Robert Joseph “Bobby Joe” Long: The Tampa Bay Serial Killer
Background and Escalation
Robert Joseph Long, commonly known as Bobby Joe Long, was an American serial killer, kidnapper and rapist who terrorized women in the Tampa Bay area of Florida during 1984. Born on October 14, 1953, in Kenova, West Virginia, Long later lived in several states before settling in Florida. His known murder series lasted approximately eight months, from March through November 1984, although his pattern of sexual violence began before the killings.
Before Long became known as a murderer, investigators connected him to a series of sexual assaults committed after he responded to classified advertisements placed by women selling household items. He used the advertisements as a way to identify women who might be alone at home. This pattern led to the nickname “The Classified Ad Rapist.” Long was accused of committing dozens of rapes in Florida and was also suspected of sexual assaults in other states. His crimes became increasingly violent, eventually progressing from home invasions and rape to kidnapping and murder.
The 1984 Murder Series
Long’s confirmed and attributed murder victims were young women between the ages of 18 and 28. Many were abducted from streets in or near Tampa, particularly from areas associated with bars, inexpensive motels and prostitution. Long often drove through these neighborhoods in a distinctive red Dodge Magnum while searching for a victim.
After getting a woman into his vehicle, Long typically threatened her with a weapon, restrained her and transported her away from populated areas. Several victims were sexually assaulted before they were murdered. Strangulation and asphyxiation were his most frequently documented methods, although some victims suffered other fatal injuries. Their bodies were abandoned in isolated locations such as drainage ditches, fields, wooded areas and rural roadsides across Hillsborough, Pasco and neighboring counties.
Known and Attributed Victims
- Artiss Ann “Ann” Wick, 20 — March 27, 1984: Wick was believed to have been Long’s first murder victim in the Tampa Bay series. She had traveled from Indiana to Florida and was last known to be in the Tampa area. Her remains were not discovered until November 22, 1984, when they were found in a rural area near Plant City in Hillsborough County. Long admitted responsibility for her death as part of the murder cases resolved through his plea agreement.
- Ngeun Thi “Lana” Long, 19 — May 13, 1984: Lana Long, who was not related to the killer, was killed after being encountered in the Tampa area. Her body was found near Interstate 75 in Hillsborough County. She had been strangled, and investigators associated her death with the emerging series of murders involving young women abandoned in secluded locations.
- Michelle Denise Simms, 22 — May 27, 1984: Simms was picked up by Long along Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa. Long later described restraining and sexually assaulting her before killing her. Her body was left near Plant City. Physical evidence recovered from Long’s vehicle, together with his statements and other investigative findings, connected him to the crime. This was the murder for which Long received the death sentence that was ultimately carried out.
- Elizabeth Loudenback, 22 — June 8, 1984: Loudenback disappeared from the Tampa area and was later found dead near a citrus grove in eastern Hillsborough County. She had been strangled. Her death shared important characteristics with the murders of Long’s other victims, including her age, the circumstances of her disappearance and the remote location where her body was abandoned.
- Vicky Marie Elliott, 21 — September 7, 1984: Elliott was killed after Long encountered her in the Tampa Bay area. Her body was found near a roadside in Pasco County. Unlike many of the women who were strangled, Elliott suffered a fatal injury to her throat. Long later admitted his involvement in her death.
- Chanel Devoun Williams, 18 — October 7, 1984: Williams was one of the youngest women attributed to Long. She disappeared from Tampa and was found dead in a rural area of Hillsborough County. She had been strangled. Her family spent decades waiting for the legal process to end and later attended Long’s execution.
- Karen Beth Dinsfriend, 28 — October 14, 1984: Dinsfriend was the oldest of Long’s known murder victims. She was killed on Long’s thirty-first birthday. Her body was found in Hillsborough County, and investigators determined that she had been strangled. Long pleaded guilty to her murder along with seven other Hillsborough County killings.
- Kimberly Kyle Hopps, 22 — October 31, 1984: Hopps was killed on Halloween in 1984. Her body was discovered near a roadway in Hillsborough County. She had been strangled, and evidence gathered during the investigation connected her death to Long’s continuing series of abductions and murders.
- Virginia Lee Johnson, 18 — approximately October 22, 1984: Johnson was reported missing in October 1984, but her remains were not found until later in Pasco County. Because of the condition of the remains, authorities could not establish an exact date of death; October 22 was a medical estimate. Long confessed to strangling Johnson and leaving her body in a horse pasture. He was initially convicted and sentenced to death for her murder, but the conviction was later reversed and an acquittal was ordered after an appellate court found that the remaining admissible evidence was legally insufficient.
- Kim Marie Swann, 21 — November 11, 1984: Swann was the last known murder victim attributed to Long before his arrest. Her body was discovered near Plant City on November 12, 1984. She had been subjected to severe violence before her death. Long admitted killing her, and her murder became one of the eight Hillsborough County cases included in his plea agreement.
Survivors and the Crime That Led to His Capture
Long did not murder every woman he attacked. One survivor, Linda Nuttall, was assaulted in her home after Long responded to a classified advertisement. Her experience reflected the method he used during his earlier series of home invasions: locating women through newspaper advertisements, arriving under the appearance of an ordinary buyer and attacking when he believed the victim was vulnerable.
The most important survivor in the investigation was 17-year-old Lisa McVey. On November 3, 1984, McVey was riding her bicycle home from her job at a Tampa doughnut shop when Long abducted her at gunpoint. He restrained and blindfolded her, took her to his apartment and held her captive for approximately 26 hours while repeatedly assaulting her.
McVey remained remarkably observant despite the danger. She deliberately touched surfaces in the apartment so her fingerprints might be found, memorized sounds and turns made during the drive, studied details of Long’s vehicle and attempted to learn anything that could later identify him. She also spoke to Long in a way that persuaded him to view her as a person rather than simply another intended victim. Long eventually released her.
McVey immediately provided investigators with a detailed description of the automobile, including features that helped narrow the search to a red Dodge Magnum. Police surveillance and investigative work led authorities to Long. On November 16, 1984, officers arrested him in Tampa. Evidence recovered from his vehicle and residence linked him to McVey’s kidnapping and to the murders under investigation.
Confessions and Physical Evidence
Following his arrest, Long confessed to numerous murders and described how he selected, restrained, assaulted and killed several victims. Investigators also collected fibers, hairs and other physical evidence from his car. Some of this evidence was compared with material recovered from victims or their clothing, strengthening the connections between Long and the separate crime scenes.
Questions about the legality of Long’s interrogations led courts to suppress portions of his confessions in some proceedings. Even with those legal disputes, prosecutors possessed substantial evidence in the Hillsborough County cases, including Long’s admissions, survivor testimony, physical evidence and details that closely matched the circumstances in which the victims disappeared and were found.
Convictions and Sentences
In September 1985, Long entered into an agreement resolving many of the charges against him. He pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder, along with multiple counts of kidnapping and sexual battery. The agreement provided life sentences for most of the offenses while allowing prosecutors to continue seeking the death penalty for the murder of Michelle Denise Simms.
Long was convicted of Simms’s murder and sentenced to death on July 25, 1986. That sentence was later reconsidered through appellate proceedings, but he was again sentenced to death on July 21, 1989. He also received numerous life sentences for the other murders, kidnappings and sexual assaults.
Long was separately prosecuted for the murder of Virginia Johnson in Pasco County. He initially received another death sentence in that case. In 1997, however, an appellate court reversed the conviction and directed the trial court to enter an acquittal. The decision did not declare that another person had killed Johnson; it concluded that, after legal problems surrounding Long’s confession and related evidence, the prosecution could not prove that particular case beyond a reasonable doubt with the evidence that remained admissible.
Years of Appeals and Execution
Long remained on Florida’s death row for more than three decades while state and federal courts considered numerous appeals. His attorneys challenged the admission of evidence, the handling of his confessions, the sentencing process and other aspects of the prosecution. The death sentence for Michelle Simms’s murder remained in effect.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Long’s death warrant on April 23, 2019. Robert Joseph Long was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Raiford on May 23, 2019. He was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. Long was 65 years old.
Lisa McVey and Linda Nuttall attended the execution, as did relatives of several murdered women. For the victims’ families and the survivors, the execution marked the end of a legal process that had lasted nearly 35 years. It could not restore the lives taken or erase the suffering caused by Long, but it brought the punishment ordered for Michelle Simms’s murder to its conclusion.
Legacy of the Investigation
Robert Joseph Long was convicted of murdering eight women and was linked by investigators to ten killings committed during 1984. His crimes demonstrated how a repeat sexual offender could escalate from stalking and home invasion to kidnapping and serial murder. They also revealed the dangers faced by victims whose lifestyles or circumstances sometimes caused their disappearances to receive less immediate attention.
The case is equally remembered for Lisa McVey’s survival. Her careful observations supplied investigators with the information needed to locate Long before more women disappeared. Her actions helped expose a serial murderer, connect multiple cases and bring an eight-month period of fear in the Tampa Bay area to an end.
