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Background: William P. Long Jr. as he heard the guilty verdict against him on Feb. 9 (Court TV). Inset: Michelle Lewis Long (GoFundMe).
An Ohio resident, who previously refuted accusations of killing his former spouse despite making numerous threats, has been convicted of murder.
William P. Long Jr., age 51, was found guilty of aggravated murder along with several other charges by a jury composed of six men and six women. The verdict was reached on Monday, as reported by The Review, a local news outlet. On the same morning, Long asserted in court that he did not shoot his ex-wife, 50-year-old Michelle Lewis Long, on November 29, 2023. The jury needed less than 90 minutes to deliver a unanimous guilty decision.
Following the verdict, Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton addressed Long, stating, “The evidence does point to you.” Consequently, she imposed a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the charges of aggravated murder and murder, in addition to penalties for the firearms charges he faced.
Prior to the murder of Lewis Long, the couple had undergone a bitter divorce. This legal battle concluded with Lewis Long being awarded custody of their teenage son, $100,000 in alimony, child support, and ownership of properties they had shared. In a video captured by Lewis Long, Long is reportedly heard threatening, “I will kill you.”
The Review reported that William Stewart, a friend of Long, testified on the final day of trial that Long told him “he was going to shoot her and let them figure it out.” Prosecutors also presented a series of texts between the former couple in which Long blamed his ex-wife for their older son’s suicide, wished cancer on her, and threatened her by saying, “you will get it soon.”
Long maintained that he was merely making drunken rants when he made such statements. The judge told him after the verdict was read, “They aren’t drunken rants when they become true.”
Lewis Long, who was a math and STEM teacher at Leetonia High School, came home from work on Nov. 29, 2023, went to her sister’s house, met with her divorce attorney, picked up food from Arby’s, and bought a flat-screen TV at Walmart before returning to her home at 5:45 p.m. Before going inside, she pulled up to her mailbox in her red pickup truck.
Long’s movements were tracked from the same high school where his ex-wife worked, where he picked up their son in a white pickup truck around the same time Lewis Long left the school. Video footage showed the teen getting something from his mother’s truck and bringing it over to his father’s white one. The teen left the school with his father, who brought the boy to his grandfather’s house.
Long also owned a dark blue pickup truck, which was seen traveling to Long’s girlfriend’s house after 5:17 p.m. His phone was left by the front of the house near a bush and did not register any movement until 6:13 p.m.
Investigators said that surveillance video from Lewis Long’s garage captured her pulling up to her mailbox at 5:45 p.m., the same time a dark-colored pickup truck with distinctive chrome side steps pulled up next to her. A flash was seen at the top of the frame, and as police testified, “That’s when the homicide occurred.”
The bullet that killed Lewis Long was from a .44 revolver. Long owned a Ruger .44 magnum revolver, and .44 rounds were found on a keychain for one of Long’s trucks as well as inside another one of Long’s trucks. Long claimed that he sold the gun at a gun show before the shooting.
Long’s defense team said its client had maintained his innocence from the beginning. Prosecutors told The Review, “Teachers don’t randomly get killed getting their mail in Columbiana County.”