In the winter of 1992, a wave of violence gripped the city of Richmond, Virginia, leaving a trail of fear and loss. Among the victims of this brutal period was a man named Bobby Long. On the night of Saturday, February 1, 1992, police were called to a home where a grim scene awaited them. Inside and outside the residence, three people had been shot and killed in what was later described as a triple slaying.
One of the victims found outside the home was 34-year-old Bobby Long; he had been shot in the head.
The investigation into the violent deaths of Long and the other two victims that night, Tony Carter and a woman who was not immediately identified, quickly became part of a much larger and more complex case. The series of killings that had plagued Richmond were not random acts of violence but were connected to a dangerous drug trafficking gang. The authorities zeroed in on the members of this criminal enterprise, uncovering a string of murders committed in a short span of time, all aimed at consolidating their control over the city's drug trade.
At the heart of this violent spree was a man named Cory Johnson. Investigations revealed that Johnson, along with his accomplices, was responsible for numerous homicides in early 1992. The motive for Bobby Long's murder, as it emerged, was tied to a drug debt. Johnson had learned of Long's whereabouts and went to his house on that fateful February night. Long attempted to flee the house but was fatally shot by Johnson in the front yard. The violence did not end there, as Johnson also murdered Carter and the woman inside the home.
The reign of terror orchestrated by Cory Johnson and his associates came to an end with their arrests. In February 1993, Johnson, along with James H. Roane Jr. and Richard Tipton, were convicted in federal court for a multitude of crimes, including the murders they had committed. Cory Johnson was sentenced to death for his role in seven of the killings, including that of Bobby Long. After years of appeals, Johnson was executed by lethal injection on January 14, 2021. His accomplices, Roane and Tipton, also received death sentences for their parts in the crime spree, but their sentences were later commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
