Details unsealed in Oregon family slayings
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The next day, Longo went back to his job at a Starbucks coffee shop and told co-workers that his wife had left him for a CNN journalist, the documents say.
Longo stayed in Newport even after the first body, that of his 4-year-old son Zachary, was pulled from a shallow coastal bay about 14 miles south of the city.
Longo fled Oregon, briefly appearing on the FBI's most-wanted list, before he was caught Jan. 13 in Tulum, Mexico, near the resort town of Cancun. He now is awaiting trial on capital-murder charges.
Lincoln County Judge Robert Huckleberry unsealed the eight search-warrant affidavits and an arrest warrant yesterday in response to a request from The Oregonian.
The documents, which reveal some of the evidence prosecutors will use against Longo in his trial, suggest that Longo disposed of the bodies Dec. 17, but it is unclear when police think he killed his family. It's also unknown how they all died.
A cause of death is listed only for the mother, Mary Jane Longo, who died of strangulation and head trauma, the documents said.
Zachary's body was found Dec. 19 a few feet from shore in a shallow inlet near Waldport. Two days later, Lincoln County sheriff's divers plucked a sleeping bag and a pillowcase from the shallow water. A large river rock was inside.
The same day, divers found the body of Zachary's sister, 3-year-old Sadie, stuffed inside a sleeping bag. A floral pillowcase containing a rock was still tied to her ankle.
Mary Jane and the youngest child, 2-year-old Madison, were found Dec. 27 stuffed in two large, dark-green suitcases in shallow water directly in front of the Landing apartments in Newport, where Longo had rented a room.
Denise Thompson, who baby-sat for the family, had spent her lunch break Dec. 19 with Longo in the Fred Meyer store where he worked at Starbucks.
Longo, 28, told Thompson that his wife had left him, and he told other acquaintances that he was planning to start a new life traveling in Fiji and the South Pacific after he became single.
Elisha Gilharry, a custodian at the Newport Motor Inn, where the family briefly stayed, told investigators she noticed heaps of woman's and children's clothes in a trash bin in late December. She also found baby journals, including newborn footprints and handprints, along with packages of diapers and a wallet with Mary Jane Longo's Michigan identification card.
Mixed in with the garbage were photo negatives later developed by the Lincoln County sheriff's office. The snapshots included one of Zachary in a dark-colored sleeping bag. Another showed Zachary and the youngest child sleeping in the same bag.
From the family's minivan and apartment, police picked up the debris — toys, popcorn kernels and candy wrappers — of a normal family life. Lip balm, a toy shovel, a stuffed animal and a yellow elastic hair band are among the items listed.
Lincoln County District Attorney Bernice Barnett said the papers were initially sealed so information in the media would not compromise the investigation, which drew in State Police and the FBI before Longo was detained. A Canadian tourist in Mexico tipped off the FBI, leading to the arrest.
Barnett yesterday declined to elaborate on the evidence in the documents or speculate about Longo's motive.
"Our case will come out in court," she said yesterday.