Father wanted in slaying of family

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. – Lincoln County authorities issued an arrest warrant late Friday for Christian Longo, whose wife and three children were found dead on the central Oregon coast.

Longo has been missing since his 5-year-old son, Zachary, was found floating in a coastal inlet Dec. 19. His 3-year-old daughter, Sadie, was found three days later in the same shallow bay.

The bodies of Longo’s wife, Mary Jane, and 2-year-old daughter, Madison, were discovered Thursday by divers in Yaquina Bay, 14 miles north of where the other bodies were discovered.

The State Medical Examiner’s office in Portland on Friday said the wife and youngest daughter died from homicidal violence. The deaths of Zachary and Sadie Longo had also been declared homicides.

Christian Longo was last seen Dec. 26 in the San Francisco area, Lincoln County District Attorney Bernice Barnett said in a statement announcing the warrant on four counts of aggravated murder.

Because Longo is believed to have crossed state lines, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has obtained a federal fugitive warrant. An FBI statement said Longo should be considered an escape risk and armed and dangerous.

Longo, 27, was apparently in considerable debt and faced various theft and fraud charges in Oregon and in Michigan, where the couple had lived before moving to Oregon a few months ago.

Authorities in Michigan issued a bench warrant in July for his arrest after he failed to report to his probation officer. Longo had been sentenced to probation for $32,000 in fraud and bad-check writing.

The Longos also owed more than $60,000 in other debts in Michigan.

The deaths have jolted people in the small coastal cities where the bodies were found. Neighbors said Christian Longo lived alone in a condominium near the Embarcadero Resort in Newport, though they said he was visited by his children and wife.