Podcast
Murder In America
It was written by Michael Finkel after his interactions with Christian Longo, who had impersonated him. The book was later made into a film, 'True Story,' with James Franco and Jonah Hill.
We wrote each other more than a thousand pages of handwritten letters, we spoke on the phone 51 times. I visited with him in jail. It was a confounding relationship.
— Episode: EP. 92 OREGON - Christian Longo: Family...
Episode: EP. 92 OREGON - Christian Longo: Family Annihilato...
It was written by Michael Finkel after his interactions with Christian Longo, who had impersonated him. The book was later made into a film, 'True Story,' with James Franco and Jonah Hill.
We wrote each other more than a thousand pages of handwritten letters, we spoke on the phone 51 times. I visited with him in jail. It was a confounding relationship.
In the very end of our relationship, after his trial, in a letter, he confessed to me that he murdered all four members of his family.
He's blamed his wife for initiating the crime, which is something that I do not believe at all.
I had psychologists read some of his letters and they diagnosed him as what's called narcissistic personality disorder, an extremely inflated sense of self.
For the one year between Longo's impersonation and the start of his trial, we didn't discuss the crimes themselves. Longo told me his entire life story. But at the trial in this very small courtroom, when it was apparent that Longo was guilty, and I mean, this is the most horrific crime imaginable, murdering three young children and your wife. Once it was obvious that Longo was guilty, the relationship fell apart.
