Bobby Joe Long smiled, “Well, I guess you got me good … Yes, I killed them … All the ones in the paper. I did them all.”
Bobby Joe Long was born on October 14, 1953 in Kenova, West Virginia. His parents, Joe and Louetta Long, separated when Bobby was young, his mother taking him with her to Tampa, Florida. They never seemed to stay in one place for very long, moving from home to home, staying with relatives or in rented rooms.
Louetta was overly protective of her boy, and kept him sleeping in the same bed with her until he was 13 years old. However, despite her efforts to keep him safe, Bobby did manage to suffer a series of head injuries, with the earliest occurring when he was just 5. Bobby had been knocked unconscious when he fell from a swing and had one eyelid skewered with a stick. At age 6, he was thrown from his bike when he crashed head first into a parked car. He lost several teeth and sustained a severe concussion. At age 7, he fell from a pony on to his head. This time Bobby remained dizzy and nauseous for several weeks afterward.
He was very close with his mother, but was also resentful as he felt she spent too much time looking at other men, and having relationships with many different men. As he grew older, his anger grew beyond his mother and he began to resent all women. Bobby had Klinefelter’s syndrome.
Klinefelter’s syndrome is a rare condition where the boy had an extra X (female) chromosome. This condition caused higher amounts of the female hormone estrogen in his system, and as a result he began growing breasts when he hit puberty. Despite multiple operations to reduce his breasts, he refused to take his shirt off.
When he was 13, Bobby met the love of his life, Cindy. They dated for six years before finally marrying in 1974. Together they had 2 children, and Bobby joined the army, where he was stationed at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. Everything was going well, that is until Bobby suffered yet another serious head injury and nearly lost his leg in a motorcycle accident.
As he recovered, Bobby became “hypersexual.” His sexual appetite was insatiable. During his time in the hospital, nurses reported that he masterbated multiple times a day. Upon his release, his appetite turned to aggression, which was almost entirely directed at his wife. He would punch and choke her, and even put her in the hospital after a particularly severe beating.
When she returned home from the hospital, Cindy loaded a double barrel shotgun, and took aim at Bobby. But in the end, she was unable to pull the trigger, so instead, she packed her bags, took their children, and left. Their divorce was official in July 1980.
Without his wife, Bobby was free, and he made Tampa his home. It was there that his new life began. He began responding to Classified Ads, and when he followed up on an ad, he always did it in the middle of the day, while the housewife’s husband would most certainly be at work. Once he was invited inside the home, he would produce a knife, bind his victim, then rape them violently before robbing their home. During this time he also started a relationship with Sharon Richards and in October 1981 she accused him of rape. Unfortunately the police didn’t have enough evidence to charge him. Just two weeks later, he hit her during an argument, after which he left Tampa, and went to stay with his parents in West Virginia.
He stayed away until June 1983 when he returned to Tampa. There, he met Emma at the Humana Hospital where she was a nurse and he was working as an X-Ray technologist. The two became a couple, and Emma encouraged him to attend church, and Bobby would give her jewelry, that he had stolen from his rape victims.
Unfortunately for Bobby, he hadn’t run far enough from his past, and in September 1983, he was found guilty on assault charges filed by Sharon Richards. Then in November 1983, he was charged with sending an obscene letter and photographs to a 12 year old girl in Tampa. He received a sentence of two days in jail, and six months’ probation.
All this time, Bobby had been fighting his assault conviction against Sharon Richards, and in early 1984 he was granted a retrial. This time he was acquitted of the assault charges.
Bobby Joe Long had not learned his lesson though, and on March 27, 1984, he kidnapped and raped Artis Wick (20), a prostitute, in Tampa. Once he was finished with her, he still wasn’t fully satisfied, and he strangled her.
2 short months later, in May, Bobby spotted dancer, Lana Long (20) walking on the side of the road. He pulled up beside her and offered her a ride, which she graciously accepted. Unfortunately, the ride was brief and he pulled the car off the road and pulled out his knife. When she began to scream and fight, he tied her up and drove to a more remote location where he raped and strangled her.
The body of Lana Long was discovered on Mother’s Day when two teenage boys were walking across a field near I-75, southeast of Tampa. They noticed a foul smell and went to investigate. What they found was nothing anyone should have to see. Her body was face down, infested with maggots, especially around her face. Her wrists had been bound loosely behind her back, and a noose was draped three times around her neck, resembling a leash, with a hangman’s slipknot. A white silk cloth that had been used as a gag was found under her face. Perhaps the most shocking part of the scene was her legs. Lana’s hips had been broken in such a manner to allow both of her legs to be pulled out at right angles to her body. When measured, officers noted it was 5 feet from one heel to the other.
The best piece of evidence left behind by the killer, Bobby Joe Long, was his tire treads that led out into the field where the body was located. Three of the tires had a standard tread design, while the left rear tire tread had an unusual tread design. Also found was a red nylon fiber. When examined, it was concluded that the fiber was likely from a type of cheap carpeting used in an automobile.
On May 27, Bobby picked up 22 year old prostitute, Michelle Simms. He beat her and raped her before slashing her throat repeatedly. Police were able to connect Michelle’s murder to Lana’s when they located another red nylon fiber, this time on Michelle’s body.
Bobby’s next victim, Elizabeth Loudenback (22), was found next. She was lying on her back, fully clothed, yet badly decomposing. Elizabeth didn’t quite fit the running profile though,she wasn’t a drug user, prostitute, or stripper, making police wonder if their killer was escalating outside of his comfort zone.
October 7, prostitute Chanel Devoun Williams (18) was next. As usual, Bobby raped her, then attempted to strangle her. But something changed, and he pulled out a gun and shot her twice in the neck. Karen Beth Dinsfriend (28) was next followed by Kimberly Kyle Hopps (22), both killed in October.
November 3, 1984, Bobby Joe Long spotted 17 year old Lisa McVey on her bicycle in northern Tampa. He dragged her to his car, forced her to perform oral sex before taking her to his apartment where he continued to rape her repeatedly, even going so far as to shower with her. He kept her for more than 24 hours, but then, uncharacteristically, he let her go.
But he wasn’t yet tired of killing, and on November 6, he kidnapped, raped, and killed Virginia Lee Johnson (18). November 11 brought the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Kim Marie Swann (21). But his reign of terror would soon come to an end.
After her release Lisa McVey went straight to the police. She was able to provide a brief description of Bobby Joe and his car.
Bobby Joe Long was arrested on November 16, 1984 at a movie theater, not too far from his home. Investigators were able to match the mysterious red fibers to the interior carpeting of his car, and also noted the tire treads matched those they had spotted in the field where Lana Long’s body was discovered.
Searching through Bobby’s apartment, detectives were able to locate a barrette belonging to Lisa, as well as women’s clothing and photos of naked women, including ones taken of Bobby raping some victims.
During his interrogation, Bobby Joe Long quickly admitted to kidnapping Lisa McVey and to having sex with her multiple times, although he added that at one point, Lisa said she did not want to leave. He also pointed out that he did not use drugs, rarely drank alcohol, and did not suffer from any memory losses.
When shown photos of five known murder victims, Bobby was asked if he knew them. His reply was a short and concise, “No.” Bobby then asked for a bathroom break, and when he returned the investigators began talking about the physical evidence they had collected, specifically t he left rear tire of his car and the tire impressions. A look of understanding crossed his face, “I think I might need an attorney.”
Instead of ending the interrogation there, as required by law, Sgt. Latimer went on to urge Bobby to be honest, as they already had a strong enough case against him through the physical evidence. That’s when a smile crossed Bobby’s face and he said, “Well, I guess you got me good… Yes, I killed them… All the ones in the paper. I did them all.”
They asked if he knew anything about the disappearance of Vicky Elliott (21), who had gone missing in September while walking to work. Bobby said she had accepted a ride from him and when he tried to tie her up she fought him off with a pair of scissors. That made him angry, and he strangled her. He went on to draw a map for investigators, to where they would find her body.
Investigators found her skeletal remains, complete with a broken hyoid bone and the scissors she had attacked Bobby with, in what would have been her vaginal cavity. Identification had to be made through dental records.
In April 1985, Bobby Joe Long was convicted of first-degree murder in the Virginia Johnson case and was sentenced to death. Then later that year, he plead guilty to eight Hillsborough County murders and was convicted in each case. He was given more than a dozen life imprisonment sentences, and in the summer of 1986, was sentenced to death by electrocution for the murder of Michelle Simms.
Currently, Bobby Joe Long is being held at Florida’s Union Correctional Institution. His execution by lethal injection, was carried out on May 23, 2019, after his last request for a stay of execution was denied.
Bobby Joe Long had his issues with women, but he wasn’t quite as devious as Willie Pickton, the Pig Farmer.
