The Pretender

Summary

48 Hours: "The Pretender" (June 24, 2026) – Episode Summary

Overview

In this gripping episode, “48 Hours” investigates the chilling case of Christian Longo, who murdered his wife and three children before fleeing the United States and assuming the identity of journalist Michael Finkel. The episode delves deep into the twists of Longo's crimes, the ensuing investigation, and the strange relationship that develops between killer and reporter. Through first-hand interviews, trial excerpts, and haunting testimonies, the episode explores the psychology of deception, the impact on the victims’ families, and the disturbing charisma of a sociopath.

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Main Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Discovery of the Crime (01:55–03:41)

• Lead Investigator Detective Trish Miller recounts the initial call on December 19, 2001, reporting a child's body found in the bay.
• A comprehensive search reveals a second child, a little girl, found weighted with a rock, followed days later by the bodies of Mary Jane and the youngest daughter, Madison.
• Michael Finkel, a journalist drawn into the story, notes the small town’s confusion and grief:
  "The feeling in town was of confusion, grief and of fear. Nobody knew if a killer was living amongst them." (02:51–03:01)
• The community reels as the family is identified, and Chris Longo becomes the prime suspect, having vanished without a trace.

2. Christian Longo on the Run & Identity Theft (03:41–04:54)

• Longo escapes to Cancun, Mexico, where he impersonates Michael Finkel, a writer for The New York Times.
• Finkel, blindsided by the imposture, describes his reaction:
  "It was complete confusion, a wrinkle of creepiness, and also extraordinary curiosity." (05:02–05:18)
• The episode explores their ensuing relationship: Longo, intrigued by Finkel, agrees to communicate exclusively with the journalist.

3. The Journalist Behind the Name (05:40–06:59)

• Finkel’s career takes a downturn after fabricating part of a story, leading to his firing from The New York Times.
• This context adds a complex layer to the story—both the real and the false Michael Finkel are grappling with shattered reputations.

4. The Victims & Their Family (15:15–16:19)

• Mary Jane’s sisters, Penny Doopy and Sally Clark, describe a devoted mother and a seemingly loving family.
• The facade of a perfect life hid financial struggles, infidelity, and Chris’s obsession with his image and material success.

5. Chris Longo’s Background & Descent (16:19–17:45)

• Longo is painted as charming and driven—but obsessed with status and appearances.
• Chronic lying and escalating financial crimes unravel the family’s life.
• Mary Jane discovers infidelity and flees family and friends under Chris’s control, exemplifying further manipulation.

6. The Investigation & Hunt (10:41–12:57; 17:07–19:49)

• Law enforcement details the manhunt and discoveries: suitcases containing bodies, credit card theft, and Longo’s international flight.
• Denise Thompson, a nanny, describes the shock of loss and the surreal normalcy of Longo’s last days in Oregon.

7. Life as Michael Finkel in Mexico (21:17–25:16)

• In Cancun, Longo reinvents himself as a charming, adventurous journalist and develops a relationship with fellow traveler Janita Franke.
• His charade collapses when a tour guide recognizes him from a wanted poster (24:46).
• Janita Franke recalls: "The next day, it really started to occur to me what actually happened and who I was with for 10 days. And then, yeah, I started crying." (25:16)

8. Unusual Friendship: Longo and Finkel (25:47–29:19)

• After Longo’s arrest, he initiates a bizarre rapport with Finkel—hundreds of letters, intimate phone calls, and even personal advice.
• Finkel admits:
  "He was the only friend or person in my life to whom I felt morally superior." (26:26)
• This unnerving dynamic becomes the core of Finkel’s subsequent book.

9. The Trial and Bombshell Plea (32:14–33:46)

• Longo pleads guilty to the murders of his wife and youngest child, but not his two other children.
• Finkel reflects:
  "Why would you admit to two murders and not four?...then who did?" (33:09)
• District Attorney Josh Marquis argues Longo is a sociopath deserving the death penalty:
  "He made a conscious choice to commit a cosmically evil act." (33:56)

10. Trial Details and Longo’s Defense (34:03–37:53)

• Longo takes the stand, weaving a self-pitying narrative, then in court blames Mary Jane for the deaths of the older children—a claim the family denounces as further betrayal.
• Finkel is disgusted:
  "He was not only lying about the murders, he was slandering his dead wife in front of her own family.” (37:39)

11. Verdict and Aftermath (38:21–43:06)

• The jury convicts Longo on all counts.
• Sally Clark: "Mary Jane's name is for once cleared, as it should be. And the person that's accountable for these horrible murders is finally being held accountable.” (38:35)
• Sentenced to death, Longo later hints at a full confession, only to renege.

12. Reflections, Legacy, and Unanswered Questions (44:21–45:05)

• The story inspires a Hollywood film and continues to haunt Finkel.
• The episode closes with Mary Jane’s family remembering her and the children, and lead detective Trish Miller expressing a lingering mystery: "Why didn't he just leave? Leave your family? That's a big question. We'll never really know." (44:35)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• Detective Trish Miller, on the initial investigation:
  "It started on December 19, 2001. We got a report of a child in the bay." (01:55)

• Michael Finkel, on realizing Longo had stolen his identity:
  "Extraordinary curiosity. Like, I would like to know more." (05:18)

• Denise Thompson, on seeing the murdered children:
  "You never want to be in the position to see a little child." (10:58)

• Sally Clark, on Mary Jane discovering Chris’s infidelity:
  "...he told her he didn't love her anymore and that he had stopped loving her when she started having children." (18:37)

• Chris Longo, justifying his crimes:
  "Anything that I ever did was for the sake of our survival." (27:42)

• Michael Finkel, recognizing the manipulative nature of their relationship:
  "I wasn't necessarily his friend or his confidant, but I was his dress rehearsal." (30:01)

• Longo admitting guilt at trial, but partially:
  Judge: "Did you unlawfully and intentionally cause the death of Madison Longo?"
  Longo: "Yes, I did." (32:45)

• Oregon District Attorney Josh Marquis, on Longo:
  "He made a conscious choice to commit a cosmically evil act." (33:56)

• Judge, delivering the verdict:
  "Guilty of the charge of aggravated murder. Count two. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty of the charge of aggravated murder." (38:26)

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Important Timeline Timestamps

• Discovery and Investigation: 01:55–12:57
• Background and Motive: 15:15–19:49
• Longo’s Life in Mexico: 21:17–25:16
• Journalist-Killer Relationship: 25:47–29:19
• Trial Bombshell and Aftermath: 32:14–38:21
• Confessions and Final Reflections: 41:49–45:05

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Epilogue and Updates

• In 2022, Oregon commuted Longo's death sentence to life without parole. (45:15)
• Michael Finkel rebuilt his life, marrying Jill as Longo advised, with whom he now has three children.

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Conclusion

This episode of “48 Hours” offers a haunting exploration of family annihilation, the seductive power of lying, and the capacity for both self-deception and manipulation. The tense interplay between Christian Longo—a master of plausible performance—and Michael Finkel, a disgraced journalist seeking redemption, underscores timeless questions about evil, truth, and the unknowable shadows within ordinary lives. Mary Jane Longo and her children are remembered as beloved, irreparably lost souls, their tragedy immortalized in a trial that exposed more questions than answers.

Transcript

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[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

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.

[Interviewer/Host]

You thought she was in danger.

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

I knew she was.

[Detective Trish Miller]

It started on December 19, 2001. We got a report of a child in the bay. My name is Trish and I'm the lead investigator. We did a neighborhood canvas of that area. We knocked on every door.

[Michael Finkel]

Every child in the 2000 person town of Walport was checked upon. No one was found missing. It was a complete mystery.

[Detective Trish Miller]

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.

[Michael Finkel]

A sheriff's office dive team was sent to investigate the waters where the body was found.

[Detective Trish Miller]

And they discovered a second child. This was a little girl and she was weighted down in the water with the rock.

[Michael Finkel]

The feeling in town was of confusion, grief and of fear. Nobody knew if a killer was living amongst them. Identifications were made.

[Chris Longo]

Why?

[Narrator]

I don't know. No Amy.

[Michael Finkel]

The boy was named Zachary Michael Longo. He was a few months shy of his fifth birthday. The young girl was named Sadie Ann 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

[Detective Trish Miller]

Once we found Mary Jane in Madison, we knew that our focal suspect was going to be Chris Longo. The whole family's de and he's nowhere to be found.

[Michael Finkel]

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 was pretending to be a writer for the New York Times. In fact, he was pretending to be me.

[Chris Longo]

Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Longer. Call me Chris. So why me? I followed your whole career. I guess I felt like I knew you. I want to 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.

[Michael Finkel]

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 portrayed a moment of micro panic, nothing. And looked at me and said, I think you know, and just like gave me a little wink.

[Interviewer/Host]

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 was impersonating you?

[Michael Finkel]

I think it was complete confusion into sort of this disbelief, a wrinkle of like, sort of creepiness, and also extraordinary curiosity. Like, I would like to know more.

[Narrator]

Michael Finkel's curiosity had already taken him to the far corners of the globe

[Michael Finkel]

as myself and a Korean climber on Ch', oyu, the fifth highest mountain in the world.

[Narrator]

Now it was about to take him into the heart of darkness.

[Michael Finkel]

It changed your life, every minute of it.

[Narrator]

Four years ago, Finkel was a prize winning feature writer for the New York Times.

[Michael Finkel]

This is from Afghanistan, the Gaza Strip. This is from my story on Haitian refugees.

[Interviewer/Host]

This is pretty heady stuff.

[Michael Finkel]

Absolutely every story was extremely thrilling to me.

[Narrator]

He had a gorgeous home in Bozeman, Montana, and a beautiful, intelligent girlfriend, Jill Barker.

[Jill Barker]

We had this magnetic chemistry between us, so it seemed like we should give this a chance.

[Narrator]

But Finkel's ambition had a darker side.

[Jill Barker]

He had built his self esteem around being Mike Finkel of the New York Times. And he was starting to get really intoxicated with all this attention. It was hard to date him. And pretty soon I realized that I had to walk away from this relationship.

[Narrator]

And in his drive to outdo his competition and himself, I wanted to write

[Michael Finkel]

a really good story.

[Narrator]

Finkel fabricated a portion of the story on child slavery in West Africa.

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

You lied?

[Michael Finkel]

Yes.

[Narrator]

His bosses found out I was caught

[Michael Finkel]

for the deception and promptly fired. It was something I wish I could take back really badly.

[Narrator]

In an instant, he lost the career he'd been building his entire adult life.

[Jill Barker]

He killed it all. He lied.

[Interviewer/Host]

That was the worst day of your life.

[Chris Longo]

By far.

[Narrator]

Scorned 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.

[Michael Finkel]

I asked him, you know you're calling about the editor's note, right?

[Narrator]

But the reporter wasn't interested in Finkel's fall from grace.

[Michael Finkel]

He's like, no, I'm calling about the murders.

[Narrator]

Astonished, Finkel learned about Christian Longo, a man now under arrest in Oregon for the murder murders of his wife and three children.

[Michael Finkel]

He says to me, you don't know about Christian Longo. And that's the first time I've ever heard that name in my life.

[Narrator]

When he also learned that Longo had been posing as Michael Finkle of the New York Times, his journalistic instincts went into overdrive.

[Michael Finkel]

I was like, I'm gonna write him a brief letter.

[Narrator]

He had to find out exactly who had been playing him.

[Michael Finkel]

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.

[Narrator]

Several weeks later, the phone rang.

[Michael Finkel]

Have a collect call from the Lincoln County Jail.

[Interviewer/Host]

To accept this call, dial 5 now.

[Narrator]

It seemed Longo was also curious. He agreed to meet Finkel in person.

[Michael Finkel]

I didn't know whether he was a murderer. He was accused of it. He wasn't convicted after that meeting. It's the first letter Longo wrote to me.

[Narrator]

Longo began sending a series of meticulously handwritten letters.

[Michael Finkel]

It was written in this jail cell, and it goes on and on.

[Narrator]

The two also scheduled weekly phone call.

[Chris Longo]

Chris. Hello, Steve. How you doing?

[Narrator]

Calls that Finkel recorded.

[Chris Longo]

Have you seen, like, some obvious paths that you could have taken that you missed? Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. I can see all the rock turns I took and know why I took them, but see so many better ways that I could have gone, and it would have changed everything, Everything, especially why I'm here.

[Narrator]

And so began a journey into the mind of an accused murderer, which would eventually become a book.

[Michael Finkel]

It seemed obvious that this was a great story. Whether or not it actually saw the light of print, it was a great story.

[Interviewer/Host]

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 here in the quiet coastal community where Chris Longo's wife and three children were last seen alive.

[Detective Trish Miller]

It was a little boy. We weren't quite sure how old he was. He was, we assumed, between three and six years old.

[Narrator]

Detective Trish Miller caught the call when the first victim was found floating near the bridge.

[Detective Trish Miller]

He was perfectly groomed. He had a really good haircut.

[Narrator]

The Lincoln County Sheriff released this picture to the local news, hoping to identify the dead boy.

[Denise Thompson]

I thought, oh, God, that can't be, you know, that can't be Zachary.

[Narrator]

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.

[Denise Thompson]

I thought, well, you know, this, this can't be happening.

[Narrator]

By the time Denise got to the police station, the second body had been found. A little girl weighted down with a rock. Denise identified them both. Zachary and Sadie.

[Denise Thompson]

You never want to be in the position to see a little child.

[Detective Fred Farkas]

Investigators have determined that these deaths are

[Chris Longo]

not accidental

[Narrator]

as police hunted for Chris, his wife Mary Jane and their baby. We're actually trying to locate them.

[Interviewer/Host]

They may well be victims.

[Narrator]

Denise remembered a strange conversation she'd had with Longo the very day Zach's body had been found.

[Denise Thompson]

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.

[Interviewer/Host]

Were you shocked?

[Denise Thompson]

Oh, yeah. That just surprised the heck out of me. I did not expect that.

[Interviewer/Host]

Did they seem like a pretty happy couple?

[Narrator]

Oh, yeah.

[Denise Thompson]

He's just, you know, look at us, we're perfect, you know, it was just like that.

[Narrator]

A surveillance tape taken just days before shows the Longos shopping. Like any normal family. They had just recently moved into an upscale housing complex. He was real polite to everyone, seemed real smart and real willing to just

[Denise Thompson]

talk to you, you know, just.

[Narrator]

He just, he was real normal. Eight days into the investigation, divers dredged up two suitcases from the harbor just outside the Longo's apartment.

[Detective Trish Miller]

One suitcase contained the body of Mary Jane Longo. 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.

[Narrator]

With all signs pointing in one direction,

[Detective Trish Miller]

either he was dead in a victim or he was a suspect. And chances were, he was a suspect.

[Narrator]

The biggest manhunt In Lincoln county history was underway.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

The big question, where is Christian Longo?

[Narrator]

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.

[Detective Trish Miller]

He was last seen in the San Francisco area.

[Narrator]

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 Finkel.

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[Narrator]

Are you really buying a car online

[Janita Franke]

on Autotrader right now?

[Jill Barker]

Really?

[Parent]

I can get super specific with dealer listings and see cars based on my budget.

[Janita Franke]

You can really have it delivered or pick it up.

[Bob's Discount Furniture Advertiser]

Mommy's walking.

[Janita Franke]

I think kid is walking up the slide.

[Sally Clark]

Really?

[Narrator]

Autotrader, buy your car online.

[Parent]

Really.

[Narrator]

Wanted for killing his wife Mary Jane and their three children. In December 2001, Christian Longo made the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list right alongside Osama Bin Laden.

[Chris Longo]

We're looking for somebody who does not want to be found.

[Narrator]

It was an unlikely place for someone so apparently devoted to his family. The Longos came from Ypsilanti, 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 19 and Mary Jane was 25.

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

Her dress was beautiful and you could tell she was just happy.

[Narrator]

Mary Jane's sister Penny Doopy says Chris was a real life Prince Charming.

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

He made other wives jealous because Chris did all of those things that a husband is supposed to do. Buy you roses, take you on trips.

[Narrator]

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, Maddie.

[Janita Franke]

Hi.

[Narrator]

Each arrived at little more than a year after the baby before. Look at the cute little family.

[Interviewer/Host]

What was Chris like as a father?

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

I always thought he was a great father.

[Interviewer/Host]

At age 22, Chris Longo took a job with a company that distributes the New York Times here in Ypsilanti. Driven to succeed, he worked his way up to manager and eventually developed a fondness for reading the Times, especially articles written by Republicans named Mike Finkel.

[Michael Finkel]

He was somewhat of a fan.

[Narrator]

Longo would later tell Finkel that he envied the writer's worldwide adventures.

[Michael Finkel]

He told me that if he was a writer, he'd like to write the same sort of stories that I wrote.

[Chris Longo]

He was like, okay, I'm holding it.

You did it.

[Narrator]

Longo's own life was far less exotic. At age 25, he quit his job to start up Final Touch, a cleaning company for contractors.

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

I thought everything he was doing, he was doing for his family and he wanted good things for them.

[Narrator]

And Penny says the Longos had a lot of good things.

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

I was wondering about the vacations that they took. They were always driving brand new cars. Either somebody's helping them, thanking Chris parents, or they are majorly in debt.

[Narrator]

Penny's suspicions were right. Chris Longa was in debt. Although he bragged to Mary Jane and everyone else that his business was booming.

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

I think honestly and truly the most important thing to Chris was his image and money.

[Narrator]

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 $30,000 worth of counterfeit checks from a client and got caught.

[Detective Fred Farkas]

There was no attempts to cover up anything in this particular investigation.

[Narrator]

Detective Fred Farkas of the Michigan State Police had the goods.

[Detective Fred Farkas]

We had seven counterfeit checks which are each 14 year felonies.

[Narrator]

Longo confessed, presenting himself as a financially strapped family man.

[Detective Fred Farkas]

He just believed in his own mind that he'd talk or walk his way out of the charges.

[Narrator]

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.

[Sally Clark]

I've never heard my sister ever sound that. Just heartbroken and awful.

[Narrator]

And she confided it to her younger sister, Sally Clark.

[Sally Clark]

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 was spending too much time and attention towards the kids instead of him.

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

So she tries to make herself look better, spoils him, draws him bubble baths.

[Sally Clark]

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.

[Narrator]

Chris told Mary Jane he needed a fresh start. So in June 2001, just seven weeks after his fraud conviction, he packed up the family and skipped town. Their new home was a warehouse in Toledo, Ohio.

[Sally Clark]

Of course, this whole time, Chris is telling her that he's going to make things right. He's going to pay everyone.

[Narrator]

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.

[Interviewer/Host]

Do you think he was keeping her away from her family?

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

Mm. I do.

[Narrator]

Mary Jane's sisters went looking for her at the warehouse.

[Sally Clark]

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. Things that I knew she wouldn't just leave behind.

[Narrator]

And when Mary Jane's cell phone was

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

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.

[Narrator]

Desperate, they filed missing persons reports.

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

I don't think people took us seriously.

[Narrator]

Then, in early November.

[Sally Clark]

Hi. Sorry I waited so long to write. As I'm sure you guessed, we moved.

[Narrator]

Sally got a card from Mary Jane.

[Sally Clark]

I still don't have an address or number.

[Narrator]

It was mailed from South Dakota.

[Sally Clark]

Love you guys. We'll keep in touch.

[Interviewer/Host]

Love, Mary Jane.

[Narrator]

The police 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. And Chris Longo was now long gone.

[Interviewer/Host]

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.

[Tom Taff]

Always smiling, laughing.

[Narrator]

Tom Taff was on vacation when he met Longo.

[Tom Taff]

Everyone seemed to like him around there. He had quite a few friends. He was having a ball.

[Narrator]

While police were hunting him, Longo was beginning a new life as the globetrotting journalist he had always wanted to be.

[Tom Taff]

He said his name was Michael Finkel and that he worked for the New York Times travel section.

[Narrator]

Little did Longo know that the real Michael Finkel would soon find him.

Suspected of killing his wife and three children in 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 Finkel.

[Michael Finkel]

He was so good at it that he could speak about my stories, his stories, eloquently and convincingly.

[Narrator]

Longo, as Finkel, told tourist Tom Taft that he was actually on assignment.

[Tom Taff]

He was working on Mayan mysticism. So he was going to ruins throughout the area, which there's a lot of them down in that area of Mexico,

[Michael Finkel]

he came up with actually not a bad topic.

[Narrator]

Like any professional print journalist, Longo needed a photographer. Fortunately for him, amateur photographer Janita Franke was staying at the same Cancun youth hostel.

[Interviewer/Host]

When you guys were here, what was

[Narrator]

he doing that was reporter like, taking

[Janita Franke]

notes all the time. That made it totally believable for me that he really was a writer. He knew what he was doing.

[Narrator]

And soon their professional relationship grew into something more.

[Interviewer/Host]

And then it kind of took a little turn on the romantic side. Yeah, tell me about that.

[Janita Franke]

Well, you know, we just got along very well, and you travel, you meet someone you know you like.

[Interviewer/Host]

And was he charming?

[Janita Franke]

Yeah, yeah.

[Michael Finkel]

He did a better job being Mike Finkel than I do being Mike Finkel.

[Narrator]

Frolicking in the surf and sun, 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 Cancun area had recognized Longo's face on this wanted poster. The fugitive enjoyed his last moments of freedom smoking marijuana in this shaft.

[Janita Franke]

I saw cars pulling up, lights and people storming into this cabana.

[Interviewer/Host]

When police raided this campsite, Christian Longo's new life came to an abrupt end. He was handcuffed and hauled off to

[Narrator]

be interrogated by the FBI.

[Interviewer/Host]

For Longo, the party was over. For everyone else who thought they knew

[Narrator]

him, the task of untangling his web

[Interviewer/Host]

of of lies had only just begun.

[Janita Franke]

The next day, it really started to occur to me what actually happened and who I was with for 10 days. And then, yeah, I started crying.

[Narrator]

After two and a half weeks in Mexico, Longo found himself on a plane back to Oregon. He never spoke to Janina again.

[Janita Franke]

I'm still alive. Good.

[Narrator]

Instead, Longo would refocus his charm on what would become his next bizarre relationship with the person he'd pretended to be.

[Michael Finkel]

I had successfully bluffed my way through my first round of personal questioning as Michael Finkel, journalist.

[Narrator]

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.

[Jill Barker]

At that time, I felt like he felt he had nothing. He had nothing. He just lost everything.

[Narrator]

Jill Barker was Finkel's ex girlfriend at the time.

[Jill Barker]

Mike was empty. He was a little lost. Mike was not sure who he was. And Chris came along, the timing was perfect. He just came along at the right time and a real relationship developed.

[Michael Finkel]

He was the only friend or person in my life to whom I felt morally superior.

[Narrator]

As the Lincoln county prosecutors decided how to handle their high profile case, we

[Sally Clark]

have elected to seek the death penalty.

[Narrator]

Longo decided to talk to only one journalist, the one no one else wanted to touch.

[Chris Longo]

You're the only reporter that I've shown interest in speaking with. Right, Right.

[Narrator]

During more than 50 conversations with Finkel, Longo promised the real story of the murders.

[Chris Longo]

There's a whole other side that no one's real familiar with.

[Michael Finkel]

He claimed that he had explanations for everything. And then he told me point blank, no ambiguity. I am not guilty.

[Narrator]

In his handwritten letters over the next year, Longo described himself as essentially a good man struggling to live the American dream.

[Michael Finkel]

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.

[Narrator]

Longo claims the check forging was not an act of greed, but rather a noble attempt to keep his business afloat. All for the benefit of his beloved family.

[Chris Longo]

Anything that I ever did was for the sake of our survival.

[Michael Finkel]

If there's one thing that Chris Longo is a master at, it is justification.

[Narrator]

As circumstances overwhelmed him, Longo says he fell into a vicious cycle of lying, living beyond his means, and then leaving town.

[Michael Finkel]

He gets a job at a Starbucks.

[Interviewer/Host]

That's the best he can get.

[Michael Finkel]

Making $7.40 an hour part time to support a family of five. That's hard.

[Narrator]

Once again, Longo refused to face financial reality. This time, he hustled his way into a ritzy apartment he simply could not afford.

[Michael Finkel]

Moving to the $1,200 a month condo. Again, it's sort of that. How far in the future are you thinking here?

[Narrator]

But Longo was doing more than just spinning a tail for Finkel. He was also cleverly feeding the fallen journalist's emotional needs.

[Michael Finkel]

Longo not only wrote letters to me, I wrote letters to him. And they were quite personal at times.

[Chris Longo]

I like you. I don't know why. I can't help it. And take that as you may,

[Denise Thompson]

one

[Narrator]

of the many things Finkel revealed was that his relationship with Jill was starting up again with Jill.

[Chris Longo]

By the way, everything is going much better. Okay, good.

[Interviewer/Host]

He was actually giving you advice? Oh, yes, relationship advice.

[Narrator]

So he gave him good advice.

[Jill Barker]

I couldn't ask for better advice from a friend.

[Narrator]

In fact, a friend is exactly what Longo had become. Against his better judgment. Part of Finkel was hoping that Longo would not be found guilty.

[Interviewer/Host]

Why did you want him to be innocent?

[Michael Finkel]

Simply put, on some level, he was such a nice guy, and I know that seems so creepy and weird.

[Narrator]

But just as Longo's memoirs got to what Longo called the tragedy, Chris writes

[Michael Finkel]

his letters up to literally the moments before the murders and then stops.

[Narrator]

Longo had yet to explain how his entire family had ended up dead. And with the trial now looming, Finkel began to wonder if he'd been conned like everybody else, if his story of

[Michael Finkel]

his life could pass muster with me. And I was grilling him on it, all these aspects of it, and then it could pass muster with a jury. And it dawned on me that I wasn't necessarily his friend or his confidant, but I was his dress rehearsal.

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[Professor Greg Jackson]

history that doesn't Suck is a legit, hard hitting American history podcast told through entertaining stories. As we approach America's 250th anniversary, now might be the time to go back and learn how we got here. With more than 200 episodes, you can binge your way decade by decade, defining event to defining event from the founding into the 20th century. Join me, Professor Greg Jackson for History that Doesn't Suck. An Odyssey Podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Parent]

Why have we asked our contractor we found on Angie.com to be our kids legal guardian? Because he took such good care when redoing our basement that we knew we could trust him to care for our kids, all eight of them should something happen to us.

[Narrator]

Are you my dad now?

[Angie.com Advertiser]

No, sorry. I do basements. Connecting homeowners with skilled pros for over 30 years. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find pros for all your home [e-mail].

[Narrator]

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.

[Interviewer/Host]

Did you have any doubts whatsoever that he was responsible?

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

None.

[Narrator]

Reporter Michael Finkel will be there, too, eager to hear Longo's theory of the crime.

[Michael Finkel]

Longo had tipped me off that there might be a surprise the very first day of the trial.

[Narrator]

It is one promise that Longo keeps. On Valentine's Day 2003, the proceedings begin with a bombshell.

[Judge]

Did you unlawfully and intentionally cause the death of Madison Longo?

[Chris Longo]

Yes, I did.

[Narrator]

Longo 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, confounding everyone who is following his case.

[Michael Finkel]

Why would you admit to two murders and not four? And then, of course, if you didn't kill Zachary and Sadie, then who did?

[Narrator]

For now, the defense leaves that a mystery, but prosecutors say the evidence is clear. Longo alone murdered all four victims and dumped their bodies in the water.

[Oregon District Attorney Josh Marquis]

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.

[Narrator]

Oregon District Attorney Josh Markey followed the case closely. He says Longo is a sociopath who deserves the death penalty.

[Oregon District Attorney Josh Marquis]

He made a conscious choice to commit a cosmically evil act.

[Narrator]

At trial, truck driver Dick Ho testifies that he met a man he believes was Longo on the Walport Bridge late one night.

[Detective Fred Farkas]

The back end of his minivan was right in the middle of the bridge.

[Narrator]

Ho offered help, but was turned away.

[Detective Fred Farkas]

I pulled up alongside him, asked him if he was all right, and he. He said his check engine light had came on, but it was off. Now

[Narrator]

jurors also hear about the divers grim discoveries. And they're shown graphic images and states. Exhibit number five.

[Michael Finkel]

Do you recognize this?

[Narrator]

Yes, that's my nephew Zachary.

[Chris Longo]

Thank you.

[Narrator]

The medical examiner says Mary Jane and Madison were strangled, but he cannot determine how Zach and Sadie died.

[Michael Finkel]

It was those photos, especially like the

[Narrator]

bruises, that Finkel is disgusted both with Longo and his own bad judgment.

[Michael Finkel]

There is no way that a person can do that without having enormous amount of evil in them.

[Interviewer/Host]

Did you feel duped by him?

[Michael Finkel]

Yes.

[Interviewer/Host]

Suckered in?

[Michael Finkel]

Yes, absolutely. A little bit of a fool?

[Chris Longo]

Yes, I do. In his defense, name is Christian Michael Longo.

[Narrator]

Longo takes the stand and tells the same life story he rehearsed on.

[Chris Longo]

Finkel my parents never had any vices that were a bad influence on my brother or I. It was a good environment to grow up in.

[Narrator]

His downward spiral is excuses for stealing and lying.

[Chris Longo]

If I wanted to be able to go on vacations, have nice cars, have nice decent clothes.

[Narrator]

Up until the trial, when Longo told his story, he stopped just short of

[Interviewer/Host]

revealing how and why his family was murdered. But now in court, he finally continues. Longo says late one night, feeling defeated

[Narrator]

over his desperate situation, he came home

[Interviewer/Host]

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.

[Chris Longo]

She didn't want anything to do with me at that point.

[Narrator]

The next night, Longo claims he came home to find his older children missing, Madison seemingly lifeless and Mary Jane irrational.

[Chris Longo]

She was literally on the floor, curled up into a ball, bouncing back and forth, hitting her back against the wall.

[Narrator]

Then Longo tells a stunned court, Mary Jane hinted that she had killed the children, which is why he says he lost control, grabbed her with both hands

[Chris Longo]

and continued to squeeze. And I didn't stop for a long time. I didn't stop until I could hold her up anymore.

[Narrator]

Chillingly, Longo claims he was stuffing the bodies into suitcases when he noticed Madison was still breathing.

[Chris Longo]

I put my hand on her throat and squeezed.

[Narrator]

In cross examination, Longo is for once briefly at a loss for words.

[Chris Longo]

And you don't call 911 and you

[Blinds.com Advertiser]

don't call the fire department and you don't do anything.

[Chris Longo]

No, you strangle her.

[Michael Finkel]

He was not only lying about the murders, he was slandering his dead wife in front of her own family. Lying in court, just blithely speaking, complete confidence in his voice. Everything was perfectly detailed.

[Narrator]

Penny says it is just one more betrayal of Mary Jane.

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

That is probably the worst thing that Chris ever could have said about her. The worst because the one thing

[Interviewer/Host]

that

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

was the most important thing to her was being a good mom.

[Narrator]

But Josh Marquis believes Longo's performance has backfired.

[Interviewer/Host]

You think it hurt him?

[Tom Taff]

I think it hurt him horribly.

[Narrator]

It takes the jury little more than four hours to reach its decision.

[Judge]

Guilty of the charge of aggravated murder. Count two. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty of the charge of aggravated murder,

[Narrator]

Christian Longo is guilty of all four murders.

[Sally Clark]

Mary Jane's name is for once cleared, as it should be. And the person that's accountable for these horrible murders is finally being held accountable

[Detective Fred Farkas]

today.

[Narrator]

Longo says the verdict didn't surprise him.

[Interviewer/Host]

What do you think your punishment should be?

[Chris Longo]

I think I should spend the rest of my life in prison at the

[Interviewer/Host]

very least and at the very most,

[Chris Longo]

at the very most, death.

[Narrator]

But now he may be changing his story.

[Interviewer/Host]

So let me ask you directly, did you kill Sadie and Zachary?

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[Judge]

Today we're going to begin what's called the penalty phase.

[Narrator]

Convicted of killing his wife and children, Chris Longo's fate now rests with jurors who will decide whether he gets life or death.

[Judge]

Should the defendant receive a death sentence? To this question, the jury has answered yes.

[Narrator]

Yet even now, Longo cannot stay off the stage.

[Chris Longo]

I'm starting to feel a remorse and an empathy that I don't think I felt before.

[Narrator]

In a shocking moment, Longo hints that he may be changing his story and admitting to all of the murders.

[Chris Longo]

I condemn my acts from what I did in the past, and I no longer disassociate myself from those acts. It's something that I did solely Then.

[Narrator]

Months later, in conversations with Sally and letters to reporter Mike Finkel, Longo comes close to a full confession. He even gives them chilling details of how he murdered Sadie and Zachary.

[Sally Clark]

He didn't just kill them, but he brutally killed them. Those kids suffered.

[Narrator]

But Today, talking to 48 Hours from Death row, Mwango, who is working on his appeal, reverts back to his old story.

[Interviewer/Host]

Did you kill Sadie and Zachary?

[Chris Longo]

That's something that I'm not going to discuss right now.

I'm going to essentially stick with what

was brought out in court because that

is on the record.

[Interviewer/Host]

Do you think we'll ever have the truth of what happened?

[Oregon District Attorney Josh Marquis]

I think the jury, in their verdict said what happened.

[Narrator]

Oregon District Attorney Josh Marquis.

[Oregon District Attorney Josh Marquis]

Exactly how it happened. Will we ever know? No, we won't, because it's coming from the lips of a liar.

[Michael Finkel]

This is a true story.

[Narrator]

Now, Hollywood's version of Finkel's book is about to be released.

[Chris Longo]

I believe we're dealing with an exceptionally dangerous man.

[Sally Clark]

You had a choice of so many

[Narrator]

stories to tell, and you chose his.

[Chris Longo]

Actually, he picked me.

[Narrator]

He didn't pick you.

[Janita Franke]

He used you.

[Narrator]

The psychological thriller, focused, focuses on the reporter and the killer's game of cat and mouse.

[Chris Longo]

My whole reputation's on the line. Don't give up on me.

[Narrator]

Are you really gonna be the man

[Chris Longo]

who might set him free, Chris? Did you do what you're accused of doing?

[Michael Finkel]

I wish that parts of the story weren't true.

[Narrator]

But the story of this odd friendship continues.

[Michael Finkel]

It's much more casual than it ever has been. But he's not completely out of my life, and I doubt he ever will until the day he's put to death.

[Interviewer/Host]

What is left to learn from this man?

[Michael Finkel]

The biggest question of all, which is, you know, why would you do this?

[Detective Trish Miller]

Why didn't he just leave? Leave your family? That's a big question. We'll never really know.

[Narrator]

Oh, it's so good to see you too. Back in Oregon, we brought Mary Jane's sister Penny to see lead detective Trish Miller.

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

This whole town was amazing to us.

[Narrator]

And to see a plaque memorializing the lives that were lost.

[Interviewer/Host]

There's something about your sister that you would like people to know and remember about her and the kids.

[Mary Jane's Sister (Penny Doopy)]

There are four people that are gone that would have made the world a better place.

[Angie.com Advertiser]

In 2022, Oregon Governor Kate Brown Brown commuted the sentences of all 17 people on Oregon's death row, including Christian Longo. Longo is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Michael Finkel took Longo's advice and married his girlfriend Jill. They now have three children.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

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