Court records say a man seen with Floyd Long gave detectives details that directed them toward the area where Shaquina Harris was found.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An unnamed man seen on surveillance video leaving Floyd Morris Long’s Charlotte home became a critical witness in the investigation of Shaquina Latavia Harris’ disappearance, telling police that Long spoke of having done something bad, showed unusual interest in a remote area and later revealed a motionless woman inside his bedroom, according to court filings.
Investigators eventually searched the area described by the witness and found human remains and belongings associated with Harris, a 29-year-old Charlotte woman who had been missing since early July. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police arrested Long, 45, on Aug. 15 and charged him with first-degree murder, concealing or failing to report a death and larceny of Harris’ dog. A judge ordered him held without bond. The witness account is only one part of the evidence described publicly: cellphone records, surveillance footage and blood evidence also figure prominently in the affidavit. Long has not been convicted and is presumed innocent.
The witness first came into the case because cameras placed him at Long’s Woodford Bridge Drive residence during a period investigators were trying to reconstruct. Long had told police that Harris left his home and took her belongings and dog with her. He said he returned at about 5 p.m. to find her gone, according to the affidavit. Neighborhood surveillance, however, showed Long and another man walking from the property shortly before that time while a dog matching the description of Harris’ long-haired Yorkie-terrier mix followed them. Police identified the second man and questioned him about where they went and what he had observed.
His account moved the investigation well beyond the exterior camera footage. The man said he and Long drove around and that Long told him he had “done something bad,” according to the court filing. The witness said Long needed help moving something and began asking about places he liked to fish and other secluded locations. During the drive, they stopped near a wooded section off Statesville Road. The witness said Long seemed especially interested in the surroundings. At that point, according to the affidavit, the witness did not know that investigators would later treat that same area as a major search location.
The two men returned to Long’s residence, where the account became more serious. The witness told detectives they went into a back bedroom and Long turned on a light. On the bed, the witness said, was a woman matching Harris’ description. He checked her and found her cold, with blood visible near her nose, according to the affidavit. The man said he declined to help Long move anything. He instead left the residence and took Harris’ dog with him. Police records cited by local outlets do not identify the witness publicly or accuse him of taking part in Harris’ death.
The dog provides another thread in the timeline. According to investigators, the witness kept the animal after leaving Long’s home. On July 16, he met Long at a gas station and returned the dog. Police said that was the last reported sighting of the animal. Long was later charged with felony larceny of a dog as part of the case. By then, Harris had already been reported missing. Her family and friends had begun distributing fliers and searching the areas around her last known locations, and relatives were calling attention to the fact that both Harris and her familiar pet were absent.
Separate electronic evidence was developing at the same time. Harris had last been seen publicly leaving Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center on July 2 after visiting her sister and newborn niece. Investigators said she then returned to Long’s home. Accounts differ over the exact hour of her last telephone conversation with her grandmother, and other local reporting said she participated in a FaceTime call with friends later that day. Her phone nevertheless remained tied to the Woodford Bridge Drive area and last registered at Long’s residence on July 5, according to reports based on court documents. Investigators said the device did not travel away as Long’s story suggested Harris had.
Detectives also examined Long’s cellphone. The affidavit said his location data placed him near the Statesville Road area at about 8:30 p.m. July 6, the same general location the witness had described during his interview. That digital record gave police a second form of information pointing toward the woods. Investigators then used a cadaver dog in the search. The dog led them to skeletal remains in a wooded area off the road, and officers also found items that matched belongings associated with Harris. Initial reporting described the remains as likely Harris’ while the identification process continued; later information attributed to police said Harris had been located dead there.
The witness statement and phone data were reinforced by evidence recovered during searches connected to Long. Investigators reported finding multiple areas of suspected blood inside his home and additional suspected blood in his vehicle. Some local reports, citing investigators, later identified it as Harris’ blood. Police also found a firearm at the residence, according to the affidavit. The filing does not by itself establish how Harris died, and the reviewed public reports do not state that the gun was used to kill her. Authorities have not publicly announced a cause of death, and they have not disclosed a motive they believe led to the alleged killing.
Long’s public statements before his arrest stood in contrast to the investigative account that later emerged. WCCB interviewed him at his home in July while Harris was still officially a missing person. Long said she had left and that he did not know where she was. He told the station that he had allowed people to search the property and presented himself as willing to help find her. Harris’ family, however, already suspected that Long might know more than he was saying, according to WCCB. The homicide affidavit later placed Harris back at the house and described the witness seeing a woman matching her description there after Long said she was gone.
The investigation culminated in Long’s arrest on Aug. 15. He had also been arrested a week earlier on a separate firearm-possession charge and released Aug. 14, according to jail records cited in local reports. Police took him back into custody the following day on the murder and related charges. At his first court appearance Aug. 17, Judge Roy Wiggins denied bond. Harris’ friends and relatives attended the proceeding. Their presence reflected how far the case had moved since July, when they were still canvassing neighborhoods and appealing to the public for information that might bring Harris home safely.
The unnamed witness now occupies an unusual place in the public record: his account helps explain how investigators connected a residence in north Charlotte to a wooded location miles from the family’s original search, yet much about the case remains unreported. Authorities have not publicly detailed Harris’ cause of death or a motive, and the exact sequence of events inside Long’s home has not been established at trial. Reports also contain minor differences about the timing of Harris’ last call and final phone signal. Those questions will remain matters for evidence and court proceedings rather than assumptions. Harris’ dog also had not been reported recovered in the latest substantive coverage reviewed for this article.
Author note: Last updated Sept. 28, 2026.