ND foster parent pleads guilty to murder, child abuse on Spirit Lake Reservation

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - One of the foster parents accused of killing their 5-year-old foster child on the Spirit Lake Reservation last summer pleaded guilty to murder, child abuse and child neglect in federal court Tuesday.

The mandatory minimum sentence that 43-year-old Erich Longie Jr. is facing is life in prison.

5-year-old Raven Thompson died on May 6, 2020, and documents state investigators found the girl’s body on a concrete floor in the basement of the Longie’s home in Tokio, N.D. Documents say EMS workers later told investigators that the Longie’s ‘showed no emotional signs that one would typically expect to see from a caregiver.’

Court documents say after Raven’s body was found, investigators found her brother, 7-year-old Zane, in the back of a vehicle at the Longie’s home. Documents say Zane had suffered ‘non-accidental trauma,’ and was flown to Sanford Hospital in Fargo.

Documents say at the time of the Longie’s arrests, there were 13 people living in the home, including eight children. The rest of the children were removed after Raven’s death.

A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.

Longie’s wife, Tammy is set to go to trial on June 29 on the same charges.