Floyd Long is being held without bond as court records describe the evidence gathered after Shaquina Harris disappeared in July.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Mecklenburg County judge ordered Floyd Morris Long held without bond after prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder in the death of Shaquina Latavia Harris, whose disappearance from Charlotte developed into a homicide investigation built around cellphone data, blood evidence, surveillance footage and the account of an unnamed witness.
Long, 45, was arrested Aug. 15 and also charged with concealing or failing to report a death and larceny of a dog. The charges followed the discovery of human remains in woods off Statesville Road, where investigators said they also found belongings associated with Harris. Later information attributed to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police identified Harris as having been found dead in the 10000 block of Statesville Road. Long has not been convicted, and the allegations in warrants and affidavits remain accusations that prosecutors would have to prove in court. Authorities have not publicly announced a motive or cause of death in the reports reviewed for this article.
The first-degree murder charge is the most serious accusation, but the accompanying counts show that investigators are also alleging conduct after Harris’ death. Court records accuse Long of secretly disposing of her body with the intent to conceal the death. A separate larceny count concerns Harris’ long-haired Yorkie-terrier mix, which police say remained in Long’s possession after Harris disappeared. Investigators have not reported finding the dog. The available reports do not describe a plea entered by Long or establish that a jury has made findings on any of the allegations.
Harris, 29, was last seen in public on July 2 after visiting her sister and newborn niece at Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center. Police said she left the hospital at about 10 a.m. and later returned to the area of Long’s Woodford Bridge Drive residence in north Charlotte. Reports based on investigative records differ on the exact time Harris last spoke with her grandmother, while friends told local media they had contact with her by FaceTime later that day. The common point in those accounts is that Harris’ communications soon stopped. Her family reported her missing July 13 after days without the contact they normally expected from her.
Cellphone evidence became central to investigators’ reconstruction. Harris’ phone records placed her back at Long’s house and showed the device remaining there rather than moving away with her. Local accounts of the affidavit differ on the exact hour of the final July 5 signal, but they consistently report that the phone last registered at Long’s residence. Long told officers Harris had left and had taken her possessions and dog. That statement became important when investigators compared it with other evidence, because neighborhood cameras showed Long leaving the property with another man while a dog resembling Harris’ pet followed them.
The second man gave police an account that directly shaped the investigation, according to the affidavit. He said Long told him during a drive that he had “done something bad” and needed help moving something. Long then asked about places the witness liked to fish and other remote areas, the filing said. The witness described a stop near Statesville Road where Long seemed particularly interested in the wooded surroundings. After they returned to Long’s house, the witness said he saw a woman matching Harris’ description lying motionless on a bed. He told investigators she was cold to the touch and that he refused to help Long move her.
Police say the witness initially left with Harris’ dog, then returned the animal to Long during a July 16 meeting at a gas station. Investigators separately examined Long’s location records and said his phone placed him back in the Statesville Road area on the evening of July 6. A cadaver dog later searched the location identified through the investigation and found skeletal remains along with belongings associated with Harris. Those facts supplied investigators with a physical recovery site to compare against the witness account and digital records. The reviewed reports do not say exactly when Harris’ body was taken there or identify who physically transported it.
Searches of Long’s property produced another category of evidence. Investigators said they found multiple areas of suspected blood inside the residence and additional suspected blood in Long’s vehicle. Later local reporting, citing police, referred to Harris’ blood being found in the home and vehicle. Officers also recovered a firearm from the house. The public affidavit summaries do not establish that the firearm caused Harris’ death, and authorities have not released a public cause of death in the material reviewed here. That distinction is important because possession of a gun and proof of the manner of a killing are separate factual questions.
The firearm also intersects with a separate criminal matter involving Long. Mecklenburg County records cited by news outlets show that he was jailed Aug. 8 on a charge of possession of a firearm by a felon. He was released Aug. 14, one day before police arrested him on the murder case. Reports did not establish that the Aug. 8 charge was itself the reason detectives solved Harris’ disappearance, and the two matters should not be treated as the same allegation. Police nevertheless listed the firearm-possession case among Long’s legal problems while announcing the homicide arrest.
Before the murder charge, Long had publicly denied knowing what happened to Harris. WCCB interviewed him at the Woodford Bridge Drive home in July. He said Harris had left weeks earlier and told the station he did not know where she was. He also said he had allowed searches of the property. By then, Harris’ relatives were circulating fliers and openly questioning her disappearance. The later affidavit presented a different investigative theory, placing Harris’ phone at the house, describing blood evidence there and recounting the witness’ assertion that he saw a woman matching Harris’ description inside the bedroom after she was supposedly gone.
Long made his first reported court appearance in the homicide case on Aug. 17. Judge Roy Wiggins denied bond, and Harris’ family and friends attended the hearing. The detention decision kept Long in Mecklenburg County custody while prosecutors continued the case. Local reporting at the time said investigators were still working through evidence and the identification process involving the recovered remains. WCCB reported Aug. 18 that another appearance was scheduled for Sept. 4. No later substantive court ruling or case disposition was identified in the public sources reviewed for this article as of Sept. 28.
That leaves the prosecution at a stage where the public record contains a detailed theory but not a final adjudication. Investigators have described electronic records, physical evidence, surveillance and a witness account that they say converge on Long and the Statesville Road recovery site. What remains publicly unresolved includes Harris’ cause of death, a motive, the precise timing of the alleged killing and the whereabouts of her dog. Those unanswered points do not erase the charges already filed, but neither can they be filled with speculation. Long remains accused of first-degree murder and related offenses, with the allegations to be tested through the North Carolina court process.
Author note: Last updated Sept. 28, 2026.