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December 6, 2004
Family Killer Slapped With A $20 Million Lawsuit
NEWPORT, Ore. - The former sister-in-law of convicted murderer Christian Longo has filed a $20 million lawsuit against him.
Penny Dupuie said she filed the suit because of rumors that the Death Row inmate is planning to write a book and she doesn't want him to profit.
The suit, filed in Lincoln County, seeks $5 million each for the wrongful deaths of MaryJane Longo, 34, and the couple's children, Zachery 4, Sadie, 3, and Madison, 2.
Dupuie has no contact with Longo, but told The Oregonian that she tries to monitor his actions in prison.
"There is the possibility that Chris is doing some sort of manuscript, and we don't want him to profit from what he has done," said Dupuie, MaryJane Longo's sister.
Longo and his wife and children moved to Oregon from Michigan in 2001, leaving behind a string of bad checks and forgery charges.
The bodies of MaryJane and the children were discovered at the end of December 2001 in shallow coastal inlets over a one-week period.
Longo fled to Mexico after the murders, where the FBI caught him at a beach resort in Tulum. Longo had partied and snorkeled, and was romantically involved with a German tourist. A jury handed him a death sentence last year.
Dupuie said that if Longo did write a book, it would be to make an excuse for what happened.
"Chris doesn't like people to think badly of him," she said. "If he could make money, he would do that, too. I know he owes his parents a lot of money, and money is important to him, period.
Oregon does not have a law preventing prisoners from profiting by telling their stories, but it does have administrative rules that prohibit an inmate from conducting business, state officials said.
Newport attorney Rick Diaz, who filed the lawsuit on Dupuie's behalf, said the family is also concerned that Longo may agree to cooperate with other writers in exchange for money, then have the money channeled to a friend.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)