"I Don't Understand Why": WFLA's Case History of Bobby Joe Long, May 2019

Name: "I Don't Understand Why": WFLA's Case History of Bobby Joe Long, May 2019
Uploaded: 2019-05-22T00:00:00Z
Duration: 5 min 5 s
Description: On the eve of Bobby Joe Long's execution, WFLA retold the 1984 Tampa Bay murders through the lead investigator and survivor Lisa McVey Noland, with a brief archive clip of Long himself.

On the eve of Bobby Joe Long's execution, WFLA retold the 1984 Tampa Bay murders through the lead investigator and survivor Lisa McVey Noland, with a brief archive clip of Long himself.

Subject: Bobbie Joe Long
Recorded: May 2019
Runtime: 5:05

Content warning: Describes the rape and murder of women, the state of a victim's body when found, and the abduction and repeated rape of a 17-year-old girl in her own words.

The Interview

This is a 5-minute WFLA News Channel 8 (Tampa) case history, posted by the station on its own channel on May 22, 2019, the day before Bobby Joe Long was executed. Most of it is the station's narration with interviews: Col. Gary Terry, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office's lead investigator; survivor Lisa McVey Noland; unnamed investigators; and a relative of the murdered Chanel Williams. Long himself is heard for about 16 seconds in an archive interview clip. The report does not say when, where or by whom that interview was recorded.

Historical Context

Over eight months in 1984, Bobby Joe Long killed at least ten women in the Tampa Bay area; the body of Ngeun Thi "Lana" Long was found in May 1984. On November 3, 1984, he abducted 17-year-old Lisa McVey as she rode her bicycle home from work and released her about 26 hours later. Her observations, including his car and a stop at an ATM, led police to him, and he was arrested on November 16, 1984. In 1985 he pleaded guilty to eight murders and to her abduction and rape, and he was sentenced to death for the murder of Michelle Denise Simms.

Circumstances

Governor Ron DeSantis signed Long's death warrant on April 23, 2019. Long's lawyers argued that etomidate, the first drug in Florida's three-drug protocol, could trigger seizures because of his epilepsy and traumatic brain injury; the Florida Supreme Court rejected the claims on May 17, 2019 (Long v. State, SC19-726). The station's package, with clips from those hearings, was posted the day before the execution.

What the Interview Covers

The report covers the discovery of the first body, the red trilobal nylon carpet fibers found at the scenes, and Terry's recollection that a body was found "about every two weeks." McVey Noland describes being taken from her bicycle at gunpoint, the night in the man's apartment, and lying to him to keep him calm; the narration adds that on the ride home she saw the word "Magnum" on the dashboard from beneath her blindfold. And the worst thing is, I don't understand why." Investigators describe his earlier rapes of women whose classified ads he answered. The report then turns to the death warrant, a defense attorney's objection that he was expected to propose "a better way to kill my client," a state expert's testimony that the dose would "suppress all seizure activity," a relative of Chanel Williams, and McVey Noland's hope of "a full night's sleep."

What Makes the Recording Significant

The package also brings together the lead investigator and the survivor whose escape led to his arrest, on the eve of the execution.

Archival Importance

The source of the clip should be traced (WFLA archive or the original broadcast) before the page calls it an interview with a named outlet or date.

Important Caveats

Long speaks for about 16 seconds; the page should not present this as a Long interview. His statement that he does not understand why he killed is his own claim. The claim that he raped "dozens" of women is the narration's ("investigators and prosecutors believe"). Several short bites are not attributed on air, and the defense attorney and state expert are not named in the video. "Krispy Kreme" is the narration's wording for the donut shop where McVey worked.

Narrator: It all started, as far as investigators knew, on Mother's Day in 1984, when two boys found the body of Lana Long, an exotic dancer in Tampa. Her hands were bound behind her back, her body contorted, legs spread five feet apart.

Unidentified Speaker: No one deserves to be killed like these women were killed.

Narrator: Two weeks later, a second victim.

Col. Gary Terry: The series of homicides started, and we were finding a body, it averaged out about every two weeks.

Narrator: Colonel Gary Terry was the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office's lead investigator on the case.

Col. Gary Terry: You know, if you don't solve it soon, someone else is going to die.

Narrator: More women were killed, four by Labor Day. The gruesome scenes, including ligature marks from the victims being tied and raped before they were murdered. One piece of evidence kept appearing at the crime scenes: red trilobal nylon carpet fiber. The fibers were a mystery, until a separate rape case emerged where the victims survived.

Lisa McVey Noland: I'm just plucked off my bike by God knows who, and I felt the cold [unclear: "still, but still" / "steel, the steel"] barrel to the left side of my temple.

Narrator: Lisa Noland, then 17 years old, was riding her bike home from work at a Tampa Krispy Kreme when she was abducted around 2 a.m. and taken to the man's apartment.

Lisa McVey Noland: I lost count how many times he raped me throughout the night.

Narrator: A previous victim of abuse, Lisa knew how to handle him and did what she needed to survive.

Lisa McVey Noland: I would lie to him, to appease him, to keep him calm, and cuddle him.

Narrator: Through the night, she got a glimpse into his mind and his motive.

Lisa McVey Noland: [unclear: "If he" / "He"] was getting back at women in general, because of a bad breakup.

Narrator: After 24 hours from hell, incredibly, he let her go. On the ride home, she peeked beneath a blindfold, finding the evidence that would catch a killer: the word "Magnum" on the dash, and a red carpet interior.

Lisa McVey Noland: For the movers, the action people: Dodge Magnum XE, '78.

Narrator: Detectives matched the Dodge Magnum with an ATM transaction, and Lisa picked Long out of a lineup. His reign of terror was finally over.

Col. Gary Terry: If we had not captured him when we did, he would have, I'd hate to think of what his body count would have been.

Narrator: Long later confessed to at least eight murders over that eight-month span in 1984 and was sentenced to death.

Bobby Joe Long: A lot of lives just gone right [unclear: "down the tubes" / "down to two(s)"] because of me, you know, in one way or another. And it's not a good feeling. It's not a pleasant feeling. I'm not proud of anything I've done. And the worst thing is, I don't understand why. I don't understand why.

Narrator: But investigators and prosecutors believe he raped dozens of women before his killing spree, answering classified ads by unsuspecting young women.

Investigator: Oh, he's an absolute sicko. He's [unclear: "an arrogant" / "a narrative, arrogant"] son of a bitch.

Investigator: He was an arrogant guy. He used to go, his big start was in rapes. He would answer ads where the parents were trying to sell the baby furniture. So he would go to the house hoping to find the little girl or the young mommy there.

Narrator: For more than 30 years, Long sat on Florida's death row, until new Governor Ron DeSantis signed Long's death warrant last month.

Unidentified Speaker: I was happy. I said, "God, it's about time."

Narrator: Long's date with death was set. Then came multiple appeals in court.

Defense Attorney: It's ridiculous that I'm expected to come in there and say, "Here's a better way to kill my client."

Narrator: In recent years, some manufacturers stopped supplying their drugs for executions, forcing a change. Now, the first of Florida's three-drug protocol is etomidate, an anesthetic that Long's attorneys say could violate his Eighth Amendment constitutional right to avoid cruel and unusual punishment, because Long has epilepsy and a traumatic brain injury, and the drug, they say, could trigger seizures. The state's expert witnesses disagreed.

State Expert Witness: Such an extreme dose would be lethal, and would produce an extreme state of unconsciousness, and suppress all seizure activity.

Narrator: Lula Williams's daughter Chanel was one of Long's victims. She says the years have not been kind to those who loved her, and that Long's pain shouldn't matter.

Relative Of Chanel Williams: Pain doesn't matter, [unclear: "what" / omitted] my niece went through. To have this person find excuse after excuse to not, to face his judgment, you know, it's time he did that wrong pay for it. You got to pay for your sin.

Narrator: As for Long's only known survivor from that 1984 killing spree, the woman who brought Long to justice is now an officer of the law herself.

Lisa McVey Noland: Just because you become a victim, you don't have to stay there.

Narrator: Lisa Noland is now Master Deputy Lisa McVey, in the same Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office that helped catch her attacker. She says she'll be at Long's execution, hoping it may finally, 35 years later, bring her some closure.

Lisa McVey Noland: I'm hoping to get a full night's sleep without any [unclear: "eruptions" / "interruptions"]. I have not slept since 1984. [About 05:00 to 05:05: no further speech in the machine text or captions. Clip ends.] ---