Cold Case Files - I SURVIVED: I Could See Beneath The Blindfold

Episode Date: December 16, 2023

In November of 1984, 17-year-old Lisa McVey Noland was biking home from her job working the night shift at a local Tampa doughnut shop, when she was suddenly snatched off her bike and abducted. Being ...abducted was one of the worst things that happened to her but also saved her life. Sponsors: Bombas: Go to Bombas.com/survived and use code survived for twenty percent off your first purchase. PDS Debt: Right now, PDS Debt is offering a free debt analysis. It only takes thirty seconds. Head over to PDSDebt.com/survived to get your free debt assessment today. Progressive: Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. 

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Starting point is 00:00:00 An A&E original podcast. This episode contains descriptions of sexual assault and suicidal ideation. Listener discretion is advised. He's remorseful for being caught, but not for what he did. I think he enjoyed what he did. He didn't have a remorse, a remorse bone in his body at all. I truly believe that. In November of 1984, Lisa McVeigh Noland was a 17-year-old living in Tampa, Florida with her grandmother and her grandmother's boyfriend.
Starting point is 00:00:35 Tampa, Florida is within Hillsborough County jurisdiction. It's a very safe place to live today. We have your areas like any other place of your not so safe areas, but it's not a lot. It's fun here. We've got the beaches here. One minute it's raining, thunderstorms. Next minute it's butterflies and rainbows. While Tampa may have been butterflies and rainbows, Lisa's home life was anything but. I was tired of my grandmother's boyfriend raping me over and over every day for four years with my grandmother's permission. My grandmother would watch. She never stopped. Never stopped to protect me.
Starting point is 00:01:17 Number third, I had went to work like any other day. I was going to kill myself when I came home that night. I was tired of being in pain. This is I Survived, the podcast where we talk to people who've lived through the worst things imaginable and all the tragic, messy, and wonderful things that happen after survival. I'm Caitlin Van Malt. I worked the day shift at the donut shop. I was asked to work a double shift by my boss,
Starting point is 00:01:56 which I had to get permission from my grandmother. And I ended up working until 2 o'clock in the morning. When I started to run my bicycle home from work. That was the only transportation I had at the time was a bicycle but it was a good three miles each way back and forth from my house to work. I usually always took the same route home from the donut shop. Traffic is still it's out but it's light but you know you got people you know coming from bars and that kind of stuff. As I'm pedaling my bicycle, I come to an intersection of a church and like a county park or a city park.
Starting point is 00:02:32 And I notice in the church parking lot was a car parked, blacked out. It just struck me odd because it was in the middle of the parking lot of gravel. It was all gravel. There was no asphalt at the time. And I thought to myself, I said, how scary would it be if someone jumped out and grabbed me? And the road was dark. It was so dark. It was frightening, but I had to get home.
Starting point is 00:02:53 So I decided to keep pedaling. And then as soon as I passed the white van, I felt someone just yank me off my bicycle from around my neck. He put his arm around my neck. And next thing I know, I'm fighting for my life. I scream, whatever you do, just don't kill me. And then that's when I felt the cold steel barrel of a gun to my left temple. It was nothing new.
Starting point is 00:03:15 My grandmother's boyfriend was abusing me at the same time this was going on for four years, sexually abusing me. And he would put a gun to my head as well. So it was nothing new to me. It was just that was norm for me. This unfortunate familiarity with what was happening to her allowed Lisa to pay attention to her surroundings in addition to the man threatening her life.
Starting point is 00:03:39 He threw me into the car, but I could see what the car color was. I noticed it was a maroon color car with a white top, one that the rear driver's side tire was on backwards as if it was a flat and he had to replace it with a spare. I get in and I see white bucket seats, red carpet on the floor. It was a real thick carpet. I saw a huge knife. It was like a hunter's knife. And at that moment, I knew this guy was very serious about what he was doing.
Starting point is 00:04:07 He gets in the car. He orders me to take all my clothes off. And he decides to tie my arms, my wrists up, my legs, and blindfold me. But the one thing that got me thinking, if he blindfolds me, how am I going to see anything? I had to think of a way to make the blindfold loose. So he tied it around my eyes. I would tighten my jaw to make it loose, and it worked for me. He told me that as long as I showed him a good time, he would not kill me, and that's when the first sexual offense occurred. He ordered me to perform an oral act on him. He grabbed my hair. He did not complete. He ordered me to lay back in the seat.
Starting point is 00:04:47 The seat was reclined, and that I was gonna continue to show him a good time. He asked me how old I was. I said I was 19. He asked if I had a boyfriend. I said yes, because obviously, I guess, apparently to him, I was experienced. Even though Lisa had been on her way home,
Starting point is 00:05:03 planning to die that night, something inside her shifted, and now she was determined to live. But the moment when he told me I was going to continue to show him good time, something inside of me, I had to reach down the pit of my stomach. So I had to just reach down as far as I can. Not today, not on my own watch. I'm not going to allow somebody to kill me. I don't care what he did to me, what he was going to do to me. I was I'm not gonna allow somebody to kill me. I don't care what he did to me,
Starting point is 00:05:25 what he was going to do to me. I was not gonna let this man to kill me. I had to remind myself to stay calm, not to get this person enraged with anger, because that would set him off. I had to remain calm, and I had to play smart and think smart. I never for one moment at that time
Starting point is 00:05:43 thought of anything other than, I'm going to survive this attack. No matter what costs, what it takes, I'm going to survive. And I had to, I did. The man started to drive. Lisa's eyes were covered, but she could see at the bottom of the blindfold. I had to try to see if I can identify anything in the car that would help me recognize the car again if I was to go to the police.
Starting point is 00:06:12 And the next thing I know, I saw the word Magnum on the dashboard. Well, I'm 17. I don't know making models of cars at the time. But anytime I saw, smelled, touched, or heard something, I just categorize it in my mind so I can remember Magnum on the dashboard, Magnum PI. It's almost like you play that concentration game. After driving for about 20 minutes, the man stopped the car in a wooded area. He orders me to get dressed, which I thought was kind of odd, right? Get dressed. So I got dressed, he gets out of the car, and I remember I'm on my period. So I just ripped my tampon out and threw it underneath the car seat,
Starting point is 00:06:50 thinking if I do survive this and this is inside of me, it's going to injure me. So I threw it underneath the car seat, but also for blood match, my blood match. So I'm actually praying the Lord's Prayer. At this moment, I'm thinking he's going to take me to the woods, rape me. He's going to shoot and kill me. But instead of heading into the woods, he took her out of the car and inside of a building. I could see a silver door handle. The door appeared to be painted white.
Starting point is 00:07:21 I felt glass on the window. He opened the door, and I I can see now we're about to go up some steps. I could see the floor in front of me, but it was carpet. It was predominantly all green with yellow, black, red, and white specks in it. Each step that I went up, I counted to see how many steps I got to count to get back down if I was able to escape. There was 19 to include the platform at the top. Take a quick left, a quick right, and he reaches for a door, unlocks it. Now I see a black revolver in his left hand.
Starting point is 00:07:52 He is white, Caucasian, and he's left-handed. He walked her into an apartment, and Lisa kept observing and remembering everything she could. We enter into the apartment. I can smell the apartment's freshly painted. It felt very clean in there. Once we get inside, he orders me to take my clothes off again. Immediately, he removes my ligatures, my blindfold,
Starting point is 00:08:15 and he escorts me into the bathroom, insisting and demanding that I keep my eyes shut at all times. He puts me into the shower. Then he climbs in the shower with me. He pulls me to him. I got my chin like almost to his shoulder. It was almost like he was living out a fantasy with a girlfriend.
Starting point is 00:08:36 It was almost as if we were just two lovers in the shower, just, you know, showering our love for one another. It was just odd. He was caressing. He was, he was almost like he was trying to be loving. While he held her from behind, she could open her eyes and look for details. I'm looking for a way out, looking for a window. Didn't see anything. I saw the white, smaller size type subway tile. I could see that he has brown hair. He bathed me.
Starting point is 00:09:06 He orders me out of the shower and orders me to dry my hair. Well, now my hand, my fingerprints are on the hairdryer. And after I dried my hair, he threw me down on the back of the floor, and he got enraged. He got angry with me, screaming at me. I didn't tell him I was on my monthly cycle. He's calling me all kinds of profanity names. I just told him I didn't know, I didn't think that was important.
Starting point is 00:09:28 And that's when he just, he brutally raped me. At that, that was the very first bad attack. When I was struggling with debt, I always wished there was a better solution to paying it off. Well, lucky for you, PDS Debt has your solution. PDS Debt has customized options for anyone struggling with credit cards, personal loans, collections, or medical bills. If you're making payments every month on your debts and your balances aren't going down, this program is for you. PDS Debt rolls all of your monthly payments into one low interest-free monthly payment. Everyone with $10,000 or more in eligible debt qualifies, and there's no minimum credit score required,
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Starting point is 00:12:57 was the box fan. And then I hear the sounds, what I thought, the sound of metal hitting metal, possibly the bullets of the gun, going into one of those metal trash cans, like a sports trash can we keep in our offices at home. He escorts me to the bed. He re-ties my wrists and my ankles, re-blindfolds me again, lays me in bed. I almost fall out because it was a waterbed, and I realized it was a waterbed. So after he climbs in bed across over me, he slides the gun across my stomach, telling me, just as a reminder, this is still here.
Starting point is 00:13:31 I need you to get some sleep. I didn't sleep at all. I remember when he tied my wrists up, they were loose to where I could move around. And I remember I had ripped my hairbread out of my hair, and I threw it under the bed, just so that's my hair match. I had to leave my mark. I had to leave my hair out of my hair and I threw it under the bed just so that's my hair match. I had to leave my mark. I had to leave my hair. Something to show that I was there.
Starting point is 00:13:53 So time goes by. I mean, there's, I lost count how many times he attacked me within 26 hours in the bed. We got to talking about girls when I was in high school. He wanted me to know what they looked like, what their breasts looked like and their bodies when we dress out. And I was the typical poster child of sexual abuse at home. I never dressed out in front of my friends. I had marks on me, bruises. But I would just lie to him to appease him, to coddle him, give him what he wanted and baby him and keep him soft. And then at one point he asked me my name. I told him my name was Carol. I didn't think he deserves to know that I was Lisa. But from then on, he never called me Carol.
Starting point is 00:14:37 He called me babe. And then at one time he reached over and he grabbed my hands and he had me touch his face. And again, my heighten of not being able to see through the blindfold, I was able to see him through my hands. He had a pockmarked face and small nose. He had a clean mustache and it felt like he just had a haircut from a barber shop. I said if he killed me, he would take me away from my dad.
Starting point is 00:15:04 My dad was very ill. He had diabetes. He had eventually ended up losing both of his legs up to the knee. And if he killed me, I was his only living relative, and he would have no one take care of him, and he would eventually just die because heartbreak of losing his only daughter. She was actually referring to her grandmother's boyfriend. It was a mix of the truth and a lie. He was not my dad.
Starting point is 00:15:30 He was also an abuser. He was a pedophile. He was a rapist. But I had to show him how real I was as a person, how caring and giving I was as a person. So hopefully I can get him to see me in a different light other than an object, something that he wanted to hurt or kill and just throw away.
Starting point is 00:15:51 I had to show him that I was a real person, and obviously it worked. After many hours in the bed, where he raped her multiple times, Lisa needed to use the bathroom. He wouldn't let me go. And I said, well, then I'm going to have to just, you know, pee in the bed. He agreed to let me go to the bathroom. And as I'm sitting on the toilet, I'm blindfold still, started looking at my arms and
Starting point is 00:16:15 my feet. Enough to move around though. I said, I can't, I can't go to the bathroom. You're standing there. Can you please close the door? He goes goes you've got five minutes I was shocked he actually closed the door and something just the fight in me just said start putting your fingerprints everywhere I put them behind the mirror of the medicine cabinet bottles that were in the medicine cabinet hair dryer I have my fingerprints on it the the toilet seat lid and then the tank itself and the handle the cabinet cabinetry, the walls of the shower, the shower curtain. And he also had a leopard print inside his bathroom, but it had the glass on it. So I put my fingerprints on that. He felt I was taking too long.
Starting point is 00:16:56 By that time, he busts the door down and I'm already sitting back down in the toilet. Lisa has now been kidnapped for approximately 20 hours. About 11 o'clock, November 3rd, there was a show on called Airwolf, a police show. So it kind of gave me an idea of what time it was. And then the news broke in about a 17-year-old girl was taken off her bicycle. And the bicycle had been found in the street. And the family was worried about her and just wanted that the girl to know that she was being looked for and then I started crying.
Starting point is 00:17:31 I started crying and not so much yelling. He came over with the gun, put the gun to my left temple again and this is what got me to that I somehow gained his trust that please stop crying screaming, screaming, or you're going to force me to blow your head off. And I stopped crying immediately. Several more hours passed where he raped her again and again. About three o'clock the next morning, he gets me dressed. He says, what am I going to do with you? He was very anxious, very nervous. He was demanding to know if I was indeed 19 years old, not 17, as I'm not the girl on the news. I am 19. I have a boyfriend. Again, lying to him to keep him calm. And I said, listen, we can stay together. We don't have to tell people how we met. We can be a girlfriend, a boyfriend. I said, you seem like a really nice guy and I'll take good care of you.
Starting point is 00:18:26 I had to get inside of his mind and use basically reverse psychology to get him to think more clearly because he was already anxious. He's already nervous what to do with me. But now he needs to see a positive side of even though he was doing this horrible thing to me, this girl thinks I'm still a nice guy. He finally got someone to care about him he didn't get someone that was cursing at him or tried to fight him he finally found someone that basically tried in his mind understood him and after I asked if he can just keep me we can be boyfriend and girlfriend he told me he couldn't keep me it wouldn't work out and that he would he would drop me off close to where I lived at.
Starting point is 00:19:06 And that's when he asked me where I lived at, and I told him, and off we went. We got in the car, and I couldn't believe what we were doing. I really for sure thought he was going to kill me. But first, he stopped at an ATM and a gas station. And by the way, the gas station, he told me if I run from the car, he was gonna go kill the gas station attendant and that his death would be on my shoulders. And I wasn't, I've gotten this far,
Starting point is 00:19:32 I wasn't gonna jeopardize my freedom. So I stayed in the car. And then on the way back, I'm thinking to myself, I could still see a little bit under my blindfold. I did the same thing, tightening my chin, my jaw, so I could see beneath the blindfold. And I just had to know where I'm at. And I know Tampa very well, even at the age of 17. I've lived here most of my life. As we're driving down the road, I see these two marquee signs,
Starting point is 00:19:56 and they were like 30, 40 feet in the air on either side of an interstate. One was Equality Inn, one was Howard Johnson's. And I knew exactly where we were. We were at Fallon Interstate 275. So it kind of gauged me into remembering where I was. That was very pertinent information to store away to let the police know what vicinity I might have been taken to. He eventually drove her to her neighborhood. And he pulls into a side of a business, parks the car, hugs me.
Starting point is 00:20:30 He asked me if I was to go to the police, describe to them other than what I thought he looked like or who he was. He told me he was sorry, to tell my dad he was sorry and that basically he was the reason why he let me live. After he gets me out of the car, he walks me in a north direction. My feet hit a curb. I actually almost fell over. He actually caught me. He goes, I need you to stand there for five minutes until I take off, and then you can go home.
Starting point is 00:20:58 I'm still thinking I'm in disbelief. Is he going to shoot me now in the back? Is he going to kill me? If he shoots me, am I going to survive? Is he going to kill me? If he shoots me, am I going to survive? Am I going to be paralyzed? But just as quick as he took me, just as quick as he dropped me off. He got back in his car, he drove off. And I'm standing there, I'm frozen. And I'm thinking to myself, what just happened? Did this just happen? Am I dreaming? So I go to take my blindfold off and I can't untie it so tight.
Starting point is 00:21:24 I just pulled it off my face and it know dangling down from my neck now and the first thing I see was this beautiful oak tree and I looked up and I realized I'm in the parking lot of a business a two-story business. I look up at this tree and I started crying. I'm like you know what? I'm gonna be okay. The branches of life, a new life. I knew that my life was about to change for the better, especially at home. So I turned around, I started running. I just started running.
Starting point is 00:21:50 And of course, again, it's 4 o'clock in the morning. People couldn't go into work. There was cars, but any time a car went by me, I just, I hit the ground. I just was so afraid of him coming back, thinking he made a mistake. He was coming back after me. It was a good distance. It probably may be a little under a half a mile to run home. And it seemed like it took forever to get there. It seemed like the house was being further and
Starting point is 00:22:16 further away. Lisa ran and ran and finally made her way back to the front door of her own home. I must have banged on that door, front door, for like 30, 40 minutes. I just, I couldn't get in. Now, my clothes are torn, my face is dirty, my hair is disarrayed because I'm all, I've been hitting the ground, the dirt. Finally, my grandma's boyfriend grabs the door, he opens the door and grabs me by my hair and just for the next five hours, he decided he wanted to beat me.
Starting point is 00:22:44 He's going to beat the truth out of me, where I've been at, who I've been with, why am I cheating on him. It was awful. I kept telling him I'd been kidnapped, I'd been raped again and they wouldn't believe me. My grandmother finally calls the police and says you know Lisa's home but she's talking about something some stupid story about being kidnapped. Thankfully to that police officer, I wish I could always thank him, but I don't know who it was. I still don't know who he is until this day.
Starting point is 00:23:15 He heard the word kidnapped and he goes, we need to open an investigation. And that's when they came and got me. I had to go to the hospital. I had to have a rape kit done. And if you never have one done, it's almost being violated all over again because nurses and doctors are looking at you, they're testing you, taking this and taking that samples and, you know, scraping your fingernails and stuff DNA out of your mouth. And it was horrible. It was horrible. But I did it. I had to do it.
Starting point is 00:23:40 Though Lisa had been through the sexual assault forensic exam, police still had a lot of questions for her at the station. They couldn't believe how much detail she remembered. Well, it was a female officer at first that had came in. We sat for hours talking about what happened to me, not once did my story change, not once. She finally gets up and tells me, I'm going to go get some water for you on the right back. I guess there was an officer staying outside the door. I overheard or I thought I overheard that this is Timmy Holzer's story. She's not, you know, this, she's too calm telling
Starting point is 00:24:15 her story, something just not right. She comes back in. I was like, I want to go home. I'm done talking. I went home, finally got to come back down, and that's when they got Sergeant Larry Pinkerton involved. And the minute he walked in that room, this is presence, his calm demeanor. He was so authentic and so caring and so loving. Instead of doubting Lisa because she remembered so much detail, Detective Larry Pinkerton with the Tampa Police Department was impressed. He suggested hypnotizing Lisa to see if she could remember more that way. Lisa was on board, but when they asked Lisa's grandmother's boyfriend as her guardian for permission, he said no. This was a red flag to Detective Pinkerton.
Starting point is 00:24:58 He goes, you want to tell me what's going on at home? I couldn't talk. He pulled his wallet out and showed me a picture of his wife and his daughter. Beautiful. I would do anything for my family, even as a dad. I don't understand why your dad doesn't agree to a few things so we can help get this case resolved. And that's when he says, is he hurting you? And that was it. I opened up to him. I told him everything that was going on at home, how my grandmother set everything up for this man to rape me for the last four years. And they went and arrested him and they put him in jail. Her grandmother's boyfriend's arrest.
Starting point is 00:25:48 I had no contact with the grandmother anymore. Prior to Lisa's attack, Tampa police had been trying to solve a series of murders. From May through November of 1984, the bodies of Lana Long, Michelle Sims, Elizabeth Laudenbeck, Chanel Williams, Karen Densfriend, Kimberly Hopps, Kim Swan, and Virginia Johnson were all found in various places around Tampa. Most of them were last seen on or around Nebraska Avenue. Police had physical evidence from the crime scenes, including red fiber and tire tracks, but nothing to test it against. They still had no leads as to who killed these women. They needed a break, which they got when Lisa happened to be watching the news one day. The news came on. Another dead body had been found. And I knew at that moment when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, I froze.
Starting point is 00:26:50 And I said, Dear God, the man that had me is the serial killer. I called the police department. I said, You need to have Larry come get me. I got something to tell him, something else that I have got to talk to him about. My total, my feelings were of this perpet this perpetrator, the guy that had me, was the same, indeed, man who was killing these women. He's, how do you know? Are you 100% sure? I said, my gut instincts tell me it's him.
Starting point is 00:27:19 From the Magnum logo Lisa saw on the dashboard of the car, police determined the man was driving a Dodge Magnum logo Lisa saw on the dashboard of the car. Police determined the man was driving a Dodge Magnum. They also figured out which ATM he used the night he abducted Lisa and subpoenaed the bank's records. Comparing the list of registered Dodge Magnum owners from the DMV with a list of ATM users around the time Lisa said they were there, one name matched, Robert Joe Long.
Starting point is 00:27:46 Even though Lisa was blindfolded for most of her attack, police still brought a photo array to see if she could identify her attacker. Larry Pinkerton came to the runaway center and had a photo pack. And I remember when I first touched his face, he had these, it wasn't just like pockmarked face, he had deep pockmarked face, you know,
Starting point is 00:28:05 almost like he experienced acne as a boy. And when he showed me the photos, they go through the basic, you know, make sure you're 100% sure before you say yes, study the photos. I basically almost immediately identified the serial killer. I put it to the picture. He goes, take your time. I say, I don't need to, that's your guy. He goes, are you 100% sure? I say, I'm 110% sure that is your serial killer.
Starting point is 00:28:29 Robert Joe Long was arrested outside of a movie theater on November 16th. Detective Pinkerton broke the news to Lisa. Larry Pinkerton came in and told me about Robert Joe Long's arrest. And I was just amazed that Sergeant Pinkerton, he never left my side. And I'm glad he's the one that told me that he got caught. It humbled me to know that here a couple of days before my, or the day before my abduction,
Starting point is 00:28:58 I was wanting to kill myself. And then it was like, Goded. Not today. Not today. No matter what you're going through, don't carry yourself. You're too precious. I think it humbled me. I was glad he was caught. This is how I put it. Justice was served the day he was arrested. That's how I felt. Justice finally prevailed for me. It also showed the women that he killed, that they had a voice and that voice was me. Robert Joe Long confessed to all eight murders, plus the murder of a woman named Artis Wick, but he wasn't done. He also confessed to roughly 50 sexual assaults in St. Petersburg and Miami, Florida. He would respond to classified ads pretending to be a buyer or worker. And if the woman who placed the ad was home alone, he would rape her.
Starting point is 00:29:59 Ultimately, Long was tried for the murder of Virginia Johnson in Pasco County and Michelle Sims in Hillsborough County. He did a plea bargain for my case. So when I went to court numerous times, I was never allowed to talk about my ordeal with him. I was to only identify him and my clothing. That was it. I never had a victim's advocate. There were times I was angry.
Starting point is 00:30:20 Nobody was there for me. I'd go down to court, sit in a hotel room, wait to go to court, sat in a room by myself. I had no one, no one. It was awful. I'd walk into court, and he would just stare me down. There was one time he did point his finger at me like it was a gun and sat back and just had
Starting point is 00:30:38 this smirk on his face. But it was more motivation for me to make sure he stayed behind bars. I think he should have gotten the death penalty for each one. It was a life. Robert Joe Long was sentenced to death for the murder of Virginia Johnson and received a separate death sentence for the murder of Michelle Sims. The other murders and Lisa's attack fell under a plea agreement
Starting point is 00:31:00 where he received 26 life sentences. His conviction and sentence for Virginia Johnson was overturned for procedural flaws and retried three times. After the third overturning, he was acquitted of her murder. But all it takes is one death sentence. Back in April 2019, I received a call regarding Robert Joe Long from Tallahassee.
Starting point is 00:31:24 So I go to my office and I sit down and she's telling me about that our governor of Florida, state of Florida, has just signed Robert Joe Long's death warrant. What does that mean? And that he's going to be executed on May 23rd. And I got to be honest, I started crying. And I'll tell you why. Because I feel all these years, finally justice is going to be completed. But how one human being can have a had the say-so of as part of why he's being executed. I'm the one who got him caught. But then the law enforcement side of me, again, it's my compassion showing through, law enforcement side of me, again, it's my compassion showing through, law enforcement side of me said it's about time.
Starting point is 00:32:07 And then she offered me to attend the execution. And without a shadow of a doubt, I said yes. I said, absolutely, I'll be there. Lisa didn't bring anyone with her to the execution, but she didn't have to go through it alone. I didn't take any family members. This is a journey I had to complete on my own. I needed that time for me. Surprisingly enough, Sergeant Pinkerton was there.
Starting point is 00:32:34 And Hillsborough County Sheriff, retired Sergeant, was also there. And we got to sit in the front row. And during the execution, they both held me up again. They held my hand. It was surreal. He not once looked at me or anybody else from what I saw. I did cry afterwards, post-execution, only because it's a complete feeling of, again, justice was finally completed.
Starting point is 00:33:06 He's finally put to death. The families of the victims he killed can go on with their lives. I can go on with my life and not have to worry about just that one chance, a one little chance. Either he gets out of prison or he dies in prison. I didn't want him to have the satisfaction of dying in prison.
Starting point is 00:33:25 That was too easy. He still got fed. He got to shower. He had recreational. You know, I wanted to see the execution go through. It was a long time overdue. Today, Lisa is a master deputy at the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office. Yeah, I think it's ironic that I am working for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. I just feel that between 10th Police Department and Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, they helped save my life.
Starting point is 00:33:55 They helped me save other women's lives. And I just made a promise to myself, one day, I'm going to be in law enforcement. I work in the community outreach school resource section. I can't tell you the reward I have working with young adults today. During the summertime, I do work child abuse investigations with our child protection investigation division. Due to my background, I don't like a child being hurt. I don't like a child being vulnerable to abuse our children today or our future and if a child gets hurt
Starting point is 00:34:30 my job gives me the opportunity again to be a child's voice when in need and I'm honored and I use my story as an inspiration there's those times I get victims of rape and I tell them my story to show them, hey, just because I've been through something horrible myself doesn't mean you can't make something of yourself. Use it as a motivation to go on in your life. It's hard. You've been going through counseling and all kinds of stuff, but it's always harder before it gets easier.
Starting point is 00:35:02 To speak to someone at the Rape Abuse Incest National Network, call 1-800-656-HOPE or 1-800-656-4673. You can also live chat with someone at RAINN.org Lifeline, you can now dial 988. Or you can live chat with someone at 988lifeline.org. I Survived is hosted and produced by Caitlin VanMal in Law and Crime Network. Audio editing by Brad Mabee. For A&E, our senior producer is John Thrasher, and our supervising producer is McKamey Lynn. Our executive producers are Jesse Katz, Sean Gottlieb, and Shelley Tatro. This podcast is based on A&E's Emmy-winning TV series, I Survived.
Starting point is 00:35:59 For more I Survived, visit AETV.com. I'm Brett. And I'm Alice. And together we host a weekly true crime podcast called The Prosecutors. In every episode, we bring our unique perspective as full-time prosecutors to the most famous and debated true crime mysteries. Whether it's Maura Murray, Scott Peterson, or the Delphi murders, Brett and I dig deep to bring you details you won't hear anywhere else. Our podcast is about more than just a story.
Starting point is 00:36:36 We will walk you through the legal problems lurking behind every case, breaking down the complexities of the criminal justice system with humor and a personal touch. And it's not just true crime. We bring the same training and approach we've learned as prosecutors to classic mysteries like the Dyatlov Pass incident and the ghost ship Mary Celeste. So if you're looking for a true crime podcast with a different point of view, The Prosecutors is the one for you. Find us wherever you get your podcasts. movies and more. Download the Pluto TV app on all your favorite devices and start streaming holiday favorites on live channels and on demand. With thousands of free movies and TV shows, Pluto TV is your home for the holidays. Pluto TV. Stream now. Pay never.

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