The entire experience transformed Long in a way that would change not only his life, but the lives of his victims, their families, and an entire community. In addition to a new-found rage, the motorcycle accident left Long with an increased sex drive that he could not satiate, even with ritualistic masturbation five or six times a day. Shortly after his release from hospital, his growing and desperate sexual needs seemed to consume him. It was then that Long devised the idea of using the classified ads in the newspaper to locate women, arrive at their houses and rape them. And he did, repeatedly.
Katherine Ramsland of True TV, produced an in-depth documentary on Longs killing spree. Excerpts from her findings are below....
On March 27, 1984, Long made a transformation from which he could never turn back. On that date, he picked up 20 year-old Artis Wick in Tampa. After raping her, Long found himself strangely unsatisfied. Rather than leave her, as he had his other victims, Long strangled Artis Wick to death. Long believed he had discovered the perfect method to guarantee he would not get caught for his crimes. It was a lesson that was reinforced next month as he attempted to abduct his next victim. At gunpoint, Long tried to abduct the woman in her Jaguar, but she outsmarted him by deliberately crashing her car. After being caught and scheduled to face charges in court that July, Long decided his future victims would not be allowed to live long enough to level any accusations against him.
May 1984 he spotted the woman he wanted next. She was a petite young Asian woman with shoulder-length dark hair, wearing shorts and a tank top. As she walked east on Fletcher at Nebraska Avenue, Long pulled his car up alongside her and offered her a ride. She accepted and it was only moments before what had seemed like a kind gesture turned quickly into a nightmare. Driving her to a wooded area off 22nd Street, he stopped the car and ordered the young woman to take off her clothes. He then forced her to lie face down on the front seat, tying her hands behind her back. Long had learned the skill of restraining victims when he was only a child, after witnessing robbery of his parents' home. He had sat silently behind his partially open bedroom door, watching with fascination as his parents were made completely immobile by the ropes that bound them as strangers plundered their home.
With the young woman bound, unable to move and too terrified to try, Long drove south along 301 to Symmes Road, then onto East Bay Road. At the dead end, he pulled into a cow field. As she lay on the front seat, Long raped his victim. He then began to remove her from the car and the young woman began to struggle, waging a desperate battle for her freedom. In response, Long assailed her with a series of punches that left her powerless to fight back. Returning to the car, he then obtained a length of rope and, tying it around her neck, strangled her as she lay helpless on the ground. Long then headed for home, leaving the body of his latest victim behind.
Katherine Ramsland of True TV, produced an in-depth documentary on Longs killing spree. Excerpts from her findings are below....
On March 27, 1984, Long made a transformation from which he could never turn back. On that date, he picked up 20 year-old Artis Wick in Tampa. After raping her, Long found himself strangely unsatisfied. Rather than leave her, as he had his other victims, Long strangled Artis Wick to death. Long believed he had discovered the perfect method to guarantee he would not get caught for his crimes. It was a lesson that was reinforced next month as he attempted to abduct his next victim. At gunpoint, Long tried to abduct the woman in her Jaguar, but she outsmarted him by deliberately crashing her car. After being caught and scheduled to face charges in court that July, Long decided his future victims would not be allowed to live long enough to level any accusations against him.
May 1984 he spotted the woman he wanted next. She was a petite young Asian woman with shoulder-length dark hair, wearing shorts and a tank top. As she walked east on Fletcher at Nebraska Avenue, Long pulled his car up alongside her and offered her a ride. She accepted and it was only moments before what had seemed like a kind gesture turned quickly into a nightmare. Driving her to a wooded area off 22nd Street, he stopped the car and ordered the young woman to take off her clothes. He then forced her to lie face down on the front seat, tying her hands behind her back. Long had learned the skill of restraining victims when he was only a child, after witnessing robbery of his parents' home. He had sat silently behind his partially open bedroom door, watching with fascination as his parents were made completely immobile by the ropes that bound them as strangers plundered their home.
With the young woman bound, unable to move and too terrified to try, Long drove south along 301 to Symmes Road, then onto East Bay Road. At the dead end, he pulled into a cow field. As she lay on the front seat, Long raped his victim. He then began to remove her from the car and the young woman began to struggle, waging a desperate battle for her freedom. In response, Long assailed her with a series of punches that left her powerless to fight back. Returning to the car, he then obtained a length of rope and, tying it around her neck, strangled her as she lay helpless on the ground. Long then headed for home, leaving the body of his latest victim behind.
The first officers to arrive on the scene on May 13, 1984 were greeted by the gruesome sight. The corpse of a young woman lay face down in the dirt, her hands tied behind her back and her legs spread wider than she was tall. Officials knew they had a deranged killer on their hands. Most disturbing was what they couldn’t yet know - that this was only the first of ten victims they would encounter before Bobby Joe Long’s terror was brought to a halt. The victim was identified as twenty year-old Laotian-born Ngeun Thi Long, who had moved to Tampa from Los Angeles with her boyfriend. The only evidence at the scene was a set of tire tracks and some red fibers, probably from carpet in the killer’s car. Despite following every possible lead, such scarce evidence left police with nothing to connect the crime to Bobby Joe Long.
Two weeks later, officials discovered the scene of Long’s next murder on lover’s lane at Park Road. This time, the victim was 22-year-old Michelle Denise Simms, a former California beauty contestant who worked as a hooker to support her $1,000 weekly cocaine habit. Simms had moved to Tampa only one day before she encountered Bobby Joe Long who picked her up on Kennedy Boulevard, posing as a customer. As with Lana, Long forced Simms to undress in the car and lie face down on the front seat. He tied her hands behind her back, and then drove to the site where her body was later found. Once there, he raped her then threw her from the car. Long attempted to strangle her, but Simms refused to give up her life easily. Long grabbed a knife and slashed her throat several times, severing a large enough blood vessel to end his victim’s struggle. He fled the scene, leaving Simm’s corpse lying on the ground and items of her bloodied clothing hanging from a nearby tree.
Two weeks later, officials discovered the scene of Long’s next murder on lover’s lane at Park Road. This time, the victim was 22-year-old Michelle Denise Simms, a former California beauty contestant who worked as a hooker to support her $1,000 weekly cocaine habit. Simms had moved to Tampa only one day before she encountered Bobby Joe Long who picked her up on Kennedy Boulevard, posing as a customer. As with Lana, Long forced Simms to undress in the car and lie face down on the front seat. He tied her hands behind her back, and then drove to the site where her body was later found. Once there, he raped her then threw her from the car. Long attempted to strangle her, but Simms refused to give up her life easily. Long grabbed a knife and slashed her throat several times, severing a large enough blood vessel to end his victim’s struggle. He fled the scene, leaving Simm’s corpse lying on the ground and items of her bloodied clothing hanging from a nearby tree.
At the murder scene police investigators found red fibers, human hair, a bare footprint and tire tracks - evidence enough to suggest that the same man had killed both Lana and Simms. FBI analysis of the evidence proved their theory correct. In addition to the red fibers and tire tracks found at both scenes, officials now had a Caucasian cranial hair and semen stains showing the presence of both A and B blood types. To maximize efforts to catch the killer, all this information was shared with other law enforcement agencies. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office sent a detailed description of the two murders to the Behavioral Science Services Unit of the FBI for an analysis of the crimes and a detailed profile of the killer. Unfortunately, before the FBI could provide the reports, the HCSO’s worst fear materialized: the murderer continued to kill.
On Friday, June 8, 1984, Long chose his next victim. Late that afternoon, 22-year-old Elizabeth Loudenback left the trailer she shared with her mother, stepfather, sister and brother, in the Village Mobile Home Park. Although she normally didn’t accept rides from strangers Loudenback made a fateful - and final - decision to accept Long’s offer when he pulled alongside her on Nebraska Avenue. Loudenback had not been in the car long before she knew something was terribly wrong. Long pulled over and, at knifepoint, ordered Loudenback to remove her pants. He tied her up, forced her face down on the reclined front seat and raped her. Then he drove with her to an orange grove in Brandon, where he raped her savagely from behind.
On Friday, June 8, 1984, Long chose his next victim. Late that afternoon, 22-year-old Elizabeth Loudenback left the trailer she shared with her mother, stepfather, sister and brother, in the Village Mobile Home Park. Although she normally didn’t accept rides from strangers Loudenback made a fateful - and final - decision to accept Long’s offer when he pulled alongside her on Nebraska Avenue. Loudenback had not been in the car long before she knew something was terribly wrong. Long pulled over and, at knifepoint, ordered Loudenback to remove her pants. He tied her up, forced her face down on the reclined front seat and raped her. Then he drove with her to an orange grove in Brandon, where he raped her savagely from behind.
When he had finished, Long did something different: he untied Loudenback, told her to put her clothes on and returned with her to his car. Long later claimed he had not intended to kill his victim but that her incessant crying forced him to change his mind. Dragging Loudenback from the car Long strangled her with rope and threw her body into the shrubs. Again, Long deviated from his usual methods. As he drove away, he searched through Elizabeth’s purse, finding a bank teller card with the four-digit access code in an envelope. Over the next few hours, Long said he used the card to withdraw cash from several banks. He then threw away the card, much as he had discarded Elizabeth’s body hours before.
It would take another sixteen days before Elizabeth Loudenback’s badly decomposed body was discovered and reported to police. The circumstances, however, differed just enough from Long’s previous murders that police failed to connect it to the murders of Lana and Simms. Therefore, murder site evidence sent to the FBI was not compared to the evidence found at the other victims’ murder sites. It was not until much later that the HCSO requested that the FBI examine Loudenback’s clothes for fiber evidence, uncovering red carpet fibers matching those found on both Lana and Simms. Not long after murdering Elizabeth Loudenback, Bobby Joe Long went on an overnight visit with his two children, who lived with his ex-wife, Cathy, in Hollywood, Florida.
It would take another sixteen days before Elizabeth Loudenback’s badly decomposed body was discovered and reported to police. The circumstances, however, differed just enough from Long’s previous murders that police failed to connect it to the murders of Lana and Simms. Therefore, murder site evidence sent to the FBI was not compared to the evidence found at the other victims’ murder sites. It was not until much later that the HCSO requested that the FBI examine Loudenback’s clothes for fiber evidence, uncovering red carpet fibers matching those found on both Lana and Simms. Not long after murdering Elizabeth Loudenback, Bobby Joe Long went on an overnight visit with his two children, who lived with his ex-wife, Cathy, in Hollywood, Florida.
On June 14, Long began work at the Tampa General Hospital as an X-Ray technician. Three days later, he went to court for the attempted abduction of Mary Hicks, for which he was charged with only a $1,500 fine for the damage to the car and three year’s probation. Long put the outcome of the case behind him and concentrated on his life, staying busy with moving into a new apartment in July.
By then, officials were beginning to hope that the murderer’s spree had ended with Lana and Simms. However, in late August, Long took a vacation in Miami, where he picked up a young prostitute. He drove with her until he found a remote area with little threat of interruption. There, he beat the young woman and forced her to undress. As he raped her on the reclined front seat of his car, Long took photos that depicted in graphic detail the various sexual acts he performed on her. When he was finally finished, Long drove away, leaving the woman, naked and shattered, to make her own way home from the isolated area.
Soon after Long returned to Tampa, on September 7, 1984, 21-year-old Vicky Elliott was re ported missing. Her employer at the Ramada Inn coffee shop had become concerned when the habitually punctual young woman had failed to show up for her 11 PM shift. When a couple of days passed with no sign of Vicky, police searched her apartment and discovered an airline ticket on a table next to her bed. The ticket indicated that Vicky had intended to return home to her parents in Muskegon, Michigan in two weeks, suggesting that her disappearance was not intentional. It would be two months before her parent’s hopes that their daughter would return to them were shattered completely.
Before the end of September, Long identified his next victim, offering her a ride as she walked home late in the evening. Chanel Williams instantly fell prey to Long’s cruel methods, as he beat her and forced her to lie face down on the reclined front seat. As with his other victims, Long forced Chanel to undress and tied her hands behind her back. Then he beat her again. As Chanel lay terrified on the seat, Long drove toward Morris Bridge Road, stopping his car near the entrance road to a cattle ranch. There Long savagely raped Chanel from behind while she was still on the front seat.
By then, officials were beginning to hope that the murderer’s spree had ended with Lana and Simms. However, in late August, Long took a vacation in Miami, where he picked up a young prostitute. He drove with her until he found a remote area with little threat of interruption. There, he beat the young woman and forced her to undress. As he raped her on the reclined front seat of his car, Long took photos that depicted in graphic detail the various sexual acts he performed on her. When he was finally finished, Long drove away, leaving the woman, naked and shattered, to make her own way home from the isolated area.
Soon after Long returned to Tampa, on September 7, 1984, 21-year-old Vicky Elliott was re ported missing. Her employer at the Ramada Inn coffee shop had become concerned when the habitually punctual young woman had failed to show up for her 11 PM shift. When a couple of days passed with no sign of Vicky, police searched her apartment and discovered an airline ticket on a table next to her bed. The ticket indicated that Vicky had intended to return home to her parents in Muskegon, Michigan in two weeks, suggesting that her disappearance was not intentional. It would be two months before her parent’s hopes that their daughter would return to them were shattered completely.
Before the end of September, Long identified his next victim, offering her a ride as she walked home late in the evening. Chanel Williams instantly fell prey to Long’s cruel methods, as he beat her and forced her to lie face down on the reclined front seat. As with his other victims, Long forced Chanel to undress and tied her hands behind her back. Then he beat her again. As Chanel lay terrified on the seat, Long drove toward Morris Bridge Road, stopping his car near the entrance road to a cattle ranch. There Long savagely raped Chanel from behind while she was still on the front seat.
He then pulled her from the car and attempted to strangle her. But Chanel struggled against him. An athletic girl, she refused to surrender quietly and Long quickly grew impatient with her fight for survival. Taking out his gun, he shot her once in the back of the head and pushed her lifeless body under a wire fence. As he drove away, Long tossed Chanel’s clothes from his car, her underpants landing on the fence and her bra on the entrance gate.
It would be another week before Chanel’s decomposing body was discovered. The FBI laboratory found red carpet fibers on her clothing; along with a brown Caucasian pubic hair and semen containing A and H blood group substances. The carpet fibers matched those in the Lana and Simms cases, but the semen from the Simms case didn’t match. Officials knew both women were prostitutes, which could account for the different types. Identifying Chanel’s body proved a relatively easy task as she had just been released from jail for soliciting prostitution. Police investigations revealed that 18-year-old Chanel Devon Williams had only recently moved to Tampa to escape the mundane life of her nearby hometown of Bartow. With no qualifications to speak of, Chanel saw prostitution as the only means to generate enough money to provide her with the life she had always wanted.
Long had killed his next victim the very day that Chanel’s body was discovered, although it would take a week before police uncovered the crime. It was less than a week before Long killed again, picking up his victim as she walked Hillsborough Avenue looking to earn the forty-seven dollars she needed for her next heroin fix. After Long accepted her offer of prostitution, the young woman climbed into the car. Long undressed, bound and raped the woman before driving her to an orange grove where he strangled her as he raped her again. He paused briefly, startled by the sound of dogs barking nearby. Afraid that he had been discovered, Long sat quietly in the car with his victim until he was certain there was no danger.
Long wrapped the young woman’s body in a beach blanket and shoved her into the trunk. He drove to another grove and dragged the corpse underneath a nearby tree. The woman’s tee shirt was now pulled up under her armpits, exposing her breasts. Long wrapped the woman’s feet in the blanket, binding them with a shoelace and strips of cloth from a blue sweatsuit. He tied her wrists together in front of her with a red bandanna, then took a shoelace and wrapped it around her wrists and neck. When his macabre display was arranged to his satisfaction, Long threw his victim’s clothes from his car and drove away into the night.
Police immediately recognized the 22-year-old woman when her body was found on October 14, 1984. Karen Beth Drinsfriend, although beautiful and intelligent, was well known to local police and had a Florida police record that dated back to her early teens. A drug addict since junior high, her life had slid successively downhill, resulting in jail sentences for grand larceny, drug charges and prostitution. She had turned to the latter to help fund her heroin addiction, but it wasn’t until after she climbed into the car driven by Bobby Joe Long that Drinsfriend would pay the ultimate price for her addiction.
It would be another week before Chanel’s decomposing body was discovered. The FBI laboratory found red carpet fibers on her clothing; along with a brown Caucasian pubic hair and semen containing A and H blood group substances. The carpet fibers matched those in the Lana and Simms cases, but the semen from the Simms case didn’t match. Officials knew both women were prostitutes, which could account for the different types. Identifying Chanel’s body proved a relatively easy task as she had just been released from jail for soliciting prostitution. Police investigations revealed that 18-year-old Chanel Devon Williams had only recently moved to Tampa to escape the mundane life of her nearby hometown of Bartow. With no qualifications to speak of, Chanel saw prostitution as the only means to generate enough money to provide her with the life she had always wanted.
Long had killed his next victim the very day that Chanel’s body was discovered, although it would take a week before police uncovered the crime. It was less than a week before Long killed again, picking up his victim as she walked Hillsborough Avenue looking to earn the forty-seven dollars she needed for her next heroin fix. After Long accepted her offer of prostitution, the young woman climbed into the car. Long undressed, bound and raped the woman before driving her to an orange grove where he strangled her as he raped her again. He paused briefly, startled by the sound of dogs barking nearby. Afraid that he had been discovered, Long sat quietly in the car with his victim until he was certain there was no danger.
Long wrapped the young woman’s body in a beach blanket and shoved her into the trunk. He drove to another grove and dragged the corpse underneath a nearby tree. The woman’s tee shirt was now pulled up under her armpits, exposing her breasts. Long wrapped the woman’s feet in the blanket, binding them with a shoelace and strips of cloth from a blue sweatsuit. He tied her wrists together in front of her with a red bandanna, then took a shoelace and wrapped it around her wrists and neck. When his macabre display was arranged to his satisfaction, Long threw his victim’s clothes from his car and drove away into the night.
Police immediately recognized the 22-year-old woman when her body was found on October 14, 1984. Karen Beth Drinsfriend, although beautiful and intelligent, was well known to local police and had a Florida police record that dated back to her early teens. A drug addict since junior high, her life had slid successively downhill, resulting in jail sentences for grand larceny, drug charges and prostitution. She had turned to the latter to help fund her heroin addiction, but it wasn’t until after she climbed into the car driven by Bobby Joe Long that Drinsfriend would pay the ultimate price for her addiction.
Police found Long’s fifth victim on Halloween 1984, but nothing at the scene helped identify the badly decomposed body. Only once Bobby Joe Long was captured would they learn that her name was Kimberly Kyle Hopps. Again, Long had picked up his victim under the auspices of soliciting prostitution, driven her out near the county line, then bound and raped her. He strangled Hopps with the black collar she wore around her neck and threw her lifeless body down an embankment into a ditch. Every available police officer in the Tampa area was now assigned to this case, with officers patrolling the major streets and highways in an attempt to capture the killer. Tension and frustration grew as officials worked too hard and too long, with no results. But on November 3, 1984, their efforts would be finally and richly rewarded as Bobby Joe Long made the mistake that led police right to his door.
At 2.30 that morning, Long was cruising for his next victim when he spotted 17 year-old Lisa McVey on Waters Avenue, riding her bicycle home from work. As he passed her going in the opposite direction, Long knew instantly that he wanted her. He turned his car around and followed her. As he overtook her, Long studied the young woman in his rearview mirror. Lisa McVey was slender and athletic with shoulder length, dark auburn hair. Long pulled into a church parking lot, parked his car and crossed the road to wait for the young beauty to pass. As she did, Long grabbed Lisa McVey by the hair and pulled her from her bike.
Holding a gun to her throat, Long responded to McVey’s terrified scream by assuring her he would kill her if she made another sound. He forced her back to his car and ordered her to undress. Long then unzipped his pants and forced the young woman to perform oral sex on him as he drove. Before he ejaculated, he ordered her to stop and to sit up; warning her to keep her eyes closed the entire time. Lisa McVey was terrified, but equally determined to survive this ordeal. She complied with Long’s every order, knowing that refusing to do so could provoke him - and she had no idea what horrors this man could be capable of.
Long cruised the streets for some time before taking McVey back to his apartment on East Fowler Avenue. He ordered her to put her clothes on and tied a blindfold around her eyes before they got out of the car. His blindfolded victim did not see the red carpeting covering the two flights of stairs Long forced her to climb - nor would she have known its significance.
Long took McVey to his bathroom and forced her to undress again. Ordering her to bend over, he attempted to sodomize her, stopping when she cried out in pain. Instead, he took her to his bedroom and raped her. When he was finished, he took young Lisa McVey, still blindfolded, into the shower with him. He then dried her hair and brushed it gently, telling her how beautiful it was. Long returned McVey to his bedroom, ordering her to lie on his waterbed. He tied her legs tightly, turned off the light and removed her blindfold. To ensure she continued to comply with his demands, Long let her feel the cold steel of his gun against her skin before placing it on a shelf above the bed. They spent the rest of the night and most of the next day in his bed where he touched her body and made her do the same to him. He asked her to massage his back and shoulder to relieve the pain caused by some heavy lifting he had done at work. Long raped Lisa McVey repeatedly, forced her to perform oral sex several times and sodomized her once.
Throughout the entire ordeal, Long spoke to McVey as if they were new lovers spending their first night together. He asked about her family and her work. He called her “babe” and said he didn’t know why he had done this. As evening approached, Long realized McVey must be hungry and he made a ham sandwich for her. While she ate, he went into the living room and watched television until the news announced Lisa McVey’s disappearance. He turned the set off and returned to the bedroom. Climbing into bed with his victim, Long turned off the light. He removed her blindfold again but he allowed her to stay dressed. As they lay together in the dark, Long nibbled at McVey’s ear and neck, telling her how much he liked her and that he wished they had met under different circumstances. He made Lisa remove her shirt, caressed and licked her breasts. Then Long told Lisa McVey to rest.
At 2.30 AM, the alarm clock sounded and Long helped McVey prepare to leave, blindfolding her before the walk to his car. As she climbed into the car, McVey’s head bumped against the doorframe and Long apologized. He leaned down to put her shoes and socks on her feet. He then kissed McVey before he starting the engine. After a few moments of driving, Long stopped at a bank to withdraw cash from the automatic teller machine. Alone in the car, McVey dared to adjust her blindfold slightly. Through a tiny opening, she was able to note that the bank was a white building, and that the car was red or maroon with a white interior. On the dashboard was a brown strip with the word “Magnum” in silver letters and a digital clock with green numerals. Long returned to the car, but McVey’s blindfold remained positioned to allow a small line of vision. They drove around the corner to a gas station, after which a ten-minute drive led them to the interstate, where McVey noted signs for Howard Johsons and Quality Inn.
Long brought his car to a stop in a parking lot at the corner of Rome and Hillsborough. He told McVey that he didn’t want to let her go, but then helped her gather her belongings 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. McVey stood exactly where Long had left her, unsure if she was safe even as she heard the sound of his car engine fading in the distance. Several long minutes passed before she removed the blindfold. Realizing she had indeed survived, Lisa McVey fell to her knees and wept uncontrollably before she could compose herself enough for the walk home. It was 4.30 AM when McVey arrived home and awoke her father. Her ordeal with Bobby Joe Long had lasted twenty-six hours and Lisa McVey called the Tampa police, determined to help them bring her attacker to justice.
At 2.30 that morning, Long was cruising for his next victim when he spotted 17 year-old Lisa McVey on Waters Avenue, riding her bicycle home from work. As he passed her going in the opposite direction, Long knew instantly that he wanted her. He turned his car around and followed her. As he overtook her, Long studied the young woman in his rearview mirror. Lisa McVey was slender and athletic with shoulder length, dark auburn hair. Long pulled into a church parking lot, parked his car and crossed the road to wait for the young beauty to pass. As she did, Long grabbed Lisa McVey by the hair and pulled her from her bike.
Holding a gun to her throat, Long responded to McVey’s terrified scream by assuring her he would kill her if she made another sound. He forced her back to his car and ordered her to undress. Long then unzipped his pants and forced the young woman to perform oral sex on him as he drove. Before he ejaculated, he ordered her to stop and to sit up; warning her to keep her eyes closed the entire time. Lisa McVey was terrified, but equally determined to survive this ordeal. She complied with Long’s every order, knowing that refusing to do so could provoke him - and she had no idea what horrors this man could be capable of.
Long cruised the streets for some time before taking McVey back to his apartment on East Fowler Avenue. He ordered her to put her clothes on and tied a blindfold around her eyes before they got out of the car. His blindfolded victim did not see the red carpeting covering the two flights of stairs Long forced her to climb - nor would she have known its significance.
Long took McVey to his bathroom and forced her to undress again. Ordering her to bend over, he attempted to sodomize her, stopping when she cried out in pain. Instead, he took her to his bedroom and raped her. When he was finished, he took young Lisa McVey, still blindfolded, into the shower with him. He then dried her hair and brushed it gently, telling her how beautiful it was. Long returned McVey to his bedroom, ordering her to lie on his waterbed. He tied her legs tightly, turned off the light and removed her blindfold. To ensure she continued to comply with his demands, Long let her feel the cold steel of his gun against her skin before placing it on a shelf above the bed. They spent the rest of the night and most of the next day in his bed where he touched her body and made her do the same to him. He asked her to massage his back and shoulder to relieve the pain caused by some heavy lifting he had done at work. Long raped Lisa McVey repeatedly, forced her to perform oral sex several times and sodomized her once.
Throughout the entire ordeal, Long spoke to McVey as if they were new lovers spending their first night together. He asked about her family and her work. He called her “babe” and said he didn’t know why he had done this. As evening approached, Long realized McVey must be hungry and he made a ham sandwich for her. While she ate, he went into the living room and watched television until the news announced Lisa McVey’s disappearance. He turned the set off and returned to the bedroom. Climbing into bed with his victim, Long turned off the light. He removed her blindfold again but he allowed her to stay dressed. As they lay together in the dark, Long nibbled at McVey’s ear and neck, telling her how much he liked her and that he wished they had met under different circumstances. He made Lisa remove her shirt, caressed and licked her breasts. Then Long told Lisa McVey to rest.
At 2.30 AM, the alarm clock sounded and Long helped McVey prepare to leave, blindfolding her before the walk to his car. As she climbed into the car, McVey’s head bumped against the doorframe and Long apologized. He leaned down to put her shoes and socks on her feet. He then kissed McVey before he starting the engine. After a few moments of driving, Long stopped at a bank to withdraw cash from the automatic teller machine. Alone in the car, McVey dared to adjust her blindfold slightly. Through a tiny opening, she was able to note that the bank was a white building, and that the car was red or maroon with a white interior. On the dashboard was a brown strip with the word “Magnum” in silver letters and a digital clock with green numerals. Long returned to the car, but McVey’s blindfold remained positioned to allow a small line of vision. They drove around the corner to a gas station, after which a ten-minute drive led them to the interstate, where McVey noted signs for Howard Johsons and Quality Inn.
Long brought his car to a stop in a parking lot at the corner of Rome and Hillsborough. He told McVey that he didn’t want to let her go, but then helped her gather her belongings 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. McVey stood exactly where Long had left her, unsure if she was safe even as she heard the sound of his car engine fading in the distance. Several long minutes passed before she removed the blindfold. Realizing she had indeed survived, Lisa McVey fell to her knees and wept uncontrollably before she could compose herself enough for the walk home. It was 4.30 AM when McVey arrived home and awoke her father. Her ordeal with Bobby Joe Long had lasted twenty-six hours and Lisa McVey called the Tampa police, determined to help them bring her attacker to justice.
Two days after Lisa McVey reported the sordid tale of her abduction and rape to Tampa police, law enforcement agents from neighboring Pascoe County became involved in the case. They had discovered the skeletal remains of a young woman in a field. Officers on the scene found a skull and upper torso dressed in a tank top, a heavy shoelace and a piece of fabric twisted around the neck. Upon closer inspection, officers noticed a heart-shaped pendant still around the neck. Investigators from the Pascoe County Sheriff’s office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement were immediately dispatched to gather all necessary evidence, which was then sent for FBI analysis. The autopsy revealed similarities between this and the Hillsborough County cases. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office was called in. The remains found in Pascoe County would later be identified as those of 18-year-old Virginia Lee Johnson, who had turned to prostitution to support her alcohol and drug addiction. Her heart-shaped necklace was identified by friends and dental records removed any doubt as to her identification.
Less than a week after Virginia’s body was discovered, a sign writer found another of Long’s victims lying in the grass under an overpass. Driving while intoxicated that night was an even worse decision than Kim Swann could have imagined. Her vehicle was weaving all over the road when Bobby Joe Long spotted it, pulled his car alongside Swann's and asked her to pull over. In her drunken state, Swann accepted Long’s invitation to join him for a drink. Shortly after getting into his car, however, she suspected something was awry and began to fight with Long. He subdued her with his fists before binding and strangling her. Swann had fought so much that Long didn’t bother to rape her, instead simply dumping her body under an overpass.
Neither Bobby Joe Long nor the police knew yet that Kim Swann would be his last victim. Two days after the discovery of Kim Swann’s body, a task force was officially established to coordinate the efforts of investigators of the multiple murders in the area. Representatives from HCSO, Tampa Police Department, Pascoe County Sheriff Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI contributed their efforts to catch the killer, whose victims were now being found on a weekly basis. Certain that Lisa McVey’s abductor and rapist was the man they sought, the task force began the process of tracking down the killer’s apartment, bank and car. Task force members divided into teams and scoured allotted areas for anything matching the descriptions in Lisa’s statement.
The first breakthrough came on November 15, 1984 when detectives spotted a red Dodge Magnum, similar to the vehicle described by Lisa McVey. They followed the car down Nebraska Avenue and signaled for the driver to pull over. The driver’s license identified the driver as Robert Joe Long of East Fowler Street, Tampa. Following task force procedure, the detectives told Long they were looking for a robbery suspect and returned to their car on the pretense of checking his license details. Certain he had finally been caught, and flooded with an unexpected relief, Long resigned himself to cooperate with the authorities. He agreed to be photographed and waited anxiously as the detectives completed the field interrogation report. Long’s relief soon turned to disbelief when the detectives told him he was free to go. Long drove away, now convinced the incident was a fluke and that he was in no danger of being caught after all. Meanwhile, the detectives alerted the task force members, who worked frantically to obtain enough evidence to link Bobby Joe Long to the murders and arrest him as quickly as possible.
As Long entered the Main Street Cinema, followed closely by a detective, the task force made the last minute preparations for his arrest. Search and arrest warrants were prepared for signing by a judge. The Behavioral Sciences Unit at the FBI Academy was contacted for advice on interview techniques and a special agent from the FBI Laboratory in Washington flew to Tampa to assist with crime scene searches. An airplane was reserved to take the agent to the nearest FDLE laboratories to test any evidence. Task force members were divided into four teams. The first team was responsible for Long’s arrest, transport and interrogation; the second would seize and search his vehicle; the third would search his apartment; and the fourth would interview Long’s neighbors.
Inside the Main Street Cinema, Long watched as Chuck Norris waged his battles on the big screen in Missing In Action, completely unaware that a task force team waited outside. As that team waited, other members of the task force positively matched the tires of Long’s car with tracks found at some of the murder sites. All warrants were prepared. At 4.00 PM, as he left the Main Street Cinema and headed for his car, task force detectives arrested Bobby Joe Long. Detectives advised him of the specific charges against him, read him his Miranda rights and presented a warrant to search his car. It took no more than twenty minutes for the task force to complete the arrest, and bring to an end years of grisly crimes. Unfortunately, it was only the beginning of a legal process that would also last many years.
Less than a week after Virginia’s body was discovered, a sign writer found another of Long’s victims lying in the grass under an overpass. Driving while intoxicated that night was an even worse decision than Kim Swann could have imagined. Her vehicle was weaving all over the road when Bobby Joe Long spotted it, pulled his car alongside Swann's and asked her to pull over. In her drunken state, Swann accepted Long’s invitation to join him for a drink. Shortly after getting into his car, however, she suspected something was awry and began to fight with Long. He subdued her with his fists before binding and strangling her. Swann had fought so much that Long didn’t bother to rape her, instead simply dumping her body under an overpass.
Neither Bobby Joe Long nor the police knew yet that Kim Swann would be his last victim. Two days after the discovery of Kim Swann’s body, a task force was officially established to coordinate the efforts of investigators of the multiple murders in the area. Representatives from HCSO, Tampa Police Department, Pascoe County Sheriff Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI contributed their efforts to catch the killer, whose victims were now being found on a weekly basis. Certain that Lisa McVey’s abductor and rapist was the man they sought, the task force began the process of tracking down the killer’s apartment, bank and car. Task force members divided into teams and scoured allotted areas for anything matching the descriptions in Lisa’s statement.
The first breakthrough came on November 15, 1984 when detectives spotted a red Dodge Magnum, similar to the vehicle described by Lisa McVey. They followed the car down Nebraska Avenue and signaled for the driver to pull over. The driver’s license identified the driver as Robert Joe Long of East Fowler Street, Tampa. Following task force procedure, the detectives told Long they were looking for a robbery suspect and returned to their car on the pretense of checking his license details. Certain he had finally been caught, and flooded with an unexpected relief, Long resigned himself to cooperate with the authorities. He agreed to be photographed and waited anxiously as the detectives completed the field interrogation report. Long’s relief soon turned to disbelief when the detectives told him he was free to go. Long drove away, now convinced the incident was a fluke and that he was in no danger of being caught after all. Meanwhile, the detectives alerted the task force members, who worked frantically to obtain enough evidence to link Bobby Joe Long to the murders and arrest him as quickly as possible.
As Long entered the Main Street Cinema, followed closely by a detective, the task force made the last minute preparations for his arrest. Search and arrest warrants were prepared for signing by a judge. The Behavioral Sciences Unit at the FBI Academy was contacted for advice on interview techniques and a special agent from the FBI Laboratory in Washington flew to Tampa to assist with crime scene searches. An airplane was reserved to take the agent to the nearest FDLE laboratories to test any evidence. Task force members were divided into four teams. The first team was responsible for Long’s arrest, transport and interrogation; the second would seize and search his vehicle; the third would search his apartment; and the fourth would interview Long’s neighbors.
Inside the Main Street Cinema, Long watched as Chuck Norris waged his battles on the big screen in Missing In Action, completely unaware that a task force team waited outside. As that team waited, other members of the task force positively matched the tires of Long’s car with tracks found at some of the murder sites. All warrants were prepared. At 4.00 PM, as he left the Main Street Cinema and headed for his car, task force detectives arrested Bobby Joe Long. Detectives advised him of the specific charges against him, read him his Miranda rights and presented a warrant to search his car. It took no more than twenty minutes for the task force to complete the arrest, and bring to an end years of grisly crimes. Unfortunately, it was only the beginning of a legal process that would also last many years.
Long was sentenced to death by electrocution on July 25, 1986. He still waits on Florida’s death row.
(8) On the morning of June 18, 1990, James Edward Pough walked in a GMC car loan office in Jacksonville, Florida and started shooting. Police said he was distraught over GMC's repossession of his red 1988 Pontiac. "Pop," as his neighbors called him, started his rampage the night before by killing a prostitute and her pimp. The next morning, at the GMC office, he randomly killed eight and wounded five others. When he saw no one else left alive he turned the gun on himself.
(8) Failed businessman Gian Luigi Ferri did what others only dream about doing. In 1993, the avenging angel of lawyers killed eight and wounded six, as he rampaged through the Pettit and Martin Law offices in San Francisco. Fearing legal recourse, he turned the gun on himself. On May 8, 1997, a San Francisco judge dismissed a lawsuit against Miami-based gun manufacturer Navegar Inc., saying the company wasn't responsible for the July 1, 1993, Gian Luigi Ferri rampage that left eight people dead. Superior Court Judge James Warren ruled two years before those victims and their survivors could try to prove that the Miami-based Navegar Inc. had designed the Intratec TEC-9 semi-automatic pistol for mass killing and marketed it in a way that would appeal to criminals.
(9) Anton Probst was born in Germany in 1843 and came to the United States in 1863, during the height of the Civil War. Almost immediately upon arriving in New York, he young man volunteered for service in the Union Army. He did not do so because of some patriotic zeal but rather because recruits were being paid $300 in those days. Probst decided to use this to his advantage and he volunteered for the army several times. He would collect a bounty for his enlistment; serve a few weeks in a training camp and then desert, moving on to another northern city, where he would enlist again for another $300. He never saw any action but he did manage to make a comfortable living during the bloody days of the war. His racket came to an end in 1865 and by the fall of that year, Probst found himself penniless in Philadelphia. Living on the streets, he found out that a man named Christopher Dearing was looking for a handyman to work on his farm. Probst applied at the small homestead on Jones' Lane and was soon hired. The Dearing farm was only a few acres in size with a small house, a barn where a horse and one pig were kept and some grazing space for cattle. Dearing, his wife, Julia, and their five children supported themselves by raising and selling cattle. They were not wealthy by any means, but they were a happy family who managed to get along on the little they earned.
Probst soon revealed his true personality but only to Julia Dearing. She noticed how he did little work and would lounge in the barn when he was supposed to be tending the cattle. After he made several lewd comments to her, she urged her husband to fire the strange young man after just three weeks. Dearing agreed and Probst, claiming to be in poor health, was taken in by a Philadelphia charity hospital. He lingered here from December 1865 to the following February. While lying on his cot in the poor house, Probst schemed to rob the Dearing's and to get even with them. He returned to the farm on March 2, 1866 and begged Christopher Dearing to hire him back. Dearing, who felt sorry for the man, agreed.
Over the course of the next month, Dearing worked harder than he ever had in his life. He pretended to be quite friendly with the family and even Julia began to feel kindly towards the young man. All the while, Probst continued to scheme and on April 7, decided to put his plan into action. That morning, Christopher Dearing traveled by buggy to the Philadelphia docks to meet a visiting family friend, Miss Elizabeth Dolan from Burlington, New Jersey. Meanwhile, Probst and Cornelius Carey, a boy employed to help on the farm, worked in a field. Events began just as started to rain at about nine that morning.
As the rain began to fall, Probst and Carey took shelter under a tree. When the boy looked away for a moment, Probst clobbered Carey with the blunt end of an ax and when he fell, stunned, Probst turned the ax over and severed the boy's head with it! He quickly hid the body in a haystack and then, with methodical precision, Probst lured the entire family --- one by one --- into the barn. There, he struck them senseless with a hammer and then chopped them with the ax until Julia and four of her children, including an infant, had been slaughtered. When Mr. Dearing arrived home with Elizabeth Dolan, Probst was waiting for him. He told him that there was a sick animal in the barn and after they went inside, Probst attacked him with the hammer and ax as well. Miss Dolan, who had gone into the house, was also lured into the barn and she was also slain.
When he was finished, Probst neatly lined all of the bodies up inside of the barn and tossed hay over them. He then ransacked the farmhouse, looking for money. He found $10 in Dearing's wallet, of which $4 was later found to be counterfeit, as well as revolver and a battered old watch. He also managed to find $3 in Miss Dolan's purse but that was all. Probst then used Dearing's razor to shave off his beard and exchanged clean clothes and boots for his own blood-soaked apparel. After that, he ate some bread and butter and then went to his room for a nap. He slept peacefully, unconcerned about the murders, and before leaving the farm, he took the time to feed the dogs and chickens and the put out feed for the horses and the cow in the barn, just steps away from where the bodies of the Dearing family lay stiffening under the hay. Only one of the children survived the massacre. Willie Dearing, the oldest son, had gone to stay with friends a few days before the crime occurred.
After feeding the animals, Dearing leisurely strolled away and spent the next few days on the streets. Neighbors came to the farm on the day after the murders and found the bodies of the family in the barn. They notified the police, who had little trouble tracking down Probst. He had sold Dearing's revolver to a bartender and his watch to a jeweler. On April 12, five days after Philadelphia's first mass murder, he was arrested by a single policeman while drinking in a tavern at 23rd and Market Streets. He surrendered without a fight.
At first, the killer protested his innocence but the evidence against him was so strong that at the end of his trial on May 1, the jury took only 20 minutes to find him guilty. He was executed on June 8 but before this occurred; he made a complete confession of his crimes. Strangely, even after death, Anton Probst has remained in Philadelphia. Following his execution, his body was delivered to the medical college, where it was dissected. His mounted skeleton then went on display in the museum of the college, which still operates today. It was a strange and macabre (although perhaps fitting) ending for this vicious killer.
(8) Todd Hall acted out of pure stupidity when he decided that it would be fun to ignite a box of fireworks inside a fireworks store in Lawrence County, Ohio on July 3, 1996. The bone headed prank left eight people -- six adults and two children -- dead and a dozen injured as the store exploded in flames while customers were shopping for Independence Day fireworks. The bodies of the dead were so badly charred that the Ohio State coroner needed dental records to identify the victims. Hall, who was described by neighbors as "mentally slow", suffered a head injury as a child. He was no stranger to having trouble with the law. In 1994 he was declared "incompetent" to stand trial on a domestic violence charge. He was also issued a citation for criminal trespass on May of 1996. Two days after the deadly blaze Hall stood up in court during his arraignment on eight counts of involuntary manslaughter and declared, "I didn't do it, I didn't do it, it's not fair." If convicted, Hall could face up to 25 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for each count.
(6) Mark S. MCCallister was born August 6th, 1969. He is convicted of the 1989 shotgun shooting deaths of 27 year old Billy Lee Sanson and his 25 year old brother Gerald Sanson whose bodies were found in a weeded lot behind the Saint Albans West Virginia Moose Club. MCCallister was indicted on six murder counts that included his grandmother. Her shotgunned body was found wrapped in a curtain and sheets on January 13th, 1989 shortly after the Sanson brothers. Not long after her body was discovered, police found the bodies of teen Jimmy Price and Michael Shillings who had also been gunned down at the same time. In December of 1990 he was allowed to plead guilty to killing the Sanson brothers and sentenced to two life terms in the West Virginia Penitentiary. But not before a failed jail escape, where MCCallister and another accused killer attempted to break out of the Kanawha County jail in Charleston. Deputies found the two men hiding in a jails recreation area drop- ceiling.
(8) Ray Martin DeFord In 1996, 11-year-old Ray was charged with eight counts of murder after allegedly setting a lethal fire in a suburban apartment complex west of Portland, Oregon. Three days before his arrest the kid was heralded as a hero. At first Ray told reporters that he was awakened by squeals from a rat he was planning to feed to his pet snake. When he realized the building was being ravaged by fire he woke up the rest of his family and alerted the neighbors. "My dad says I'm the hero for the day," Ray said. After the fire the Portland media billed the kid as a real-life hero showing him eating chocolate cake at his favorite restaurant and interviewing him extensively.
On July 2, 1996, the story took an unexpected turn. The boy confessed to setting the fire next to the only exit for the 12-unit apartment building and was heralded as a cold-blooded murderer. All the victims of the fire were of Mexican descent. A family of six - four of them young children - that lived in the apartment above, and a teen-age mother and a 3-month-old baby that lived next to them. "He might be a small child, but he had the head to do such a dreadful act, I want him to pay. He killed my family," said Mario Guzman, a relative of the victims. Although authorities assert that no evidence indicates the arson was racially motivated, the boy's uncle said that their Mexican neighbors never liked young Ray. In fact, no one did: "He only had one friend down the street, a little guy named Matt." On August 22, 1997 a state judge found the now 12-year-old Ray criminally responsible for one count of arson and eight counts of felony murder and criminally negligent homicide. The lethal tot showed little reaction to the verdict.
(10+) Richard Angelo is a former Boy Scout; Rich always wanted to be the hero. That's why this portly nurse pumped muscle paralyzer and other dangerous drugs into the intravenous bottles of his patients in the emergency room of the Good Samaritan Hospital in Long Island, NY. On October 11, 1987 his gig ran afoul when he told a patient, "I'm going to make you feel better," and injected Pavulon in his intravenous tube. Immediately the man felt numbness and had difficulty breathing. However, he was able to buzz another nurse who saved his life. The next day Richard's locker and home were searched and his killing utensils were found. Ever since Angelo started working the graveyard shift in the Good Samaritan there had been thirty-seven "Code Blue" emergencies leaving twenty-five patients dead. Prosecutors have only charged Angelo with ten of the deaths..
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(10+) Kenneth Bianchi & Angelo Buono were serial killer cousins who started their reign of terror in LA in 1977 and became known as the "Hillside Strangler." They liked to impersonate cops, pick up hookers, rape and kill them. They enjoyed leaving their corpses in provocative positions in hillsides east of Hollywood. When Kenny moved to Bellingham, Washington, the killings stopped. Bored with the small town life, Ken decided to get back to his old habits. He proceeded to kill two more women before being arrested. Bianchi was convicted of strangling two Bellingham College students and was sentenced to more than 116 years at the state penitentiary at Walla Walla, where he remains today. In custody he confessed to strangling five women in Los Angeles in late 1977 and early 1978. Bianchi is also suspected of at least three more killings in Rochester, New York, before his glory days in LA.
While in custody Ken feigned being possessed by a violent alter ego named "Steve Walker." In prison he was contacted by a strange twenty-three year old Los Angeles screenwriter named Veronica Lynn Comton who was seeking information for a book about a female serial killer. Together they hatched a plan to free him in which Veronica would take a sample of his sperm, kill a woman and deposit the sperm sample in her. Though a good idea, it never worked. Instead, it landed Veronica in jail. The consummate serial killer groupie, Compton became engaged to serial killer Doug Clark while in prison. Later she claimed that she had been conned into establishing correspondence with the famed Sunset Killer. Compton had her parole revoked in 1994 for stopping counseling without the approval of her parole officer and answering the door in the nude when a social worker came to check on the welfare of her young daughter. She was also accused of having pornographic paintings on her walls. Compton has denied coming to the door nude and passed a polygraph test. She also said the paintings she created are not pornographic. An expert in sexual-deviancy treatment later agreed. Both were convicted and sentenced to life.
(10) Eugene V. Britt is convicted rapist and killer from Gary Indiana, Britt, 38, was charged with the abduction and murder of an 8-year-old girl and nine more killings. On November 7, 1995, during an eight-hour confession following his arrest for the abduction of Sarah Lynn Paulsen, Britt told police about the other killings and where they could find the bodies. Indiana authorities say they have recovered eight corpses. According to press reports, Britt was paroled two years before after serving 15 years of a 30-year rape sentence. A resident of a Gary shelter, Britt first revealed his role in the killings while talking to a Gary pastor after a suicide attempt. That soon touched off questioning and led to a search for the bodies by Indiana National Guard troops and law enforcement authorities.
(10) Gerald Armond Gallego was born on July 17, 1946, in Sacramento California. Gerald was the product of a long line of career criminals stemming from both sides of his family. Gerald’s criminal record began at an early age. By the time he was six years old he had charges of burglary, and sex offenses. At age twelve he was placed on juvenile probation for burglary, and later charged with committing lewd and lascivious acts with a six-year-old girl. He was placed in a boy’s school in 1959. 
In the fall of 1977, Gerald met young, two time divorced woman, Charlene Adell Williams, at a poker club in Sacramento. The two immediately hit it off. Thus began the couple’s infamous relationship. In early 1978, Gerald was quite pissed off when he came home early from work and discovered Charlene in bed with a young woman (not quite eighteen). He went into a rage and physically abused Charlene and her young lover while berating and shouting at them. On July 17, 1978, Gerald celebrated his thirty-second birthday by sodomizing his daughter Krista. Apparently, he had been molesting her since the age of six. Also in July of 1978, much to Gerald’s chagrin, Charlene was pregnant. On September 11, 1978, Gerald decided it was time to turn fantasies that he had been harboring into reality. He and Charlene hopped into their 1973 Dodge van and drove off in search of a sex slave for Gerald. They soon spotted two young girls, seventeen-year-old Rhonda Scheffler, and sixteen-year-old Kippi Vaught. Gerald pulled the van over a short distance away and had Charlene approach the girls on the pretext of joining them in the van to smoke some Marijuana. Unfortunately for the young girls, they quickly agreed and followed Charlene back to the van. When Rhonda and Kippi stepped into the back of the van they were greeted by Gerald and a .25 caliber pistol.
The girls were forced to lie face down as he bound their hands and feet with adhesive tape. Charlene was then commanded to keep and eye on them while he drove to a more secluded area. Once satisfied he had found a quite area, Gerald brought the van to a stop. He quickly unbound the girl’s ankles and led them out of the van and into the cover of trees, warning Charlene to stay put. Hours later Gerald returned to the van with the young girls. He looked at Charlene and recanted the chilling words, "Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies."
On September 13, 1978, just two days after the young girls disappeared, two migrant farm workers discovered their lifeless bodies. It was also around this time that Gerald took Charlene to an abortion clinic and forced her to abort their unborn child. On September 27, 1978, Gerald's daughter Krista filed charges of incest, sodomy, oral copulation, and unlawful intercourse against her father. On September 30, 1978, Gerald and Charlene were wed. Not wanting to face the charges his daughter had filed, Gerald decided it was best to get the hell out of dodge. By December of 1978, the couple was staying in Houston Texas, and Gerald took on the alias Stephen Feil.
On June 24, 1979 (fathers day), Gerald decided he wanted to abduct another girl(s). The couple was now in Nevada so they went to the Washoe County Fair where Gerald sent Charlene off to find the new victim(s). Charlene soon came upon fourteen-year-old Brenda Lynne Judd, and thirteen-year-old Sandra Kay Colley. She approached the girls and offered them money to distribute handbills and place them on the windshields of parked cars. The two girls quickly agreed and followed Charlene back to the van. However, once they arrived at the van, Gerald and a .44 caliber pistol greeted them. He immediately forced them into the van and bound their feet and wrists. He then commanded Charlene to drive as he began to sexually assault the two young girls in the back of the van. Hours later, Gerald had Charlene drive into the high Nevada desert. Once there, Gerald led the girls off one at a time, carrying with him a hammer and a shovel.
In September of 1979, the Gallego’s moved back to Sacramento, continuing to use the aliases of Mr. and Mrs. Feil. Gerald eventually got a job as a bartender and soon began having an affair with a woman by the name of Patty, whom eventually, unbeknownst to Gerald, became pregnant with his child. On the morning of April 24, 1980, Gerald awoke Charlene and demanded, "I want a girl! Get up!" After driving around for awhile, he spotted two girls, seventeen-year-old Karen Chipman Twiggs, and seventeen-year-old Stacy Ann Redican, coming out of a bookstore. Charlene approached the two girls and offered them to join her in the van on the pre-text of smoking some weed.
On September 13, 1978, just two days after the young girls disappeared, two migrant farm workers discovered their lifeless bodies. It was also around this time that Gerald took Charlene to an abortion clinic and forced her to abort their unborn child. On September 27, 1978, Gerald's daughter Krista filed charges of incest, sodomy, oral copulation, and unlawful intercourse against her father. On September 30, 1978, Gerald and Charlene were wed. Not wanting to face the charges his daughter had filed, Gerald decided it was best to get the hell out of dodge. By December of 1978, the couple was staying in Houston Texas, and Gerald took on the alias Stephen Feil.
On June 24, 1979 (fathers day), Gerald decided he wanted to abduct another girl(s). The couple was now in Nevada so they went to the Washoe County Fair where Gerald sent Charlene off to find the new victim(s). Charlene soon came upon fourteen-year-old Brenda Lynne Judd, and thirteen-year-old Sandra Kay Colley. She approached the girls and offered them money to distribute handbills and place them on the windshields of parked cars. The two girls quickly agreed and followed Charlene back to the van. However, once they arrived at the van, Gerald and a .44 caliber pistol greeted them. He immediately forced them into the van and bound their feet and wrists. He then commanded Charlene to drive as he began to sexually assault the two young girls in the back of the van. Hours later, Gerald had Charlene drive into the high Nevada desert. Once there, Gerald led the girls off one at a time, carrying with him a hammer and a shovel.
In September of 1979, the Gallego’s moved back to Sacramento, continuing to use the aliases of Mr. and Mrs. Feil. Gerald eventually got a job as a bartender and soon began having an affair with a woman by the name of Patty, whom eventually, unbeknownst to Gerald, became pregnant with his child. On the morning of April 24, 1980, Gerald awoke Charlene and demanded, "I want a girl! Get up!" After driving around for awhile, he spotted two girls, seventeen-year-old Karen Chipman Twiggs, and seventeen-year-old Stacy Ann Redican, coming out of a bookstore. Charlene approached the two girls and offered them to join her in the van on the pre-text of smoking some weed.
The girls eagerly agreed and followed her back to the van. As the girls got into the back of the van, Gerald greeted them with a .357 Magnum pistol. He quickly commanded Charlene to drive and ordered the girls to undress. Gerald took turns raping and sexually assaulting them. After he was content, he again had Charlene drive to a secluded area and led the girls one at a time into the woods carrying a hammer and a shovel. However, this time he forced Charlene to view the graves. She claimed that she saw movement but Gerald insisted that they were good and dead. Then they left.
On July 27, 1980, picnickers discovered the coyote-ravaged remains of Karen and Stacy in two shallow graves in an area twenty miles outside of Lovelock, Nevada. They had both been raped, and suffered massive and fatal head injuries by a blunt instrument. In May of 1980, Charlene was again pregnant by Gerald, and he was again pissed off. On June 1, 1980, Gerald and Charlene married each other for a second time. However, this time they were wed as Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Robert Feil. On June 7, 1980, while traveling down the highway, Gerald and Charlene spotted a lone pregnant woman hitchhiking, twenty-one-year-old Linda Aguilar, four months pregnant. The young woman gladly accepted the ride and joined the couple in the van. Charlene was soon driving and Gerald was pointing his .357 in Linda’s face. After a short drive to a remote area, Gerald raped Linda, and then beat her over the head with a rock. To satisfy himself that she was dead he strangled her corpse for good measure.
On June 22, 1980, German tourists walking the beach discovered Linda’s badly decomposing body. After an autopsy was completed, it was determined that Gerald was unsuccessful in murdering Linda, she actually had awaken after her captors left, and in her panic and struggle to get free suffocated in the sand. On July 17, 1980, Gerald’s thirty-fourth birthday, he abducted thirty-four-year-old Virginia Mochel as she walked from the tavern where she worked as a barmaid. The strange thing about this victim is the fact that Gerald and Charlene knew her and had been served drinks by her on numerous occasions. At any rate, Gerald raped Virginia, and afterwards she begged him to kill her. He gladly obliged and strangled her. He then dumped her body by a pond.
On October 3, 1980, a fisherman discovered the nude decomposed remains of Virginia Mochel in some brush near Clarksburg. On November 1, 1980, Gerald told Charlene, "I’m getting that feeling", he did not need to explain further she knew exactly what he meant....
In the early morning hours of November 2, 1980, Gerald saw a young couple, twenty-two-year-old Craig Miller, and his fiancé twenty-one-year-old Mary Elizabeth Sowers, standing on the side of the street. In his most brazen attempt yet, Gerald got out of the car, walked right up to them, pulled out a .25 caliber Beretta, pointed it in the couples face, and ordered them into the car. Unfortunately for Gerald, friends of the young couple saw them get into the vehicle and wrote down the license plate number.
On July 27, 1980, picnickers discovered the coyote-ravaged remains of Karen and Stacy in two shallow graves in an area twenty miles outside of Lovelock, Nevada. They had both been raped, and suffered massive and fatal head injuries by a blunt instrument. In May of 1980, Charlene was again pregnant by Gerald, and he was again pissed off. On June 1, 1980, Gerald and Charlene married each other for a second time. However, this time they were wed as Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Robert Feil. On June 7, 1980, while traveling down the highway, Gerald and Charlene spotted a lone pregnant woman hitchhiking, twenty-one-year-old Linda Aguilar, four months pregnant. The young woman gladly accepted the ride and joined the couple in the van. Charlene was soon driving and Gerald was pointing his .357 in Linda’s face. After a short drive to a remote area, Gerald raped Linda, and then beat her over the head with a rock. To satisfy himself that she was dead he strangled her corpse for good measure.
On June 22, 1980, German tourists walking the beach discovered Linda’s badly decomposing body. After an autopsy was completed, it was determined that Gerald was unsuccessful in murdering Linda, she actually had awaken after her captors left, and in her panic and struggle to get free suffocated in the sand. On July 17, 1980, Gerald’s thirty-fourth birthday, he abducted thirty-four-year-old Virginia Mochel as she walked from the tavern where she worked as a barmaid. The strange thing about this victim is the fact that Gerald and Charlene knew her and had been served drinks by her on numerous occasions. At any rate, Gerald raped Virginia, and afterwards she begged him to kill her. He gladly obliged and strangled her. He then dumped her body by a pond.
On October 3, 1980, a fisherman discovered the nude decomposed remains of Virginia Mochel in some brush near Clarksburg. On November 1, 1980, Gerald told Charlene, "I’m getting that feeling", he did not need to explain further she knew exactly what he meant....
In the early morning hours of November 2, 1980, Gerald saw a young couple, twenty-two-year-old Craig Miller, and his fiancé twenty-one-year-old Mary Elizabeth Sowers, standing on the side of the street. In his most brazen attempt yet, Gerald got out of the car, walked right up to them, pulled out a .25 caliber Beretta, pointed it in the couples face, and ordered them into the car. Unfortunately for Gerald, friends of the young couple saw them get into the vehicle and wrote down the license plate number.
After driving to a secluded area, Gerald commanded Craig out of the car, as the young man turned to walk towards the front of the vehicle, Gerald aimed his pistol and shot the boy point blank range in the back of the head while his fiancée looked on in horror. Gerald then fired two more shots into Craig’s head, as he lay lifeless on the ground. Gerald got back into the vehicle and ordered Charlene to drive to their apartment. Once back at the apartment, Gerald took his new sex slave into the bedroom and raped her for hours on end. After he was satisfied, he ordered Charlene to drive to a rural area. Once there, Gerald ordered Mary out of the car. He then shot her three times at point blank range.
When the two sweethearts never came back to meet their friends, they turned over the license plate number to the police. The police questioned Charlene and obtained a search warrant for their vehicle and house. It did not take long for investigators to find substantial evidence such as bullet casings and other suspicious tools. After mercifully interrogating Charlene, she spilled her guts and told all. While awaiting trial in California, due to a shortage in funds, the public raised nearly $28,000 to help prosecute Gerald Gallego.
On January 17, 1981, Charlene, while in a prison ward, gave birth to Gerald Armond Gallego Jr. Custody of the child was given to Charlene’s parents. On June 21, 1983, after six months of hearings, Gerald Armond Gallego Sr., was sentenced to death for the murder of the college sweethearts. Then on June 25, 1984, after being extradited to Nevada, Gerald was again sentenced to death for the murders of Twiggs and Redican.
In November of 1983, due to a plea-bargain struck with prosecutors to testify against Gerald, Charlene was sentenced to sixteen years and eight months in prison, with the understanding that no other charges in ANY other state could or would be pressed against her, as long as she gave full cooperation, which she did. In August of 1997, at the age of forty, Charlene Adell Williams Gallego, was released on parole from the Department of Prisons Woman’s Center in Carson City, Nevada. Her lawyer says that she will pursue positive goals in an undisclosed location.
In November of 1983, due to a plea-bargain struck with prosecutors to testify against Gerald, Charlene was sentenced to sixteen years and eight months in prison, with the understanding that no other charges in ANY other state could or would be pressed against her, as long as she gave full cooperation, which she did. In August of 1997, at the age of forty, Charlene Adell Williams Gallego, was released on parole from the Department of Prisons Woman’s Center in Carson City, Nevada. Her lawyer says that she will pursue positive goals in an undisclosed location.
(6+) Glen E. Rogers was born on July 15, 1962. He is known as "The Cross-Country Killer." A charming, handsome and volatile individual, Glen was the focus of an all-points national manhunt after a cross-country rampage that left at least four women dead in four separate states. The consummate ladies man, Glen liked to pick up blond and redheaded women in bars and ask them for a ride home. Then he would try to spend the night with them. All those charmed by his redneck good looks are now stretched out in the morgue. The killings came usually as a drunken afterthought. Glen is an example of a spree killer who, unlike serial killers, does not have cooling off periods between kills. His killings were the consequence of impromptu bursts of rage. His first victim is believed to be a former housemate whose corpse was found in January 1993 under a pile of furniture in an abandoned house owned by the Rogers family. His next known kill was a woman he met at a bar in Van Nuys, California. On September 1995, she was found raped and strangled inside her burning pickup truck. The third victim, another barfly, was found stabbed to death in her bathtub in Jackson, Mississippi on November 3. Yet another woman's body was found in a bathtub in Tampa, Florida on November 5. His last victim was found stabbed to death in her bedroom on November 11 in Bossier City, Louisiana.
"He's getting to be like one of your serial killers," said a Hamilton, Ohio, police detective. Rogers, a construction worker, grew up in Hamilton where he had frequent run-ins with the law. Once he poked a lit blowtorch through the peephole of his front door when police came in response to a domestic violence call. Authorities believe that he might be linked to as many as twelve deaths. In California, Rogers is a suspect in four unsolved killings in Ontario and Port Hueneme. Two days before his arrest he told his sister that he was responsible for more than 70 deaths. Later he recanted the number and said he was merely joking. According to authorities Glen was being cooperative during a six-hour interview after his arrest on November 13.
On May 7, 1997 Glen was convicted of murder in a Tampa court for killing a woman he had met in a bar. The jury took eight hours to find him guilty of the murder of Tina Marie Cribbs and the next day, just three hours to recommend the death penalty. After the Tampa trial, Rogers faces three more trials in separate states. However, none of these states have filled charges yet. Rogers and the victim met at a bar where Ms. Cribbs was waiting for her mother, Mrs. Mary Dicke. Mrs. Dicke was late, and Ms. Cribbs left a beer at the bar and asked friends to tell her mother she would be back shortly. She drove Rogers to a motel in Tampa and the two went inside and had sex. In a fit of rage the ex-carnival worker stabbed Ms. Cribbs twice, twisting the knife as he pulled it out from eight- and nine-inch wounds in her chest and buttocks before leaving her to a slow, agonizing death in a motel bathtub.
During the seven-day trial the defense maintained that Rogers wasn't the murderer. Furthermore Hamilton, Ohio Police Sgt. Tom Kilgore testified that Rogers had worked for the department as a paid undercover narcotics informant, making hundreds of cases over the years without ever breaking his cover. In his closing argument, defense attorney Nick Sinardi said the state rushed to judgment. "Glen Rogers is a thief, not a murderer." A thief, it seems, with a nasty habit of leaving a trail of bodies in his wake.
On July 11, 1997, Glen was sentenced to Florida's temperamental "Old Sparky" for the stabbing death of Tina Marie Cribbs. Glen's brother Claude, a real estate agent from Palm Springs, California, said after the sentencing: "If you watch my brother -- he's been sitting watching a movie. I don't think reality has set in." Glen, through his lawyer, is still claiming his innocent.
(10) David J. Carpenter It took some time for brooding rage to surface in the case of David Carpenter, but when it reached the surface there were no holds barred. In 1961, when he was thirty-three years old, the future "Trailside Killer" brutally attacked a woman with a hammer, earning fourteen years in prison for his trouble. Back in circulation by the latter part of 1970, he drew another seven years on two counts of kidnapping and robbery. Before his transfer to the penitentiary, he joined four other inmates in escaping from the Calaveras County jail. Recaptured by the FBI, he did his time and was paroled in 1977. He found a job in San Francisco, working for a photo print shop, and gave evidence of "going straight." In fact, his brief hiatus was the calm before a lethal storm. The terror began with Edda Kane, age 44, whose naked, violated body was discovered on a hiking trail in Mt. Tamalpais State Park, near San Francisco, on August 20, 1979.
According to forensics experts, she was murdered execution-style, shot through the head while kneeling, possibly while pleading for her life. March 7, 1980, Barbara Swartz, age 23, went hiking in the park. Her body was recovered one day later on a narrow, unpaved trail. She had been stabbed repeatedly about the chest, while kneeling in the dirt. Anne Alderson went jogging on the fringes of the park, October 15, 1980, and did not return. The 26-year-old was found next afternoon; three bullets in the head had snuffed her life while she was kneeling at her killer's feet.
November 27, Shauna May, age 25, did not show up to keep a lover's rendezvous in the parking lot at Point Reyes Park, a few miles north of San Francisco. Two days later, searchers found her body in a shallow grave. Beside her lay the decomposing corpse of a New Yorker, 22-year-old Diana O'Connell, who had disappeared while hiking in the park a full month earlier. Both women had been killed by gunshots to the head.
Mere hours before the corpses at Point Reyes were unearthed, November 29, two other victims were discovered in the park. Identified as Richard Stowers, 19, and Cynthia Moreland, 18, they had been missing since September, when they told friends of their plans for hiking in the area. Again, both victims had been murdered execution-style. As panic gripped the Northern California camping areas, the media indulged in speculation linking the sadistic "Trailside Killer" with the "Zodiac," another serial assassin -- still at large -- responsible for seven murders in the latter 1960s. Homicide detectives had not linked the Zodiac with any documented crimes since 1969, and now the press began to speculate on his return, perhaps from serving time in prison or a sanitarium.
November 27, Shauna May, age 25, did not show up to keep a lover's rendezvous in the parking lot at Point Reyes Park, a few miles north of San Francisco. Two days later, searchers found her body in a shallow grave. Beside her lay the decomposing corpse of a New Yorker, 22-year-old Diana O'Connell, who had disappeared while hiking in the park a full month earlier. Both women had been killed by gunshots to the head.
Mere hours before the corpses at Point Reyes were unearthed, November 29, two other victims were discovered in the park. Identified as Richard Stowers, 19, and Cynthia Moreland, 18, they had been missing since September, when they told friends of their plans for hiking in the area. Again, both victims had been murdered execution-style. As panic gripped the Northern California camping areas, the media indulged in speculation linking the sadistic "Trailside Killer" with the "Zodiac," another serial assassin -- still at large -- responsible for seven murders in the latter 1960s. Homicide detectives had not linked the Zodiac with any documented crimes since 1969, and now the press began to speculate on his return, perhaps from serving time in prison or a sanitarium.
Unlike the Zodiac, however, the elusive "Trailside Killer" felt no need to taunt police with mocking letters. He was satisfied to let his actions speak out, loud and clear.
On March 29, 1981, the killer struck again, this time in Henry Cowle State Park, near Santa Cruz. He ambushed hikers Stephen Haertle and Ellen Hansen, brandishing a .38, announcing to the woman that he meant to rape her. When she warned him off, the gunman opened fire, killing her outright and leaving young Haertle for dead. Surviving wounds that ripped his neck, a hand, and one eye, the lone survivor crawled for help. He had been close enough to offer homicide detectives a description of the killer's crooked, yellow teeth. Upon release of the description, other hikers told police that they had seen a man resembling the gunman in a red, late model foreign car. Despite the new, important leads, police had reason for concern. From all appearances, publicity had caused their man to change his hunting ground and weapon. All the other gunshot victims had been murdered with a .45, and if the pistol was destroyed or lost, a major portion of their case might well go up in smoke.
On May 1, 1981, a resident of San Jose informed detectives that his girlfriend, Heather Scaggs, was missing. She had last been seen en route to buy a car from fellow print shop worker David Carpenter, who lived in San Francisco. Carpenter, she said, had made a special point of asking her to come alone when she dropped buy to get the car. Police dropped in to question Carpenter, immediately noticing his strong resemblance to composite sketches of the Trailside Killer. In his driveway sat a small, red, foreign car. A background check revealed his felony arrests, and Stephen Haertle picked the suspect's mug shot as a likeness of the Santa Cruz assailant.
Carpenter was taken into custody on May 14, and ten days later, the remains of Heather Scaggs were found by hikers in Big Basin Redwood State Park, north of San Francisco. She had been executed with the pistol used on Stephen Haertle and his girlfriend, Ellen Hansen, back in March. Despite a search of Carpenter's belongings, homicide investigators still had not recovered any weapons. Finally, they got a break, discovering a witness who remembered selling Carpenter a .45 -- illegal, in itself for a convicted felon -- and although they never found the gun, at least a link, of sorts, had been established to the early homicides. A short time later, testimony from a suspect facing trial for robbery revealed that Carpenter had sold the thief a .38 revolver back in June. The weapon was recovered, and its barrel markings matched the bullets fired at Ellen Hansen, Heather Scaggs, and Stephen Haertle.
On May 1, 1981, a resident of San Jose informed detectives that his girlfriend, Heather Scaggs, was missing. She had last been seen en route to buy a car from fellow print shop worker David Carpenter, who lived in San Francisco. Carpenter, she said, had made a special point of asking her to come alone when she dropped buy to get the car. Police dropped in to question Carpenter, immediately noticing his strong resemblance to composite sketches of the Trailside Killer. In his driveway sat a small, red, foreign car. A background check revealed his felony arrests, and Stephen Haertle picked the suspect's mug shot as a likeness of the Santa Cruz assailant.
Carpenter was taken into custody on May 14, and ten days later, the remains of Heather Scaggs were found by hikers in Big Basin Redwood State Park, north of San Francisco. She had been executed with the pistol used on Stephen Haertle and his girlfriend, Ellen Hansen, back in March. Despite a search of Carpenter's belongings, homicide investigators still had not recovered any weapons. Finally, they got a break, discovering a witness who remembered selling Carpenter a .45 -- illegal, in itself for a convicted felon -- and although they never found the gun, at least a link, of sorts, had been established to the early homicides. A short time later, testimony from a suspect facing trial for robbery revealed that Carpenter had sold the thief a .38 revolver back in June. The weapon was recovered, and its barrel markings matched the bullets fired at Ellen Hansen, Heather Scaggs, and Stephen Haertle.
As detectives worked to build their case, they linked their suspect with another unsolved homicide. On June 4, 1980, Anna Menjivas had been discovered, dead, in Mt. Tamalpais State Park. Her murder had not been connected with the "Trailside" slayings at the time, but now investigators learned she was a long-time friend of David Carpenter, who often let him drive her home from work. The link appeared too strong for mere coincidence, and Anna's name was added to the murder chain, for ten in all. Publicity led Carpenter's defense attorneys to request a change of venue. When his trial convened in April 1984, he faced a jury in Los Angeles, but relocation did not change the damning evidence of guilt.
Convicted of the Scaggs and Hansen murders on July 6, Carpenter was sentenced to die in the gas chamber at San Quentin. Judge Dion Morrow, in pronouncing sentence, told the court, "The defendant's entire life has been a continuous expression of violence and force almost beyond exception. I must conclude with the prosecution that if ever there was a case appropriate for the death penalty, this is it." On May 10, 1988, a San Diego jury convicted Carpenter of first degree murder in the slayings of Richard Stowers, Cynthia Moreland, Shauna May, Diana O'Connell, and Anne Alderson. Carpenter was also pronounced guilty of raping two of the women and attempting to rape a third.
(9+) Confessed serial killer Henry Wallace was convicted of murdering nine women, all co-workers at Charlotte- area fast food restaurants, friends of his sister or friends of a former girlfriend. Uncharacteristically Wallace preyed on acquaintances, a very rare trait in serial killing. Wallace was arrested in March 1994 after a burst of four slayings in three weeks that led police to suspect for the first time that there was a serial killer at work. In custody he gave police taped statements detailing how he had murdered 10 women in Charlotte, most through strangulation after raping them in their homes. The serial murders occurred in a 22-month killing spree that ended with Wallace's arrest. Charlotte police were criticized for not making an arrest sooner. Black residents were particularly critical, saying the police should have realized similarities in the murders -- the victims were young black women who had been strangled. Some were also stabbed. But police denied charges of racism, responding that Wallace, who is also black, did not fit the general profile of a serial killer. Wallace was described by police as intelligent and charming, and with a heavy crack habit, apparently was able to talk his way in. Before he left some of the murder scenes, Wallace sometimes wiped off fingerprints and washed his victims. In one case, he poured rum on one victim's body and set fire to her apartment to obscure the cause of death.
Wallace told police he returned to the apartment of his final victim, Debra Slaughter, to smoke crack after he had strangled her and stabbed her 38 times. Then he put on her Chicago White Sox jacket, grabbed a beer from her refrigerator and left. "It was like an out-of-body experience," he said of one slaying. "It was like I didn't want to, but something or somebody was taking over my body, and I couldn't even stop when I tried to stop." "If he elected to become a serial killer, he was going about it in the wrong way," said former FBI agent Robert Ressler. "Mr. Wallace always seemed to take one step forward and two steps back," Ressler testified. "He would take items and put them in the stove to destroy them by burning them and then forget to turn the stove on."
