Love, Daddy: The True Story of Accused Con Man and Family Killer Christian Longo

by Carlton Smith

He Looked like the Perfect Dad...
Shortly before Christmas of 2001, the bodies of Mary Jane Longo and her three young children, Zachary, Sadie Ann, and Madison were discovered. They'd been murdered and dumped off the Oregon coast in Yaquina and Alsea Bay. The youngest victim was only two years old. Their father, Christian Longo, was missing.

And Became One of America's Most Wanted
Within days, the twenty-seven-year-old all-American dad was added to the FBI's list of Ten Most Wanted fugitives. As law enforcement officials scoured northern California in pursuit of the suspected family-killer, Longo was already looking for a new job-and a new life-under a new name. Believed to be skilled in identity theft, Christian Longo was on the run. Now investigative reporter Carlton Smith takes a journey into the heart of darkness-from Longo's masquerade as a devoted family man and finally to his capture at a beach camp in Mexico-to uncover the unfathomable trail of a deadly master of deception.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 19, 2003

Reviews

[Suzanne]

This book was alot about the conman side of things. I expected more about the murder such as autopsy how he did it etc. It was written badly it just the subject matter. I cant believe that he got rid of the family and went on living his own life. I believe he loved himself more than his own family.

[J.M.]

Not bad, well-written, though I would've liked more on the scientific evidence linking Longo to the crime. There are no autopsy findings, no crime scene forensics, nothing like that. If that evidence had been included, the book would've been more well-rounded for me.

[Tom Harleman]

My sons are the same age as Christian Michael Longo. As a teenager, Christian would come over to be with them. But I haven't seen Christian in more than 20 years. The author, Carlton Smith, died in 2011. His book is his perspective. His book told me many things I did not know. But there are things Carleton did not know, likewise. I'm the kind of person who hands out approval judiciously. My relationship with Christian was friendly but not warm. I felt like he was hard to read as a teenager. But it never occurred to me that he would reach this level. Carleton obfuscates Jehovah's Witnesses belief about death. They believe everyone dies, body and soul. They believe a person's spirit, not his soul, returns to the Creator. The Creator decides who is in a memorial tomb. Jesus was in a memorial tomb and was resurrected. The 'fate' of everyone else is unknown because God is an estimator of hearts. That said, what are we to make of birth defects? Not all birth defects are visible. Yet, we ALL die for some reason or another. I believe Judge Huckleberry touched on this when he spoke of "a level of perfidy beyond anything I've experienced in my life." Duplicity. Lying. Who hasn't told a lie to save face? Carlton points to external causes for Christian's personality traits. But what makes one person succumb to those influences when others do not? Carlton did his best and it looks like he has been very accurate. But who really knows the truth? But we all lie even to ourselves. The Jehovah's Witness Bible says that Jesus came to the earth, not to condemn people, but to redeem them. All Christian Bibles say the same. The Bible's story is that we all need to be saved by a higher power. Carlton claims to have revealed Christian's motivation. Christian was disfellowshipped by his congregation, first. And then probably by his wife. And now by the people of Oregon. The people put him in a cell with almost no human contact. Shunning protects the shunner not the shunned.

[Elisabeth Brookshire]

What a tangled mess

This story is pretty well known as are many where a parent (usually the father, i.e Jon List) takes out his entire family. It has many similarities to the Chris's Watts case itself down to the motives behind the kilings. Who knows how Longo would have turned out if raised differently. Church society can be as difficult to navigate as high school. Chris was not prepared for the "secular" world although clearly that is not an excuse. I feel he really did get in way over his head criminally and rather than face the music, he just kept running until he reached the coast. Sad story but an interesting book. I'll be sure to keep shutting the door on the Jehovah's Witnesses.

[Terrie J Evans]

Incredibly sad.

I live in Oregon. I remember the press coverage. I had no idea though of the horrific story until I read this book. It is unimaginable that a father and husband could do to his family what he did.

[Shana]

THREE AND A HALF STARS. For some reason, family annihilator cases really interest me. I have read "True Story," another book about this case a couple of times and was interested to read this one. It has some slow parts but I did enjoy it overall.

[Jason]

Soooooo boring

[Elizabeth B Adams]

Love, Daddy

Gruesome in the end, but hard to put down. A very well-written account of the harm/disaster caused by a con-man/family-killer.

[Jenn]

I expected this book to br more about the deaths/solving of the murder by this horribe father. It spent a lot of time setting up the scene by talking about Jehovahs. It also spent a large amount of time explaining how far in debt the family was and how many rubber cheques had been cashed. I hated the father for blaming his wife and I hated the fact that he thinks he is so charismatic that he could get away with anything.

[Jeannie]

What an evil person he was!! This has to be one of the saddest and shocking true crimes I've read in quite some time. Carlton Smith, has usual, done a good job. Just sickening this monster tried to lie the blame on his dead wife. I hope he's been executed for these horrific crimes but knowing our justice system I'm sure he hasn't been.

[Laurie]

An excellent book about a horrifying subject. Christian Longo thought he could fool everyone because of his charming personality, which he managed to do for a while until the walls began to close in on him. He solution was to murder his innocent wife and children.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez]

Heart breaking- Carlton Smith is one of the finer true crime authors.