NEWPORT - In his first testimony to a Lincoln County jury, Christian Longo offered a detailed description of the money woes that beset his family, but still no explanation for his claim that he's innocent in the slayings of two of his children.

Longo, 29, has pleaded guilty to killing his wife, 34-year-old MaryJane and 2-year-old daughter, Madison, around Christmas 2001 and dumping their bodies into shallow waters off the Oregon Coast. But he maintains his innocence in the deaths of 3-year-old Sadie and 4-year-old Zachery.

During his testimony Wednesday, Longo made it plain that financial problems and the burdens of raising a family took a toll on his marriage to MaryJane Longo.

"Some of the passion was gone," Longo said. "We were complacent with each other."

And as his financial fortunes continued a downward spiral, Longo said, he even resorted to stealing a minivan after one of his cars was repossessed and the other blew an engine.

Defense attorney Steve Krasik proceeded slowly, questioning Longo for more than three hours about his strict upbringing as a Jehovah's Witness, his subsequent "shunning" by the church and the beginnings of his marriage. Longo was scheduled to resume testimony today.

Much of the testimony Krasik elicited seemed to reinforce the prosecution's image of Longo as a self-centered killer who planned the slayings for months so he could pursue a wild lifestyle without the burden of his family.

In his testimony, Longo described his family's increasingly dire circumstances as he struggled to start up a construction-related business in Michigan and he and MaryJane racked up more than $25,000 in credit card debt.

At one point, Krasik asked Longo why he didn't try to borrow money from his mother and father rather than resort to stealing.

"It was something that wasn't even an option," Longo said. "Pride has always been an issue to me. I wanted to be able to go on vacations and have nice clothes. It ended up burying us financially."

Longo also told jurors that he first met his wife, MaryJane, when he was 16 and felt an immediate attraction to her. Because of his faith, however, his parents would not let him date until age 18, he said.

He requested permission to date MaryJane one week after his 18th birthday and was denied, he said.

"My parents said I was not ready to date. I chose to move out the next week," he said.

The marriage was almost derailed, Longo said, when he stole $108 from a camera store where he worked to help pay for an engagement ring for MaryJane.

Word of the theft got back to the elders at the Jehovah's Witnesses, but MaryJane, "chose to stick it out with me," Longo recalled. "It was the first time I cried in my adult life."

Eventually, Longo worked his way back into the good graces of church elders and things settled down, he testified. He began work at a Detroit-area newspaper distributorship, and MaryJane Longo worked as a clerk at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

When Zachery, their first child, was born in February of 1997, MaryJane quit her job, unable to bear being away from her son, Longo said.

Meanwhile, he was traveling more for work and it was placing a strain on their marriage, he testified.

Krasik also asked if Longo believed people go to a "better place" when they die.

Longo replied: "When someone dies, they are in the common grave. They are asleep until God decides otherwise."

FBI agent Daniel Clegg testified earlier in the trial that Longo confessed to the crimes during an interview as he was being brought back from Mexico, where he was captured several weeks after the slayings. Clegg said Longo said of his family: "I sent them to a better place."