Verdict and Life on Death Row

Let's be honest, traditional banks have a habit of hitting you with overdraft and monthly fees, and those costs can really add up when you're just trying to manage your own money. But Chime is changing the way people bank. They offer the most rewarding fee free banking built for you, not the one percent. Chime has thousands of fee free ATMs because you shouldn't pay to access your own money. And Chime members can benefit from up to one thousand one hundred fifty dollars in Annual rewards completely fee free. You'll get five percent cash back on your time card in a category of choice like gas or groceries, and savings that grow faster than a three point seven five API. My younger self could have seriously benefited from all that. Plus, time is rated five stars by USA todayay for customer service. I'm talking real humans, twenty four seven Chime is not just smarter banking, it is the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who are already banking, be free today. Head to timeime dot com slash forty eight hours. That is chime dot com slash forty eight hours. It only takes a few minutes to sign up. What's the business idea you've been putting off because it feels too complicated Shopify is the ultimate excuse killer designed to help you start your business with every necessary tool ready on day one. Taking the leap is a big deal, but Shopify makes it incredibly simple. You can easily bring your brand's unique style to life using their beautiful templates and AI tools to launch a gorgeous site with zero coding experience You also get the ultimate peace of mind knowing that Shopify Checkout is already optimized for maximum sales, making it seamless for returning customers to buy in a single click. If you ever feel overwhelmed or hit a snag, Shopify's built in AI assistant, Sidekick, answers your toughest questions and keeps you moving forward. You'll be growing your business with the same tools used by the world's biggest brands All you need is the idea. Shopify handles the rest. Go to shopify d. com slash pave to start your free trial today. That's shopify d. com slash pave shhopify d. com slash pave There was nothing that was important to her as much as those kids. Those kids were her world But the last time we got together, I noticed she wasn't the sister I knew We thought she was in danger. I knew she was It started on december nineteenth, two thousand one. We got a report of a child in the Bay My name is Trish Miller and I'm the lead investigator. We did a neighborhood canvas of that area. we knocked on every door Every child in the two thousand person town of Waldport was checked upon. No one was found missing. It was a complete mystery. We thought that maybe there was a car accident and that a vehicle had gone in the water And we would find the rest of the family The shheriff's office dive team was sent to investigate the waters where the body was found And they discovered a second child. This is a little girl, and she was weighted down in the water with the rock The feeling in town was of confusion, grief and a fear. noody knew if a killer was living amongst them identifications were made The boy was named Zachary Michael Longo. He was a few months shy of his fifth birthday The young girl was named Sadie Anne Longo She was three and a half years old About a week after the first body was found, the bodies of Mary Jane Longo and Madison Longo were found at the bottom of a bay. Once we found Mary Jane in Madison, we knew that our focal suspect was gonna to be Chris Longo. The whole family's dead. And he's nowhere to be found It was discovered that Christian Longo had caught a plane to Cancun, Mexico. My name is Michael Finkel. I was a writer for the New York Times magazine. I had a personal connection because I learned that while Christian Longo was in Mexico He's pretending to be a writer for the New York Times In fact he was pretending to be me. Thank you for seeing me mrter Long. Call me, Chris. So why me? I followed your whole career. I guess I felt like I knew you. I wanna tell you my side of this. Only you. Maybe at this point it doesn't matter. The truth always matters. It always seems to matter to you I just looked him straight in the eye and I said, you know, Chris Did you do what you're accused of doing? And he was as always completely unruffled never betortrayed a moment of micro panic, nothing and looked at me and said, I think you know And just like give me a little wink What was the first thought that went through your mind when you hear there's a man who's about to stand trial for murder who is impersonating you I think it was complete confusion into sort of this disbelief. A wrinkle of like sort of creepiness And also extraordinary curiosity I would like to know more. Michael Finkel's curiosity had already taken him to the far corners of the globe. It myself and a Korean climber on Chile, the fifth highest mountain in the world. Now it was about to take him into the heart of darkness It changed your life Every minute of it Four years ago, Finkel was a prize winning feature writer for the New York Times. This is from Afghanistan, the Gaza Strip. This is from my story on Haitian refugees. This was pretty heady stuff. Absolutely. E story was extremely thrilling to me. He had a gorgeous home. in Boseeman, Montana and a beautiful intelligent girlfriend, Jill Barker. We had this magnetic chemistry between us though It seemed like we should give this a chance Finkl's ambition had a darker side. He had built his self esteem around being Mike Finkkel of the New York Times, and he was starting to get really intoxicated with all this attention. It was hard to date him. prettyty soon I realizeed that I had to walk away from this relationship. And in his drive to outdo his competition and himself, I wanted to write a really good story. Finkkel fabricated a portion of a story on child slavery in West Africa You lied? Yes bosses found out. I was caught for the deception and promptly fired It was something I wish I could take back really badly. In an instant, he lost the career he'd been building his entire adult life. He killed it all. He lied. That was the worst day of your life. By far Scorn by his colleagues, the shattered shell of Michael Finkel retreated to Montana, awaiting the merciless media inquiries which were sure to come. The first call came sooner than expected. But ask know you're calling about the editor's note, right But the reporter wasn't interested in Finkel's fall from Grace. He's like, No, I'm calling about the murders. Astonished, Finkel learned about Christian Longo, a man now under arrest in Oregon for the murders of his wife and three children. You don't know about Christian Longo And that's the first time I've ever heard that name in my life When he also learned that Longo had been posing as Michael Finkele of the New York Times, his journalistic instincts went into overdrive. I was like, I'm going to write him a brief letter He had to find out exactly who had been playing him. And I basically said, I know that you're facing a trial and there's things you don't want to talk about, but I'm really curious about why you chose to become me Several weeks later, the phone rang call from the Lincoln County Jail. To accept this call, dial Tve now. It seemed Longa was also curious He agreed to meet Finkkel in person I didn't know whether he was a murderer, he was accused of it. He wasn't convicted. After that meeting The the first letter Longo wrote to me Longo began sending a series of meticulously handwritten letters. It was written in his jail cell and it goes on and on this. The two also scheduled weekly phone calls. Calls that Finkel recorded Have you seen like some obvious paths that you could have taken that you missed. M. Yeah. Oh yeah. ye I could see all the wr turs I took and know why I took them, but see so many And so began a journey into the mind of an accused murderer which would eventually become a book It seemed obvious that this was Great story Whether or not it actually saw the light of Prince, it was a great story For Mike Finkel and the Oregon investigators, the story centered around one baffling question How could a seemingly devoted family man turn into a cold blooded killer That mystery began under this bridge H here in the quiet cooastal community, where Chris Longo's wife and three children were last seen alive I was a little boy we weren't quite sure how old he was He was, we assume, between three and six years old. Detective Trish Miller called the call when the first victim was found floating near the bridge. He was perfectly groomed. He had a really good haircut. The Lincoln County Seriff released this picture to the local news Hoping to identify the dead boy. I thought, Ohh God, that can't be, you know That can't be Zachary. Denise Thompson had babysat Zachary Longo and his two little sisters, Sadie and Madison She knew their father, Chris Longo from the local Starbucks where they both worked. thought well, you know, this This can't be happening By the time Denise got to the police station The second body had been found A little girl wighted down with a rock Denise identified them both Zachary and Sadie You never want to be in that position? see A little Child Investigators have determined that these deaths are not Accidental As police hunted for Chris, his wife, Mary Jane, and their baby, were actually trying to locate them. They may well be victims. Denise remembered a strange conversation she'd had with Longo The very day Zach's body had been found. He made it a point to come up to me while I was working and said, You won't be seeing the rest of the family. My wife and I are getting a divorce Aere you shocked? Oh yeah, it just surprised the heck out of me. I did not expect that Did they seem like a pretty happy couple? Oh yeah. He just, you know, look at us, We're perfect, you know? It was just like that. A surveillance tape taken just days before shows the longongos shopping like any normal family They had just recently moved into an upscale housing complex. He was real polite to everyone. seemed real smart We're willing to just talk to you, you know, just He just, he was real normal Days into the investigation The divers dredged up two suitcases from the harbor just outside the Longos apartment One suitcase contained the body of Mary Jane Longoat. The second suitcase contained the body of Madison Longo It meant that somebody killed those two human beings and stuffed them in suitcases like garbage and put them in the water. to hide their bodies With all signs pointing in one direction, either he was dead in a victim or he was the suspect. and chances were he was the suspect The biggest manhunt in Lincoln County history was underway. The big question, whereere is Christian Longo But Longo had a healthy head start One month before the murders, he'd casually written down the credit card number of a Starbucks customer Now Longo was on the run. He was last seen in the San Francisco area. And before police could catch up with him, he would leave the country and his old identity far behind To start a new life as Michael Finkkel. Just because you're short on space doesn't mean you have to compromise on style. Thankks to Bob's discount furniture, you can still fill your house or apartment with gorgeous furniture that fits and feels just right This summer is all about making the most of smaller spaces, so instead of focusing on what won't fit, look at the tons of multitasking styles from bobs that can. likeike the Betty Dining set, a smart space saving solution with a table that extends in a snap when it's time to host. It comes in four fun colors, has comfy bobopedic seats And at only five hundred and ninety nine c for a seven piece set, there's plenty of budget left over for the dinner party. And for a cohesive retro chic look, the Betty bedroom set offers feltline storage drawers and fif five hundred five star reviews. To max out your lounging this summer, the Phantom power reclining sofa packs built in cup holders, charging ports, and bobopedic cushions into a compact footprint. For quality furniture and everyday low prices, shop Bobs. It's where America shops for furniture. Wanted for killing his wife, Mary Jane and their three children in december two thousand one Christian Longo made the FBI's ten M Wanted list. R alongside Osama bin Laden. We're looking for somebody who does not want to be found. It was an unlikely place for someone so apparently devoted to his family The Longos came from Ipsalani, Michigan, where Chris was raised in a stable middle class home He and Mary Jane Baker were part of the same congregation They married when Chris was only nineteen and married Jane was twenty five. Yer dress was beautiful And you could tell she was just happy Mary Jane's sister, Penny Dooby, says Chris was a real life prince charming He made other wives jealous because Chris did all of those things that a husband is supposed to do buuy you roses, take you on trips. Most of all, Mary Jane wanted children So she was thrilled to become a full time mom when Zachary Sadie. And Madison came along. Hi, Madie He Each arrived little more than a year after the baby before. Look at the cute little family. What was Chris like as a father? I always thought he was a great father At age twenty two, Chris Longo took a job with a company that distributes the New York Times here in Ipsalani. Driven to succeed, he worked his way up to manager, and eventually developed a fondness for reading the Times, especially articles written by a reporter named Mike Finkel He was somewhat of a fan. Mongo would later tell Finkel that he envied the writer's worldwide adventures. He told me that if he was a writer, he'd like to write the same sort of stories that I wrote. There He' like, o I.. Mongo's own life was far less exotic At age twenty five, he quit his job to start up Final Touch, a cleaning company for contractors. I thought everything he was doing was doing for his family And he wanted good things for them. And Penny says the Longos had a lot of good things. I was wondering about the vacations that they took. They were always driving brand new cars Heither somebody's helping them, thinking Chris's parents or they are majorly in debt Penny's suspicions were right Chris Longo was in debt. Although he bragged to marry Jane and everyone else that his business was booming. I think honestly and truly, the most important thing to Chris was his image and money But neither Mary Jane nor anyone else knew that to keep up appearances, Chris had turned to crime He took a minivan for a test drive. and never brought it back Then, he wrote himself nearly thirty thousand dollars worth of counterfeit checks from a client and got caught There was no attempts to cover up anything in this particular investigation Detective Fred Fararkas of the Michigan State police had the goods. We had seven counterfeit checks, which are each. fourteen year felonies Longo confessed. presenting himself as a financially strapped family man. He just believed in his own mind that he'd talk or walk his way out of the charges. And in fact, he did get off easy, with only probation and restitution Mary Jane believed Chris's promises that his life of crime was over But then she discovered a crime of the heart I've never heard my sister ever sound that broken and awful and she confided it to her younger sister, Sally Clarark She had found an email between Chris and this other woman He told her he didn't love her anymore and that he had stopped loving her when she started having children. and that she wasn't any fun anymore and she's spending too much time and attention towards the kids instead of him So she tries to make herself look better, spoils him, draws him bubble baths. She didn't want her kids to grow up without their father. And she loved Chris so deeply that she wanted it to work out. Chris told Mary Jane he needed a fresh start So in june two thousand one, just seven weeks after his fraud conviction, he packed up the family and skip town Their new home was a warehouse in Toledo, Ohio. Of course, this whole time Chris is telling her that he's gonna make things right. He's gonna pay everyone Two months later, with an arrest warrant out for Chris in Michigan for violating his probation And new reports of stolen property at the Ohio warehouse The Longos disappeared. Do you think he was keeping her away from her family I do Mary Jane's sisters went looking for her at the warehouse. It was awful and I just knew that something was wrong. It looked like someone was trying to get out of there in a hurry Mary Jane's wedding dress was there thingsings that I knew she wouldn't just leave behind. And when Mary Jane's cell phone was cut off, there was a feeling in the pit of my stomach That never went away I don't know what it was. just a feeling that We had to find her Desperate, they filed missing persons reports. I don't think people took us seriously Then in early November, hi, sorry I waited so long to write As I'm sure you guessed we moved. Sally got a card from Mary Jane I still don't have an address or number. It was mailed from South Dakota. Love you guys.'ll keep in touch. love Mary Jamane pololice closed the missing person's case One month later, Mary Jane and her children would turn up dead in Oregon, where their cross country journey had ended Chris Longo was now long gone Chris Longo's life on the run finally brought him here to Cancun, Mexico. While Mary Jane's family was still reeling from the shock of the murders, Chris Longo was partying in paradise He was always smiling, laughing. Tom Taff was on vacation when he met long ago. Everyone seemed to like him around there. He had quite a few friends. He was having a ball While police were hunting him, Longo was beginning a new life as the globe trotting journalist he had always wanted to be. He said his name was Michael Finkel and that he worked for the New York Times traravel section Little did Longo know that the real Michael Finkele would soon find him Suspected of killing his wife and three children an Oregon Christian Longo had made it to Mexico where he assumed the identity of a New York Times reporter He would soon come in contact with the real Mike Finkel Longo considered himself a pretty good storyteller But he would tell his most twisted tale to a jury As a fugitive in Mexico, Chris Longo did more than just tell people he was reporter Mike Finkele He was so good at it that he could speak about my stories, his stories eloquently and convincingly. Long ago as Finkel told tourist Tom Taff that he was actually on assignment He was working on myan mysticisms So he was going to ruins throughout the area, which there's a lot of them down in that area of Mexico. He came up with actually not a bad topic. Like any professional print journalist, Mongo needed a photographer Fortunately for him, amateur photographer Yanita Franca was staying at the same Cancon youth hostel. So you guys were here. What was he doing that was reporter like taking notes all the time? That made it totally believable for me that he really was a writer. He knew what he was doing. And soon their professional relationship grew into something more And then it kind of took a little turn on the romantic side. Yeah Tell me about that. Well, you know, we just got along very well and you travel, you meet someone you like and is you charming? Yeah, yeah. He did a better job being Mike Finkele than I do being Mike Finkel. Frolicking in the surf inside. Mongo was oblivious to the fact that the FBI tracing the purchases on the credit card number he'd stolen back in Oregon, was about to crash his Mexican fiesta A tour guide in the Cancon area had recognized Longo's face on this wanted poster fugitive enjoyed his last moments of freedom smoking marijuana in the shft. And I saw cars pulling up, lights and people storming into this cabagna When police raided this campsite, Christian Longo's new life came to an abrupt end. He was handcuffed and ha off to be interrogated by the FBI. For Longo, the party was over. For everyone else who thought they knew him, the task of untangling his web of lies had only just begun The next day It really started to occur to me what actually happened and who I was with for ten days. And then yeah, I started crying After two and a half weeks in Mexico, Longo found himself on a plane back to Oregon He never spoke to Yanina again. I'm still alive, good Instead, Longa would refocus his charm on what would become his next bizarre relationship with the person he pretended to be. I had successfully bluffed my way through my first round of personal questioning as Michael Finkel, journalist The real Michael Finkel, freshly fired for his fictitious feature in the New York Times magazine, needed some way to crawl back from rock bottom At that time, I felt like had he felt he had nothing. He had nothing. He had just lost everything. Jill Barker was Finkel's ex girlfriend at the time. Mike. was empty, he was a little lost. Mike was not sure who he was. Chris came along, The timing was perfect. He just came along at the right time and a real relationship developed. Heay was the only friend. person in my life to whom I felt morally superior As the Lincoln County prosecutors decided how to handle their high profile case, we have elected to seek the death penalty Longo decided to talk to only one journalist The one no one else wanted to touch.'re the only reporter that showown interest During more than fifty conversations with Finkel, Longo promised the real story of the murders. There's a whole otherc. No familiar with. He claimed to me that he had explanations for everything. and then he told me point blank No no ambiguity I am not guilty In his handwritten letters over the next year, Longo described himself as essentially a good man, struggling to live the American dream. He needed to prove that he could not only make it on his own, but be a blazing success. But he so wanted to be a success so quickly that it blinded him to many things. Longo claims that check forging was not an act of greed. rather a noble attempt to keep his business afloat All for the benefit of his beloved family. Anything that they ever did was for the sake of Be there's one thing that Chris Land was a master at, it is justification. As circumstances overwhelmed him, Mongo says he fell into a vicious cycle of lying, living beyond his means, and then leaving town He gets a job at a Starbucks. That's the best he can get. Making seven dollars and forty cents an hour part time to support a family of five's Once again, Mongo refused to face financial reality This time, he hustled his way into a ritzy apartment he simply could not afford. Moving to the tw thousandve hundred dollars hundred a month condo Again, it's sort of that How far in the future are you thinking here? But Mongo was doing more than just spinning a tail for Finkel. He was also cleverly feeding the fallen journalist's emotional needs. Longo not only wrote letters to me, I wrote letters to him and they were quite personal at times. I like you. I don't know why I can't help it. I take that exercise because you may One of the many things Finkel revealed was that his relationship with Jill was starting up again. Jill, by the way, everything is going much better He was actually giving you advice. Oh yeah. relelationship advice. So he gave me good advice. I couldn't ask for better advice friend In fact, a friend is exactly what Longo had become. againgainst his better judgment Part of Finkel was hoping that Longo would not be found guilty Why did you want him To be innocent. Simply put On some level, he was such a nice guy. And I know that seems so creepy and weird But just as Longo's memoirs got to what Longo called the tragedy, Chris writes his letters up to literally The moments before the murders and then stops Longo had yet to explain how his entire family had ended up dead. And with the trial now looming, Finkkel began to wonder if he'd been conned like everybody else. If his story of his life could pass muster with me and I was grilling him on it, all these aspects of it, then it could pass mustuster with the jury And it dawned me that I wasn't necessarily his Friend or his confidant. But I was his dress rehearsal The people you are told to trust, lawyers, teachers, especially doctors. But what happens when you put your life in someone's hands and they betray you? The hit podcast Doctor Death is back, and this season is unlike any other. Doctor Death The Cowboy is the story of a charming neurosurgeon who rode into western towns selling a persona of confidence and care, he wore cowboy boots in the operating room and became sought after by patients he promised to heal. Instead, he left a trail of broken bodies. This season is about a doctor who was never truly held accountable patients whose lives he ruined. a story of greed, betrayal, and a fight for justice that will leave you questioning who to trust Listen to Doror Death, the cowboy Wherever you get your podcasts or binge the entire series right now only with Audible. Hey, it's Jen Hatmaker. Here's what I've learned in midlife. Joy isn't the reward you earn after all the work is done Joy is the work. That's what this new series on for the Love is all about. The sacred yes. It's choosing delight, rest, and pleasure on purpose because saying yes to yourself, that's the thing that finally lets you fill your table with everybody else. Come find your sacred yes with me. Follow and listen to for the Love wherever you get your podcasts Evening by his remorse Buy a new car I'll be booo Let's get started. Sorry, I think there's been a mistake. I bought it from Carvana. You what? Yeah, great price. I event have seven days to love it or return it. So there's no No, no buyer's remorse. More like buyerers rejoice I guess I'll let myself out. Congratulations. I mean it. Buyers rejoice. Buy your car today on C cararbana Limitations exclusions may apply S your seven dayay return policy here C cararbana One year after his arrest, Christian Longo is about to stand trial for murdering his wife, Mary Jane, and their three children. Mary Jane's sisters, Penny and Sally, vow to be in court every day Did you have any doubts whatsoever that he was responsible. None Reporter Michael Finkkel will be there too, eager to hear Longo's theory of the crime Longo had tipped me off that there might be a surprise the very first day of the trial. It is one promise that Longo keeps On Valentine's Day two thousand three, the proceedings begin with a bombshell Did you unlawfully and intentionally cause the death of Madon Longoak? Yes, I did. Longoak pleads guilty Partly, guilty. He admits killing his wife and their youngest child, Madison But he maintains his innocence in the deaths of his older children, Zach and Sadie confonfounding everyone who is following his case. Why would you admit to two murders and not for. And then of course, if you didn't kill Zachary and Sadie, who did For now, the defense leaves that a mystery. The prosecutors say the evidence is clear Mongo alone murdered all four victims and dumped their bodies in the water He didn't like being tied down with his wife and three kids And the solution for him was to just get rid of these three children and his wife and assume somebody else's identity Oregon District atttorney Josh Marquee followed the case closely. He says Mongo is a sociopath who deserves the death penalty. He made a conscious choice to commit a cosmically evil act. At trial, truck driver Dick Ho testifies that he met a man he believes was longo on the Waltport Bridge late one night. The end of his minivan was right in the middle of the bridge Po offered help, but was turned away. I pulled up alongside him, asked him if he was alright. And he said his check engine lighted came on, but it was off now Jurors also hear about the diver's grim discoveries, and they're shown graphic images. And state's exhibit number five, you recognize this? Y, That's my nephew's Et. Thank you The medical examiner says Mary Jane and Madison were strangled, but he cannot determine how Zach and Sadie died It was those photos, especially like the bruises that Finkl is disgusted bothoth with Longo and his own bad judgment There is no way. that a person can do that without having an enormous amount of evil them. Did you feel duped by him? Yes. Suckered in? Yes. Absolutely. A little bit of a fool. Yes, I do. In his defense, name is Christian Michael Longo? Longo takes the stand and tells the same life story he rehearsed on Finkel. My parents never had any vices that were a bad influence on my brother I It was a good environment to grow up in. His downward spiral is excuses for stealing and lying. I wanted to be able to go on vacations, have nice cars, have nice decent clothes Up until the trial, when Longo told his story, he stopped just short of revealing how and why his family was murdered. But now in court, he finally continues. Longo says late one night, feeling defeated over his desperate situation, he came home here to his pricey apartment on the Oregon coast He sat his wife down confessed all of his lies And then he says The mild mannered Mary Jane exploded She didn't want anything to do with me at that point The next night, Longo claims he came home to find his older children missing Madison, seemingly lifeless And Mary Jane, irrational. She was literally on the floor, curled up into a ball, bouncing back and forth, hitting her back against the wall then Longo tells a stunned court, Mary Jane hinted that she had killed the children Why, he says, he lost control ver with both hands and continue to squeez And I didn't stop for for a long time, I didn't stop until I couldn't hold her up anymore. Chillingly, Longo claims he was stuffing the bodies into suitcases when he noticed Madison was still breathing put my hand under throat and squeezed In cross examination, Longo is, for once, briefly at a loss for words And you don't call nine hundred eleven And you don't call the fire department And you don't do anything. No. You strangl her