Winifred Corrine Long, 30, disappeared on June 10, 1962, from Yuba County, and her body has never been found. Yuba County Sheriff’s officials launched an investigation into her vanishing, but the case remains unsolved to this day.
Her husband, Alvin L. Long, reportedly one of the last people to have seen her, told Yuba County Sheriff’s investigators that he drove Winifred from his secluded home just east of Beale Air Force Base to the Greyhound Bus Station in Marysville. He claimed her station wagon was experiencing a transmission issue. However, four of Winifred’s family members – her sister Sarah Brushart, brother-in-law Gene Brushhart, nephew Glen Brushart, and an anonymous relative – contend this trip to the bus depot was a ruse and that she never left Alvin’s ranch near the Spenceville Firing Range.
These family members, all professionals, believe the late veteran Marine killed Winifred on his property during daylight hours while their toddler children were nearby. Several inconsistencies challenge Alvin’s account: detectives were unable to locate a bus ticket to substantiate his claim, a police mechanic examined the vehicle and determined it was in working order, and a polygraph examination Alvin took during the investigation was inconclusive.
Immediately following her disappearance, the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office received a call from the California Highway Patrol, who shared a description of Winifred. She was 68-inches tall, weighed 120 pounds, and had blue eyes and brown hair. At the time she vanished, she was wearing red, blue, and green-checkered Capri pants, a white blouse, and white saddle shoes. Her sister, Sarah Brushart, now 92, described her as “smart, outgoing and athletic” and noted she spoke several languages, including French and Spanish, and played the clarinet.
During the initial investigation, deputies searched Alvin’s property near the Spenceville Firing Range and the Greyhound Bus Station near the foot of the 10th Street Bridge. Scores of deputies, inmates, and airmen assigned to Beale Air Force Base combed the wildland. Yuba Sheriff John Dower noted the search was in "rough country up there" and that investigators would “have to be lucky” to find her. The Oakland Tribune reported on June 24, 1962, that peace officers and prison trustees were “beating through 10-foot-high brush which covered the mine-pocked hills.”
Two months before her disappearance, Winifred Corrine Connett, born on December 7, 1931, in Athens, Ohio, filed for divorce from Alvin. She had moved to the West Coast to follow a friend and achieve her dreams, according to Sarah Brushart. Before their separation, the couple had lived on Greenville Avenue in Tamalpais Valley in a home Alvin built by hand. Winifred worked as a typist and secretary at the Safeway Market’s District Office in Mill Valley, and the couple split custody of the children during their separation. After filing for divorce, Winifred rented a room in a house owned by Harold C. and Donna C. Hester at 31 Somerset Lane in Mill Valley.
Winifred allegedly told Donna Hester, “If I’m not back by tonight, tell the police to come and get me,” before driving to Yuba County. Donna Hester assumed this warning was a joke until Winifred did not return. The following morning, Donna Hester called the California Highway Patrol, who took the initial report and contacted Yuba Sheriff’s command.
Alvin, a self-taught carpenter and veteran Marine reservist who served in World War II and the Korean War, had lost both legs below the knee due to shrapnel. Winifred’s family recalled his “rough demeanor” and shared that they had quiet reservations about him. The anonymous relative noted Alvin built several homes by hand and “worked extensively with cement,” often walking on knee pads attached to his stumps rather than using prosthetics.
After 64 years, Winifred’s family claims there have been no breaks in the case and no communication from investigators. Sarah, Gene, Glen Brushart, and the anonymous relative remain convinced that Alvin was at the center of foul play, contending that based on circumstantial evidence, he killed her on the property east of Chuck Yeager Road.
