Woman charged in teen’s 1991 disappearance

After 27 years, an arrest has been made in the disappearance of a 19-year-old Macon woman.

Melinda McSwain, 46, was arrested by the GBI’s Perry office and charged with kidnapping in connection to the Sabrina Long missing persons case. McSwain now lives in Broxton, located in Coffee County in southeast Georgia.

Long was last seen Aug. 14, 1991, at a home in Macon. The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office initially handled the investigation before the GBI got involved in 1992.

“By conducting multiple interviews as well as serving numerous search warrants in the Middle Georgia area, the GBI developed enough probable cause to secure an arrest warrant charging McSwain with kidnapping,” the GBI news release said.

The GBI said Friday it expects additional “investigative acts” in the next few weeks.

According to The Charley Project, which profiles cold cases around the country, Long worked at Bibb Manufacturing Co. and lived with her former stepfather at a home on Ashland Drive in the Bloomfield area of Macon. He and her mother had divorced.

The Southwest Macon High School graduate also had a boyfriend. The stepfather and boyfriend both had alibis for the time during her disappearance.

Over the years, Long’s family had told the Macon Telegraph they suspected multiple people were involved in her disappearance. Long’s mother told authorities that her daughter had received numerous disturbing phone calls before Aug. 14.

Her parents had her declared legally dead in 1999.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the GBI Perry office at 478-987-4545 or the GBI TIPS Line at 1-800-597-8477.