Oregon Towns Embrace Slain Family

It is a mystery so terrible that some are afraid to see it solved.

One by one, the bodies of three young children and their mother have been pulled from the coastal waters of Oregon this holiday season.

The 5-year-old boy was found first. Then his little sister, age 3. Then the baby of the family, 2 years old, with chubby cheeks and a fuzz of soft hair. Their mother, Mary Jane Longo, was discovered Thursday near the baby--dead in the bay of a resort community in Newport, Ore., about 130 miles south of Portland.

Authorities are seeking her husband, Christian Longo, 27, a convicted check forger who left behind a string of debts and who is wanted on two warrants in Michigan.

Late Friday authorities issued an arrest warrant for Longo on four counts of aggravated murder. Because Longo is believed to have crossed state lines, the FBI obtained a federal fugitive warrant. An FBI statement said Longo should be considered an escape risk and to be armed and dangerous.

The Longos had moved to Oregon from Michigan recently. Residents of the coastal communities where they lived--first in a rental home in Waldport, Ore., then in a budget motel in Newport--did not know them well, if at all.

Yet they have opened their hearts to the slain children with a passion born of horror.

“How could anyone put those children in the cold water this time of year?� asked Darby Mabe, 24, the mother of two young sons. “It bothers everyone. No one can sleep. Who did this? Why did they do it? How could someone do this?�

Even before the bodies were identified, local pastors arranged a memorial service for the first two children: Zachary Michael, whose body was found Dec. 19, and Sadie Ann, who was pulled from a Waldport slough three days later. The service was held Christmas Eve; still, 150 people attended. On Christmas, a candlelight vigil drew at least 200, many carrying young children in their arms.

Driven to help in any way they can, locals put together a Christmas dinner for all the detectives and out-of-town FBI agents investigating the case. They are setting up a fund to pay the Longos’ funeral expenses.

And the bridge that crosses the inlet where the two older children were found has become a public memorial.

At all hours of the day, strangers come to light candles for the children. So many toys and flowers piled up that the fire department collected them for delivery to a nearby shelter for battered women. They filled 10 garbage bags with stuffed animals--and still the bridge is lined with teddy bears and porcelain angels, with candles and roses and a framed snapshot of Zachary, Sadie and their little sister, Madison.

“Even though we don’t know who these children are, we basically adopted them,� said Nancy Jarvis, publisher of the Waldport newspaper, the South Lincoln County News. “It’s affected the community terribly. We all want to find the answers.�

Yet the truth, some fear, will be awful to bear.

“We have no way of knowing what those children suffered,� said Charles Fetterolf, a deacon at a local church. “This has been such a shock. We’re going to be a long time getting over it.�

As the community wonders and mourns, detectives have been increasingly tight-lipped about the case. They will not discuss how the victims were killed or what condition their corpses were in. They say they have received hundreds of leads from across the country but will give few details.

The facts that have emerged concern Christian Longo’s criminal record. He was convicted little more than a year ago in Michigan for forging $30,000 in checks. Michigan papers have also reported that he is wanted on another charge of allegedly using a bad check to buy a trailer. And he owes thousands of dollars in court-ordered restitution.

Former neighbors and landlords have said they did not suspect any problems with the Longos; they described the family as quiet and religious. Mary Jane’s mother also said that she never heard any complaints about financial woes, although she was concerned when she lost touch with the family shortly after they left Michigan last summer.

“This has certainly been a very tragic event, and there are still many things to be determined,� Christian Longo’s relatives said in a statement released Friday. Describing themselves as “extremely distraught� by the deaths, they said: “We are hopeful that Christian will be found and that this mystery will be resolved soon.�

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Times researcher Lynn Marshall in Seattle contributed to this report.