Longo: Details of Killings Revealed
Maggie
Breaking News: Court Papers Say Longo's Wife, Daughter Found in Suitcase
March 22, 2002, 02:15 PM E-mail this story Print this story
By Jim Parker, Doug Irving, Kyle Iboshi and Amy Palanuk, KGW Staff
Court documents publicly disclosed on Friday afternoon map out key portions of
the prosecution's case against Christian Michael Longo, the man accused of
killing his wife and three kids along the Oregon Coast in a case that attracted
international attention.
Approximately 200 pages of documents, many of them search warrant affidavits,
reveal details about how the Longo family was killed and evidence that points
to Christian Longo as their killer.
In the documents, Lincoln County authorities said Longo's wife, MaryJane, was
strangled to death and suffered head trauma. There was no cause of death
indicated for the children.
The bodies of the Longo family members were weighted down to try and keep them
from rising to the surface in the coastal inlets near Waldport and Newport
where they were discovered, the documents allege.
The first two Longo children found by authorities apparently had pillowcases
containing rocks tied to their bodies.
One document details how police believe Longo wrapped his four-year-old son’s
ankles with a weighted pillowcase and dropped him into the water near Waldport.
Zachary Longo’s body was found in a slough off of Alsea Bay on Dec. 19.
A few days later, divers found the body of his sister, 3-year-old Sadie, who
also had her ankles wrapped with a weighted pillowcase, according to the
documents.
On Dec. 27, divers found 34-year-old MaryJane and her two-year old daughter
Madison. The documents said both MaryJane and her daughter were entrapped in
suitcases, before being dropped into Yaquina Bay.
MaryJane's body was found naked and stuffed in a suitcase in a fetal position.
The youngest Longo child was found dumped in another suitcase that contained
baby clothes, according to the documents.
Police investigators said they found diving gear in stolen vehicle allegedly
used by Longo. Officers have also talked to a witness who places a man matching
Longo's description in a vehicle on the Lint Slough Bridge just two days before
the first body turned up near that location.
The court records also suggest a possible motive for the killings. MaryJane had
reportedly threatened to leave Christian Longo, which authorities suggest may
have provoked him to murder his family.
Nearly four weeks after the bodies were found, Mexican police and FBI agents
captured and arrested, Christian Longo, near Cancun. He was later transported
to Oregon where his now resides in the Lincoln County Jail.
Christian faces seven counts of aggravated murder for the deaths of Zachary,
his sisters Sadie and Madison and his mother, MaryJane.
Prior to the release of the documents Friday, authorities had provided little
information about how the children and their mother died or the motive behind
the killings.
“The facts in this case will come out in the courtroom,” Lincoln County
District Attorney Bernice Barnett said at the time.
Maggie
"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the
experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to
do so."--Douglas Adams.
Jason Bereza
longer. Hopefully they'll give him the death penalty, or some wacked out
prisoner at the Lincoln County Jail will be a good VIGILANTE and will beat
him to death.
Christian Longo: 1968-2002
Andrea Yates: 1964-2002
John List: 1925-2002
Peter Currie: 1961-2002
David Westerfield: 1950-2002
Please do us a favor. Die. Grow a tumor, get a disease, get beat up, give
into jail rape with an infected person, anything. Just quit living so we can
have you out of society's gene pool.
Michael Snyder
Maggie wrote in message <20020322175859...@mb-fo.aol.com>...
>This guy deserves a special place in hell. From KGW:
Fascinating. When a woman kills her family, she's a poor sick
innocent victim....
Patty
Documents are unsealed, revealing how MaryJane Longo and her three
children were dumped into coastal waters.
PETER WONG
Salem Statesman Journal
March 23
Editor's note: This story describes the killings of members of the
Longo family on the Oregon Coast in December. Christian Longo is
charged with killing his wife, MaryJane, and their children, Zachery,
Sadie and Madison. Some descriptions might be disturbing to some
readers.
NEWPORT — Divers found the bodies of Christian Michael Longo's wife
and three young children stuffed in two suitcases, a sleeping bag and
pillowcases and dumped off the Oregon Coast, according to documents
released Friday.
The documents also offer details about how the trail of evidence led
police to Longo, 28, who was arrested Jan. 13 in Mexico. He faces
seven counts of aggravated murder, for which prosecutors are seeking
the death penalty.
A van he drove was found abandoned in Wilsonville, containing diving
gear, and a second van he used was found at the San Francisco airport.
Longo had been placed on the FBI's list of 10 most-wanted suspects.
Lincoln County Judge Robert Huckleberry released the contents of nine
search warrants and the arrest warrant issued for Longo. District
Attorney Bernice Barnett had him seal them Dec. 31. He opened them
after a request for disclosure of public records was filed.
According to the documents, MaryJane Longo and the three children were
last seen alive Dec. 15, when their visit to the Fred Meyer store in
Newport was captured on videotape.
Christian Longo had worked at the store.
The grim discoveries began Dec. 19 with the sighting of a body 2 feet
offshore in Lint Slough at Waldport. The boy was identified later as
4-year-old Zachery Longo.
On a dive Dec. 22 near Lint Slough Bridge on Highway 34, a Benton
County sheriff's lieutenant assisting police saw a sleeping bag in 7
feet of water. As he scooped it in his arms, he grabbed a pillowcase
with a large river rock in it.
On another dive that day, a Benton County detective found the body of
3-year-old Sadie Longo. A floral pillowcase was tied to her right
ankle. The detective said he did not open the pillowcase but "thought
it contained an object consistent with a large rock."
The children were identified on Christmas Eve by Macon Thompson, whose
wife, Denise, had baby-sat them at The Landing, a Newport motel where
the Longo family had been staying. Macon Thompson said he and
Christian Longo had planned to go into business together working with
computers.
The Thompsons are neighbors of a Lincoln County sheriff's lieutenant.
On Dec. 27, divers pulled two green suitcases from Yaquina Bay in
Newport. One had human hair sticking out of it.
One contained the body of MaryJane Longo, 34, whose knees were bent to
her chest. The other contained the body of 2-year-old Madison Longo
and children's clothing.
The suitcases were found at the foot of the docks in front of The
Landing.
The documents don't say whether the victims were dead when they were
put in the water. They say only that all died of "homicide" or
"homicidal violence," except for MaryJane Longo, who died of "head
trauma and strangulation."
Denise Thompson worked with Christian Longo at the Fred Meyer store in
Newport. According to the documents, Longo told Thompson on Dec. 19
that he was having marital problems, that his wife was leaving him for
a man employed by the Cable News Network and that his wife and the
children had flown back to their previous home in Michigan.
Police said Longo's boss got a similar story from him.
Longo picked up his paycheck at Fred Meyer, where he worked in the
home department, but failed to show up for a 3 p.m.-to-midnight shift
Dec. 21.
On Dec. 23, the new manager of the Newport Motor Inn told police that
two housekeepers had discovered an unusual number of personal items in
a trash bin. The Longo family had stayed at the motel for about two
weeks in November.
Among the items recovered were baby clothes, women's clothing, baby
journals, family photos, a woman's wallet with Michigan identification
for MaryJane Longo and full but opened packages of diapers.
The manager said she saved some of the items for Longo, who she knew
worked at Fred Meyer, because she thought they had been thrown away by
mistake.
On Dec. 24, Clackamas County sheriff's deputies said they recovered a
maroon 2000 Pontiac Montana van near Wilsonville with the Michigan
license plate "KIDVAN," which Longo had been driving. It was reported
stolen in Ohio.
They also reported the theft of a green Dodge Durango van, which later
was found abandoned at the San Francisco airport.
Found among the items in the first van were a wet suit, mask and
snorkel, a couple of cellphones and children's clothing. Also found
was a book, "Running From the Law."
Longo was arrested in Mexico after the FBI got a tip from a tourist
who had seen his face on the television program "America's Most
Wanted."
Longo told police he used the Internet to purchase his plane trip to
Mexico and research youth hostels there.
He also told police he had used computers at Ocean Spray Community
Center in Newport. A coordinator there told police that Longo was
planning to go to Fiji or New Guinea "and that he was going to do this
after he was single."
Patty
Excerpts from the Oregonian:
The court documents did not specify how the children were killed. They
both were clad only in underwear.
snip
The court documents lay out the framework of the prosecution's case
against Longo:
In the early hours of Dec. 17, an Alsea man spotted Longo on the
Oregon 34 bridge, two days before Zachery's body was found. Later that
day, Longo told the manager of his condominium that he was getting
ready to take his wife and children to the airport to catch a flight
to Michigan. Longo, who had faced mounting debts and criminal warrants
in Michigan, had moved his family to Oregon in September.
On Dec. 18, employees at the Newport Motor Inn, where the Longo family
had resided for a time in November, made a strange find in their trash
bin: baby clothes, women's clothing, family photos, baby journals and
MaryJane Longo's Michigan identification. The journals contained
family mementos, including baby footprints of the Longo children.
An employee at the motor inn left a message for Longo at the Fred
Meyer on U.S. 101, where Longo worked at the Starbucks stand. When
Longo's manager told him his family's photos and baby items had been
found, Longo said his kids must have left some of their stuff behind
in all the family's moves. He didn't pick up the belongings.
That night, Longo attended the Starbucks holiday party at a Newport
pizza parlor, telling his manager that he had taken his family to the
Portland airport and that they had flown to Michigan.
The following day, Dec. 19, Longo told co-worker Denise Thompson that
MaryJane had been involved in a three-year affair with an employee at
CNN back in Michigan and that he had put his family on a plane so they
could return home. He told another co-worker that his wife and
children had moved and would not be back.
Also that day, a maroon minivan Longo had been driving was found at a
Wilsonville auto dealership, containing toys, sleeping bags, cell
phones and diving gear. The van also held pillows, including one
without a pillowcase, and a book titled "Running from the Law."
The court records -- 203 pages of search warrant affidavits and an
arrest warrant -- were unsealed Friday by Circuit Judge Robert J.
Huckleberry. Attorneys for The Oregonian filed a motion in February to
unseal the documents, but prosecutors argued that releasing the
information might hurt their case. On Tuesday, Huckleberry ordered
them to be released Friday.
Investigators were reviewing phone records from at least three cell
phones and the hard drives of 13 personal computers, including 12
seized from a public computer lab in Newport that Longo used, the
documents show.
After Longo's arrest, Lincoln County sheriff's Detective Sgt. Ralph
Turre asked Longo about his knowledge of media coverage of events in
Newport, the documents said.
"Longo responded that he tried to stay away from the Internet because
he did not want to see any news from the United States while in
Mexico."
Hope Munro Smith
> Maggie wrote in message <20020322175859...@mb-fo.aol.com>...
> >This guy deserves a special place in hell. From KGW:
>
> Fascinating. When a woman kills her family, she's a poor sick
> innocent victim....
Good grief, does everything have to fit into some giant paradigm?