- December 16, 2025
Marianna Long found clues online to help detectives identify a 15-year-old who was later charged with a late-night burglary.
When Marianna Long and Keith O’Dell returned to their B-section home from a friend’s house before dawn Feb. 26, they were greeted by a bloody broken window, a removed screen and missing valuables. Their 13-year-old son’s four guitars, his Xbox 360 and O’Dell’s 90cc dirt bike had been stolen.
After her initial shock and disbelief, Long had a thought: Knowing that her own valuables hadn’t been touched, she suspected that the burglar might have known her son personally and targeted him.
“That’s when I went online to do my own detective work,” she said. “I had a feeling that ... they would put stuff on Facebook.”
Under her son’s account, Long logged on and had a brief conversation with another young man who was curiously awake at 5 a.m. In the next few days, she continued her search and found another friend, Josh Mills, who wrote as his status the day of the incident: “I needa go to the hospital. I need stitches. I’m losin mad blood.” In her mind, Long connected that injury with the bloody broken window.
Other kids reported that there were teens on the school bus who were bragging about stealing from Long’s son and offering to sell the items. Deputies from the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office began interviewing witnesses.
Speaking of her son, Long said: “He doesn’t know what to do without his guitars. He can’t sing the blues.”
A ride home
Three days after the incident, a deputy responded to a call about a juvenile needing a ride home at 4 a.m. Feb. 29, at a drug store on Palm Coast Parkway. The 15-year-old identified himself as Darrin Cummings and directed the deputy to a home in the B-section.
Upon arriving at the home, the deputy was told by an adult that the young man was not Darrin Cummings, and that he did not live at that address. The adult then brought the deputy to the correct address, where the deputy met Jenkins Mills, the mother of Edgar Joshua Mills III.
The deputy conducted an investigation and discovered Josh Mills was wanted for questioning in the burglary of Long and O’Dell’s home.
The deputy noted that Josh Mills had a cut on his hand that was consistent with the injury described in the burglary case notes. He asked him what happened to his hand, and Mills replied that he had cut it while cutting an onion earlier in the day.
The deputy suggested that the wound appeared to be a few days old, and Mills then refused to answer any more questions. He was put under arrest for burglary, a felony charge. (State law allows the name of a minor to be released if he is charged with a felony.)
Mills was also charged with providing a false name to law enforcement during an investigation. He was transferred to the Division of Juvenile Justice, in Daytona Beach.
Social media
Long’s online detective work is nothing new to the Sheriff’s Office, according to Chief Deputy David O’Brien.
“The Sheriff’s Office uses social media to help keep Flagler safe,” he said. “They find a lot of things out through Facebook, MySpace.”
Social media can’t always be used as evidence, exactly, because “How do you know on the other end who’s typing that?” O’Brien pointed out. But, it can be of use to detectives.
Alton Smith, who pled guilty to prostitution and incest in 2010, was discovered through undercover techniques using Craigslist, O’Brien said. Social media is used to determine associations of suspects in organized crime rings, as well. Text messages have also been of use.
Long said she hopes Mills and whoever else was involved learn a lesson from this incident. “This is like $2,000 worth of stuff that was stolen,” she said. “If they did it, they need to suffer the consequences. These kids always seem like they’re really nice, well mannered. You just can’t trust everybody.”
She added: “Since the break-in, there’s no sense of security. I can’t sleep. I jump at the slightest noise. I worry about my kids.”
