Post by Graveyardbride on May 23, 2019 11:36:54 GMT -5
Serial Killer Bobby Joe Long Scheduled to Die this Evening
Convicted serial killer Bobby Joe Long is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. this evening at Florida State Prison for the May 1984 murder of Michelle Denise Simms, a former beauty contestant from California. Her bound and stabbed corpse was found near an Interstate 4 overpass on May 27, 1984. Shortly after the discovery of Simms’ body, Sheriff Walter Heinrich warned that a killer might be targeting young women in Tampa.
The execution will be the first in Florida since Governor Ron DeSantis took office in January.
Artiss Ann Wick, who was killed in March 1984, was Long’s first known victim. During the following eight months, he abducted, raped and murdered at least nine additional women. Most of his victims were strangled, but others had their throats slit and after killing his victims, he positioned their bodies in a gruesome manner.
One victim, Lisa McVey Noland, survived and went on to become a member of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department. Noland, who plans to attend the execution, said Long has haunted her for years. “Ever since then, it’s just been a nightmare of ‘Is he coming after me?’ or ‘Are the doors locked in my house?’”
On Wednesday, a federal appeals court refused a request to stop the execution. A three-judge panel on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected last-minute arguments raised on behalf of Long. In part, his lawyers challenged the state’s lethal-injection process, which involves the use of three drugs. The ruling came after the Florida Supreme Court refused to prevent the execution. Long’s attorneys also have filed two petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court this week.
Sources: Jason Lanning, WFTV, May 23, 2019; The Orlando Sentinel, May 23, 2019; and Gabrielle Calise, The Tampa Bay Times, April 25, 2019.
