The Voices of Serial Killers

by Christopher Berry-Dee

  Long stopped his car in a parking lot at the corner of North Rome Avenue and Hillsborough Avenue. He told her that he didn’t want to let her go, but then he helped her to gather her things and get out of the car. Instructing her to wait a few minutes before removing her blindfold, Long hugged and kissed his victim one last time. She complied exactly with his order, standing stock still until she heard the sound of his engine fade into the distance. Several long minutes passed before she removed the blindfold. Then she fell to her knees and wept uncontrollably before she could compose herself enough to walk home.

  It was 4:30 a.m. when she arrived home and woke her father, who immediately phoned the police. Lisa McVey had been a captive of Bobby Joe Long for 26 hours, and she had, by the grace of God, survived.

  When detectives arrived at her home. Lisa gave the officers a description of her abductor: white male, approximately 30 years old, medium build, slightly pudgy, with conservatively cut brown hair and a moustache.

  The police immediately sent out a “BOLO” (Be on the Lookout) for a man answering this description. He might be driving a red 1978 Dodge Magnum with a white interior. On the glove box door was a digital clock, and on the dash was the legend Magnum.

  Virginia Lee Johnson

  On Tuesday, November 6, two days after Lisa McVey told police her sordid and degrading account of abduction and rape, law enforcement from neighboring Pascoe County became involved in another homicide. A woman riding her horse on her ranch discovered the animal-gnawed skeletal remains of 18-year-old Virginia Lee Johnson scattered throughout the field.

  Officers found a skull and upper torso dressed in a tank top. A shoelace was twisted twice over a piece of fabric wrapped around her neck. Another shoelace was wrapped around one of the victim’s hands. Upon closer inspection, police noticed a heart-shaped pendant around her neck. It was later identified by friends of the dead woman as belonging to her.

  At autopsy, it was determined that Virginia had been strangled to death.

  By the time that Virginia Lee Johnson’s remains were discovered, there were approximately 30 officers assigned to the task force, and they immediately flooded the north Tampa area searching for the man, the apartment, and the vehicle described by Lisa McVey.

  Only a 1978 Dodge Magnum had the word Magnum on the dash, so a task force member was flown to the state capital, and he returned with a list of every Dodge Magnum registered in Hillsborough County. An examination of the printout of these registrations revealed Robert Joe Long’s name as a registered owner of such a car.

  Each team of detectives was assigned certain areas to search, and on Thursday, November 15, as Detectives Wolf and Helms were driving to their beat, they noticed a red Dodge Magnum driving down Nebraska Avenue. The vehicle was stopped. The officers told the driver that they were looking for a robbery suspect. The driver identified himself as Robert Joe Long of East Fowler Street, Tampa. He was photographed. A field interrogation report was written up before he was allowed to proceed on his way, very much relieved. But Long only had a short breathing space of freedom remaining.

  The detectives who had spoken to Long alerted the task force officers, who were working frantically to obtain enough evidence to link Bobby Joe to the murders. Bank records revealed that Long had made a withdrawal from a Florida National Bank ATM at 58th Street and Fowler Avenue at 3:39 a.m. on November 4—the morning that Lisa McVey was set free.

  From the Parole and Probation Office in north Tampa, the task force learned that Long was on probation for his attempted abduction of Mary Hicks earlier in the year and that he had also been charged with rape in Dade County in 1974. So within hours of Long’s encounter with Detectives Wolf and Helms, ground and air surveillance teams were monitoring his every move.

  Officers watched as he left his apartment late in the afternoon and drove to the post office on 5th Street in Temple Terrace. They saw him return home briefly before going to a Laundromat at 56th and Whiteway. Next, they followed him to the outdoor tennis and handball courts at the back of the University of South Florida and watched as he sat in his car reading a newspaper for some time before moving to a bench in the racquetball area. Long was completely oblivious to an undercover cop who passed within three feet of him, providing the task force with a detailed description of Long’s blue and white jogging shoes, blue jeans, and gray T-shirt.

  At 5:45 p.m., Bobby Joe returned to his apartment for the night. When his ex-wife Cathy called to arrange an upcoming visit with his children, he asked her if she knew about the murders in Tampa. He warned her that it was a dangerous world and she ought to be really careful.

  Outside, cops watched and waited, but he had killed again.

  Kim Marie Swann

  On Wednesday, November 12, the day before he was stopped in his car by detectives, Bobby Joe Long had spotted 21-year-old Kim Marie Swann, who was intoxicated and driving erratically. He pulled alongside and told her to stop. In her drunken state, she accepted Long’s invitation to join him for a drink. Shortly after getting into his car, she suspected something was awry and began to fight with him. He punched her several times before binding and strangling her. Swann had fought so hard that Long didn’t even bother to rape her; instead, he simply dumped her under an overpass.

  Kim’s body was found by a sign painter on November 14. A leash-like noose was tied around her neck, and the body bore rope-burn trauma. Her face had been badly beaten. Her legs had been forced open for a shocking display reminiscent of the Ngeun Thi Long murder. Her clothing had been discarded nearby, and fecal matter was on her shirt.

  Red carpet hairs and brown Caucasian pubic hairs were discovered on her denim jeans, and in one of the pockets was a driver’s license for a Kim Marie Swann. Like Ngeun Thi Long, Swann had worked at the Sly Fox Lounge in Tampa.

  At autopsy, Dr. Miller estimated that Swann had been dead for two or three days. The cause of death was strangulation.

  When I saw them [his victims] walking down the street, it was like A, B, C, D. I pull over, they get in, I drive a little ways, stop, pull a knife, a gun, whatever, tie them up, take them out. And that would be it. And they all went the same way until McVey came along.

  —BOBBY JOE LONG IN A POLICE INTERVIEW

  By the time that Swann’s body was found, Lisa McVey had identified Long from the photos taken by the detectives and from his mug shots. Based on the combined evidence, the ATM withdrawal and the photo-ID, an arrest warrant and search warrants were drawn up and approved by a circuit court judge, while the task force surveillance team continued to monitor Long’s movements. Between noon and 1:30 p.m. they watched as he cleaned out his apartment and threw the refuse into a nearby dumpster. As soon as Long drove off, a detective retrieved the discarded trash from the bin, and further possible evidence was collected after he vacuumed his car at a gas station on 56th Street. From there Long went to see a movie at the Main Street Cinema. Munching popcorn, he watched Chuck Norris as Colonel James Braddock, waging his battles on the big screen in Missing in Action—a film that had only just been released.

  At 4:00 p.m. on Friday, November 16, 1984, Bobby Joe Long was arrested as he walked out of the Main Street Cinema. Forensic technicians searched his car and sent a sample of the floor carpet to the FBI for analysis and comparison with the red fibers found at so many of the crime scenes. Indeed, they literally took the vehicle apart, bagging any fibers that may have come from the victims’ clothing, as well as rope and hair. They also searched for fingerprints, blood, and any other potential trace evidence.

  Upon entering Bobby Joe Long’s apartment, the detectives noted that it was just as Lisa McVey had described it. An officer found Lisa’s barrette, while other cops found a hoard of photographs of naked women, including many that Long had obviously taken. There was also some women’s clothing.

  Back at the precinct house, Long signed a Miranda waiver form and gave up his right to have a lawyer present. During the course of the interrogation led by Detectives Latimer and Price, he qui
ckly admitted to kidnapping Lisa McVey and to having sex with her many times. However, in a weak attempt to mitigate his actions, he claimed that at one point she told him that she didn’t want to leave. He also explained that he had unloaded his gun and put the bullets in a trash can so he wouldn’t be tempted to shoot her. When asked about the blindfold she wore, Long said that he had fashioned it himself two days before the abduction—just in case he found another victim.

  With the McVey admission in the bag, the detectives drew Long’s attention to the various pieces of of evidence that had been collected. They produced a photo array of his victims. Asked if he knew any of them, he replied, “No!” and asked to use the washroom.

  Upon returning, Long sat down and his interrogators immediately returned to the subject of physical evidence. They asked him about the left-rear Vogue tire on his car. They said that it matched a similar tread pattern found at two ofof the crime scenes. The officers then referred to the other tires on his car, specifically the mismatch of patterns and the Viva brand tire, to which Long responded, “I think I might need an attorney.”

  Rather than end the questioning at this point, as required by law, Detective Sergeant Latimer urged Bobby Joe to be honest and get everything off his chest. “Besides,” Latimer explained, “we have enough evidence against you already.”

  Bobby Joe Long smiled. “Well, I guess you got me good,” he said, adding, “Yes, I killed them . . . all the ones in the newspaper. I did them all.”

  Long went on to describe in some detail each case from the abduction to the murder of the victim. He acknowledged that setting Lisa McVey free was a grave error of judgment. Author Joel Norris quoted Long as saying, “I knew when I let her go that it would only be a matter of time. I didn’t even tell her not to talk to the police or anything . . . I just didn’t care anymore, and I wanted to stop. I was sick inside.”

  Bobby Joe Long was charged with eight counts of murder and sexual battery, and nine counts of kidnapping, with one count of murder pending for Virginia Johnson. He was also charged with the minor offense of violating his probation for aggravated assault. He was refused bail.

  Bobby Joe Long went on to face a lengthy series of trials in Florida. His supporters argue that each trial was deeply flawed, while others say his intent was to drag out the legal process as long as he could.

  Long admitted that he was aware of what he was doing and that it was wrong. He claimed that he had basically turned himself in by allowing Lisa McVey to go free. But here is a man who also suggested that his raping of women was good for them. More recently, Long has argued that if he had known his problems were medical, he would have sought treatment.

  Many different attorneys came into his cases and just as quickly exited, including celebrity defense attorney Ellis Rubin.13 Two of Long’s death penalty convictions were later overturned by the Florida Supreme Court because, among other problems, the panel of justices deemed that the police had gone over the limit in their interrogations. For example, the justices specifically noted that only four hours of testimony had been presented on the murder for which Long was charged, while three entire days had been spent admitting highly prejudicial evidence of other murders with which he had not been charged.

  Perhaps Long’s guilt was never really an issue, but whether he should be executed or granted life in prison was the next primary consideration.

  As in so many high-profile serial homicide cases, a veritable parade of mental health experts was brought into the case to prove or disprove that Long’s genetic abnormalities and head injuries accounted for his antisocial behavior. Even his parents were blamed, along with his being subjected to pornographic material during his formative years.

  The notable Dr. Helen Morrison, who had interviewed Bobby Joe for 23 hours, diagnosed him with “atypical psychosis.” He had a distorted perception of reality and was unable to make moral decisions. “His mind was fragmented and non-cohesive,” she concluded, “and had been so since he was a very young child. He eventually lost the ability to maintain control. Thus, he could not comprehend the criminality of his actions.”

  A broad definition of psychosis is: a symptom or feature of mental illness typically characterized by radical changes in personality, impaired functioning, and a distorted or nonexistent sense of objective reality.

  Patients suffering from psychosis have impaired reality testing. That is, they are unable to distinguish personal, subjective experience from the reality of the external world. They experience hallucinations or delusions that they believe are real, and may behave and communicate in an inappropriate and incoherent fashion. Psychosis may appear as a symptom of a number of mental disorders, including mood and personality disorders. It is also the defining feature of schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder, and the psychotic disorders (e.g., brief psychotic disorder, shared psychotic disorder, psychotic disorder due to a general medical condition, and substance-induced psychotic disorder).

  Those readers who have read my book Talking with Serial Killers and its sequel, Talking with Serial Killers II, specifically the chapter on Kenneth Alessio Bianchi in the latter, will realize that once again we find a distinguished forensic psychiatrist speaking gobbledygook.

  Of course, Dr. Morrison must have realized that Bobby Joe Long comprehended the criminality of his actions. Of course he had the ability to maintain control, and he was no schizophrenic, drug addict, or heavy drinker. In fact, the bottom line is that Bobby Joe Long raped, tortured, and murdered, time and time again, because he enjoyed inflicting dreadful suffering on his helpless and vulnerable victims.

  No doubt, if Dr. Morrison had her way, we might excuse the likes of Ian Brady, Myra Hindley, Fred and Rose West, Ted Bundy, Harvey Louis Carignan, Kenny Bianchi and Angelo Buono, Arthur Shawcross, Michael Ross, Kenneth Allen McDuff, Peter Sutcliffe, Dennis Nilsen, and just about every other serial killer who has infested our society over the decades, to mitigate their sins for having suffered some form of psychosis; lock them up for a spell, hit them with a few therapy groups, and release them with apologies for having detained them for so long.

  However, perhaps I am being a little unfair by singling out Dr. Morrison, when even Dr. John Money—renowned for his work in confused gender identity—came into the case. A psychologist and sex therapist, he took the stand and pontificated about the effects of the extra female chromosome, exacerbated by the head injuries Bobby Joe suffered, on a fragile ego. “This combination,” he stated, “had created in Long a Jekyll-and-Hyde syndrome.” Money ignored that quite famous quote by Jekyll to Gabriel John Utterson, a lawyer and friend: “The moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr. Hyde.” Unfortunately, Dr. Money later was exposed as a bit of a charlatan; it was revealed that his most famous case was the result of fraudulent reporting.

  The subject of the doctor’s fraud was his involvement in the sex reassignment of one David Reimer, in what later became known as the “John/Joan” case. Money reported that he successfully reassigned Reimer as female after a botched infant circumcision in 1966.

  In 1997, Milton Diamond, professor of anatomy and reproductive biology at the University of Hawaii, reported that the reassignment had failed, that Reimer had never identified as being female or behaved in a typically feminine manner.

  At age 14, Reimer, who had fought against being forced to see Dr. Money since the age of seven (and for very good reason) refused to see Money again, threatening suicide if he were made to go. Reimer’s parents then decided to tell their son the truth about his past and biological sex. Reimer immediately ended the hormone treatments he had been forced to undergo to stimulate female sex traits and began hormones to bring about the male puberty prevented by the removal of his testes by Dr. Money. He ceased using the name Brenda—which his parents had chosen for him after he began treatment with Dr. Money—and chose a new name, David, for himself.

  At 15, with a different medical team, he sought a mastectomy, testosterone therapy, and a
phalloplasty (artificial surgical modification of the penis). Later he married a woman, who luckily had children from a previous marriage, and Brenda/ David lived as an intractably confused person until, at age 38, the reoccurring thoughts of successful suicide finally overwhelmed him.

  For his part, at the ripe old age of 85, Dr. Money passed away in his sleep on July 7, 2006.

  But I have digressed. The flip side of Bobby Joe’s state of mind was presented by psychiatrists called by the State of Florida. Almost in unison they announced, “Mr. Long does have an antisocial personality disorder. This is not deemed a mental illness. He is a pathological liar, and he knew that what he was doing when he raped and murdered was wrong, and he knew the stiff penalties that awaited him should he be caught.”

  In the end, no jury accepted any of the defense’s psychiatric testimony. By the time Florida was done with Bobby Joe, he had received two death sentences (one was later commuted) and a staggering 34 life sentences, plus an additional 693 years imprisonment.

  After his first death sentence had been handed down, Bobby Joe left the court whistling a tune. He had decided that since he was, “no killer like other guys on death row,” his sentence had been “political.” But if one were to imagine this was the last one would hear about Mr. Long’s trials and tribulations, one would be mistaken.

  During 1997, the FBI lab came under the eagle-eye scrutiny of the Department of Justice, which issued a blistering 500-page report about the efficiency of the crime lab’s technicians. In the firing line, specifically, was the work of renowned fiber expert Special Agent Michael Malone, many of whose previous findings suddenly proved contrary to the career that he had been trained for when his work provided grounds for successful appeals against convictions.