Murder suspect back in Oregon

Associated Press

NEWPORT, Ore. — Christian Michael Longo is scheduled to be arraigned today on charges of murdering his wife and three children and dumping their bodies into coastal waters, the Lincoln County district attorney said Tuesday.

Longo, 27, waived extradition during a brief appearance in Harris County Court in Houston on Tuesday. He was turned over to a Lincoln County sheriff’s deputy and boarded a commercial flight for Portland later in the day.

"He knew eventually he would have to go back," said Longo’s court-appointed attorney in Texas, Jeff Ludwig. "He seemed very alert and was aware of the charges against him."

Longo will face charges of aggravated murder in Lincoln County, the district attorney’s office said.

Longo is accused of killing his wife and three children and throwing their bodies into coastal inlets between Dec. 19 and Dec. 27. Longo fled from San Francisco International Airport to Mexico on Dec. 27, using a credit card obtained from a Newport man.

He was arrested at a beach camp Sunday night in Tulum, a resort town 60 miles south of Cancun. A Montreal woman noticed his picture and remembered having seen him at a hostel in Cancun between Dec. 27 and Dec. 29. Longo reportedly left the hostel after some money was reported stolen.

Longo is charged with the deaths of his wife, MaryJane, 34, and children, Zachary, 4, Sadie Ann, 3, and Madison, 2. The FBI placed him on the agency’s "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list on Friday.

Mexico abolished the death penalty in 1932 and normally does not extradite suspects to the United States if they would face execution. But after he was arrested, Longo agreed to leave Mexico voluntarily, said Charles Mathews, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon.

Longo had been living in a grass hut at the Cabanas Santa Fe beach camp in Tulum with another man who did not know he was a fugitive, the FBI said. Longo made little effort to hide his identity, keeping his hair blond and using the name "Michael Longo," his middle and last names.

Longo was taken into custody by about 20 Mexican law enforcement officers and FBI agents from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. He was wearing Bermuda shorts and tennis shoes, authorities said. Inside his cabana, police found a credit card that belonged to his wife, and notes he had scribbled about local Mayan ruins.

Longo, who owned a construction cleaning business in Ypsilanti, Mich., moved with his family to the Newport area about three months before the bodies of his wife and three children were found in the inlets.

On Dec. 19, a little boy’s body was spotted floating in a shallow coastal inlet near Waldport. No one claimed the child, and three days later a little girl was found in the same place.

On Dec. 24, family members in Michigan identified the children as Zachary and Sadie Ann.

Divers found the bodies of MaryJane and Madison two days later in a marina in Newport. Authorities charged Longo with aggravated murder and launched a nationwide manhunt.

Longo is named in six lawsuits seeking more than $30,000 and is wanted on two warrants in Michigan for probation violation and a larceny charge. When the Longos moved west last year, they reportedly left behind $60,000 in debts.

Associated Press