The Mystery Behind Criminal Minds : Catching a Killer

Happy True Crime Thursday!

The case I chose for today....man it sent me through a roller coaster of emotions. The woman I’m about to talk about is the definition of a survivor and her instincts helped save her life in the end. This is the kidnapping of Lisa McVey.

17 year old Lisa went through a rough upbringing, all of her childhood she was abused and was in and out of foster care for 5 years. Eventually she went and lived with her grandmother. Here she sadly was sexually abused by her grandmothers boyfriend, for 3 years. He would put a gun to her head every time he molested her. Lisa had a job at a Krispy Kreme donut shop that she would ride her bike to. On November 3, 1984 Lisa had had enough, she wrote out a suicide note and had plans to kill herself. But she said God had other plans for her.

The night of the 3rd Lisa hopped on her bike and was heading home from work when she was hit off her bike, blindfolded and abducted. The assailant brought her to an apartment where he brutally sexually assaulted her. McVey went into survival mode right from the start and knew she needed to gather as much information as she could. She remained mentally alert through the entire brutal ordeal. For 26 hours she was held captive. During this time Lisa used mental manipulation and reverse psychology to outsmart her abducter. Saying things like “Listen, it’s unfortunate how we met, but I can be your girlfriend. I could take care of you, and no one ever had to know.” She spoke to him in ways that would seduce him into letting her go. Later she stated “I had to take all of the abuse I had incurred as a child and just reach down one more time, into the pit of my stomach, and tap into those survivor skills to overcome him psychologically.” And her techniques worked, he let her go.

Once she was freed she went to the local police department, this is where she had trouble convincing the authorities of the events that took place. Even her own family doesn’t believe her. It wasn’t until a veteran detective heard the details of her story and knew she was telling the truth. Her memory was amazing. She was able to estimate the amount of time she spent in the abducters car, able to establish a radius for the apartment she was kept in, the amount of stairs there were leading up to the apartment, she was able to estimate when the abducter used an ATM by recalling the television show music she heard playing faintly in the background and she was able to provide details of the make and model of the vehicle that she was able to just see under her blindfold. She told them that she had touched his face at one point and was able to provide a description. And just in case she didn’t make it she had placed fingerprints all over his bathroom.

With these details police were able to locate and arrest one Bobby Joe Long on November 10th.

Amazing right?!

Well there’s more....Lisa didn’t just save herself, but probably saved countless others because Bobby Long was a serial killer that police had been looking for. After his arrest he confessed to 10 murders!

Robert Joseph Long was born on October 14, 1953 to his parents Louella and Joe in Kenova, West Virgina. His parents split when he was young and he spent most of his childhood in Florida with his mom. Now this might not come as a surprise to you, but Long developed a hatred for women, beginning with his mother. His mom worked at a bar and would often wear racy clothing to work and would bring different men home with her....the thing is that Bobby shared a bed with his mom until he was about 13. Yikes. Long was also injured in a couple accidents in his early years.

Bobby met his wife Cynthia at age 13 and in 1974 the 2 got married and soon after had 2 children. Around this time he was hit by a vehicle while riding his motorcycle and was hospitalized for weeks. Cynthia later claimed that Bobby was different after this and he became short tempered and was physically violent towards her. He also developed a strangely overt, compulsive and often dangerous sex drive (Later he was labeled a sexual sadist.) His wife divorced him in 1980.

Bobby moved in with a female friend named Sharon Richards, she later accused him of battery and rape. In Fall 1983 Bobby was charged with sending an inappropriate letter and photographs to a 12 year old girl. He spent a short time in jail and was put on probation.

Long started scouting for victims by looking for “For Sale” signs on houses and looking through the classifieds. Which would lead to an opportunity where he could enter an unsuspecting woman’s home and force himself on her. He committed more than 50 rapes.

It was in spring of 1984 that he killed for the 1st time, after sexually assaulting his victim wasn’t fulfilling enough. He killed 8 before Lisa and 2 after her, below are their names, ages and when they were killed.

Artiss Ann Wick, 20 – killed on March 27, 1984
Ngeun Thi Long, 19 – killed on May 13, 1984
Michelle Denise Simms, 22 – killed on May 27, 1984
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
Virginia Lee Johnson, 18 – killed on November 6, 1984
Kim Marie Swann, 21 – killed on November 11, 1984

In the end it was red carpet fibers from Bobby’s car they connected them all. While he confessed to committing 10 murders he alluded to the possibility of others during police interviews.

He was given several life in prison sentences along with the death penalty. In May of 2019, Bobby Joe Long went bye bye by lethal injection, and sitting there to witness his departure was Lisa.

Lisa today is a Hillsborough County Sheriffs Deputy, she works as a school resource officer not far from where it all happened. Amazing right?!