Emily Long and the 2025 Long Family Murders
Overview of the Case
On August 18, 2025, a devastating familicide occurred inside the Long family home on Moharimet Drive in Madbury, New Hampshire. According to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, 34-year-old Emily Long shot and killed her husband, 48-year-old Ryan Long, and two of their children, eight-year-old Parker Long and six-year-old Ryan Long. Emily then died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The couple’s youngest child, a three-year-old boy, was discovered alive and physically unharmed inside the residence.
The deaths were initially described publicly as an apparent murder-suicide while investigators awaited autopsy findings. On August 20, 2025, state officials announced that the medical examiner’s findings and evidence from the residence identified Emily as the person responsible for the three homicides. Ryan Long was shot multiple times, while Parker and the younger Ryan were each killed by a single gunshot wound. Emily was also found to have died from a single gunshot wound, which authorities determined was self-inflicted.
Discovery of the Family
New Hampshire State Police and Madbury police officers responded to the family’s home during the evening of August 18 after authorities received a request to check on the household. The caller reportedly had been unable to contact members of the family and was concerned for their welfare. Officers entered the residence and found four people dead inside.
The surviving toddler was found in the home near the bodies of his family members. Authorities stated that he did not appear to have suffered physical injuries. He was removed from the scene and later placed in the care of relatives. Officials protected the child’s identity because of his age and the traumatic circumstances surrounding the case.
The secluded residential property became the center of an extensive investigation involving the Madbury Police Department, New Hampshire State Police and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office. Investigators processed the house, documented the positions of the victims and collected the firearm and other physical evidence. Officials said there was no indication that another attacker had entered the home and no continuing danger to the surrounding community.
Victims
- Ryan Long, 48 — Emily Long’s husband. He was killed by multiple gunshot wounds on August 18, 2025, inside the family home on Moharimet Drive in Madbury, New Hampshire.
- Parker Long, 8 — One of Emily and Ryan Long’s children. Parker was killed by a single gunshot wound on August 18, 2025, inside the Madbury residence.
- Ryan Long, 6 — One of the couple’s children. The younger Ryan was killed by a single gunshot wound on August 18, 2025, inside the family home in Madbury.
Ryan Long’s Illness
Before the killings, Ryan Long had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. Emily had discussed her husband’s condition publicly through social-media posts in which she described herself as a wife and caregiver coping with a family medical crisis. Her posts documented the emotional strain of Ryan’s illness and the difficulty of caring for the family while facing an uncertain future.
Ryan’s diagnosis reportedly came less than a year before his death. His illness required treatment and placed significant emotional pressure on the household. Emily wrote about feeling overwhelmed, anxious and isolated. In posts made shortly before the killings, she discussed depression and her attempts to regain control of her daily life. She also spoke about trying to improve her outlook for the benefit of her children.
Investigators cautioned the public against assuming that Ryan’s cancer diagnosis alone explained the murders. The Attorney General’s Office emphasized that acts of extreme family violence are rarely attributable to one event or one identifiable stressor. No note or verified statement explaining why Emily killed her husband and children was publicly disclosed.
Emily Long’s Public Statements
Emily maintained a social-media presence in which she spoke openly about caregiving, anxiety and depression. Her posts gave viewers the impression that she was struggling with the demands created by her husband’s illness while attempting to care for three young children. She referred to social media as a personal outlet and described recording videos as a way to express thoughts she otherwise kept private.
In one of her final public posts, Emily spoke about attempting to pull herself out of a period of depression. She described wanting to create a healthier and more positive environment for her family. Nothing in the publicly available posts amounted to a direct announcement that she intended to kill anyone. In hindsight, however, her repeated descriptions of emotional exhaustion became an important part of public discussion surrounding the tragedy.
Officials warned that selected social-media posts could not provide a complete explanation for the murders. They noted that the investigation involved private family circumstances, financial issues, health concerns and other pressures that could not be reduced to a single online statement.
Financial Allegations
After the deaths, reports emerged that Emily had recently been accused by her employer of taking a substantial amount of money from the business. She had worked in an operations position for a New Hampshire restaurant company. The business owner reportedly discovered accounting discrepancies and contacted law enforcement after efforts to obtain an explanation from Emily were unsuccessful.
The employer alleged that more than $600,000 had disappeared over a period beginning in approximately January 2023 and continuing into 2025. These were allegations rather than criminal convictions. Emily died before the accusations could be fully investigated in court, and she was never prosecuted or found guilty of embezzlement.
The reported financial investigation added another possible source of pressure in the weeks before the murders. Authorities nevertheless declined to declare that the allegations caused the shootings. The available evidence indicated that the family was facing several serious problems at the same time, including Ryan’s terminal illness, Emily’s reported emotional distress and questions involving household and employment finances.
Autopsy Findings
Autopsies were performed by the New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner’s Office. Ryan Long’s death was classified as a homicide caused by multiple gunshot wounds. The deaths of Parker Long and six-year-old Ryan Long were classified as homicides caused by single gunshot wounds. Emily Long’s death was ruled a suicide caused by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The findings supported the conclusion that Emily used a firearm inside the home to kill her husband and two older children before killing herself. Investigators did not report evidence of a struggle involving an outside assailant. No additional suspect was sought, and no arrests were made because the person identified as the killer died at the scene.
The Surviving Child
The survival of the couple’s youngest child was one of the most haunting aspects of the case. The three-year-old boy was inside the house when his parents and siblings were killed, but Emily did not shoot him. Authorities did not disclose whether the child witnessed the shootings or how long he remained in the residence before officers arrived.
After being medically evaluated, the boy was placed with relatives. Officials withheld further information about his location and condition to protect his privacy. The murders left him without his parents and two older siblings and created lasting emotional and legal challenges for the relatives responsible for his care.
Unanswered Questions
Although authorities determined who fired the fatal shots, they did not establish a definitive motive. Emily left behind no publicly released explanation for why she selected her husband and two older children while sparing the youngest child. It also remained unclear whether the killings were planned over an extended period or resulted from an acute crisis inside the home.
The timing of the shootings, the family’s medical difficulties and the reported financial investigation led to widespread speculation. State officials repeatedly urged restraint, explaining that speculation could unfairly simplify a complicated tragedy and cause additional pain to surviving relatives. They stated that no single social-media post, medical diagnosis or financial accusation should automatically be treated as the sole reason for the murders.
Aftermath
The deaths shocked Madbury, a small community in Strafford County near Durham and the University of New Hampshire. Neighbors and acquaintances struggled to reconcile the family’s public image with the violence discovered inside their home. The deaths of Parker and Ryan were especially painful for members of the local community who knew the children through school and neighborhood activities.
Because Emily died by suicide immediately after the murders, there was no arrest, criminal trial or sentencing. The official investigation instead focused on reconstructing the sequence of events, confirming the identities of the victims, determining the causes of death and establishing whether anyone else had participated. Authorities ultimately concluded that Emily was responsible for all three killings and that there was no known accomplice.
The Long family case remains a tragic example of familicide in which extreme violence occurred behind the closed doors of a family residence. Ryan Long, Parker Long and six-year-old Ryan Long were killed in the place where they should have been safest. The surviving child was left to grow up without his parents and siblings, while relatives were forced to confront both the murders and the knowledge that a member of the family had committed them.
