looking not only for Harris but for a pet closely associated with her.

Detectives obtained additional physical evidence while examining Long’s property and vehicle. Court documents cited by local news organizations said investigators found several areas of suspected blood in the home, a firearm and suspected blood inside Long’s vehicle. Later reporting described the blood as Harris’ blood. Investigators also examined Long’s own cellphone records. According to the affidavit, those records placed him in the Statesville Road area on the evening of July 6, after the witness said Long had shown particular interest in the location. That combination of the witness statement and electronic location information narrowed the search to a specific wooded area.

Police brought a cadaver dog to the area off Statesville Road. Authorities said the search produced skeletal remains as well as items matching belongings associated with Harris. Early reports described the remains as likely belonging to her while formal identification was still underway. By Aug. 19, reporting based on information attributed to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said investigators had located Harris dead in the 10000 block of Statesville Road and that her next of kin had been notified. Investigators have not publicly released a cause of death in the reports reviewed for this article, and authorities have not announced a motive they believe explains the killing.

The evidence emerged after weeks in which Harris’ relatives and friends had tried to find her themselves. She was reported missing July 13, 11 days after she was last seen at the hospital. Family members said going silent for that length of time was out of character. They distributed fliers, canvassed areas where she had last been seen and spoke publicly about their concern. Before his arrest, Long also spoke with WCCB at his home and maintained that Harris had left. He told the station, “She left here weeks ago. I don’t know anything about where this child is.” He also said he had permitted searches of his property.

The legal situation shifted rapidly in August. Mecklenburg County records cited by local outlets showed that Long had been jailed Aug. 8 on a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a felon. He was released Aug. 14, then arrested the next day in connection with Harris’ death. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said its Violent Criminal Apprehension Team located and arrested him. At an Aug. 17 court appearance, Judge Roy Wiggins ordered Long held without bond on the murder case. Harris’ relatives and friends attended the proceeding, where one friend described her as a great person. Long is presumed innocent unless and until he is convicted.

The affidavit lays out an extensive circumstantial and witness-based account, but several important parts of the case remain publicly unanswered. The reviewed reports do not identify a confirmed motive, do not give a publicly established cause of death and do not explain exactly when or how Harris was killed. Public reporting also contains small differences over the timing of some phone activity, underscoring the distinction between the broad investigative timeline and details that may later be established through evidence in court. WCCB reported Aug. 18 that Long had another court appearance scheduled for Sept. 4; no later substantive court development was identified in the public sources reviewed for this article. Harris’ dog also had not been reported recovered.

Author note: Last updated Sept. 28, 2026.