← All cases

Bobby Joe Long

Also known as: Robert Joe Long

Active

1984–1984

Region

Tampa Bay area, Florida, USA

State

FL

Kind

Serial

Status

Executed

Victims

8

Between May and November 1984, Bobby Joe Long abducted and murdered women in the Tampa Bay area. In November 1984 he abducted a 17-year-old, Lisa McVey, and released her after about 26 hours; what she remembered about his car, his home and an ATM stop led police to him, and he was arrested outside a Tampa movie theater on November 16, 1984. In 1985 he pleaded guilty to eight murders in Hillsborough County and received life sentences, except for the murder of Michelle Simms, for which he was sentenced to death. He was executed at Florida State Prison on May 23, 2019.

Ask the Atlas about this case →

Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

• Ngeun Thi "Lana" Long, 19 · May 13, 1984
• Michelle Denise Simms, 22 · May 27, 1984
• Elizabeth Loudenback, 22 · June 8, 1984
• Victoria Marie "Vicky" Elliott, 21 · September 7, 1984
• Kimberly Kyle Hopps, 22 · October 1, 1984
• Chanel Devoun Williams, 18 · October 7, 1984

  Remembered by her mother as a loving daughter and kindhearted sister.

• Karen Beth Dinsfriend, 28 · October 14, 1984
• Kimberly Marie Swann, 21 · November 12, 1984

  His last murder victim.

Timeline of locations

1. May 13, 1984
   Hillsborough County (other victims) (Recovery site, approximate area)

   All eight murders Long pleaded guilty to were in Hillsborough County. The sources read do not say where each woman was found, so this marker stands for the county, not specific sites.

2. May 27, 1984
   Woods near Plant City (Simms) (Recovery site, approximate area)

   Michelle Simms's body was found in a wooded area near Plant City on May 27, 1984. Long later confessed to her murder; it is the one for which he was sentenced to death.

3. November 16, 1984
   Arrest outside a movie theater, Tampa (Arrest, approximate area)

   Long was arrested outside a movie theater on November 16, 1984, for the kidnapping and sexual battery of the 17-year-old, and then confessed to the murders.

4. September 23, 1985
   Hillsborough County court, Tampa (Court / trial, approximate area)

   Long entered his plea agreement on September 23, 1985. He was sentenced to death for the Simms murder in July 1986 and, after the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing, again in July 1989.

5. May 23, 2019
   Florida State Prison (death row and execution) (Prison)

   After 34 years on death row, Long was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on May 23, 2019.

Watch, listen, read

Sources

• Bobby Joe Long (Wikipedia)
• Robert Joe Long case summary (Florida Legislature, Commission on Capital Cases)
• Bobby Joe Long is executed in Florida for killing eight women in 1984 (NBC News / AP)
• Florida executes serial killer Bobby Joseph Long after 34 years on death row (WUFT)

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.