Life prison sentence for woman who pleaded guilty in death of foster child

FARGO (KVRR-KFGO) – “Tragic and horrifying” – those are the terms the U.S. Attorney Jennifer Puhl used to describe the case of child abuse, neglect, and murder the federal government has been investigating since 2020 — now coming to a close with the sentencing of Tammy Longie, one of two defendants in the case, to life in federal prison.

Tammy Longie pleaded guilty to Second Degree Murder, and three counts of Child Abuse and Neglect. She was sentenced in U.S. District Court by Chief Judge Peter Welte.

Longie’s husband, Erich, received an identical sentence in June. He plead guilty to First-Degree Murder, and three counts of Child Abuse and Neglect.

The Longies, of Tokio, North Dakota, were tried in federal court due to the crimes being committed on the Spirit Lake Reservation in Indian Country.

The FBI and BIA responded to the Longies’ home in May of 2020 to find a 5-year-old child dead and a 7-year-old sibling needing hospitalization due to abuse and malnutrition-induced heart failure.

The two were foster children and had been placed in the Longies’ home by Spirit Lake Tribal Social Services nearly a year earlier. An autopsy showed the 5-year-old died due to injuries suffered during “multiple episodes of inflicted trauma.”

Two biological children in the home were also found to have been abused.