In December of 2016, the Corvallis Police Department (CPD) received a report of a missing person.
Donald Long reported his son, Christian William Long (19 years old at the time), told him he was going to stay in Eugene for part of the month of October. After losing contact with Christian for a protracted period of time, Donald contacted CPD with his concerns.
The Corvallis Police Department began an investigation, assigning the case to CPD detectives and placing Christian into the Law Enforcement Database and National Crime Information Center database as a missing person. Over the following months, CPD Detectives received multiple tips from the public, including several that came from out of state.
The detectives were able to rule out the leads as not being related to Christian or were able to exhaust all of the available information. DNA samples were collected from Donald and placed into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons (NAMUS) database. The NAMUS database was created in 2007 to aid law enforcement and the community with identifying missing persons and offers additional resources such as investigative support and forensic services. NAMUS partners include the National Institute of Justice, and University of North Texas (UNT).
In May of 2019, an individual walking along the Columbia River in Cowlitz County Washington, located and reported human remains along the bank of the river. The remains were unable to be positively identified at the time of discovery and were sent to the King County Washington Medical Examiner’s Office for further analysis.
In August of 2020, detectives received word from UNT that DNA from the unidentified remains were matched to the DNA of Donald Long, indicating a familial relationship. Additional required DNA exemplars were collected from family members by Detectives and submitted to the University of North Texas.
On February 23, 2021, CPD detectives received a definitive confirmation that the remains located in Cowlitz County Washington were those of Christian Long. CPD was then able to provide confirmation to the Long family that Christian Long was deceased.
Though Long’s remains have been located, the case remains an open investigation. At this time, detectives are still considering all investigative options and investigating leads.
Lead Detective Greg Kantola, requesting the community’s assistance in the investigation, said, “We are confident there are individuals who have information about the circumstances surrounding the death of Christian Long, and we implore them to contact the Corvallis Police Department to assist us.”
If you have information about Christian Long or the circumstances surrounding his death, please contact Detective Greg Kantola at 541-766-6781.
Note: At this time there is no additional information available related to this incident. Any updates on the investigation will be disseminated via a press release at a later date.
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