A New Hampshire woman accused of stealing more than $660,000 from her job before carrying out a murder-suicide had once admitted online that she struggled with a shopping addiction.
Emily Long, 34, shot and killed her husband Ryan Long and their two children, Parker and Ryan, in August before taking her own life.
As the community grieved, Emily’s employer revealed she had allegedly taken $660,000 from him over the last two years.
Derek Fisher, who owns the restaurant chain where Emily worked, told The Boston Globe that he had planned to meet with her about the missing money on August 11. He said he wanted to resolve the issue without contacting police.
Emily never showed up to the meeting. One week later, she, her husband, and their children were found dead in their home.
The Globe also discovered that this wasn’t the first time Emily faced accusations of theft. In 2016, she was investigated after $11,000 went missing from a former job in Nantucket. Those forgery charges were later dropped when the business closed.
Despite the allegations, Emily often talked about her spending habits. She once admitted online that she had a shopping “addiction” and even joked that “being on a budget should be a crime against humanity.”
Fisher said he now realizes there were warning signs. “She did shop a lot,” he told the Globe. “There was probably not a time that I didn’t come into my restaurant and have Amazon packages with her name on it.”
Before the tragedy, Emily had gained a following on TikTok by sharing her family’s struggles with Ryan’s recent brain cancer diagnosis. In several posts, she appeared overwhelmed and admitted she was stuck in a depressive “rut.”
Just days before the killings, she posted about selling her belongings on Facebook, suggesting financial problems. “You can’t keep ignoring everything and hoping that it disappears,” she said in an August 7 video.
The couple’s youngest son was found unharmed at the scene. A GoFundMe has been created to support him.
