Robert Joe Long
Robert Joseph Long (born October 14, 1953 in Kenova , West Virginia , † May 23, 2019 in Raiford , Florida ), also known as Robert Joe Long or Bobby Joe Long , was an American serial killer and rapist who worked in the In the 1980s, murdered at least ten women and raped 50 others. After his arrest in 1984, he was sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection in 2019 .
Example
Long was born on October 14, 1953 in Kenova, West Virginia, United States. On his mother's side, he was a distant cousin of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas . His parents Joe and Louella Long divorced in 1955. In the same year, his single mother moved with him to Miami , Florida, where she worked, among other things, as a waitress to make a living. In 1960, Long's parents remarried and the family returned to West Virginia. Three years later, his parents divorced for the second time and Louella Long moved back to Florida with her son, where they first lived with relatives and from 1965 in their own house in Hialeah .
Long suffered several serious head injuries during his childhood. He suffered the first when he was five years old when he fell from a swing. A year later he hit his head in a car in a bicycle accident, losing several teeth and having a concussion . Seven-year-old Long suffered from dizziness and nausea for weeks after falling while riding a pony.
In 1966 he shot his mother's dog. As a motive, he later stated that his mother treated the dog better than him. Long slept in his mother's bed until he was 13. His later claim that he had watched his mother and her numerous male acquaintances have sex was rejected by her. Long was born with an extra X chromosome , which resulted in his body producing too much estrogen during puberty and growing breasts that were surgically removed.
He dropped out of school after the tenth grade . From 1972 he did his military service at the Air Force Base in Homestead , Florida. In January 1974, he married his high school friend, Cynthia, whom he had known since 1966. The marriage resulted in a son (* 1974) and a daughter (* 1975). His wife filed for divorce in 1980 due to domestic violence.
In February 1974 he had an accident on his motorcycle and suffered another head injury. During the subsequent hospital stay, he suffered from a sharp headache and was prone to outbursts of anger. After the accident, he felt heightened sexual desire and masturbated several times a day. Due to his injuries, he was discharged from military service in August 1974. During his several years of unemployment, occasionally interrupted by short-term employment, he completed training as an electrician and X-ray technician.
Deeds
Between 1980 and 1983, Long responded to newspaper ads from women, drove to their homes and raped them. In Miami , Ocala and Fort Lauderdale he became known as Classified Ad Rapist ("classified ad rapist"). 50 cases of rape and sexual assault were so on his account.
In October 1981, his neighbor, Sharon Richards, accused him of rape. However, the police lacked evidence to detain Long. This neighbor hit Long a few days later during an argument and fled to live with his parents in West Virginia. He did not return to Tampa until June 1983.
In July 1983, Long met an X-ray assistant from a nearby hospital. They became a couple. In order to separate himself from his prey, the jewelry of the raped women, he showered his girlfriend with it. In September 1983, the Sharon Richards trial was opened against him. He was found guilty. Long requested a revision of the procedure.
While the trial was still being reopened, Long was arrested in November 1983 after mailing an obscene letter and nude photos of himself and a twelve-year-old girl from Tampa. Long should also have had a suggestive telephone conversation with his victim. Long was released after two days in prison and a six-month probationary period.
In the spring of 1984 the Sharon Richards case was opened. The verdict: not guilty.
On March 27, 1984, Long raped 20-year-old Artis Wick. Then he murdered her. It was the first murder that Long could later be proven.
From 1984 Long began the series of arbitrary murders. Miami, Ocala, and Fort Lauderdale were the areas in which he operated, killing mostly prostitutes and strippers . But he also looked for his victims in his private sphere. After his arrest, he expressed disgust for dominant and manipulative women.
Although the FBI was on the serial killer soon after the first murders , Long was able to murder eight other women between 18 and 22 years old in his apartment between May and November 1984. In November 1984, Long assaulted 17-year-old student Lisa McVey on the street and dragged her to his apartment. When she truthfully told him that she had sexually abused her stepfather as a child, it stopped Long from murdering her, but not rape her. Finally he let her go.
Trial, sentencing and execution
Due to Lisa McVey's exact description of the perpetrator and apartment, Long was arrested on November 17, 1984 in his apartment. The burden of proof was overwhelming. Both DNA traces and personal belongings of the victims could be secured. In 1985 the trial against him was opened. Long received the death penalty in addition to 28 life sentences . He always saw himself as a victim of justice for the then-incumbent Florida governor, Robert Daniel Graham , an advocate of the death penalty. Long was incarcerated in Starke County Jail in Florida. He was executed in a prison in Raiford, Florida on May 23, 2019.
See also
literature
- Peter Murakami, Julia Murakami: Lexicon of serial killers. 450 case studies of a pathological type of killing. Ullstein Tb, Munich March 2000, 639 pages, ISBN 3-548-35935-3 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Michael Newton: The great encyclopedia of serial killers. VF Collector, Graz 2005, ISBN 3-85365-189-5 , p. 237 f.
- ↑ a b c d e f Catherine Reynolds et al., Department of Psychology, Radford University : Bobby Joe Long - The Classified Ad Rapist ( August 21, 2008 memento )
- ↑ Meagan Flynn: A rape victim helped police catch a serial killer. Nearly 35 years later, she sat front row at his execution. In: The Washington Post. May 24, 2019, accessed May 25, 2019.
- ↑ Death penalty in the USA: Florida executes convicted murderer. In: Spiegel Online . May 24, 2019, accessed May 24, 2019 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Long, Robert Joe |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American serial killer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 14, 1953 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kenova , West Virginia |
| DATE OF DEATH | 23 May 2019 |
| Place of death | Raiford , Florida |