'Till Death Do Us Part: Love, Marriage, and the Mind of the Killer Spouse (10 page)

Those who met him on trips to the Mayan ruins or group swims into spectacular underwater caverns thought Christian, twenty-eight, was wealthy. He was clean cut, handsome, and articulate, his easy smile and good humor entertaining all between sips of wine and puffs of marijuana. He appeared to have not a care in the world. It was only when police arrived on January 13, 2002, and surrounded the quaint village where Christian lived that those he befriended learned that he was a murderer, on the run from the FBI and Oregon authorities for killing his wife, Mary Jane, thirty-four, and three young children, Zachary, four, Sadie Ann, three, and Madison, two. Their bodies were found just weeks earlier, in December, near Newport, Oregon. Madison had been strangled and stuffed into a dark green suitcase and tossed in Yaquina Bay, just behind the condominium where the family had lived. Sadie’s body was found under nine feet of water with a pillowcase holding a large rock tied to her ankle. Zachary had been strangled and thrown into the bay. Mary Jane was also stuffed in a suitcase after having been strangled and beaten about the head.

For Christian, killing his wife and young children were the last desperate and heinous acts in a life filled with lies and deception.

Originally from Iowa, Christian Longo grew up in Michigan but left home when he was eighteen to pursue a relationship with Mary Jane, who was seven years older. They were both Jehovah’s Witnesses, and they married in 1993 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they remained to work and raise a family. But just seven years later, broke and desperate, Christian and Mary Jane set out for Newport, Oregon, with their three children in tow. Unbeknownst to Mary Jane, her husband was also on the run from the law, having forged $30,000 worth of checks through his construction cleaning business. He had also defaulted on car leases, written bad checks on his own accounts, and maxed out his own and other people’s credit cards. He was also being sued by various people and had been arrested for larceny for stealing a minivan from a dealer in Ohio. He took the vehicle under the guise of test-driving it, and when he drove it home he lied to his wife, claiming he had financed its purchase. Perhaps the greatest indignity came
following
his brushes with the law. Aware of the charges against Christian, the members of the Golfside Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses asked him to leave.

On the way to Newport the Longos stopped in Portland to pawn Mary Jane’s wedding ring. But soon they were broke again and forced to live in cheap motels while eating only bread and ramen noodles. Three months later, they were living in an upscale condominium complex after Christian convinced the condo manager that he worked for a communications company and would pay the first month’s $1,200 rent when his check arrived. In reality at the time he was earning only $1,200 a month clerking in a variety store and a coffee shop.

Following his capture in Mexico, Christian explained to police that by mid-December there was no money and no food and he was at his wits’ end, unable to care for his family.

During the subsequent trial, prosecutors painted Christian as a man who tired of his family, which prevented him from living a flamboyant lifestyle. They said that after he killed his wife and children the morning of December 17, Christian was spotted near a bridge that spanned the bay. Later that morning he had coffee at a Starbucks and returned rented movies to a video store. The following day employees at an inn where the family had once stayed found all of the Longo family belongings, including baby clothes, women’s clothing, family photos, and Mary Jane Longo’s Michigan identification, in a trash bin. That night Christian attended a holiday party at a pizza parlor for employees of a local Starbucks where he had once worked. He told a coworker that his family had moved back to Michigan and would not return.

On December 19 Christian’s maroon minivan was found at a local auto dealership. Inside were toys and other items, including a book titled
Running from the Law.
Over by the bay behind the condominium where they had lived, the body of his son, Zachary, was discovered floating facedown. Three days later Sadie’s body was recovered from the water. Both children had been drowned. It would be another week before police recovered the bodies of Madison and Mary Jane.

By then Christian had driven to San Francisco in a stolen car, stayed two nights at a youth hostel, then boarded a flight to Mexico using identification he had stolen in Oregon.

For his part Christian blamed the murders on Mary Jane, whom he said became hysterical after he confessed to his lies and infidelities. Mary Jane, described by those who knew her as a loving wife and doting mother, killed the two oldest children, said Christian, who claimed he became enraged and retaliated by grabbing Mary Jane around the neck and lifting her up off the floor. He then claimed he turned his anger on his youngest daughter.

Christian’s defense, and overall demeanor during the trial, infuriated all. In their closing arguments prosecutors labeled Christian an egotistical liar who killed his family so that he could begin anew.

The jury took little time in delivering a guilty verdict and sentencing Christian to death.

* * * * *

W
ITH
his good looks and charming personality, Christian Longo is probably the most evil and scary of the intimate-partner killers reported on in this book.

Like a true sociopath, Christian Longo focused on expedience and living in the moment. He was unable to resist a good opportunity, even if seizing it meant breaking the law. For this kind of personality, violence and threats are just handy strategies to use when they are angered, defied, or frustrated. They give little thought to the pain and degradation they impose on their victims, in part because they don’t really care. They will do whatever it takes to satisfy their own needs.

Unlike a normal person, who can empathize and understand another person’s emotional experience, the sociopath cannot. They know they are not like other people. They don’t think that other people have valid opinions different from their own and they react to others with indifference, a feeling of power, pleasure, and/or a smug satisfaction. They are not going to lose any sleep over what they have done because they don’t think they have done anything wrong, even if they have committed murder.

Like Christian Longo’s their violent crimes are callous and cold-blooded. As opposed to killers who kill because they are in an intense emotional state, classic sociopaths kill for an entirely different reason. They don’t kill because they are necessarily distressed or for the more “logical” precipitating factors such as jealousy or rage. Instead they kill in a straightforward, often businesslike and uncomplicated way. Sometimes they even see themselves as the true victims and are able to rationalize their behavior, which helps them to dismiss personal responsibility for their actions. They can even tell themselves that their crimes had a positive impact on their victims.

Christian Longo, like many sociopaths, was extraordinarily glib and charming. With his blond hair and all-American good looks he appeared to be the epitome of refinement. He had a natural ability to make a good impression. Even his father-in-law, Jim Baker, remembered being very impressed by him, even though Christian was seven years younger than his daughter, Mary Jane. During the early years of their relationship, Baker described him as being very together, well dressed, with an engaging and mature personality. Longo seemed to have it all over the other young men his age.

Christian and Mary Jane met through their church. Both were Jehovah’s Witnesses. She was shy and naïve and had a very sheltered upbringing, living with her mother right up until the day of her wedding. Mary Jane was definitely no match for her husband’s devious and sinister ways. She was a good person and a good wife who worked while her husband bounced from job to job. They had three children in a relatively short period of time and they were always impeccably dressed and lovely to be around. As much as Mary Jane tried to keep things together, Christian’s devious character surfaced quickly and made it difficult to maintain a stable family life.

Christian saw love as a game and the people in his life as pawns in that game. In Mary Jane he chose a woman he could easily manipulate and deceive, knowing she’d never question him or tell him what to do. She knew her place in a relationship, which is what drew Christian toward her. Christian was also an expert at hiding bad intentions behind a sophisticated and well-spoken façade. No one was better at looking good than he was, always emitting the impression that he was Mr. Right (even though he clearly turned out to be Mr. Wrong). For Christian, “love” was just a means to an end. It helped him to exploit his future victims. Words were used as tools and weapons to sway, swindle, and get one over on people.

Christian was a genius at creating psychological chaos in the people who were close to him. That was becoming an all too clear reality for his family, especially for Mary Jane. The Longos would soon be on the run. They were running away from all the problems and difficulties Christian created along the way. Many close to Mary Jane believed she was either too scared to leave or did not really understand the magnitude of what was going on. When her sisters told her they were concerned about her and her children’s welfare, she emphatically denied that there were any problems in her marriage.

Christian’s gypsy life may have been the first sign of his soon to be murderous desperation. Despite his instability Christian, in keeping with his sociopathic demeanor, could be outgoing, verbally proficient, and charming even under the worst of circumstances. Sociopaths typically are calm and collected. It’s not hard for them to appear like everything is under control. Their ties to family are slender at best and they have no need to give or receive love, an emotion that has no real meaning for them. They have no desire to maintain any type of familial connection, and they suffer from an emotional poverty that interferes with their ability to have a wide range of feelings—yet another of the qualities that makes this type so dangerous.

People with antisocial personality tendencies have decreased levels of arousal. This can lead them to indulge in sensation-seeking behaviors, and can also engender a greater desire to experience stimulating events. Christian had tried out the role of religious family man with his wife and three kids, but it didn’t work. Living in dingy hotels with barely any money for food was slowing him down too. It was a drag. And once what little money he did have ran out, Christian’s murderous tendencies took over. The need to feel superior mattered more to him than his family’s welfare and he knew he needed to make a change, and make it fast. Unfortunately for his family, Christian’s needs came first. He just didn’t care much about people and was incapable of loyalty or guilt. He never really had any lasting relationships in his life, but he thought things would be different when he had a family of his own. It seemed to work for other people, who appeared to love and feel connected to their families. It was a worthwhile experiment, but Christian soon realized that it was an experiment that had failed since nothing really changed for him. In fact, having a family made things much worse.

He was attracted to Mary Jane when they first met, and he even enjoyed her physical comfort and the material and emotional support she once offered him. But things changed. It was time for a new role, and a new life; one where he could move around alone in a way family life would never allow him to do. He longed for a new kind of freedom and an unencumbered lifestyle. It wasn’t that he hated Mary Jane or the kids, not at all. The problem is he really did not feel anything toward them. In his mind, since he had created them, he should be able to eliminate them. Like the clothes and the family photos he threw in the trash, his family was no longer convenient to him and so had to be dismissed.

Following his unbelievable acts of human cruelty, Christian completely redefined his life by moving to Mexico. He found himself a girlfriend, passed himself off as a successful travel writer, and enjoyed drinking and snorkeling with some new foreign acquaintances.
This was more like it.
It was the vacation and lifestyle he was born to have. He deserved it! He should have realized this before! He resented all the responsibilities and pressures that having a wife and kids placed on him.
Note to self: Not having a family is a good thing.
He justified his actions, believing that his murdered family members were probably in a better place anyway. They were good Christians. They should be in heaven right now. He now was more confident than ever that Mary Jane and the kids were obstacles to happiness, and that was simply not allowed. He was finally happy. How could that be wrong?

In the real world familicide is the killing of one’s entire family and there are several different reasons for this aberrant behavior. Some of the motivations that apply to the Longo case include losing control of family circumstances, not wanting to feel powerless, seeing only adverse circumstances ahead in life if the family was not killed off, in addition to seeing the deaths as a necessary sacrifice. There is also a sense of ownership/entitlement and possessiveness about murder, based on a tremendous difficulty adjusting to parenthood, and a belief that the role of a wife and child/children is to satisfy one’s own personal needs.

The bottom line was Christian Longo thought no life was more important or meaningful than his own. The hostility required to take the life of one’s own wife and children before discarding them and everything they own is unimaginable to most of us, but it is also a clear sign of extreme revulsion and disregard for the human condition.

* * * * *

W
HILE
Christian Longo killed to free himself into a dream world,
MARK HACKING
created a fantasy world he couldn’t escape.

For Mark and his wife Lori Soares, their lives together finally appeared to come into focus. Lori, twenty-seven, had just learned she was five weeks pregnant. And the couple was preparing to move cross-country from their home in Utah to North Carolina, where Mark, a health care assistant, had enrolled in the University of North Carolina medical school. With her first child on the way, and a future filled with so much promise, there was much to look forward to for the Hackings.