Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - He Kidnapped The Wrong Girl // The Lisa McVey Kidnapping Story

Episode Date: September 15, 2026

Lisa McVey was abducted by serial killer Bobby Joe Long in Tampa, Florida, in 1984. She outwitted him to escape.

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free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. What would you do if you were key to? kidnapped by a serial killer. Now this starts with this girl, Lisa. And Lisa is 17, living in Tampa, Florida, and Lisa doesn't have the greatest life. She lived in foster care for a few years. Now she lives with her grandma and her grandma's boyfriend.

But the thing is, her grandma's boyfriend is really abusive. He often essays Lisa, and if she tries to stop him or tell anyone, he threatens to shoot her. And her grandma allows all of this to go on because this guy pays the bills. I mean, she even often tells Lisa, this is what you have to do to live here. So yeah, like I said, Lisa doesn't have the greatest life. And so one day, in 1984, she decides she can't live like this anymore. And she's going to end her own life. And she's going to do it tonight when she gets home from her shift at Krispy Kreme.

So she goes to work. one last time. Then, around 2 a.m., her shift is over, so she starts riding her bike home, thinking that this is the last night of her life. But what she doesn't know is that things are about to get even worse for her, because there just happens to be a serial killer on the loose. And the serial killer is this guy, Bobby Joe. And police have been trying to catch Bobby Joe for a long while. And for the last few months, he's been on. a killing rampage around Tampa and he's killed at least eight women so far and he's just decided that Lisa is gonna be his next target so Lisa's riding her bike down the street

when suddenly boom he jumps out from behind a parked car and he grabs her from behind and he puts a revolver to her head then he throws her into his car and he puts a blindfold on her and he assays her after that he drives away with her. And poor Lisa, she realizes that she's being kidnapped and she's terrified. But here's the thing. She's kind of used to terrifying situations. Like she's used to being abused. She's even used to having her life threatened. So while most people would be too overcome with fear to think straight, Lisa keeps her cool. She decides she's not giving this creep control of when her life ends. She's going to fight because she has to make sure that she gets away and that this monster gets caught.

So she starts plotting and she can see a little beneath her blindfold and she sees the words Magnum on the dashboard. So she memorizes the model of his car. She also rubs her feet on the carpet of his car so she'll have the evidence of the carpet on her shoes and clothes. Now later Bobby Joe takes her out of the car and up to his apartment and along the way she counts every step to see how far she'll have to run if she happens to escape. And when Bobby Joe reaches for the door handle, she gets a glimpse of his hands through the blindfold, and she can see that he's a white guy. Now, inside the apartment, she keeps collecting information. She memorizes his green carpet and everything else she can sense. She also makes sure to press her fingers

onto the bathroom mirror, the counters, the walls, the picture frames, anywhere she can leave her fingerprints. And so ultimately, Bobby Joe keeps her there overnight. And of course, he continues to do terrible things to her. Now, at this point, Lisa knows that she can't fight Bobby Joe physically. I mean, he's too strong. But she can fight him psychologically. And because she survived years of abuse by her grandma's boyfriend, she knows exactly how to handle this. She's going to manipulate this guy. So eventually she straight up asks him calmly, why are you doing this to me? And Bobby Joe tells her,

My girlfriend broke up with me, so I'm doing this to get back at all women. So Lisa starts bullshitting him. Like, I could be your girlfriend. I'd take care of you. We don't have to tell anyone how we met. And again, she plays calm. She even touches his face,

like she's genuinely interested in him. Now, obviously, she's not interested in him. what she's really doing is she's trying to feel for what he looks like. And she memorizes his mustache and his snub nose and other details of his face. She also compliments him and she acts sympathetic towards him to win him over. Then she launches into this elaborate made-up story to make him feel bad for her. She says, my dad is sick. I'm the only one who takes care of him and he'll die if I'm not with him.

And this starts to fuck with Bobby Jones. Joe's head. See, he had planned on killing her. But now, he's all frustrated like, ugh, what am I going to do with you? Meanwhile, back at Lisa's grandma's house, grandma realizes that Lisa's missing, like she never came home from work. So she calls the police. While at the same time, at Bobby Joe's apartment, Bobby Joe is ready to take Lisa somewhere. So he makes her get in his car, and he starts driving to an unknown location. And during this drive, Lisa makes sure to memorize the direction he's going, and she notes that he stops at an ATM.

Then, once he gets to this unknown location, Bobby Joe tells her to get out of the car. And she does. And of course, here, Lisa knows she's about to die. But here's the thing. Bobby Joe doesn't actually kill her. Instead, he says, Tell your father,

he's the reason I didn't kill you. Then he gets in his car, and he drives away, and he leaves her there. And Lisa can't believe it. I mean, she successfully tricked a serial killer into not murdering her. She's actually going to live.

So she runs all the way back home, back to her grandma's house. But when she gets there, her grandma and her grandma's boyfriend, they don't welcome her. In fact, they're super pissed off, like, where the hell have you been? And Lisa is like, I was kidnapped. And Grandma's boyfriend is like, liar, you've been out cheating on me.

And then he starts beating her. And he beats her and he interrogates her for five hours. Now, during this time, Grandma calls the police and says, Lisa finally came home, the brat ran away and made up some story about being kidnapped. But police still need to talk with Lisa, you know, to get a statement. So Lisa goes down to the station and she tells them what happened, and the police don't even believe her. Now, from here, Lisa isn't going to give up. I mean, she knows Bobby Joe will just keep on killing innocent women unless he gets caught.

Now, eventually, she gets interviewed by this guy, Sergeant Pinkerton. And Pinkerton actually believes her. And so Lisa is able to give him the location of the ATM that Bobby Joe had stopped at and the make and model of his car, Dodge Magnum. And so Pinkerton gets a list of names of people who use that ATM, then he cross-references it with the names of the people who drive Dodge Magnums in the area. And that narrows it down to a handful of suspects. And when Pinkerton shows her the pictures of the suspects,

Lisa recognizes Bobby Joe immeas. immediately. White man, mustache, snub nose. And so police go and they search Bobby Joe's apartment, and they find all the evidence Lisa left, like the fingerprints that she intentionally left in stuff, and they're able to match the red carpet fibers on her clothes to the red carpet in Bobby Joe's car. The exact evidence she planted on herself to get him caught. Not only that, but police are also able to match his carpet to evidence found on the bodies of his other victims, which means Lisa's actions just solved several unsolved murders. And so, bam, they arrest Bobby Joe. Here's his mugshot. And ultimately, Bobby Joe takes a plea deal, but he gets sentenced to

death anyway. Here's the thing, though, this story actually gets better, because Lisa realizes that she finally has someone in her life that she can trust, Sergeant Pinkerton. So she tells him all about the abuse that she's been living with at her grandma's house. And so, bam, Pinkerton goes and personally arrests Grandma's boyfriend himself. Because fuck that guy. Not only that, but this whole experience gives Lisa a new purpose in life. She not only decides that she wants to continue living, but also that she wants to protect victims like her and believe their stories. So eventually, she grows up and she goes on to become a deputy with the county sheriff's department and a school resource officer. And she goes on to dedicate her life to protecting kids, stopping abuse,

and advocating for victims, which she still does to this day.