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

Dear Reader:

The book you are about to read is the latest bestseller from the St. Martins True Crime Library, the imprint the New York Times calls the leader in true crime! Each month, we offer you a fascinating account of the latest, most sensational crime that has captured the national attention. St. Martins is the publisher of bestselling true crime author and crime journalist Kieran Crowley, who explores the dark, deadly links between a prominent Manhattan surgeon and the disappearance of his wife fifteen years earlier in THE SURGEONS WIFE. Suzy Spencers BREAKING POINT guides readers through the tortuous twists and turns in the case of Andrea Yates, the Houston mother who drowned her five young children in the familys bathtub. In Edgar Award-nominated DARK DREAMS, legendary FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood and bestselling crime author Stephen G. Michaud shine light on the inner workings of Americas most violent and depraved murderers. In the book you now hold, acclaimed author Carlton Smith takes you on a harrowing journey along the trail of a man on the run, a man accused of wiping out his family.

St. Martins True Crime Library gives you the stories behind the headlines. Our authors take you right to the scene of the crime and into the minds of the most notorious murderers to show you what really makes them tick. St. Martins True Crime Library paperbacks are better than the most terrifying thriller, because its all true! The next time you want a crackling good read, make sure its got the St. Martins True Crime Library logo on the spineyoull be up all night!

Charles E. Spicer, Jr.
Executive Editor, St. Martins True Crime Library

The First Body

Von Maders mind went blank. He stood staring at the thin figure, bobbing gently in the water. His first conscious thought was of a fishing boat that had capsized offshore the week before, claiming the lives of four men. The inevitable eventuality of fishermen lost at sea was one of the most sorrowful aspects of life on the coast; every year brought another toll of those who wrested their living from the sea. But in almost the same instant Von Mader knew that this body could not have come from the lost vessel: no one would dress merely in underwear while out at sea in the middle of winter. No, this was something far more sickeningVon Maders instinct told him he was looking at the awful result of something horribly evil...

Acclaim for New York Times Bestselling Author
Carlton Smith

Murder at Yosemite

Fans of true crime stories will doubtless be intrigued by Smiths brisk retelling.

Winston-Salem Journal

Death of a Little Princess

Reasoned... concise in its argument.

Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Review of Books

St. Martins Paperbacks True Crime Library
Titles by Carlton Smith

Blood Money
Death of a Little Princess
Seeds of Evil
Dying for Daddy
Death in Texas
Murder at Yosemite
Bitter Medicine
Hunting Evil
Shadows of Evil
Death of a Doctor
Blood Will Tell
Love, Daddy

Carlton Smith

NOTE: If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as unsold and destroyed to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this stripped book.

LOVE, DADDY

Copyright 2003 by Carlton Smith.

Cover photograph of Chris Longo courtesy AP/Wide World Photos. Photo of bridge courtesy National Geographic Image Collection.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address St. Martins Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

ISBN: 0-312-98608-4

Printed in the United States of America

St. Martins Paperbacks edition / October 2003

St. Martins Paperbacks are published by St. Martins Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Jack Olsen

19252002

With grateful appreciation for
your advice and friendship.
You are missed.

THE first of the winter storms had begun just after Thanksgiving. For a little over three weeks the rain pounded the Oregon coast, driven inland in violent gusts, until the very ground seemed in danger of being swallowed up by the spreading wetness. The water ran everywhere: down the eaves of every building in the tiny hamlet of Waldport, Oregon; down the drain-spouts, down the narrow blacktopped roads, into the corrugated drainage culverts, down to the thundering seas, themselves alive with vaporing wisps of pelleting spray.

The wind off the ocean topped out around thirty knots, shoving the drops sideways, working the frigid water inside jacket collars, sleeves, down shirt fronts, anywhere it could find bare flesh. The temperature was only in the low forties, but the wind made it seem much colder. Aubrey Von Mader walked with his burly shoulders hunched, ducking the hurtling drops, the way one does in a land that gets nearly fifty inches of rain each year. Either you learned to live with the rain and the cold on the coast, or you moved; it was as simple as that.

Von Mader picked his way through the small town, crossing the glistening highway until he came to the entrance to the Bayview Mobile Home Park, an assortment of tidy doublewides arrayed across a sandspit that jutted into Waldports pond-like Alsea Bay, separating the bay from a tidal estuary called Lint Slough. He had been visiting a friend on the ocean side of the highway, and now he decided to visit his mother and father in the mobile home park before returning to his own place in Newport, about fifteen miles north on the coast.

As he turned into the mobile homes driveway, Von Mader realized that his parents van wasnt in its usual spot; he guessed that they were visiting someone. Taking a last drag on the cigarette hed been smoking, Von Mader went to the rear yard of the house, where the waters of the slough lapped along a barricade of rip-rap placed there to protect the spit from the tidal action. Von Mader made ready to throw his cigarette down on the glistening grass, then decided to pitch it into the slough. As he looked over the edge, Von Maders blood ran cold: floating there in the tidal current was the still body of a very young child, clad only in underwear.

Von Maders mind went blank. He stood staring at the thin little figure, bobbing gently in the water. His first conscious thought was of a fishing boat that had capsized offshore the week before, claiming the lives of four men. The inevitable eventuality of fishermen lost at sea was one of the most sorrowful aspects of life on the coast; every year brought another toll of those who wrested their living from the sea. But in almost the same instant Von Mader knew that this boy could not have come from the lost vessel: no one would dress their child merely in underwear while out at sea in the middle of winter. No, this was something far more sickeningVon Maders instinct told him he was looking at the awful result of something horribly evil.

After some time had passedVon Mader wasnt sure if it was ten seconds or a lifetimea voice inside his head told him to go inside and call someone. Without knowing quite how he got there, Von Mader was at the telephone, dialing 911. He went out to the front of the mobile home to wait. About ten minutes later, he saw the first of what would eventually be a parade of emergency vehicles pull into the narrow blacktop lane that led into the mobile home park.