Bobby Joe Long was born on 14th October 1953 in the West Virginia Town of Kenova. The family had a history of genetic disorders and Bobby was born with an extra ‘X’ Chromosome, this causes the body to produce excess amounts of Estrogens. As a result his breasts began to enlarge and surgery was performed to remove six pounds of excess tissue.

Bobby Joe’s mother was domineering and made the boy share her bed until he was thirteen. He later claimed that she had men over whilst he watched. Maybe more significantly Bobby suffered from several head injuries as a child. At the age of five he was knocked out by a swing, at six he crashed his bike head first into a car, and at seven he fell off a horse landing on his head.

It was at the age of thirteen that Bobby met his future wife, which in turn stopped him sleeping with his mother. The new girl in his life was equally domineering and he now had two women ruling over him. When he turned seventeen Bobby joined the army, but six months later he had a terrible motorbike crash which shattered his helmet on impact. During his hospital recovery, Long suffered from painful headaches and sudden violent outbursts. He also became obsessed with sex, masturbating five times a day as well as sex with his wife.

However his sexual appetite was still not satisfied and it was between 1980 and 1983 that he began to prey on women in the Florida area. He would check the local papers for sales adverts and call round during the day when the woman was most likely alone. Long would produce a knife, tie them up, rape them and rob the house. All this gave him the nickname “The Classified Ad’s Rapist”

During this period he is thought to have raped up to fifty women. Bobby Joe’s appetite was still not satisfied. On May 13 th 1984 two boys walking across a field in Tampa, Florida discovered the partly decomposed body of a woman.

She had been beaten and raped; the only clue was red fibres found on the body. A missing persons report matched the body to twenty year old Nguen Thi Long a dancer form a local bar. Only two weeks later a second body was discovered, on May 27 th in Hillsborough County. The victim had been raped, stabbed and strangled. The same red fibres were found at this crime scene.

She was identified as twenty two year old Michelle Denise Simms a local prostitute with a drug habit. The FBI issued a profile of the suspect as follows: white male in his mid twenties, extrovert and manipulative exhibiting little or no emotion and also with a macho self image.

A further eight prostitutes and dancers were found raped and strangled from June to November 1984. On November 3 rd seventeen year old Lisa McVey was abducted whilst walking home from work. She was kept hostage for two days, repeatedly raped and abused, surprisingly he let her go and Lisa went straight home to call the police.

She gave a good description on the man and his dark red Dodge Magnum. On November 15 th two detectives spotted a red Magnum and pulled the car over, they told Long they were looking for a robbery suspect and let him go, after photographing him. A surveillance team was deployed and finally Bobby Joe Long was arrested as he was leaving a movie theatre.

When asked why he let Lisa McVey go Bobby replied that he liked her and felt sorry for her when she told him she was the victim of incest. He was charged with none counts of first degree murder plus the abduction rape and sexual assault on McVey.In early 1985 Bobby Joe stood trial, despite his history of head injuries he was deemed competent; the prosecution described him as having a antisocial personality disorder. He received two death sentences and left the court whistling.