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[dance music] PETER THOMAS: There were
many eyes on Lana Long as she walked out on stage
for her nightly routine.
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She was a popular
performer at the Sly Fox Lounge, a club well known
for beautiful exotic dancers.
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Sometime after the
performance, Lana Long had an unexpected encounter. [eerie music]
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The crime committed that might
have gone unsolved had it not been for a common thread.
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[screams] [theme music] [music playing] It's going to be great.
Give it to me.
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PETER THOMAS: One
Sunday afternoon, two boys were playing together
on an abandoned highway.
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Ready? 3, 2, 1-- [wind rushing] Cool. PETER THOMAS: As they
ran through a field chasing a parachute, they
discovered a horrible sight--
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the nude, decomposed
body of a young woman. She was lying face down with
her hands bound behind her back.
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A cord was wrapped three times
around her neck like a leash. Under her body lay a white
silk scarf tied in a knot.
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CHARLES DIGGS: This killer was
trying to make a statement. He could have killed this
woman with a lot less trauma.
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But the deepness of this bruise,
the prominence of this bruise indicated that he
applied a lot more force
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than it was necessary to
end this woman's life. He was violent. PETER THOMAS: The victim was
identified as 20-year-old Lana
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Long, an exotic dancer who
worked at the Sly Fox Lounge in Tampa. Detectives found some faint
tire tracks near the body,
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but little else. Homicide investigators
interviewed Lana Long's boyfriend John Corcoran.
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Corcoran hadn't reported
Long missing even though they lived
together and he
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hadn't seen her for three days. He had an explanation of why
he didn't report her missing.
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It was kind of vague. We were concerned about that. PETER THOMAS: Corcoran admitted
that he argued with Long
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on the day of her
disappearance about the number of men who were calling her at
home, asking her out on dates.
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Two weeks later, a second
body was discovered in a deserted location. GARY TERRY: I can vividly
recall getting in the car,
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driving to the crime
scene, saying to myself, "Please don't let her be bound.
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Please don't let
her be tied up." It felt like a ton of bricks
had just fallen upon me.
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Because here we go
from rarely having a victim bound to now two
within two weeks of each other.
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PETER THOMAS: The victim was
identified as 22-year-old Michelle Simms, a
former beauty contestant
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who had turned to prostitution
to support a drug habit. Near the body, police discovered
some fresh tire prints
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in the soft sand, but
there was something unusual about the
tire impressions. The vehicle had three
different tires.
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Detectives made plaster
molds of the tire impressions for analysis, hoping
they would provide
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some clue to the
identity of the murderer. Because of the similarities
in these two cases,
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investigators believed
that both murders were committed by the same person. This time, however, John
Corcoran had an alibi
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and was no longer
considered a suspect. In the forensics
lab, when Michelle Simms' clothing was analyzed,
they discovered a tiny clue--
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a mysterious red fiber. It was similar to a red
fiber discovered at the Lana Long crime scene
on the white silk
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scarf found under Long's body. On September 18, 1984, the
nude body of a third woman
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was discovered. The victim, 18-year-old
Chanel Williams, who had a prior arrest
for prostitution.
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This particular case,
it was a black female. Her body had been
dumped on the roadside.
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She was completely nude. She was not bound in any way. There was some clothing found
next to her, tied in a knot.
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She had suffered a gunshot
wound to the back of the head. So when you look at
this case, it's totally
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different than the other cases. Or is it? PETER THOMAS: The forensics
lab found the answer.
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Tiny red fibers were discovered
on Williams' clothing-- fibers similar to those found
on the other two victims.
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While detectives launched
a full scale investigation, they hoped that these
mysterious red fibers
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would lead them to their serial
killer before he struck again. [music playing] PETER THOMAS: The Hillsborough
County Sheriff's Department
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wanted to know all they could
about the mysterious red fibers found on the three
murdered women.
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Each of the tiny fibers
was microscopically analyzed and compared. Under a scanning electron
microscope, magnified
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more than 1,000
times, scientists noticed an unusual size
and shape to the fibers.
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Instead of being
round or square, the fiber looks more or less
triangular, but like a triangle
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that's been pinched so that
you see the three legs sticking out from the core of the fiber.
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PETER THOMAS: The fibers
from the three women were all triangular or trilobal. The next task was to
identify whether the fibers
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were natural or man-made. Since man-made fibers
are made from chemicals, scientists use what is called
a melting point apparatus
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to determine the
temperature at which the fiber would break down. The results revealed that
the red fibers were nylon.
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And by microscopically
measuring the light reflected through the fibers, scientists
determined that all three
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trilobal nylon fibers were
dyed the exact same color and were from the same dye lot.
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The conclusion, the
red nylon trilobal fibers found on
the three victims were all from the same source.
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Nylon trilobal fiber is
used mostly in carpet-- high durability,
inexpensive carpet.
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Since this fiber
masks dirt, it's often used in automobiles and hotels. Next, homicide detectives
turned their attention
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to the tire impressions
found near the bodies. Tire tread experts noticed
that there were three
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different tires on the vehicle. The impression of the front
tire was simple to identify.
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It was an extremely
common model made by the Goodyear Tire company. The right rear tire was
manufactured by the Goodyear
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company as well. It was a low price
model called the Viva. But there was something
unusual about the tread.
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It was a white wall
tire and was on the rim with the white wall
side facing inward.
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The left rear tire
could not immediately be identified since it was
not among the thousands
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of known tire treads in the
FBI's computer database. So investigators sent the tire
impression to the Goodyear Tire
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Company in Akron, Ohio, to see
if they could help identify it. Goodyear's tire
expert recognized
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that it was a specialty
tire and a very expensive one not sold in retail stores.
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It was a model
called the Vogue made by the Vogue Tire
and Rubber Company and was used exclusively
on Cadillacs.
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The tire impression showed that
it too was a white wall tire, which was placed on the
vehicle with the white wall
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side facing inward. If the detectives
could find the vehicle with this unusual
combination of tire treads,
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they would have the vehicle
which left the tire tracks at two of the murder scenes.
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They also suspected
that this vehicle would have red nylon trilobal carpet. Gary Terry decided
not to release
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this important
information to the press. GARY TERRY: Serial
killers watch the news
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and read the newspaper
just like anybody else. We were aware of the experience
up in Atlanta, Georgia,
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with the Wayne Williams case. I had personally talked with
the investigators up there.
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He changed his
pattern after he saw it described in the newspaper. He began reading
about trace evidence,
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so he began dumping the
bodies in the rivers to wash the bodies and destroy
latent or trace evidence.
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PETER THOMAS: Deputies believed
that the killer was cruising for victims along
Nebraska Avenue, where
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prostitutes usually congregate. Female police decoys
walked the strip dressed as prostitutes in an
attempt to lure the killer.
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The number of patrol cars in
the area also was increased. Author Anna Flowers described
the search for the killer
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in her book, "Bound to Die." ANNA FLOWERS: I've talked
to a lot of officers
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who say, "I have to
think like the killer in order to catch him. I worry, what would it take
for me to become the killer?"
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Interesting thought. PETER THOMAS: Despite
police efforts, a fourth nude body was
discovered in a deserted area.
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The victim, 28-year-old
Karen Dinsfriend, who had turned to prostitution
to support a drug habit.
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Deputies knew that the serial
murderer had struck again when they found red
nylon trilobal fibers
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in Dinsfriend's clothing. The pattern that we saw here,
the way that these bodies were
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left, the way that
they were strangled, the way that they
were tied indicated that we had a serial killer.
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PETER THOMAS: Despite leaving
behind the fiber and tire track evidence, the killer was smart.
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But his next target,
a 17-year-old girl, outsmarted him. [suspenseful music] PETER THOMAS: 2:30 AM.
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After working the night shift
at this donut shop in Tampa, Florida, 17-year-old Lisa
McVey rode her bicycle home
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along a dark, deserted street. Suddenly, a man jumped
from behind a parked van, knocked Lisa off her bicycle,
grabbed her by the hair,
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and forced her into his car. LISA MCVEY: God help me. I was thinking I was
going to be killed.
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Oh, my god. Just help me. PETER THOMAS: He drove
McVey to an apartment. Over the next 24 hours, she was
repeatedly raped and sodomized.
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Blindfolded, petrified, and
convinced she would die, Lisa McVey made an
important decision.
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I had the life of God in me. I wanted-- I had the
willingness to live, to survive.
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That's it, the survival part. When you're in
something like that, you would be surprised yourself
what you're capable of.
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[suspenseful music] PETER THOMAS: While
still blindfolded, McVey was permitted
to use the bathroom.
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She left her fingerprints
everywhere she could-- under the toilet seat, around
the sink, on the hair dryer.
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LISA MCVEY: If I had
died, if I was killed, I want them-- as
far as the police or whoever found me-- to know
that I was there and I tried.
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GARY TERRY: Lisa was a
very sharp young lady. I personally feel what saved
her life was her actions.
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And those actions were
to say yes sir and no sir to every demand that
the suspect made of her.
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PETER THOMAS: At
3:00 in the morning, after 24 hours of captivity,
Lisa, still blindfolded,
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was forced back into
the car at gunpoint. ANNA FLOWERS: She was
very street smart.
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Although she had
been blindfolded, she could see
under the blindfold enough to give police
very important data.
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LISA MCVEY: I was trying to get
a good clue, idea of what area I was in. I wanted to know where
I was coming from.
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And I remember leaning
back in the chair-- I could see under
the blindfold-- that I saw two hotels side by
side each other, practically.
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I remember the 275
goes in between them. And it was a Howard
Johnson's and a Quality Inn.
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PETER THOMAS: Lisa noticed the
word "Magnum" on the dashboard, saw that the seats were
white and that the car
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had red carpet. Her abductor stopped the car
for a few minutes and Lisa heard a familiar sound--
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[beeping] A 24-hour bank teller machine. LISA MCVEY: I heard the sound
of the keys, of the buttons
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on the machine. PETER THOMAS: A short drive
later, he stopped the car, opened the door, put Lisa on the
street along with her clothes,
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warned her not to remove the
blindfold for another five minutes and drove away. LISA MCVEY: Freedom.
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Wow. I'm alive. I'm here. What do I do now? I look both ways. And I fell to my knees
and I started crying.
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PETER THOMAS: Lisa McVey
was taken to the hospital and her clothing sent to the
forensic lab for analysis.
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But before it could be
analyzed, detectives were called to another homicide. Another nude body found
near a highway overpass.
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GARY TERRY: And you
could tell it was him. There were actually no
ligatures on the body,
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but you could see
ligature marks where he had removed the ligatures. PETER THOMAS: When the forensic
lab analyzed the clothing
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from Kim Swann and Lisa McVey. They discovered a shocking
piece of information. Kim Swann's clothing
contained the same red nylon
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trilobal fibers as the other
victims and the same red fibers were found on Lisa
McVey's clothing.
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It was disbelief. We couldn't believe
that we have-- for some reason, the
killer has not killed--
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he's let a victim survive. PETER THOMAS: Lisa McVey's
courage and determination
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made her the first known
survivor of this serial killer. Could she provide enough
information to find him?
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PETER THOMAS: When police
realized that Lisa McVey's rapist was the serial killer,
the clues she provided
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took on a new importance. She saw the word "Magnum"
on the dashboard of his car.
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Only one car had the word
"Magnum" on the dashboard, the 1978 Dodge Magnum.
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A computer search of Dodge
Magnum owners in the area revealed a list of 486 names.
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McVey also told investigators
that her abductor used a 24-hour bank
teller machine shortly
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before she was released. When the records of all
bank machine transactions for November 4 were
compared with the list
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of Dodge Magnum
owners, only one name was on both lists, Robert Long. Robert "Bobby Joe" Long was
a 31-year-old part-time X-ray
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technician. Separated from his wife, he
was the father of two children. Since Lisa McVey was blindfolded
during most of her captivity,
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she could not positively
identify him from photographs. So Bobby Joe Long was
immediately placed
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under 24-hour surveillance. Long was followed to
this movie theater. And when he went
inside, deputies
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inspected the tires on his car. On the right rear side
was a Goodyear Viva. On the left rear side, the
expensive specialty tire,
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the Vogue. Both tires were inverted
with the white wall side facing inwards. They were the same tires
and in the same position
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as the tire impressions found
at two of the murder sites. When Long walked out
of the movie theater,
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deputies immediately
arrested him and confiscated his car for further analysis. The tire treads match the
plaster impressions taken
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from two of the crime scenes. Long's blood type
matched a semen stain found on one of the victims.
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But it was the carpet
inside the Dodge Magnum that linked long to
all of these crimes.
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The red nylon
trilobal carpet fibers inside Long's Dodge
Magnum matched the fibers
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found on the murdered women. And they also matched
the red fibers on Lisa McVey's clothing.
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How was he getting
so much fiber evidence on the clothing of the victims? Well, he was stripping his
victims down in the car
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and he was throwing the
clothes in the floorboard of his vehicle. And the victim was
kicking the clothing,
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kicking it and kicking it. It was picking up the
fiber evidence out of the floor of his vehicle.
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Fiber evidence is often
referred to as a silent witness. It doesn't say a thing,
but it just speaks volumes.
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PETER THOMAS: When told of
this evidence against him, Bobby Joe Long confessed to
the rape and abduction of Lisa
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McVey, as well as the murders. He also confessed to
two additional murders the police knew nothing about
and led them to the bodies.
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In all, he confessed
to 10 murders. BOBBY JOE LONG: It's sad
what happened to them
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and that I could do something
like that to somebody. All the victims, all of them,
you know-- and you're talking
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about a lot of them, a lot. A lot of lives have
just gone right down the tubes
because of me, you
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know, in one way or another. And it's not a good feeling. It's not a pleasant feeling.
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I'm not proud of
anything I've done. And the worst thing is
I don't understand why.
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I don't understand why. Yes, it was bad. Yes, it was very
traumatic to my life.
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But it's made me who I am today. The challenges in my life, the
weaknesses that I had then,
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it's made me a stronger
and better person today. And that's how I'm
able to survive.
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[music playing] I'm a firm believer that
this is not all the homicides Bobby Joe Long did.
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You don't start killing the way
Bobby Joe Long started killing. Have we found all the victims?
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No. Are we going to find
all the victims? I doubt it. Not unless some day
he decides to give
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us the rest of the information
and the rest of the story. [eerie music] [music playing]