Vehicle used by man wanted in family’s deaths found at airport

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — A stolen vehicle linked to a man whose wife and three young children were slain in Oregon was found Sunday at San Francisco International Airport, the FBI said.

Christian Longo, 27, is accused of killing his wife and children and dumping their bodies into two Pacific Coast inlets near the towns of Newport and Waldport, Ore.

A warrant for his arrest was issued Dec. 28, and he is the subject of a nationwide manhunt. Police have not revealed a possible motive for the killings. But they say Longo, who owned a construction cleaning company in Michigan, had faced a multitude of legal and financial problems.

Longo was last seen in San Francisco on Dec. 26, according to District Attorney Bernice Barnett in Lincoln County, Ore.

The stolen Dodge Durango believed driven by Longo was found Sunday morning in an airport parking lot, said FBI spokesman Andrew Black.

Police Officer Roy L. Heavey said investigators found a parking receipt in the car dated Dec. 26 and others receipts dated between Dec. 24 and Dec. 27.

Officials were unsure whether Longo took a flight or simply left the car there. Black said all flight logs and area hotel registers were being reviewed.

Police believe Longo may have been using the vehicle as a base, driving another car to and from the airport.

Evidence found in the vehicle indicated Longo had been using the aliases Jason Joseph Fortner and John Thomas Christopher and three different birth dates. Police would not give specifics about the evidence.

"My feeling is that with the security in place now at the airport it would be difficult to get bogus ID in such a short time," said San Francisco Police Sgt. Lawrence Ratti. "I think it would have been difficult for him to take a flight out."

Police had been searching for a vehicle with Michigan plates reading "KIDVAN" but the car they found had its original Oregon plates. When officers ran the plates, they discovered it was wanted in connect with a homicide.

The body of Zachary Michael Longo, 4, was found floating two feet from shore in a coastal inlet near Waldport on Dec. 19. Three days later, the body of his sister, Sadie Ann, 3, was found in the same shallow inlet.

On Dec. 27, divers found the bodies of the children’s mother, Mary Jane Longo, 35, and younger sister Madison, 2, at a Newport marina.

The family had moved to the Newport area from Ypsilanti, Mich., about three months earlier, police said.