True Crime Chronicles: Death by lethal execution for Oklahoma inmate came a decade after double slaying

 Michael Edward Long

On the evening of April 7, 1987, Muskogee was shattered by a crime so heinous it would haunt the community for years. Sheryl Sandra Graber, a 24-year-old florist, and her five-year-old son, Andrew Scott Graber, were found dead in their home, victims of a savage attack fueled by obsession and rejection.

The perpetrator, Michael Edward Long, a 25-year-old coworker of Sheryl’s, had let his unrequited desires spiral into a deadly rampage.

A decade later, on February 20, 1998, Long would face lethal injection at Oklahoma State Penitentiary, closing a grim chapter in Muskogee’s history.

Michael Edward Long first met Sheryl Graber at a local flower shop in Muskogee, where they worked side by side. Described as a quiet but intense man, Long became fixated on Sheryl, a young mother who had no interest in his advances.

Court records reveal that Sheryl had rebuffed him repeatedly, her rejections stoking a dangerous resentment. On that fateful April evening, Long armed himself with a 10-inch locking-blade knife and a .22 caliber pistol, drove to Sheryl’s home, and parked a distance away to avoid detection.

His intent was clear: he would have her “one way or another,” as he later admitted to authorities.

What unfolded inside the Graber home was a nightmare. When Sheryl again rejected Long’s sexual demands, he erupted into violence. He stabbed her 31 times, the ferocity of the attack so brutal that fragments of the knife’s blade were later found embedded in her body.

As Sheryl tried to flee, screaming for help at the door, Long dragged her back inside, assuring concerned neighbors she was merely drunk. He then shot her twice, once in the head and once in the abdomen, ensuring her death.

When five-year-old Andrew, witnessing his mother’s agony, attempted to intervene, Long turned his weapons on the boy. Andrew was stabbed once and shot twice, in the head and chest, leaving no chance for survival.

Neighbors, alarmed by the commotion, called the police. Long was apprehended as he attempted to flee the scene, his clothes stained with the blood of his victims.

The community was left reeling, grappling with the loss of a young mother and her innocent child.

In September 1987, Michael Long stood trial in Muskogee County District Court, charged with two counts of first-degree murder. The prosecution, led by then-District Attorney Drew Edmondson, painted a picture of a calculated and merciless killer. Evidence presented included Long’s own confession, though he later challenged its admissibility, claiming it was coerced.

The jury, unmoved by his defense, took less than two hours to convict him on both counts. Following their recommendation, District Judge William Bliss sentenced Long to death by lethal injection for each murder, a decision automatically appealed under Oklahoma law.

During the trial, the courtroom was heavy with emotion. Prosecutors introduced graphic evidence, including color photographs of the victims’ bodies and, controversially, pieces of flesh gouged from Sheryl’s body, which the defense argued were unnecessarily prejudicial.

While the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals later deemed some evidence, like the flesh and certain photographs, inadmissible, they found the errors harmless given the overwhelming case against Long.

The jury also found two aggravating circumstances: Long had created a great risk of death to more than one person, and he killed Andrew to avoid arrest or prosecution.

Long spent over a decade on death row at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, a place he described as “hell” due to its concrete walls, lack of sunlight, and 23-hour daily lockdowns. During this time, he claimed to have undergone a profound transformation, converting to Christianity 19 days after his arrest when a volunteer minister visited him in jail.

“I’m ready to get out of hell and go to heaven,” Long told The Oklahoman in an interview before his execution.

He wrote twice to Sheryl’s father, Ken Rigler, seeking forgiveness, but received no response. Rigler, still grieving, dismissed Long’s newfound faith as “jailhouse religion.”

Long’s journey to the execution chamber was marked by indecision. Initially, he sought to waive his appeals in March 1997, only to retract the request, stating he didn’t want to “take the easy way out.”

By October, however, he changed his mind again, requesting an end to his appeals. After a psychiatric evaluation deemed him competent, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals set his execution date for February 20, 1998.

As the day approached, Long prepared for his final moments. He requested a last meal of a Big Mac, a large pizza with all the toppings, two cans of soda, and two snack pies. He spent his final day much like any other, with additional phone access and visits from family.

Five witnesses of his choosing, along with relatives of the victims, were present in separate rooms at the execution chamber. At 12:25 a.m., Long was pronounced dead after receiving a lethal combination of drugs that rendered him unconscious, stopped his breathing, and halted his heart.

Then Attorney General Drew Edmondson, who had prosecuted Long years earlier, reflected on the case’s impact. “There are some crimes which are so heinous and violent that the death penalty is the only appropriate sentence,” he said. “The murders of Sherry and Andrew Graber, a mother and her five-year-old child, were such crimes.”

For Edmondson, who had visited the crime scene and the morgue, the execution brought a sense of finality, though it could never erase the pain felt by the Graber family.