Bobby Joe Long – Serial Killer

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Bobby Joe Long - Serial Killer

Bobby Joe Long stalked women along the “Strip” in Tampa, Florida in 1984 that he deemed were disposable. Was previous head trauma to blame or was there a long-simmering hatred of women that finally exploded into murder?  Not all heroes wear capes and a teenager named Lisa McVey would be the heroine Tampa needed to stop a serial killer.

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Bobby Joe Long’s Victims

In May 1984 Bobby Joe Long stalked victims along Nebraska Ave. This area in Tampa Florida was known as “the Strip.”

Lana Long

Lana Long was a 20 yrs old exotic dancer on the strip of Tampa. She was found by two boys running through a field. They found her nude, face down, with her legs spread 5 feet apart. Her hands were tied behind her back, and a cord is wrapped around her neck. She was raped and strangled. There are tire tracks and red fibers found on the scene.

Lana lived with her boyfriend John who became a suspect. He didn’t report her missing because they had a fight and he thought she left him. Later police would find that she was offered a ride on her way home. Once in the car, a knife was pulled. She was taken to a secluded area where she was raped and strangled. 

Michelle Sims

Within 2 weeks Michelle Sims is found. She turned to prostitution to support an addiction. She is also found bound and nude with a ligature around her neck. Her throat was slashed and she had blunt force trauma to the head. The same tire tracks and red fibers were found and there is some semen on her clothing. Based on the tire tracks, the vehicle had 3 different tires. 

Elizabeth Loudenback

Elizabeth Loudenback is the third victim. It took the police a few months to realize that it was the same killer. She didn’t fit the type of victim. Elizabeth worked in a manufacturing plant and lived in a mobile home with her parents a few blocks off of Nebraska Ave. She stepped out to take a walk and wasn’t see again. Unfortunately, her body is found in an advanced state of decomposition. Her body is clothed, not bound, with no obvious trauma. Police aren’t looking for evidence to link her to the other cases and are more focused on her boyfriend. Eventually, the red fibers are found.

Chanel Williams

Chanel Williams is an 18-year-old African American female. She was dumped on the roadside, not bound, and she suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Chanel had clothing knotted beside her (similar to Lana Long) and red fibers are found. She was a sex worker working the same strip.

Vicky Marie Elliot

Vicky Marie Elliot worked as a waitress in a hotel on the strip. She is planning to return to Michigan to become a paramedic. Vicky vanished on Sept 7th. She asked a neighbor for a ride to work but by the time they showed up she was gone. Police find an airline ticket to Michigan on her bed. When her body is found in November, the scissors that she carried for protection were lying beside her. 

Karen Dinsfriend

Karen Dinsfriend is a 28-year-old sex worker. She was found nude, and strangled, in a deserted area. The same red fibers are found. At this point we have 6 women, 4 of whom worked in clubs or were sex workers that have been killed.  The girls on the strip are terrified. Police start checking with club owners asking about suspicious people, but for them every one is suspicious.

Kimberly Hopps

Kimberly Hopps was found on October 31st. She is believed to have been a sex worker as well and was last seen near Nebraska Avenue. She was strangled and by the time she was found she was mummified. 

Lisa McVey

In November, 17-year-old Lisa McVey left the Krispy Kreme where she worked around 2 am. She was riding her bike when she heard a horn honking but she kept going. Upon reaching a church she saw a car in the parking lot. A guy comes out, knocks her off the bike, grabs her by the hair, and forced her into the car. He blindfolds her, binds her hands, and reclines her seatback. He took her to an apartment and raped her for over 26 hours. Throughout the whole ordeal, she placates everything he asks.

Lisa endured abuse from her grandmother’s boyfriend for years and had written a suicide note the night before. She left the note on her nightstand. Lisa now says that as she was being taken she realized she wanted to live. She used her survival instincts from the years of abuse to try to survive abduction.

Bobby Joe Long Releases Lisa

Lisa recalls a conversation where he says he is getting back at women for a bad breakup. At 3:00 am he dresses her and says, “what should I do with you?” She says you seem like a nice guy, I’ll be your girlfriend? He says no I can’t do that, where do you live, I’ll drop you off there? He forces her back into the car, drives, and at some point stops, leaves her, and drives away. 

She is able to give details on the car. It said Magnum on the dash (Dodge Magnum) and she was able to give indications of where the apartment might be based on landmarks. She was also able to tell police that he stopped at an ATM on the way to drop her off. Police start to compare people with that type of car that have withdrawn money from drive-up ATMs and lo and behold they find Bobby Joe Long.

Additional Victims – Virginia Johnson

Virginia Johnson, 18, is found on the same day Lisa McVey is released. There is not a lot of info except that she was last seen in the same area but was found in Pasco county. Police had trouble identifying her right away because her friends waited a few days before reporting her missing.

Kimberley Swann

Kimberley Swann worked as a dancer at the Sly Fox but a few months before that she had enrolled in a vocational program to be a medical technician. She also moved in with her parents to provide a better life for her 1 yr old son. She was last seen at a convenience store. Four days after her body was found Long was arrested.

Artis Wick

Artis Wick’s estimated DOD is March 1984. She was a sex worker that has been picked up by Long. He assaulted and raped her. The thought is that he was not satisfied and strangles her to death. Her remains were found in November 1984. 

The Capture

Police find Bobby Joe Long while he is in a movie theater. They take a look at his car and see red fibers and that his car has 3 different tires on it. They end up arresting him for the kidnapping and sexual battery of Lisa McVey. He signs a Miranda waiver and the detectives are able to get a confession.

Death Penalty

Once the confession is obtained they start questioning him about the murders. His answers start to become, “I’d rather not answer that.” Eventually, they get a confession to 8 murders in Hillsborough County and 1 in Pasco County (Virginia Johnson). In April 1985, he is tried for Virginia Johnson’s murder. He is found guilty with a unanimous recommendation for the death penalty.

Bobby Joe Long Pleads Guilty

Hillsborough county was ready to go to trial in September but Bobby agreed to a plead guilty to 8 counts of first-degree murder, 8 counts of kidnapping, and 7 counts of sexual battery. Separately, he pleads guilty to the kidnapping of Lisa McVey. The state retained the right to seek the death penalty in the Michelle Simms case, which they did on a 10 to 2 vote. Luckily they got the 12 out of 12 vote in the Virginia Johnson case because the Florida Supreme Court law changed. Now you must have 12 out of 12 to get a death sentence.  

Early Life

Bobby Joe Long was raised by his mother. She had a lot of men that she brought home. He also had quite a few head injuries when he was small. Bobby married his high school girlfriend. Their marriage seemed to be going well. They had two children and everything was “normal.”  After a motorcycle accident, where he had yet another head injury, he started to become abusive. In one instance he slammed her head on the edge of the TV and she blacked out. When she woke up she drove herself to the hospital to get stitched up. She came home and he was sleeping. His wife loaded a double-barrel shotgun and pointed it at his head. Unfortunately, she couldn’t do it. She realized then that she needed to get a divorce.

Rapes

After the divorce, he begins to rape women as the Classified Ad Rapist. He would look through classifieds and go during the day when the women were more likely to be alone. Bobby Joe Long would pull a knife and rape the women and rob them as well. He committed over 50 rapes. Bobby Joe Long was executed on May 23rd, 2019 at 6:55 PM with Lisa McVey in the front row.  She said that if she could say last words to him it would be, “‘Thank you for choosing me and not another 17-year-old girl.’” She explained that another girl may not have been able to handle it as she had.

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