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.

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 her 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.

Long committed at least 50 rapes as the "Classified Ad Rapist" in Fort Lauderdale, Ocala, Miami, and Dade County.

Long appears to have targeted vulnerable women, including abducting women walking alone and those working as prostitutes, 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 prostitutes, 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.

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 for 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.

Long abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered at least ten women in the Tampa Bay area in Florida during an eight-month period 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.

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.

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 a time period 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.

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.

He was executed by lethal injection on May 23, 2019.