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American Morning

In Just a Few Hours, Former Fugitive Christian Longo Expected to be Extradited to Oregon

Aired January 15, 2002 - 07:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: In just a few hours, former fugitive, Christian Longo, is expected to be extradited to Oregon, where he is accused of murdering his wife and three young children, ages 2, 3 and 4, last month. Longo is now in federal custody in Houston. He was captured on Sunday in Mexico, after the FBI received a tip from a woman who recognized Longo on the TV show "America's Most Wanted."

John Walsh, host of the popular crime program, joins us now from San Antonio, Texas -- good to see you again.

JOHN WALSH, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Thanks, Paula.

ZAHN: I'll tell you one thing, John, I happened to catch your show on Saturday night, and I think anybody watching it would have had a very good sense of what this man might have been up to and what he might have looked like. In the end, what role did your show play in his capture?

WALSH: Well, this lady had just come back from Cancun on vacation, and she had stayed in hostels. And we know that Christian Longo had stayed in a hostel in San Francisco, that he had very little money. And we were tracking him, and the FBI was doing a great job. Agent Matthews (ph), the special agent in charge in Oregon, was doing a different job in the investigation.

And she made the call and said I think I've seen Christian Longo. And the FBI said, watch this show. It's coming on shortly. And she watched the show and she said, "That's him." And they went down there, and they got that tip that he was about 60 miles away living in a beach hut for $2 a night, and they nailed this creep.

And when I say a creep, you know, this guy is accused of killing his wife, but also of killing a 2, a 3 and a 4-year-old child, and he lived this life as a con man, and he was down there in Cancun partying and drinking with people and snorkeling after he had allegedly killed his wife and his three children.

ZAHN: On your show on Saturday night, you interviewed several of his relatives. We're going to replay some short portions of that just to show how revealing it is what they said on camera. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people started trying to tell my sister to kind of open her eyes a little bit and really look at what was going on, because they started to see little clues that something wasn't right.

JOE LONGO, LONGO'S BROTHER-IN-LAW: If he is responsible for such actions, it's hard to believe, because of the way he was brought up, and we didn't see (UNINTELLIGIBLE) towards this kind of behavior whatsoever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Put that comment -- John, if you would, put that comment into perspective. What kind of a record did this man have?

WALSH: Well, he lived a double life. I mean, he was raised by a loving family, and everybody thought he was the perfect husband and the perfect father. But yet, he was bouncing checks. He was stealing construction equipment, stealing cars, and then he broke all ties with the family and disappeared for three months. Actually, one of the sisters filed a missing persons report about her sister. And he moved from Detroit to Ohio, and then went on the run to Oregon. And then, I guess he said -- he decided, you know, I don't want to be married anymore. And not only did he allegedly kill his wife, he killed his three beautiful children, stole some I.D. and a credit card and made it to Cancun.

And as I say what really, really is disturbing about this is that while he was on the run, he is down in Mexico partying and drinking and snorkeling with some people, while he's on the FBI's ten most wanted. But thank God, this woman in Montreal really, really spotted him and nailed this guy.

And you know what I think is amazing too is the new cooperation between Mexico. For years, we have had problems getting fugitives extradited back from Mexico, because they don't believe in the death penalty. But yet, Christian Longo is in Houston, Texas today, and I think that's because of President Bush's relationship with El Presidente Fox. And they're saying, hey, we're no longer going to take these wanted murderers down here, and we're going to send them back to the United States. I think that's a real good thing.

ZAHN: John, as you were talking a while ago, we were looking at pictures of investigators sweeping the river, which is ultimately where his wife and his three children were found. You talk about his wanting to get out of the marriage. What do you suspect was the motive for allegedly killing his wife and his three children?

WALSH: Well, he was -- had warrants out for him. He was about $200,000 in debt, and he was running, you know, from the law in different states. But again, I think that's the poorest excuse. I mean, certainly we know about men who kill their wives just because they say they don't want anybody else to have them, or she wanted out of the marriage. But my God, to kill a 2, a 3 and a 4-year-old child, and then to get on a plane to go on the run and go down to party in Cancun, this guy is a real cold-blooded con man, a real creep, and I hope he gets justice in Oregon. I think he is going to.

ZAHN: Well, we congratulate you for the effort you played in nabbing this guy. Thank you so much, John, for joining us -- always good to have you with us.

WALSH: Thank you, Paula.

ZAHN: Continued good luck.

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