Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Classified Ad Rapist” Pt. 2: Bobby Joe Long

Episode Date: January 27, 2020

In 1984, Bobby Joe Long terrorized Tampa—sexually assaulting and murdering women with alarming frequency. But one 17-year-old girl escaped his clutches, living to see him brought to justice. Learn m...ore about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:02:28 This episode includes graphic discussions of murder and sexual assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. Cindy Bartlett was tired. It had been a long day. After dinner, she'd managed to wrangle her two young children into their pajamas and tuck them into bed. Now, with a measure of quiet settling over the house, she started to clear the dinner table. As she tidied up, she turned on the television, wanting to catch the evening news. She was greeted with the upsetting vision of police removing a body bag from a field near a road.
Starting point is 00:03:08 Another young woman had been murdered down in Tampa. Cindy was transfixed by the report. A serial killer was at large so close to her own home. She realized she'd been holding the same dinner plate for a couple of minutes only when the phone rang. She answered the phone and heard her ex-husband Bobby on the line. After they had divorced, the two stayed on good terms. and he had often called to check in on her and their kids. Knowing that he lived in Tampa, Cindy couldn't resist bringing up the murders.
Starting point is 00:03:42 She asked, what's going on down there? His reply was simple. Well, it's like I always tell you. You never can be too careful. Hi, I'm Greg Polson. This is serial killers, a podcast original. Every Monday, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. This is our second episode on Bobby Joe Long, also known as the Classified Ad Rapist.
Starting point is 00:04:19 I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Parcast originals for free on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. To stream serial killers for free on Spotify, just open the app and type serial killers in the search bar. At Parcast, we're grateful for you, our listeners. You allow us to do what we love. Let us know how we're doing.
Starting point is 00:04:44 Reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Parcast and Twitter at Parcast Network. And if you enjoy today's episode, the best way to help us is to leave a five-star review wherever you're listening. It really does help. Last week, we covered Bobby Joe Long's disorganized childhood, milestone by his parents' two divorces and a series of traumatic head injuries. We also heard how a motorcycle accident left him with an insatiable sexual appetite and explosive anger. issues. Eventually, Bobby committed dozens of rapes across Tampa before he progressed to his first murder. This week, we'll take a look at Bobby's string of brutal killings in Tampa, the frantic efforts of the police hunting him, and the 17-year-old girl who brought him to justice.
Starting point is 00:05:37 On May 4, 1984, 30-year-old Bobby Joe Long picked up 19-year-old Lana Long off Nebraska Avenue in Tampa, where she worked as a dancer. After attacking and sexually assaulting women all over Florida, Bobby finally graduated to murderer. He bound, raped, and strangled Lana off an unpaved road near I-75, and then left her nude body lying in the dirt. When Lana was eventually discovered, police noted that her killer had splayed her legs wide apart.
Starting point is 00:06:11 The deliberate posing was intended to further humiliate Lana, even after she had died. This positioning eventually became Bobby's calling card. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. A reminder, she is not a licensed psychologist or a psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. Criminology professor Dr. Scott Bond noted that
Starting point is 00:06:36 if the crime scene alterations only serve the fantasy needs of the offender, then they're considered part of the signature, and they're referred to as posing. The essential core of the signature, when present, is that it is always the same because it emerges out of an offender's fantasies that evolved long before killing his first victim. We heard last week how Bobby's positioning of Lana's body
Starting point is 00:07:02 was likely symptomatic of his hatred towards women. By examining his childhood, we discovered that Bobby's resentment of women likely took root because of his complicated relationship with his mother. Bobby judged his mother for her overly promiscuous lifestyle. She often brought men home and had sex with them in the bed she shared with her son. He also felt neglected by her, so it's entirely possible that his attack on Lana, a sex worker, may have been a way for him to enact a sort of vengeance on his mother.
Starting point is 00:07:35 Then, once his violent, vengeful urges were satisfied, Bobby drove away from Lana's lifeless body and got back to his regular life. As he settled back into his everyday routine, Bobby wondered if he would be caught. Each day he waited, holding his breath, sure he would hear about the body being discovered. When there was no news about Lana, Bobby began to wonder if he had actually killed her, or if he had just dreamed it. Lana's body remained undiscovered for more than a week. It was found by two teenage boys who alerted police on May 13th. The grizzly find was splashed across the local media. Bobby later recalled, until I read it in the newspaper, I wasn't really sure it really happened.
Starting point is 00:08:21 It's possible that Bobby was exhibiting symptoms of dissociative amnesia. The DSM-5 lists the defining feature of dissociative amnesia as an inability to recall important autobiographical information, usually as a result of a stressful or traumatic incident. Doctors Dominique Bojou and Lori Whitehurst outlined possible reasons for dissociative amnesia's existence in their article Amnesia and Crime. One such theory is that it protects our psyche from the impacts of trauma by repressing the memory or impairing the encoding of said memory.
Starting point is 00:08:59 Until the day Bobby saw news of Lana's murder, his memories of the event seemed to have been significantly affected. What wasn't shared in the various reports of Lana's murder were several key pieces of evidence investigators found at the scene, including curiously mismatched tire impressions in the dirt and a red trilobal nylon fiber. When the fiber was tested, the results suggested that it came from the carpet of a car. These two crucial pieces of information about the murderer's car
Starting point is 00:09:30 were filed away in the hope that they could later be used to identify a killer For now, though, there was little else to go on. While the police investigated his first murder, Bobby was ready to move on to the next. With his dreamlike memories of the murder confirmed, he decided that it had been a success. He made up his mind to repeat the entire process the next time. Less than two weeks later, on May 26, 1984, Bobby returned to Nebraska Avenue, lit up by strip club Neons, sex workers' work. waited on the sidewalk to meet clients. Here, Bobby was confident he would find his next victim.
Starting point is 00:10:13 As he drove slowly down the street, he spotted 22-year-old Michelle Sims and felt immediately drawn to her. A former beauty pageant contestant from California, Michelle was now a regular on Nebraska Avenue, making ends meet through sex work. Bobby pulled up alongside Michelle and wound down his window. She asked if he wanted a date. Seconds later, she got in the car. She wasn't seen alive again. The next morning, a construction worker came across Michelle's naked corpse. Like Lana before her, she was found with her hands bound behind her back,
Starting point is 00:10:52 and a rope wrapped around her neck. Hanging from a tree nearby, a pair of white panty hose, and a white jumpsuit moved slowly in the breeze. Both were caked with blood. When the medical examiner delivered their report on Michelle's murder, they offered three contributing causes of death, a blow to the head with a blunt object, manual strangulation, and a deep gash to the throat. Together, these findings offered one certain, disturbing conclusion. Michelle's death was brutal and incredibly violent. At this stage, investigators at the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office felt confident that Lana and Michelle's deaths were linked.
Starting point is 00:11:36 The similarities were too striking to ignore. Following their strong suspicions, they sent the physical evidence they had gathered at Michelle's crime scene to the FBI Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Everything, the recovered clothing, the ropes, the tire impressions, and the fiber evidence was analyzed at the FBI lab. The results confirmed two connections between the two cases. First, red fibers from a nylon car carpet were found on both victims. Second, the tire impressions of the crime scenes also matched. Tampa Bay had a serial killer on the loose. After receiving the lab results, investigators met with FBI profilers
Starting point is 00:12:20 to help them create a psychological profile of the killer. They spoke with officers who had been on the scene and examine photographs of the bodies, as well as the physical evidence. Then they delivered the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, its first ever criminal profile. Even after just two murders, these skilled profilers were able to draw a precise portrait of the killer. They posited that he was a white male who chose his victims because they lived on the outskirts of society and likely wouldn't be missed. They also theorized that he was a high school dropout,
Starting point is 00:12:55 with trouble controlling his impulses, and that he likely had gone into military service. Their in-depth profile described an individual bearing a striking resemblance to Bobby Joe Long. The profilers felt that already the killer was progressing and displaying signs that he enjoyed what he was doing. Though he was never formally diagnosed, Bobby displayed traits associated with sexual sadism disorder. This particular paraphylic tendency involves causing pain, humiliation, or fear in another person, and deriving sexual gratification from that result. According to the DSM-5, a person can be a sexual sadist without causing harm to others. But in Bobby's case, he carried out his violent sexual desires without the consent of his partner
Starting point is 00:13:51 and caused psychological or physical harm. This moved his desires beyond a preference and qualify them as a disorder. The warning signs of the killer's sexual sadism disorder may be what led the profilers to deliver to the police a chilling warning. He will continue to kill unless you come close to him or actually apprehend him. Indeed, by the time they delivered their report, Bobby Joe Long had already struck again. Coming up, Bobby Joe Long had already struck again. murder spree kicks into high gear.
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Starting point is 00:14:47 and secure a spot in the finale May 29th. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win? Details at Yamava.com must be 21st winter. Scandal responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. Now back to the story. In the summer of 1984, 30-year-old Bobby Joe Long graduated from serial rapist to serial murderer. He primarily targeted sex workers working on Nebraska Avenue.
Starting point is 00:15:19 22-year-old Elizabeth Loudenbach was no exception. He murdered her on June 8th after Elizabeth had accepted a ride home. She warned him as she got into the car. Don't try anything. Unlike Bobby's previous victims, Elizabeth wasn't a sex worker. She was quiet and shy and worked as a solderer in an electronics factory. According to neighbors, she liked to keep to herself and read a lot. But Elizabeth's shy personality didn't deter Bobby. Just like before, he quickly bound and stripped her and then drove to a secluded area.
Starting point is 00:15:55 this time an orange grove. There, amongst the trees, he raped Elizabeth. Bobby later told police that he had planned to let Elizabeth go. However, something about her angered him. Because Elizabeth was not a sex worker, she wasn't dressed provocatively. It's possible that Bobby didn't initially feel an overwhelming desire to control her in the same way he did his victims who were sex workers. Elizabeth, it seems, didn't remind him of his.
Starting point is 00:16:25 mother. While the exact reason is unclear, Bobby had planned on letting Elizabeth Loudon back go free that night. However, something about her behavior tripped Bobby's dangerously short fuse, and he gave into his murderous impulse, and he strangled her. Then Bobby left Elizabeth's body under the orange trees and drove away. Before he disposed of her belongings, he found Elizabeth's bank card and pin in her purse. He kept the card, and later he left the card, and later he was used it to withdraw cash several times. He scattered the rest of her things randomly out the window of his car as he drove home. This was the first time that the victim's bank card had been stolen, leading police to believe Elizabeth's murder was the work of a different killer. However,
Starting point is 00:17:13 after carefully examining the physical evidence, yet another strand of the familiar red trilobal nylon carpet was found. While police continued to investigate, trying desperately to catch up to Bobby before he struck again. There was an intermission in his attacks. It seems that Bobby led a relatively calm existence for the next couple of months. It might have been that he was trying to lay low, afraid of being caught, or perhaps he wasn't triggered to kill during that time. For three months, the murder stopped. Then, in September of 1984, Bobby's uncontrollable murderous impulses returned. One evening, he left his apartment to grab milk from a nearby store.
Starting point is 00:17:58 He intended to return within a few minutes, so he left a TV dinner cooking in the oven. However, as he drove back home, a young woman caught his eye. He hadn't gone out to hunt for a new victim. He just wanted a glass of milk with his dinner. But the impulse to attack overcame Bobby, and he gave into it. Chanel Williams had only been out of Hillsborough County Jail for a couple of days, when Bobby spotted her on September 30th, 1984. When he pulled up alongside the 18-year-old,
Starting point is 00:18:30 she told him that she wasn't what he thought she was, a sex worker, but she accepted a ride from him all the same. Chanel's body was found a week later on October 7th. By the time Bobby finally made it back home that night, his apartment was full of smoke from his burning TV dinner. As with Elizabeth Loudenbach, Chanel's murder deviated from what investigators considered to be the killer's MO. The victim had not died of strangulation and was not bound.
Starting point is 00:19:00 Because of this, police did not immediately associate Chanel's death with the other three. Until the fiber evidence came back from the lab. Once again, red trilobal carpet fibers were found at the scene. Now, police were able to link all four murders to the same car. But Bobby was unaware that investigators, were paying such close attention to his string of attacks, he continued to hunt. On the night of October 13th, he picked up Karen Dynne's friend.
Starting point is 00:19:33 Following his now familiar pattern, Bobby quickly bound Karen and then drove her to an orange grove. There, hidden by the trees, he raped and strangled her to death in his car. But then, his routine was disturbed. In his previous attacks, Bobby dumped his victim's body just outside, his car. However, on this night, he got spooked by noises he could hear nearby. Worryed he might be discovered if he dumped the body here, Bobby waited quietly in the dark, Karen's still warm corpse in the seat next to him. When he felt safe, Bobby wrapped Karen's body in a blanket
Starting point is 00:20:11 and put her in the trunk. Then he drove a mile or so away to another orange grove, where he further bound her body and left it on display. The next morning, Bobby's 31st birthday, Karen's beaten and strangled body was discovered in the shade of the citrus trees. Though this latest crime scene was somewhat different from the others, police knew quickly that this was the handiwork of their serial killer. They spotted the familiar red nylon fibers immediately. The police could now link five murders to the same killer, but they were no closer to actually catching him. Meanwhile, the bodies continued to turn up. On Halloween 1984, the mummified remains of 22-year-old Kimberly Hopps were discovered in a ditch on the edge of Hillsborough County.
Starting point is 00:21:04 The ditch ran parallel to U.S. Highway 301. Investigators assumed that she had been shoved from a stationary car. Despite the lack of physical evidence to officially tie Kimberly to the serial killings, her death was folded into the investigation. The fact that she was likely murdered in a car gave police the suspicion that her death was connected. If so, with this latest body, the killer had six murders under his belt in six months
Starting point is 00:21:32 and showed no signs of slowing down. The police felt like they were racing against the clock as they tried desperately to put a stop to the killing spree. Not only do they want to find the killer, they felt responsible for each new murder he committed. But the killer they searched for, 31-year-old Bobby Joe Long was getting sloppy. More and more he deviated from the pattern he set for himself with his earliest murders.
Starting point is 00:21:57 Driven by impulse, it was like he was in a frenzy. Forensic psychologist Catherine Ramsland of DeSales University gave expert analysis on Bobby Joe Long's case. She said that at this point, Bobby felt a greater need. Bobby's seeming addiction to the kill drove him to act more and more erratically. According to Ramsland's theory, he was willing to break his own rules to satiate his twisted desires. The increased pace of his attacks also spoke to Bobby's growing feeling of invincibility. As we covered last week, Bobby went undetected as a serial rapist for years. He had never been caught for those crimes.
Starting point is 00:22:40 Now he'd escalated to murder, and it still seemed like nothing could touch him. emboldened by the sense of invulnerability. Bobby's next attack took him far outside his usual pattern. At the early hours of November 3, 1984, just three days after the discovery of his sixth victim, Bobby set his sights on 17-year-old Lisa McVeigh. Lisa had finished closing for the night at the donut shop where she worked. It was a little after 2 a.m., and a friendly coworker offered her a ride home, but Lisa turned it down.
Starting point is 00:23:16 She had her bike and only needed to go about three miles. As she rode through the inky darkness, Lisa passed a familiar sight, a large local church. She was used to seeing the church's parking lot empty at this time of night, which is why the lone parked car caught her attention. The car was dark red and had one wheel that didn't match the others. Curious, Lisa looked over her shoulder to get another look. It was at that moment that she felt. a large arm close around her.
Starting point is 00:23:47 Lisa's feet didn't even hit the ground as she was pulled off her bike by an unseen assailant. As she struggled, Lisa felt cold steel pressed against her left temple, the barrel of a gun. Lisa screamed as the man dragged her towards the red car. He opened the passenger door and threw her inside. As she looked down at the seat next to her, she saw a large hunting knife gleaming in the lamplight. Lisa realized that her life was in very real danger, and she would do anything she could to survive. But before she could see anything else,
Starting point is 00:24:22 or get a look at the face of the man who had grabbed her, Lisa was blindfolded. With the gun pressed to her head once more, the man ordered her to take off her clothes. She thought that keeping her captor happy was her best shot at survival, so she complied. Once she was naked, her attacker sexually assaulted her in the car. The whole time, the man loudly and repeatedly told Lisa that she was going to show him a good time.
Starting point is 00:24:50 If she did, he promised to let her live. Here we can see a need for Bobby to assert his masculinity and control over the women he attacked. Returning to forensic psychologist Catherine Ramsland, she stated that he wants to be reassured that he has the power over these women. This could be another indication of the insecurity, Bobby felt, and his desire, to humiliate women who reminded him of his mother. For Lisa, she had no idea what had brought on this attack, but she felt a strange sense of calm. Earlier that very day, Lisa had written a suicide note. When Bobby pulled her off her bicycle, she had been on her way home to end her own life. Lisa McVeigh had, by her own account,
Starting point is 00:25:36 lived a scary, lonely childhood. At the age of five, she was removed from her family and placed into the foster care system. After nine tumultuous years bouncing between foster homes, Lisa returned to her biological family at the age of 14, moving in with her grandmother. Unfortunately, Lisa then suffered three years of sexual and emotional abuse at the hands of her grandmother's boyfriend. Now, just when she had decided to take her own life, she found herself in mortal peril. And she felt an overwhelming drive to stay alive, As her attacker drove away from the church, she followed his instructions and didn't try to fight him. She knew that keeping this man calm was essential if she was going to live through this.
Starting point is 00:26:24 Unbeknownst to her attacker, Lisa could still see a little of what was around her through her blindfold. She did her best to take note of her surroundings and what the car looked like. She noticed a green digital clock in the dashboard, that the steering wheel was leather, and she could read the word magnum in gleaming metal. letters above the glove box. At her feet was plush red carpeting. Lisa didn't know it, but she had just been kidnapped by Tampa's most sadistic serial killer, Bobby Joe Long. Coming up, Lisa finds herself in the clutches of a killer. Now back to the story. On November 3rd, 1984, 17-year-old Lisa McVeigh was kidnapped while on her way home from work in Tampa, Florida.
Starting point is 00:27:17 As she sat blindfolded in her attacker's car, she had no idea she was in the clutches of a serial killer, 31-year-old Bobby Joe Long. Yet, Lisa was determined to survive. When the car eventually stopped, Bobby ordered Lisa to dress and get out. He led her to a building, and together they climbed up a flight of stairs.
Starting point is 00:27:40 Still blindfolded, Lisa counted 18 steps to her attacker's apartment. When she stepped over the threshold, Lisa could smell fresh paint. Her senses were on high alert for any identifying features. If she was able to escape, she wanted to be able to help the police
Starting point is 00:27:58 find her abductor later. Eventually, Bobby brought the still blindfolded Lisa to a bathroom, where he started running the shower. Here, his behavior changed, and he began to treat Lisa like a treasured girlfriend. He bathed her and told her, and told her she was pretty.
Starting point is 00:28:15 Completely confused as to what was happening, Lisa asked Bobby why he was doing this to her. He replied that he had recently been dumped and was using her to get back at women in general. His answer supports the theory that Bobby had a vendetta against women, which, as we've examined, likely began during his childhood.
Starting point is 00:28:35 Once Lisa had finished drying her hair, she was pushed to the ground and brutally raped. It wouldn't be the last time that night. As a lifelong survivor of sustained physical and sexual abuse, Lisa felt it was in her best interest to not fight back. After the attack, Lisa told Bobby that she needed to use the toilet, but that she wouldn't be able to if he was in the room. Surprisingly, Bobby stepped out and closed the door behind him.
Starting point is 00:29:05 Frantically, Lisa began to touch surfaces all around the room, determined to leave her fingerprints everywhere. When she stepped out of the bathroom, still blindfolded, Lisa was led into what she could tell was a bedroom. Bobby laid her down in the bed and told her to get some rest. He then touched the gun to her skin to remind her that he was still armed. He slid into the bed next to her and seemed to drift off to sleep. Lisa lay in the bed for hours, unsure of the snores she heard were real or faked. She was too terrified to move.
Starting point is 00:29:40 Eventually, Bobby woke up. up and the assault began anew. For hours, Lisa endured sustained attacks from Bobby. Sometimes he took her hands and placed them on his face, pretending to lovingly caress him. Lisa took the chance to feel for defining features on Bobby's face, pock-marked skin, neat mustache, small ears. She filed away every piece of information she could. In moments of respite, he asked her questions about her family. Once again, Bobby showed signs of affection towards Lisa. She played along with his interest, answered his questions, and did her best to keep him on an even keel. Finally, over 26 hours after he had first snatched Lisa from her bicycle, Bobby asked her a question
Starting point is 00:30:31 she wasn't expecting. What am I going to do with you? She assumed the question was rhetorical, but he asked it again. What was he going to do? Lisa offered to be his girlfriend. She promised to take care of him and to not ever tell anyone how they had met. She had no intention of following through. She simply wanted to appease her attacker. But whether the offer was tempting or not,
Starting point is 00:30:58 it wasn't something Bobby would accept. He ordered Lisa to get dressed and let her back downstairs to his car. He asked her where she lived. He was going to drop her off at home. Along the drive, Bobby stopped the car and got out. Once again, too scared to make a run for it, Lisa stayed in the car, but peaked through her blindfold to see that her attacker was using an ATM nearby. She looked around and memorized nearby
Starting point is 00:31:25 landmarks. Eventually, Bobby got back behind the steering wheel. Just a few minutes later, Lisa felt the vehicle pulled to a stop. Bobby leaned over and hugged her. She tensed up in his arms as he apologized for what she had gone through. She got out of the car and heard it drive away into the quiet, early morning dark. After a moment, Lisa realized she could at last remove her blindfold. She turned and ran through the neighborhood. Every time she heard a car approaching, she feared her attacker had changed his mind and was coming back for her. Eventually, Lisa reached the police station. They're finally feeling safe. She told the officers everything about her ordeal. She was able to describe her attacker's face, his apartment, and his car, a red dodge magnum.
Starting point is 00:32:21 Among these details, one stood out that her attacker's car had one mismatched wheel. Tire impressions taken from earlier crime scenes indicated that the killer's car had one odd tire. Then the fiber evidence from Lisa's clothing returned from the lab. It was a match to the red trilobal nylon carpeting found on the earlier victims. The investigators now knew that if they found Lisa's attacker, they would also find their serial killer. In the meantime, Bobby's killing spree continued. On November 6, 1984, decomposed body parts belonging to 18-year-old Virginia Johnson. were discovered on a ranch in Pascoe County.
Starting point is 00:33:08 It was estimated that she had died two weeks earlier. Evidence suggested that Virginia had been strangled to death and that the body had been ravaged by animals and the elements. Given the similarities between this death and the serial murders in neighboring Hillsborough County, the two sheriff's departments joined forces to investigate this latest slaying. But despite their best efforts to apprehend the killer,
Starting point is 00:33:34 Bobby continued to elude authorities. Less than a week later, on November 12th, a woman's body was discovered in a wooded area near the Orient Road overpass. A driver's license in the pocket of the woman's jeans identified her as 21-year-old Kim Marie Swan. Kim had last been seen on November 9th. Like the earlier victims, she had been strangled to death,
Starting point is 00:33:59 and she was found with her legs spread wide apart. Police were frantic. If their suspicions were correct, their killer had just claimed his eighth victim. With public interest in the case mounting and a genuine fear for women's safety in Tampa, a joint task force was announced on November 14th. It combined the resources of the Hillsborough and Pascoe County Sheriff Departments, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the FBI. It was hoped that together they could bring. an end to the serial killer's reign of terror.
Starting point is 00:34:37 Tampa locals watched on with held breath. The terror of a faceless killer had plagued their community for months, but they wouldn't have to wait much longer. The very next day, the police caught a lucky break. On November 15, 1984, Bobby Joe Long was pulled over in his Red Dodge Magnum. Two patrol officers had spotted the car and noticed it matched the vehicle description they had printed out at the station. The officers told Bobby that they were responding to news of a nearby robbery. But they didn't actually have a viable cause to arrest him. Instead, they photographed him,
Starting point is 00:35:16 then had no choice but to watch him drive away. When Lisa McVeigh was shown the photo in a lineup, she immediately picked out Bobby Joe Long as the man who had kidnapped her. The task force responded swiftly. On November 16th, 31-year-old Bobby was arrested on charge. of kidnapping and sexual assault. When he was brought in for interrogation, Bobby quickly confessed to abducting Lisa, but denied knowing anything about the eight murders. But then the police confronted Bobby
Starting point is 00:35:47 with the physical evidence linking him and his vehicle to the crimes. Red trilobal fibers on all the women. After years of feeling untouchable, it didn't take Bobby long to realize he'd finally been caught. He asked the... interrogators what they wanted to know. In chilling detail, he ran through the list of young
Starting point is 00:36:11 women he had killed, describing their interactions with him, the murders themselves, and where he dumped the bodies. After his description of the eight murders, police asked Bobby if he knew anything about a woman named Vicky Elliott. Vicki, a 21-year-old waitress, had gone missing some two months earlier. When he was shown her photo, Bobby confirmed that he had indeed murdered her, just like all the others. He told police where they could find her body,
Starting point is 00:36:41 and it was located that same day. Having made his confession to the police, Bobby requested a phone call. He had one more person he needed to tell. Bobby's ex-wife Cindy was surprised to hear from him that evening. They'd just spoke in the night before. He warned her that you can never be too careful with serial killers on the loose in Tampa. It therefore came as a complete shock to Cindy when Bobby told her that he was responsible.
Starting point is 00:37:09 Though he had been abusive during their marriage, Cindy had never suspected Bobby was capable of murder. Now he had just told her that he was responsible for the deaths of nine. With his confessions on tape, Bobby appeared in court the next day. He was charged with the murders of nine women, though more bodies were found in the coming weeks and months that were suspected to be Bobby's victims. While he awaited trial, Bobby met with forensic psychologist Dr. Robert Berland. At trial, Berlin declared that Bobby was psychotic and diagnosed him with antisocial personality disorder. According to the DSM-5, antisocial personality disorder can impair an individual's empathy, intimacy, ego, and. and self-direction.
Starting point is 00:38:00 Over the course of Bobby's life, we can see all these symptoms exhibited at various stages, both before and after his motorcycle accident in 1974. In the end though, the root cause of Bobby's deadly impulses did not matter to the juries. For eight of the murders, as well as other charges, he was sentenced to four 99-year terms in prison, plus 28 life sentences.
Starting point is 00:38:28 Then in May of 1985, just over a year after his spree began, Bobby Joe Long was sentenced to death for the murder of Virginia Johnson. Bobby sat on death row for over 30 years, longer than any of his victims were alive, but he couldn't avoid his fate forever. On May 23rd, 2019, 65-year-old Bobby Joe Long was executed by lethal injection. Sitting in the front row of the witness chamber was Lisa McVay Nolan. After she played an instrumental role in bringing her attacker to justice, Lisa vowed to protect the people of her community. In 2005, she earned her badge as a deputy of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department. Emerging from her ordeal, Lisa felt stronger than before and decided to use that strength to stand, arms outstretched, between more innocent. and victims at the next Bobby Joe Long.
Starting point is 00:39:31 Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. We'll be back Monday with a new episode. You can find all episodes of serial killers and all other podcast originals for free on Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Not only does Spotify already have all of your favorite music, but now Spotify is making it easy for you to enjoy all of your favorite podcast originals like serial killers for free from your phone, desktop, or smart speaker. To stream serial killers on Spotify, just open the app and type Serial Killers in the
Starting point is 00:40:17 search bar. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Parcast and Twitter at Parcast Network. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers was created by Max Cutler and is a Parcast Studios original. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler, sound design by Dick Schroeder with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Charlie Madden, Travis Clark, and Joel Stein. This episode of serial killers was written by Joel Callan, with writing assistants by Abigail Cannon, and stars Greg Polson and Vanessa Richardson.
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