Christian Michael Longo (born January 23, 1974) is a convicted murderer who killed his wife and three children in

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

Background

Originating from Ypsilanti Township,

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, Longo married Mary Jane Baker at age 19 and had three children with her. Longo and his family often encountered financial difficulties due to his reckless spending habits.

Murders

The Longos were a seemingly average, middle-class family and resided in

Waldport, Oregon Waldport is a city in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States. The population was 2,033 at the 2010 census. The city is located on the Alsea River and Alsea Bay, south of Newport and north of Yachats. History Settlement of Waldport began in ...

. Christian was employed at a local Starbucks, while Mary Jane was a full-time mother. Mary Jane was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and was an active member of her church. By all accounts, the two devoted their time to raising their three young children. The Longos were married in 1993; at the time of the murders, the couple had been married for eight years and enjoyed

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...

and

jigsaw puzzles A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture. When assembled, the puzzle pieces produce a complete picture. In t ...

in their spare time. On December 17, 2001, a coworker recognized an artist's sketch of a boy discovered in Lint Slough. A neighbor reported seeing her 1999

Dodge Grand Caravan The Chrysler minivans are a series of minivans that have been produced and marketed by the American automaker Chrysler since the 1984 model year. Currently in its sixth generation, the model line is marketed worldwide, primarily in North Ameri ...

parked in the driveway outside the Longos' home. Once neighbors and friends realized that all five Longos were missing, a frantic search began. The body of four-year-old Zachary Longo was found on December 19, 2001, in Lint Slough. Divers located the body of three-year-old Sadie on December 22, less than a mile offshore in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

. 27-year-old Mary Jane and their two-year-old daughter Madison were found five days later. Mary Jane had been stuffed nude in suitcases found in the water near a ramp at Embarcadero Marina on December 27, 2001. Madison was found inside a different suitcase the same day, dropped off on the same dock. An autopsy revealed that Sadie and Zachary were killed by asphyxiation while Mary Jane Longo and Madison had been strangled. Police have stated that if Zachary’s body had not washed ashore, they would not have recovered the bodies of his sisters and mother for another 10–15 years due to the

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

. After he fled the United States, Longo was recognized at a hotel in

Cancún Cancún ( ), often Cancun in English (without the accent; or ) is a city in southeast Mexico on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It is a significant tourist destination in Mexico and the seat ...

, Mexico, on December 27, 2001. By that time, Longo was wanted in connection with the murder of his wife and three children. The next day, in

Lincoln County, Oregon Lincoln County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, its population was 50,395. The county seat is Newport. The county is named for Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States. Lincoln County ...

, a federal arrest warrant issued in the

United States District Court for the District of Oregon The United States District Court for the District of Oregon (in case citations, D. Ore. or D. Or.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the state of Oregon. It was created in 1859 when the state was admitted to the Union ...

charged him with multiple counts of aggravated murder and unlawful flight. He left the hotel on January 7, 2002, and was captured six days later without incident in the small town of

Tulum, Quintana Roo Tulum () is the largest community in the municipality of Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is located on the Caribbean coast of the state, near the site of the archaeological ruins of Tulum. History As recently as the early 1990s, Tulum was a ...

, about 80 miles south of Cancún. He was taken into U.S. custody at

George Bush Intercontinental Airport George Bush Intercontinental Airport is an international airport in Houston, Texas, United States, serving the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Located about north of Downtown Houston between Interstate 45 and Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 5 ...

on January 14, 2002. He was sentenced to death in 2003. Years later, Longo admitted to being a

narcissist Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism exists on a co ...

in a letter he wrote to a woman that was obtained by

KATU-TV KATU (channel 2) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside La Grande–licensed Univision affiliate KUNP (channel 16). Both stations share studios on NE ...

, a television station located in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

. He wrote that he eventually began "studying what a psychologist said I was and came to terms with it, almost totally agreeing that he was right... his conclusion was the narcissistic personality disorder which he called 'compensatory' – basically self-centeredness related to a damaged core sense of self." When in Mexico, Longo used the name of

Michael Finkel Michael Finkel (born 1969) is a journalist and memoirist, who has written the books ''True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa'' (2005) and ''The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit'' (2017). Career Finkel was a wri ...

, the former ''New York Times'' reporter who later chronicled their experiences in his memoir ''True Story'', which was adapted into a 2015 film starring

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. For his role in '' 127 Hours'' (2010), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Franco is known for his roles in films, such as Sam Raimi's ''Spider-M ...

as Longo and

Jonah Hill Jonah Hill Feldstein (born December 20, 1983) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is known for his comedic roles in films including ''Superbad'' (2007), '' Knocked Up'' (2007), '' 21 Jump Street'' (2012), '' This Is the End'' (201 ...

as Finkel. Longo was incarcerated on death row at

Oregon State Penitentiary Oregon State Penitentiary (OSP), sometimes called Oregon State Prison, is a maximum security prison in the northwest United States in Salem, Oregon. Originally opened in Portland in 1851, it relocated to Salem fifteen years later. The 2, ...

. On December 13, 2022, Longo's death sentence (along with everyone else on Oregon's death row) was commuted to life without parole by Governor

Kate Brown Katherine Brown (born June 21, 1960) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 38th governor of Oregon since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she served three terms as the state representative from the 13th district of the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longo, Christian 1974 births 2001 murders in the United States American mass murderers American murderers of children Familicides FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives Fugitives Living people People convicted of murder by Oregon People extradited from Mexico to the United States People from Lincoln County, Oregon People from Ypsilanti, Michigan People with narcissistic personality disorder Place of birth missing (living people) Prisoners sentenced to death by Oregon

Background

Murders

See also

Further reading

References