When Christian Longo met his wife, Mary Jane, it was the ideal Jehovah Witness love story. They met in the church and Christian eventually began to proselytize door-to-door with Mary Jane. They got engaged, but before they could get married, Christian was caught stealing from his employer, and they were not allowed to marry within the Kingdom Hall. Instead, a minister married them in a gymnasium in March 1993.

In 1997, they had their first child, Zachary, followed by Sadie in 1998 and Madison in 1999. Mary Jane quit her job and started the life she always dreamt of – being a full time mother and wife.

Christian seemed to want the best for his family, but instead of working hard for it, he started forging checks and stole a minivan. He also ran up debts under a false name and started selling stolen construction equipment. He was eventually arrested and thrown out of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

While on probation, Longo liquidated his assets and fled with his family. However, because of his extravagant spending while on the lam, the family found themselves broke, and Longo took a job at a Starbucks in Newport, Oregon. Once again, he found himself living beyond his means – he rented a luxury condo for $1200 a month, which was exactly how much he made at Starbucks.

On December 19, 2001, 5-year-old Zachary's body washed up on the shores of Yaquina Bay. A short time later, 3-year-old Sadie was found dead; both children drowned. The bodies of 24-year-old Mary Jane and 2-year-old Madison were also found in suitcases in the same bay. Mary Jane had been beaten, and mother and son had been strangled to death. On the day the last bodies were found, Longo boarded a plane going from San Francisco to Cancun, Mexico.

Longo was placed on the FBI's 10 Most- Wanted list and featured on America's Most Wanted and was recognized by a woman who stayed at the same hostel as him. He was arrested a short time later and extradited to the United States.

Longo pled guilty to the murders of his wife and his 2-year-old daughter, but not guilty to murdering the other two children.

If murdering his family in cold blood wasn't bad enough, his defense strategy was exceptionally heinous. During the trial and in front of Mary Jane's family, Longo claimed that she killed the two oldest children by throwing them over the bridge and was trying to strangle their youngest. He stopped her and killed her in a fit of rage. He then was forced to kill Madison because he thought she would have been permanently scarred, both physically and mentally, from the horrific event. The jury didn't believe his story, and he was convicted of the first-degree murder of both Zachary and Sadie.

Longo was condemned to die by lethal injection. As a way to get back in the spotlight, he started a campaign to allow his organs to be donated once he is executed.