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Katlyn Long’s Suspicious Death

The last few months of Katlyn Long’s abbreviated life unfolded much like anyone transitioning between relationships: Unhappy with her long-term, 31-year-old boyfriend, Long broke things off. The 22-year-old Fort Bragg girl had met someone else—someone who, friends say, seemed to make her happy.

Katlyn Long

She left California with her new boyfriend early last year, but work obligations brought her back home for what was to be a brief visit. That fateful trip back would be her last: In the early morning of May 29, after spending the night with her ex-boyfriend, she was hauled to Mendocino Coast Hospital in an ambulance without a pulse—the victim of a methadone overdose.

Yet it wasn’t until last week that police revealed her cause of death. No charges have been filed.

The way detectives explain it, the one eyewitness in the case has exercised his right to remain silent since Long’s death. That eyewitness, of course, is Long’s ex, Garett Matson, son of ex-Fort Bragg planning commissioner and businessman Jerry Matson. Police say that over the course of that year they were negotiating with Matson’s attorney, Richard Petersen, in an attempt to get a statement. To maintain the apparently delicate balance of those negotiations, investigators commenced the media chess game: They withheld the results of a toxicology report completed last July that examined Long’s blood and found that she had overdosed. They kept a lid on all but the most public details of the girl’s death--namely, that she had died “suspiciously.” And they told the media the eyewitness was Long’s ex-boyfriend--but they declined to name the ex.

Petersen, of course, tells it differently. He says he’s offered to answer written questions from the police--but he wouldn’t subject Matson to a prosecutorial-style inquiry because he’s “suffering terrible emotional problems.”

“We can't open him up because he feels very threatened and weak right now,” Petersen said, summarizing what he says are a doctor's orders. “What people say about him breaks his heart.” In the unlikely event detectives share the forensic evidence they’ve collected on Matson, Petersen said he’d change his tune.

“I’d turn my client over,” he said.

In the meantime, Petersen sent a seven page statement to the DA’s office last month--a statement he described as a “timed list” of the days leading up to Long’s death. (Neither he nor the Sheriff’s office would share specifics of the statement.) And last week, detectives released an outline of what happened, along with the results of the toxicology report.

Yet it’s still unclear how--or why--that lethal dose of methadone ended up in Long’s blood.

The synthetic opiate, long thought of as a drug for junkies kicking their heroin habit, has taken on a different role in recent years as a cheap, non-narcotic prescription pain killer. As methadone prescriptions have spiked, so has the number of methadone overdoses: The drug can be lethal when combined, say, with alcohol, or when taken in too great a quantity, as its effects are far shorter than the time it stays in the body.

Sheriff’s Lt. Rusty Noe said Long didn’t have a prescription for methadone, nor did detectives find any evidence that she was using it as a pain killer. Friends say she was the last person they would expect to use such drugs recreationally. “She was like apple pie,” said Jeanne Huckins, who shared Long’s affinity for horses and rode with her often. “One time she came to the stable and she was babbling on and on and on, and I said, ‘Katlyn, what are you on?’ and she said ‘Red Bull.’ … She was very sensitive to that kind of stuff.”

Matson, on the other hand, has a history of prior drug charges. A several year old letter from neighbors in Matson’s court file even described his home as a well known crank house that police visited often: “For two years Matson has terrorized the neighborhood with shootings, loud fights and low-life people coming and going at all hours, though mostly in the middle of the night,” the letter said. It went on to describe how he “unleashed” a vicious dog on a neighbor, sending the senior citizen to the hospital twice.

Those cases--which include discharging a firearm while under the influence of a controlled substance--were dismissed when Matson agreed to drug court. (Petersen said a person’s past is only “circumstantial evidence of what the future holds.”)

Huckins described the couple’s relationship as a troubled one—a relationship where Long felt suffocated by her ex and which she ended shortly before she died. She described how, in the months before her overdose, Long had started seeing a new boyfriend--a man named William Housley--who Huckins said had brightened Long’s mood considerably. They traveled together to Washington State to visit Housley’s parents. “She was having a wonderful time,” she said. “I noticed a real shift when she started hanging out with William. She was a happy person—instead of a person who was always crying and blaming herself, who would cut herself.”

Long returned to Fort Bragg last May, Huckins said, because she worked at the stable where she kept her horses and the owners were leaving town. While home, Matson tried to rekindle their relationship. But Long wasn’t interested. The afternoon before she died the two had an argument at Long’s parents house--an argument caused by Matson thinking the two were close to reuniting, Petersen said. Matson allegedly bashed in her car and left, but returned later that afternoon.

By 5 am the next morning she was dead.

Sheriff’s deputies, who had been summoned with the ambulance, noticed “suspicious” marks on her neck, so detectives were dispatched to investigate. The marks turned out to be unrelated to the cause of her death, and the rest is history.

Some of Long’s friends and supporters theorize that she was murdered. Petersen disagrees. “If she overdosed, he didn't do it. It was either accidental, or intentional on her part,” he said. “I don't know of any one who would have wanted to kill her--including Garett. But nobody wants to believe she committed suicide either.”

For now, no suspects have been named and the DA kicked the case back to the sheriff’s office, which says it’s an open investigation--though District Attorney Meredith Lintott said her investigators are still involved, as they are with most big murder cases. If the case does go to court, Lintott said, there’s no statute of limitations on murder, nor with manslaughter in most situations. It can be a different story with other, less serious charges, however.

“It’s very tricky. People go to court to litigate statute of limitations,” she said. “The whole case can be thrown out.”

So far, Long’s family has been mum on the matter--Katlyn’s mother, Linda Long, said in an e-mail that she didn’t want to compromise the case--as are several friends.

But that hasn’t stopped an online petition, justiceforkatlyn.org, from being circulated; as of publication, the petition has nearly met its 1,000 signature goal. Once completed, the site says, it will be sent to the DA’s office because “…we want to show them that there are lots of citizens that will not rest until justice is served, and who will be watching this case.” Nor has it stopped thousands of posts from appearing on a forum attached to the Ukiah Daily Journal’s website. Unlike most message boards associated with controversial stories--where participants seem to revel in vulgar anonymity--this one is relatively benign: family and friends post poems; they give updates on the case; they talk about their freshly inked Katlyn tattoos.

Still, the site—like most message boards—has the aire of judge, jury and executioner. And it ain’t a pretty verdict for Garett Matson.

***

23 Comments

  1. MKJones April 23, 2010

    This sounds to me as if it was a forced suicide. Meaning he forced her to take the pills and if she didn’t he would harm her family and or her new boyfriend. She probably didn’t think she would die. She probably hoped that help would come in time. This has to be one of the saddest stories of abuse that I have ever read. Mental and emotional abuse can often be worse than physical. But its all bad..so very bad. In the end a young beautiful and intelligent lady loses her life.

    • Lauren Housley May 7, 2010

      It seems to me that forced suicide is homocide. Two years have gone by and still not one question answered by Garett Matson. I have written Lintott several times asking why the person who witnessed Katlyns last hours and also took and sent a picture of her ‘sleeping’, why does this person get a free pass? If I were locked in a room with someone who died in a suspicious manner I would expect to be questioned by law enforcement.

      • JBA March 10, 2012

        Boy this is the first time for me reading an article on what happened. When i first heard the news i assumed she was strangled or something. i’m really starting to think much differently about this case now. It seems to me that this young woman had more problems than everybody thought (or cares to admit). Im starting to think this ex-boyfriend’s only involvement in her death was that he possibly got her on drugs. Like you say, “two years have gone by” and you’d think authorities would have SOME proof of that, and they don’t. What is the deal with his story? Has he told anybody how this happened? I mean i’m sure he DOES expect to be “questioned by law enforcement” and HAS been.

        • Bruce Anderson March 11, 2012

          Our new DA, David Eyster, assured a Fort Bragg audience during the run up to the election that he would re-visit the case after Ms. Lintott had said that she thought there wasn’t a case. There certainly is a case, and it’s disgraceful that Matson wasn’t charged.

        • Lauren Housley March 14, 2012

          There is more to this story than what has been published in the paper. Katlyn was not a methadone user, Matson was. Matson has never been questioned by law enforcement as is his right but it sure would be helpful to know what happened that night. My feeling is that if he truly cared about Katlyn and her family he would tell them what happened. We all want the truth to come out, except perhaps Garett Matson.

      • chris May 11, 2016

        My girlfriend left me. And cheated on me and is with garrett matson. her name is katelyn Ann Katz

        Should I be worried

        • S June 19, 2020

          Is Katelyn Opatz (correct name) still with him? I am one of her old friends.

    • Katherine Allegre September 15, 2010

      He either forced her or he could have just tricked her. He could have told her it was something other than what it was. Just a thought could the drug have been put into a drink or something? It seems he was hell bent on not letting her leave him to be with someone else. I agree a forced suicide is certainly a murder, outright, without a doubt… What goes around, comes around. And I have found in my life that this is very true, people eventually, but always get what they desire. One day the truth will be known.

      • Barbara lonh May 28, 2016

        Yes he brought over two Starbucks coffee

  2. meg May 9, 2010

    Matson is being protected and it is not correct or fair. Vote out Lintott and lets get someone in who will take care of this correctly

    • Lauren Housley May 9, 2010

      Thank you Meg. The first few months after Katie’s death were beyond horrible but I just knew that Garett would face justice and pay the price. Now I just cry myself to sleep and can’t understand why there is no outrage to what has happened in our small town. I used to write to Lintott asking why Garett Matson was not, has not been questioned and never got any response. Today is Mother’s day and there is no joy, Linda (Katlyn’s mother) and I should be celebrating our children’s love for each other. Katlyn and I spoke about her and William having children, she had picked out names and wanted to have a bunch of rowdy little boys or just one girl. I laughed and told her that ya get what ya get and that we would have plenty of time to talk about that stuff. That was the last time I talked to her, she died two days later. Please if anyone can help find justice for Katlyn’s family we really need help.

      • Bruce Anderson September 16, 2010

        For a DA who said she’d be particularly zealous in pursuing crimes against women and children, Lintott has been a huge disappointment. We need a DA who takes the most heinous crimes PERSONALLY, and the murder of Katlyn Long by this Matson creep was a heinous crime. There was more than enough to try him, but when we have a DA who evaluates prosecutions on the basis of whether or not she has a slam dunk win, very bad people will continue to elude justice. There’s no statute of limitations on murder. Don’t vote for Eyster unless he PROMISES to go after Matson.

  3. Teaful Heuden January 20, 2011

    Know facts, not questions. Do Not Ever Take A Side of Any Story That You Are Not Ready To Die For!!!!!! G may have flaws, WE ALL DO!!!!! Never pin a Murder on anyone til’ one – hundred % ( 100% ). If a man hasn’t found something to die for in life, He is’nt fit to live………………………………..

    • Barbara lonh May 28, 2016

      There is more evidence then you know about.But we her family know.Text photos

  4. Kathy Long January 24, 2011

    Let the facts come out! Protect the innocent! Justice for Katlyn!

  5. Barbara Long September 14, 2011

    Why don’t you turn in his journal then. We all know one of you has it and it is basically a confession. Let your conciseness be your quide.

  6. debrakeipp November 29, 2014

    The question of forced suicide being “homicide”? The issue’ll get even cloudier if you go back to Mendocino County Assistant D.A. Stoen… who still thinks about 1000 deaths in Guyana at Jonestown were all suicides.

    There is no justice in this county – not if you have enuf money to hire a Peterson – or are a doctor in Ukiah… as in Susan Keegan homicide.

  7. Carrie Miller May 29, 2015

    Heartbreaking story, just came across this on a mutual friends fb, mendo is my home and as I am the same age as katlyn I am just outraged that this beautiful promising young woman was so brutally snubbed out by this creep! Society was robbed by the loss of this bright star, and for that, the county should seek justice! In a big city the guy would’ve been locked away the next day, but small town corruption runs deep and unfortunately its the innocent and good honest mendo coast citizens that suffer! God be with all that knew and loved this sweet girl, and let His wrath rain down on Matson!

  8. Barbara long May 28, 2016

    Thank you

  9. Barbara long May 28, 2016

    It is time to reopen this case. Her father my brother passed in December. He died with a broken heart. It is time to go viral. And the anniversary of her death is here. Please do another story.

  10. JustanObservation April 29, 2017

    The article mentions another victim of an unsolved, made to appear suicide, death. Jeanne Huckins made open allegations against the ex boyfriend. Any connection?

  11. Ann-katherine November 26, 2019

    No one is safe here because of the “Small-Town” County Corruption. Anyone who’s family works for the County believes themselves to be “Immune”. Where there’s corruption theres a loss of “Security”
    The Tyrant usurps lawful governments., establishes a “Police-State” Imprisioning and murdering Political-Rivals.And committs extreme Injustice of radically evil deeds and heinous crimes.
    Sneaky perfidious crimes of lethal violence, Cruelty as extraordinary Villiany to “Secure-Power” The Tyrants misdeeds are more likely offenses by and thru the State, not against the State. At times where States committ these crimes, usually in lawless Regions…….
    (People who work for the County) claim “immunity” as legal-expediency to impede interference in their Persecutions & Depradations. Claiming Immunity as a “Legal-Expediency” to continue Stealing like Pirates in “Organized-groups”
    Tyrants place themselves above the Law. And Tyranny is a Precondition of Genocide.
    A Territory that turns from a Sanctuary into a trap. While victims cannot flee poses deadly risk making a uniquely heinous crime. Instead of protecting people “they” persecute & annihilate people. Sowing isolation, fear & mutual mistrust and Genocide and Crimes against Humanity, turning Homelands into “Killing-Fields.” State Pathological Politics

  12. Napho December 15, 2023

    Still no movement or updates on this case… Shame on the people in charge over there.

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