Christian Longo

The Longos were a seemingly normal, middle-class family, and resided in Waldport, Oregon. Christian Longo was employed as a manager at a local Starbucks, and Mary Jane worked part-time as a Walmart cashier. Both studied the bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses and attended the church, but the couple were not yet considered members of the church, having not yet given up habits, like smoking, unacceptable for membership. By all accounts, the two were greatly consumed with raising their 3 young children (aged 2-4). The Longos were married in 1993; at the time of the murders the couple had been married for 8 years and enjoyed sailing and jigsaw puzzles in their spare time. Friends of Mary Jane later revealed to police that the couple had planned to divorce, but continue living together, in order to separate their finances due to Mr. Longo’s frivolous spending habits. On Monday, December 17th 2001, the Longos' children were marked absent from school, and Mary Jane Longo did not show up for work, which was uncharacteristic of her. A neighbor reported seeing her 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan parked in the driveway outside the Longos' home. Her keys, purse, and cigarettes were left on the vehicle’s dashboard. The family was last seen together at church on Sunday morning, the day before. Once neighbors and friends realized that all 5 of the Longos were missing, a frantic search began. After the body of the Longos' four-year-old son, Zachery, was found on December 19, 2001, divers located that of his three-year-old daughter, Sadie, less than a mile offshore in the Pacific Ocean. Those of his wife, thirty-four-year-old Mary Jane, and their two-year-old daughter Madison were found five days later. An autopsy revealed the children were killed by smothering prior to entering the water, while Mrs. Longo had been stabbed numerous times. All 4 victims were bound with different lengths of chain which were tied to cinderblocks. Police have stated that if Zachery’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. By that time, Longo was wanted in connection with the murder of Mary Jane and their three children[8]

After he fled the United States, he was recognized at a hotel in Cancún, Mexico on December 27, 2001. The next day, in Lincoln County, Oregon, a federal arrest warrant issued in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon 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, about 80 miles south of Cancún. He was taken into U.S. custody at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on January 14, 2002.[9] He was sentenced to death in 2003.[10]

Years later, Longo admitted to being a narcissist in a letter he wrote to KATU-TV, a Portland, Oregon, television station. 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."[11]

When in Mexico, Longo used the name of Michael Finkel, the former New York Times reporter who later chronicled their experiences in his memoir True Story,[12] later adapted into a 2015 film.

Longo is currently incarcerated on death row at Oregon State Penitentiary. Capital punishment is still legal in Oregon, but there has been a moratorium on executions since 2011.

• FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 2000s
• List of death row inmates in the United States
• List of fugitives from justice who are no longer sought