Shattered examines barbaric murder of Sandra Lee Long by Driftwood Killer Brian Steckel

This week Shattered examines the murder of Sandra Lee Long by Brian Steckel, who called himself the Driftwood Killer.

Sandra Lee Long was just 29-years-old on September 2, 1994, when Brian Steckel knocked on her door of her New Castle, Del, home and asked to use her phone.

Long’s good nature meant that she agreed and let the man who would kill her into her apartment. Steckel pretended to use the phone but instead he pulled the cord from the wall and then demanded she perform sexual acts on him.

She refused and Steckel then beat her and then used some stockings he’d brought with him to strangle her unconscious, though not before she managed to bit his finger and make it bleed.

He then sexually assaulted Long with a screwdriver and sodomized her. She regained consciousness as the assault continued and in the end he dragged her into the bedroom, where he set the bed on fire and locked her in the room.

Sadly Long was unable to get out and died from smoke inhalation.

Meantime, Steckel met a friend from work for a veer and then called the local paper to threaten another woman by name and called himself the “Driftwood Killer.” Luckily the police put her into protective custody before he could find her. She told police about some very disturbing phone calls she had been getting and they were able to trace these to Steckel.

When he was arrested Steckel soon confessed and even admitted to crimes he clearly did not commit. He also sent abuse letters to everyone involved in the case including several to the victim’s mother.

One included the autopsy report and said: “Happy, Happy. Joy, Joy. Read it and weep. She’s gone forever. Don’t cry over burnt flesh.”

Steckel was sentenced to death in 1997 and was finally executed on November 4, 2005, his execution did not go smoothly and he took 12 minutes to die.

Shattered – Driftwood Killer airs at 1:00 PM on Investigation Discovery