She died of a single gunshot wound to the left side of her head, Dr. Michael Sullivan, Mecklenburg County’s chief medical examiner at the time, wrote in an autopsy report obtained by the Observer. A secret lover, a $1 million fortune, and a potentially planted handgun have led to authorities reexamining the death of a married North Carolina woman whose cause was initially ruled suicide. Just days after Long's body was found, her lover, William Becker, came forward and produced documents showing that she had left her $1 million fortune to him.According to a search warrant obtained by PEOPLE, neighbors saw Becker at Long's home on July 19, the last time she was seen alive. That man, William Becker, was incidentally also the first to tip police off to her death after calling authorities under the claim that he hadn't seen her in days, according to a search warrant obtained by the Observer. But based on witness statements, police said, they believe someone else was inside Long’s house on Old Meeting Way the night she died, according to other search warrants. The medical examiner couldn't definitively determine whether Long died of the gunshot wound, and he found no blood on the hand Long would have fired with.Nearly four months later, authorities are still investigating whether there was foul play in the death of the 41-year-old woman. Among the most troubling: the gun was found in her left hand, and Long was right-handed. After speaking with Becker, police say he told them that Long had been depressed and had been recently diagnosed with cervical cancer — a claim Long's doctor later argued as untrue.
– A gun found in the left hand of a right-handed suicide victim. A secret married lover. And a $1 million inheritance. These are all clues in the mysterious July death of Sarah Catherine Long, 41, who police in Davidson, NC, at first believed killed herself, People reports. But now, they say she was murdered. Long's married lover, William Becker, tipped off police, claiming not to have seen her in four days, the New York Daily News reports. She was found dead in her condo on July 23 with a gun in her left hand and a gunshot wound above her left ear. But Long was right-handed and that hand wasn't bloody. Days after her death, Becker came forward claiming Long left him a $1 million fortune in her will. He also said she was depressed because she had cervical cancer, which her doctor refutes, WBTV reports. Meanwhile, Becker's wife told police he gave her a smoothie in May that tasted of medicine, which she says he dumped in the toilet when confronted; she thinks he was trying to poison her. Investigators are awaiting results that will determine if Long was drugged. Neighbors saw Long enter her house with a man at about 10:20pm on July 19, the night police think she died. Police are now analyzing Long's texts, four laptops, wireless router, Yahoo account, and financials, the Charlotte Observer reports. They're hoping that the router might have linked to the cellphone of the man she was with the night of her death. (In North Carolina, a sinister mystery surrounds the hanging death of a teen whose family says he didn't kill himself.)