Bio

Steven Lynn Long was born on August 17, 1971, in Dallas County, Texas. He had an eighth-grade education and later worked as a fabricator in refrigeration services. Before the murder of Kaitlyn Briana Smith, Long had already served time in the Texas prison system. He previously received a 10-year sentence for attempted murder from Dallas County.

By 2005, Long was living in a trailer park in Dallas County, near Kaitlyn’s family. He had recently moved into a home across the street from them. This placed him close to Kaitlyn shortly before the crime. In October 2006, Long was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. His sentence was later changed to life imprisonment after courts found him ineligible for execution because of intellectual disability.

Murder Story

The murder of Kaitlyn Briana Smith happened in Dallas County, Texas, on May 21, 2005. Kaitlyn lived in a trailer park with her mother and stepfather. On the night before the murder, her family hosted a gathering. Steven Lynn Long was among the people present because he was staying in a nearby trailer across the street.

During the evening, Kaitlyn’s mother allowed her to spend the night with another child in the neighboring trailer. After the gathering ended, the adults returned to the trailer where Long was staying. Long later told the adults that he had checked on the girls and that they were asleep.

The next morning, Kaitlyn was missing. When she did not return to her own home, people in the trailer park began searching for her. Her grandfather later found her body under a vacant trailer. The body had been partly wrapped in trash bags. Long became a suspect, and detectives later obtained a confession from him.

Medical and forensic evidence showed that Kaitlyn had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Long’s DNA was found in evidence connected to the assault, and Kaitlyn’s DNA was found in areas linked to Long, including his mattress and a dryer he used the morning after the crime.

Long was charged with capital murder. The case went to trial in Dallas County. The prosecution presented evidence of the sexual assault, the strangulation, Long’s confession, and the DNA evidence tying him to the crime. A jury convicted him of capital murder in October 2006.

During the punishment phase, prosecutors argued that Long remained a future danger, including inside prison. Evidence was presented about his prior attempted-murder sentence and other violent conduct. The jury sentenced him to death, and he was received by TDCJ on October 19, 2006.

Long’s conviction and death sentence were affirmed on direct appeal in 2009. He later pursued state and federal habeas claims, including claims that he was intellectually disabled and could not legally be executed. In 2016, the federal appeals court refused relief, but the issue continued after changes in the law governing intellectual-disability claims in death-penalty cases.

In August 2017, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted Long’s scheduled execution so his intellectual-disability claim could be reviewed under updated constitutional standards. The stay came after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Moore v. Texas, which rejected Texas’s older method for evaluating intellectual disability in death-penalty cases.

In 2023, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that Steven Long was constitutionally exempt from execution because of intellectual disability. TDCJ later listed him as no longer on death row, with a mandate received on December 5, 2023, and his sentence reformed from death to life.