Survivor Story: Lisa McVey (Noland)/Serial Killer/Rapist: Bobby Joe Long

 Lisa McVey Noland (born March 1967) is an American police officer, school resource officer, and motivational speaker from Tampa, Florida. At age 17, she was abducted by Bobby Joe Long, a serial killer and rapist who sexually assaulted and murdered ten women in the Tampa Bay area in 1984. McVey was one of Long's last victims and the information she provided to police led to his capture. A few years after her ordeal, McVey began to pursue a career in law enforcement.

History of abuse

McVey has candidly recounted her experience as a victim of abuse, even before her abduction. She had been forced by her drug- and alcohol-addicted mother to move in with and take care of her grandmother at age 14. Previously, she had been in and out of foster care. “I was being sexually abused at home. My grandmother’s boyfriend used to put a gun to my head every time he molested me for three years. It was nothing new to me. One bad situation got me to another bad situation is what saved my life. Because the night before [the abduction] I’m doing my suicide note and the next night I’m fighting for my life.”

1984 abduction

On November 3, 1984, McVey was snatched from her bicycle on the ride to her grandmother's home after work. She was blindfolded, held at gunpoint, raped, and tortured for 26 hours. She would later learn that the perpetrator was Bobby Joe Long, who was responsible for at least 10 murders and over 50 rapes.

During her captivity, McVey offered to be his secret girlfriend. She then elicited sympathy from Long by claiming to be the only child of an ill father. He was persuaded to release her and did so in a remote location, instructing her to keep her blindfold on for five minutes while he escaped. Upon arriving home, she was beaten by her guardian’s boyfriend and interrogated for five hours about her whereabouts. Her account remained consistent and finally, a phone call was made to the police.

McVey had committed to memory several details about her abduction and intentionally left fingerprints on several surfaces in Long's bathroom to help police identify her in the event of her death. Through her description of her captor, his vehicle, the route they took, and other details, police were able to track down Long and connect him to other crimes. Officers began a surveillance operation and arrested Long on November 16, 1984, for the sexual assault and kidnapping of McVey.

On September 23, 1985, Long pleaded guilty to his crimes against McVey and to an additional eight counts of first-degree murder, eight counts of kidnapping, and seven counts of sexual battery. He received life sentences on every count in Hillsborough County. Additionally, he received two death sentences for the murders of Michelle Denise Simms and Virginia Johnson.

When Long was executed on May 23, 2019, McVey and another survivor, Linda Nuttall, were present.

Career

In 1995, McVey began working for the Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation Department. When she reported a break-in at the office, the deputy who came to the scene said, "You've got the attitude to be a cop. Ever thought of that?" In 1999, she was transferred to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office as a dispatcher and became a reserve deputy. She put herself through the police academy and was deputized in 2004. She works in the same department that found and arrested her captor specializing in combating sex crimes and working to protect children.

She also works as a middle school resource officer and uses her story to teach students how to handle potentially dangerous situations.

In media

I Survived... (Season 7 Episode 6)

McVey tells her story with author Joy Wellman in the 1997 book, Smoldering Embers.

McVey features in the documentary crime series "Surviving Evil" hosted by Charisma Carpenter in the 2013 episode "Nobody's Victim."

Her story is dramatized in the 2018 television film Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey, which was originally broadcast on Showcase (Canada) and Lifetime (U.S.) where Katie Douglas portrays Lisa. On June 4, 2021, the film was released on Netflix in the U.K. and other markets.

Serial Killer/Rapist: Bobby Joe Long

Robert Joseph "Bobby Joe" Long (October 14, 1953 – May 23, 2019) was an American serial killer and rapist who was executed by the state of Florida for the murder of Michelle Denise Simms. Long abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered at least ten women in the Tampa Bay area in Florida during eight months in 1984. He released 17-year-old Lisa McVey after 26 hours. McVey provided critical information to the police that enabled them to arrest Long.

Long was sentenced to death for two of the ten murders he was suspected of committing. He was executed by lethal injection on May 23, 2019.

Early life

Robert Joseph Long was born on October 14, 1953, in Kenova, West Virginia, to Joe and Louetta Long. Long was born with an extra X chromosome, also known as 47, XXY, a specific variant of Klinefelter Syndrome. This condition results in excessive estrogen production yielding some female traits such as breast development. Long was teased as a child for his large breasts and underwent breast reduction surgery in adolescence. He had also suffered multiple head injuries as a child resulting from diverse accidents.

Long had a dysfunctional relationship with his mother; he slept in her bed until he was a teenager and reportedly resented the multiple short-term boyfriends she brought with her when returning home late at night from her job. Long married his high school girlfriend in 1974, with whom he had two children before she filed for divorce in 1980.

Crimes

Long committed at least 50 rapes as the "Classified Ad Rapist" in Fort Lauderdale, Ocala, Miami, and Dade County. Starting around 1981, Long began contacting women through the Penny Saver and other classified ads. When Long found a woman alone, he asked to use the bathroom, took out his "rape kit" and raped and robbed the woman. Long was tried and convicted of rape in 1981 but requested a new trial, which was granted. The charges were later dropped.

Long moved to the Tampa Bay area in 1983. In 1984, while on probation for assault, Long raped and strangled 20-year-old Artiss "Ann" Wick in March; her body was discovered in a rural area on November 22, 1984. She had reportedly hitch-hiked from Gas City, Indiana, to Tampa, and was engaged to be married.

Over the next eight months, Long abducted, raped, and murdered at least 10 women in three counties in the Tampa Bay area (Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas). The investigation involved personnel from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office (HCSO), the FBI, the Tampa Police Department (TPD), the Pasco County Sheriff's Office (PCSO), and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).

The bodies of the victims were typically found in a state of decomposition long after the murders, having been dumped near a rural roadside or dragged into the woods. Long appears to have targeted vulnerable women, including abducting women walking alone and those working as sex workers, persuading women to enter his 1978 Dodge Magnum where he would rape and torture them. Of Long's 10 known victims, five of the women were identified as known sex workers, and two as exotic dancers. The remaining three victims were a factory worker, a student, and one with an unknown occupation.

During this period, Long also continued his classified-ad rapes, attacking 33-year-old Linda Nuttall in her home.

In the early hours of November 3, 1984, Long abducted 17-year-old Lisa McVey as she rode her bike home from work. She was blindfolded and taken to Long's home, where he repeatedly raped her. Aware of the danger she was in; the blindfolded McVey reported leaving as many fingerprints in Long's home as she could to aid any future police investigation. After 26 hours, Long released McVey and she provided investigators with information on his home, car, and aperiodd in which she heard him use an ATM. This led to police identifying Long and he was arrested on November 16, 1984. He was linked to the murders through red carpet fibers found on the bodies of several victims.

Known victims

Artiss "Ann" Wick, 20 – killed on March 27, 1984

Nguyen Thi Long, 19 – killed on May 13, 1984

Michelle Denise Simms, 22 – killed on May 27, 1984

Linda Nuttall, 33 – assaulted in May 1984; survived

Elizabeth Loudenback, 22 – killed on June 8, 1984

Vicky Marie Elliott, 21 – killed on September 7, 1984

Chanel Devoun Williams, 18 – killed on October 7, 1984

Karen Beth Dinsfriend, 28 – killed on October 14, 1984

Kimberly Kyle Hopps, 22 – killed on October 31, 1984

Lisa McVey, 17 – assaulted, raped on November 3, 1984; survived

Virginia Lee Johnson, 18 – killed on November 6, 1984

Kim Marie Swann, 21 – killed on November 11, 1984

Capture

At the time of his capture, Long was wanted in three Tampa Bay area jurisdictions where investigators had collected multiple forms of forensic evidence, including clothing, carpet fibers, semen, ligature marks, and rope knots.

Long was arrested outside a movie theater on November 16, 1984, and charged with the sexual battery and kidnapping of Lisa McVey. Long signed a formal Miranda waiver, and consented to questioning. After the detectives procured a confession for the McVey case, their questioning focused on a series of unsolved sexual battery homicides in the Tampa Bay area. As the detectives questioned Long about the murders, he replied, "I'd rather not answer that."

The detectives continued the interrogation and handed Long photographs of the various murder victims. At this point, Long stated, "The complexion of things sure has changed since you came back into the room. I think I need an attorney." No attorney was provided, and Long eventually confessed to eight murders in Hillsborough County and one murder in Pasco County.

Fiber evidence analysis by the FBI linked Long's vehicle to most of his victims.

Trial

The Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office and the Public Defender's Office of Hillsborough County reached a plea bargain deal. Long pled guilty on September 24, 1985, to eight of the homicides and the abduction and rape of Lisa McVey, receiving 26 life sentences without the possibility of parole (24 concurrent and two to run consecutively to the first 24) and seven life sentences with the possibility of parole after 25 years. The State retained the option to seek the death penalty for the murder of Michelle Simms. In July 1986, Long was found guilty and was sentenced to die in Florida's electric chair.

Although Long confessed to raping and killing women, his confession was thrown out. His trial proceeded straight to the penalty phase, which was possible in the 1980s. In early 1985, he received the death penalty.

Long was convicted and appealed his first-degree murder conviction and death sentence for crimes committed in Hillsborough County. Long appealed his first-degree murder conviction and sentence of death in the death of Virginia Johnson.

On appeal, Long's death sentence was vacated, his conviction reversed, and his case remanded back to the trial court with directions to enter an order of acquittal for the murder of Virginia Johnson.

Execution

On April 23, 2019, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Long's death warrant, the first death warrant he had signed since taking office in January 2019. Long's subsequent appeals were denied and he was executed by lethal injection on May 23, 2019, more than 30 years after his conviction. He ate his final meal at 9:30 a.m. local time; he requested roast beef, bacon, French fries, and soda. He was pronounced dead at 7:00 p.m. and had made no last statement.

TV movies

Bobby Joe Long's story has been depicted in the TV movie Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey which aired in 2018. The film stars Katie Douglas as Lisa McVey, Rossif Sutherland as Bobby Joe Long, and David James Elliott as Larry Pinkerton.