Margaret and Sherran Long and Carol Taylor:1973, Shamokin, Pennsylvania

   

  Sherran Long was 15. Her sister, Margaret Long, was 16. Their friend, Carol Ann Taylor, was 15. 

  It was summer in Pennsylvania. It was July of 1973. 

  Sherran, Margaret and Carol went out for a walk on July 19th, 1973. They lived in the area of Shamokin, in Coal Township, Pennsylvania. 

  Going for a walk was a good inexpensive pastime in 1973. In small towns it was not easy for young teens to earn a living. Sherran, Margaret and Carol probably did a little babysitting now and then. But, earning a little extra money would have been rare in a small town then. But, a person could always go for a walk. And if you are walking with a friend you could talk and laugh. 

  

  The three girls would have had a lot to talk about. It was summer but a new school year would be starting in the Fall. They would see all their friends again. There would be dances and ball games and homework to do. The two younger girls went to West Junior High School. Margaret went to Shamokin Area High School. 

  Shamokin is a very small town. It’s very rural and a bit isolated. A little creek that shares the name Shamokin runs through the town. Mining anthracite coal is one of the main sources of income in the community. 

  That walk on July 19th would be their last walk together. The three girls never came home. More than a year would pass before their families got any answers in the disappearance of these three beloved girls. 

 Margaret and Sherran Long were the daughters of Peg (also named Margaret) (Bowers) Long and Paul Long. The couple had no other children. Take a moment and imagine how quiet that house was from July 19th, 1973. The worry they must have endured must have been soul crushing. 

  Carol Ann Taylor had four brothers and six sisters. She was one of the younger children in her large family. Her parents were Mary K. (Mayton) Taylor and David Taylor. 

  On October 7th, 1974, Robert Reichwein spoke with the police. He had learned that his acquaintance, Sebastian Yost and two other men had assaulted and murdered three girls. Just after midnight on October 7th, 1974, Robert Reichwein led police to a shallow grave on Burnside Mountain. 

  A medical examiner and a dentist confirmed that these three bodies were indeed the missing teens. They had been piled on top of one another in this hasty and shallow grave. 

   Sebastian Yost (23),  Roland Scandle (20), and Joseph Ziemba (22) were arrested. The three men confessed. The admitted to abducting and assaulting the three girls. All three men participated in the violence. At trial, Joseph Ziemba testified that Sebastian Yost strangled Sherran Long with his belt and with his hands. Roland Scandle strangled Margaret Long in a similar manner. Joseph Ziemba testified that he knocked Carol Ann Taylor unconscious by punching her. He testified that Roland Scandle then killed her by hitting her in the head with a large rock. 

   Sherran Long had also suffered facial fractures from being beaten. Sherran’s right lower arm was also broken. The medical examiner said that this might have been broken as she was holding her arm up to protect her head and face. 

   These young men would have come home with blood on their clothes. Did they throw their clothes away?  Did their Mother's wash those clothes? This was a time when people did not own much. Someone would have noticed that particular pieces of clothing were missing. But, that is just my opinion.

   From testimony of other witnesses it seems that the three girls might have gone willingly with the three men initially. That may or may not be true. The reporting was not entirely clear. Perhaps they saw these local young men as safe because they had known them around town for years. 

  There were times when I was a teen that I was with a friend or two and we went somewhere that turned out to be not a good place. The people there were not safe to be around. We were lucky because we didn’t hang around there long. But that was just luck. Anything could have happened. 

  Joseph Ziemba died in 2003 at the age of 51. Inexplicably and insensitively, I believe, he was buried in the same cemetery (Odd Fellows Cemetery) as two of the victims. 

  Sebastian Yost and Roland Scandle are still in prison in Pennsylvania as I write this in June of 2026. I wonder what else these three men did when they were still free?

   Margaret and Sherran Long are buried at Odd Fellows Cemetery. Carol Taylor is buried at Saint Edwards Cemetery. May they rest in peace.