Loading summary
A
Lisa McVeigh was abducted and held captive for 26 hours. And first of all, if you haven't heard her story yet, you're in for a ride. Second of all, anytime I hear her name, which is always in the comment section of my tiktoks, I think of respect. That's the number one word that comes to mind because I have the utmost respect for people who can think not only logically but also so intelligently in such a time of crisis. I, I, I mean, I say it all the time. You never know how you're going to act when you're in a situation like this and hopefully you never have to know. But it blows my mind any time that I read of a victim and how they were able to be so quick on their feet and the worst of the worst circumstances. I have so much respect for her and I think she is one of the bravest people I've ever come across. So let's just get straight into it. I hope you guys had the best weekend, hope you're having the best week. And I'm so excited to chat with you today and listen to what you have to say about this case because it really is one that has always stood out to me and I bet it's going to stay with you for a long time as well. This is the story of Lisa McVeigh. Lisa McVeigh was abducted and held captive by a serial killer. But to fully understand her story, her experience and everything that she went through, we first have to talk about Bobby Joe Long. Because his life of crime started way before Lisa. He sexually assaulted over 100 girls. He then escalated from doing that to becoming a serial killer. And Lisa McVeigh was the person to put a stop to it all. Bobby Joe Long was born in West Virginia to his parents, 23 year old Joe and 17 year old Louetta. But he was raised in Miami, Florida. And the house that Bobby was born into, toxic. It was awful. His parents relationship was strained from the beginning, not to mention they were really young, but they were constantly arguing. He grew up around violence. Basically everything that you don't want a child to be around was happening in the house that he was born into. And like I mentioned, the way that his mother and his father treated each other was less than ideal. Definitely not what you want a child to look at as a first representation of quote, unquote, love. Even though I really doubt that it was that. But when Bobby was only two years old, the father walked away from the family. He left and he never looked back. And Bobby never saw his father again. So now in Miami, it was only Bobby and his mom. But that situation wasn't any better for him because he was extremely neglected in his childhood. Quite frankly, the easiest way that I can put it is that his mother didn't care about anything. Didn't care about him at all. She didn't care if he showered, if he ate, if he. Who he was with, who he was around. She just didn't care. And it comes to no surprise that his entire childhood, Bobby was involved in accidents left, right, and center. Whether it was almost drowning at the beach, in an ocean, falling off a swing, head first, falling off of other things. Honestly, anything tall, he would fall off and constantly be needing stitches, riding his bikes, in the cars, whatever it was, he. He was always tangled up in some sort of accident. And his mom didn't care because Louetta didn't care about her son's needs or wants. Quite frankly, she only cared about her own. And Louetta's biggest want. What she prioritized above all else was sleeping around with men that she barely knew. That was the thing that seemed to be above all else for Louetta. And they kind of fell into this routine, her and Bobby, that Bobby would be left with, honestly, whoever was available to watch him. If there was a human being, neighbor, family member, stranger, babysitter, honestly, whatever. If there was a human being that was able to be in the same room as Bobby, that was enough for his mom. She would leave him with whoever could watch him while she went out drinking, partying, forgetting any and all of her responsibilities, staying up late, meeting random people. And then at the end of the night when she would come home, she wouldn't come home alone. It was a common occurrence for her to come home with a strange man. And it was a random man. It was a different man every single night. Because again, this was a routine that they fell into. And she would bring a man home, she would take him to the bedroom. She would be extremely intimate with him. If he. You get what I'm putting down. They would do whatever acts they were into in the bedroom. And more oftentimes than not, the man would stay the night, and then she would do it all again the next day. So messed up, right? You don't want a child to kind of grow up. That's not the example that you should set for your children. To each their own. But it's not. But that's not even the worst part about it, because she would do this, and she would invite all of these strange men into her house to sleep with them. But the house that they lived in was a one bedroom apartment, meaning that her bedroom was Bobby's bedroom. They shared a bed.
B
They.
A
So anytime that Louetta would bring a random man into the house, which was again, nine times out of ten that she went out and came, came home with a stranger, she would quite frankly, have sex with him while Bobby was sleeping in the same bed. Is that not the craziest thing that you ever heard? Because one weird mom, obviously she doesn't care about anything. Her priorities are not straight. She only cares about herself. Bobby, I can imagine the trauma that caused him to see that night after night after night. But third of all, I have so many questions because was, was the man not like, hey, maybe we shouldn't do this, There's a little boy in the bed with us. It makes no sense to me. But anyway, this went on for years. This is what Bobby became used to. And they had different living situations throughout the years. I think at times they were living in an apartment, then they moved in with family, and then they moved out of family. And it was again only Bobby and his mom. But Bobby saw his mom sleeping with other men in the same bed as him. Not only saw it, I guess he literally experienced it because he was right there. But this went on up until his teenage years. So, yeah, it went on for a while. And another thing to note about Bobby Joe Long is that he was born with an extra X chromosome. The condition that he had is known as Klinefelter syndrome, I believe that's how you pronounce it. And that syndrome comes with several different side effects. Not only physical side effects, but also psychological and emotional, meaning that he was more than likely to experience depression and anxiety and those kind of things growing up because of this syndrome. But one of the physical side effects was the development of female traits during puberty. Female traits such as developing breast. And this is something that Bobby experienced when he was around 12 years old. And as you can imagine, we know how mean kids can be. Bobby experienced relentless bullying for this at school. And it. I can imagine that that also affected him a lot. Although Bobby did eventually end up getting surgery for it. It was definitely a significant period of his life. And it was after the surgery or right around then that it felt like Bobby started hitting a turning point almost because he started growing such a strong and deep hatred towards women. He ha girls. He hated women. He despised his mom, not only because she was a woman, but also because of how neglected he felt his entire childhood. And it wasn't something that he would shy away from. It was something that he would make sure that his mom knew. He would yell at her all the time, scream at her, call her names, and he would just go into these rages where all he would see was red. And it really did sort of feel like it was a turning point in his life where all of this sadness that he had built up inside of him turned from sadness into anger. He was no longer this sad and mopey kid. He was now this angry, violent and aggressive child. And he would start acting out. He was constantly getting into fights at school. He was causing issues all the time. And he pretty much became known as a problem child, or what you would call problem child. His mommy issues, in my opinion, just translated into his adult life disguised as this deep hatred, but also, in the same breath, this weird obsession with women and girls. It was the weirdest thing. At 14 years old, Bobby got his first girlfriend, a 13 year old girl named Cindy, and they dated for a long time, which was kind of shocking to me when I was reading that he was able to hold this relationship down for so long, considering what an unstable guy he grew up to be. But they dated throughout high school, they continue dating when Bobby dropped out of high school, and they continued dating when Bobby signed up for the army, when he got stationed away. And they continued dating up to 1974. So like I said, their relationship began when Bobby was around 14 years old. And then when he was around 19 to 20 years old, their relationship of boyfriend and girlfriend turned into a relationship, a marriage of husband and wife. Yes. Bobby Joe Long proposed to his high school sweetheart, Cindy.
B
And.
A
And she said yes. And from what I can tell, he was an okay husband. Like maybe probably even good. Question mark. I think if you ask Cindy how their relationship was and what it was like to be with him at the start, the beginning years, and even entering their marriage, she would say that it was a decent marriage. He was happy enough to stay. But only two months after the wedding, Bobby got in a terrible, terrible motorcycle accident. It was awful. A car hit his bike and it sent Bobby flying across the road. When paramedics showed up, he was completely unresponsive. And it was so bad, to the point that when he did make it to hospital, he had to be placed in a coma for three days. He had to have multiple surgeries. But eventually Bobby did wake up and he was able to make a full recovery. However, this accident was maybe the most significant point of his life, or maybe the most significant accident of his life. Because it said that the injuries that he suffered reportedly contributed to violent behavioral changes and compulsive tendencies. So it said that Bobby before the accident and Bobby after the accident were two completely different people. It was like his entire personality changed, and not in a good way. When he was still recovering in hospital, Bobby began to have these violent, aggressive outbursts. But, yeah, he. Like, he acted out when he was younger before, but it was whatever, like problem child now. It was super intense, and his outbursts were super unpredictable. And another incredibly notable difference was his obsession with sex. It was all that he could think about. It was all that he wanted. His sex drive was through the roof. It was so bad that while he was still in hospital, in. In almost a full body cast, right, he was still very much recovering from his injuries, but his sex drive was so high that he would touch himself at times in the hospital bed in this almost full body cast up to five times a day to pleasure and relieve himself. And then when he was released from hospital, you can imagine how much that affected his wife, Cindy. Because Bobby began not only wanting and asking for, but more so demanding sex every single second of every single day. It was absurd. And on top of that, the violent outbursts continued. So it was like he was aggressive, mean, beating up Cindy, but then also was demanding sex. And he would have sex with her no matter if Cindy said no or not. That didn't matter to him. So Bobby began having these moments in which he almost became this person that Cindy didn't even recognize. And he would go off on her and hurt her, not only emotionally and psychologically, but also sexually and physically. He would start these fights, and then he would get physical with Cindy, forcing himself onto her when she clearly didn't want it even once, choking her to the point where she was unconscious. And afterwards, he slammed her head against the television. In one of the incidents, Their relationship and their marriage that maybe once could have been considered good Became a sick and twisted cycle of toxic. Bobby would explode and be terrible, and then he would apologize. And I can imagine that that was so confusing and conflicting for Cindy because she felt like she knew two different versions of Bobby. Bobby before the accident and Bobby after the accident. And she probably was holding on to the hope for as long as she did that this was just a face that maybe there was something wrong that altered his personality after the surgery, but she would be able to help him recover. She was trying to do everything to save their marriage for a while after the accident. And then Cindy fell pregnant. Cindy and Bobby had two children. Together. But after only six years of marriage, Cindy hit rock bottom. It was too much. She couldn't take it anymore. She called it quits. And the final straw for her was when Bobby got so angry at something that he beat up Cindy so bad to the point where she had to take herself to hospital. And one day came and she thought, this is it. This is the last time. This is enough. I literally cannot take this anymore. She has said, quote, when I came to, I was on the couch. Of course he was there crying, I'll never do it again. I'm so sorry. Then the next words were, when you drive yourself to get your stitches, if you tell them what really happened, I will kill you when you get home. End quote. And with that, in 1980, after years of trauma and abuse, Cindy got up and left. And she took her two children with her and filed for divorce. Following his wife walking out on him, Bobby Joe Long's behavior only escalated, and it only got worse because he was still left as this angry, evil man with a sickening desire for sex. The only thing being is that now he didn't have a wife to demand sex from. He lost his designated person, who he would yell at and scream at and demand sex from. But his want and what he saw in his head as a need for sex, it didn't go away. So what was Bobby going to do? Well, he was going to go out and find it somewhere else. So following the divorce in the early 1980s, this is when you can say that his life of crime really started to spiral. Bobby moved to Tampa, Florida, with a roommate. He ended up getting an apartment and also got a job. And he really threw himself into this new chapter of his life, which was about to be a really, really dark, disturbing one. Between the years of 1981 and 1984, Bobby Joe Long began to seek out victims through classified ads in the newspaper. He would. This was his new routine, right? Bobby would look through the newspapers, and he specifically was looking for ads that were listed by women.
B
And.
A
And when he would find one, he would call and he would set up an appointment to go to their house, meet up with them, and go look at whatever it was that they were selling. But when he would get there, if they were alone, which is what he wanted, he would see this. Bobby would see this as his opportunity, and he would take it. He would pull out a weapon of sorts, usually a knife, to threaten them with it. He would then tie them up, bind them, sexually abuse them in the worst of the worst ways possible, and then he would Rob the house and walk away as if nothing ever happened, Leaving his victims tied up in their own home. This was his new normal, this was his routine. And he would do that over and over and over again. It's been estimated by some sources that Bobby did this over 100 times, sexually abusing over 100 women, which is absolutely insane. And of course, throughout the three years that he was doing this, word got around that there was this classified ad rapist. So people knew what was going on. People knew that there was this man going around doing this thing. But Bobby was never identified as a suspect, which is so infuriating. The year 1984 was the year that Bobby's crimes escalated from brutal sexual abuse to murder. Because quite frankly, Bobby was getting tired, he was getting bored of the same old routine. So he decided that he should switch things up a bit. He decided that it would be a better idea for him to get in his car and drive up and down Nebraska Avenue in Tampa. Apparently that area, it was common there to be able to find sex workers. So he would drive around and basically window shop for his victims because his target was vulnerable women. In March of 1984, when Bobby was driving around, he came across 20 year old Artis Wick. He lured her into his vehicle and then he sexually abused her. Afterwards, Bobby put his hands around her neck, completely cutting off her airway until she was gone. And just like that, he had taken his first life afterwards, not knowing what to do, he drove to a nearby river, dumped her body and drove away. Her remains would not be found until eight months later in November. But even then, there was no way for authorities to tie or link the murder to Bobby. So back then, he's thinking in his head, oh, this is easy. I just got away with it. Two months after his first murder, Bobby killed for a second time. His second victim was a 19 year old girl named Ninjun T. Bobby saw her as she was walking home from her shift one night, Again lured her into his car by offering her a ride home. And her body would later be found deceased in a field with clear signs of sexual abuse. She had no clothing on and had a rope tied around her neck. Two weeks later, he did it again to 22 year old Michelle Sims. Her body was found dumped on the side of the highway. She was also wearing close to nothing and had been tied up. However, Michelle's body was found with her throat slit, which was a new thing for Bobby. So it's just like he kept getting cockier and cockier and doing somehow worse things. And being more violent with his victims. Not long after that, he struck again. His next victim being 22 year old Elizabeth Loudenbach. She was found also extremely sexually abused and strangled. Her body was found only two weeks after the attack. And up until that point the bodies of all of Bobby's victims were. Had been found, except for for his very first one. So authorities had managed to connect off the murders. Right, because they had a lot of things in common because of the similarities between them. And at every crime scene authorities found tiny little red nylon fibers that looked to be from a carpet, maybe from a carpet inside of a vehicle. So they knew that they had a serial killer on their hands. They just needed to find him. And it was at this point that the FBI got involved and started building a case and a profile on what kind of person they thought they were looking for. Meanwhile, Bobby is continuing to seek out new victims and he keeps on succeeding. As much as that makes my blood boil to say. His fifth victim was 21 year old Vicki Elliott. She disappeared on September 7th of 1984 while she was walking home from work from her waitressing job. Her body was found November 16th. She had been strangled. On September 30th, Bobby took the life of 18 year old Chanel Williams. Her body was found October 7th. Again, she was wearing nothing and she had a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Only a week later came his seventh victim. The body of 28 year old Karen Dinsfrain was found. She had also been strangled, but this time also bludgeoned to death. Not long after that, on October 31st, the remains of 22 year old Kimberly Hopp were found on the side of the highway. So at this point, authorities had recovered the bodies of six out of the eight victims of Bobby Long. But they were still no closer to finding out who this serial killer was. And this is finally where we introduce Lisa McVeigh. An absolute hero of a woman. 17 year old Lisa McVeigh was born into a very toxic living situation. Both of her parents struggled with suffering substance abuse. And that resulted in two year old Lisa being placed in foster care. At seven years old, she got placed back in the care of her biological mom, which was not good for Lisa. And her entire childhood she was pretty much neglected, never looked after, treated horribly, she was abused. Call it what it is. Six years later, at 13 years old, Lisa was placed in the care of her grandmother, which was also awful. Mainly because of the grandmother's boyfriend who was at the start only very creepy and very disgusting and disturbing towards little Lisa. But Then he started sexually abusing her. So from the age of 13 years old, up until the time of this case, When Lisa was 17 years old, she had been constantly sexually abused by her grandmother's boyfriend. Which is disgusting. And it doesn't come as a surprise that Lisa's mental health was at an incredibly low point. She was struggling so bad to the point where she didn't see a way out. And she began thinking that her only way to stop all the suffering that she felt, all the suffering that she was going through, would be to take her own Life. And on November 2nd of 1984, Lisa McVeigh decided that that night would be the night that she ended it all. She went to work, she showed up for her shift at Krispy Kreme, and she left around 2 in the morning. And it was on her walk home that someone hiding in the shadows jumped out, snuck up to Lisa, and suddenly she felt a man behind her and a gun pressed to the back of her head. That man was Bobby Joe Long. And he whispered to her that if she screamed, he would kill her. And then he grabbed her and dragged her inside of his car. He blindfolded her. He ordered her to remove all of her clothing. And then he brutally sexually abused her. And it was at that point that Lisa found the will to live again. Remember, she didn't want to be on this earth anymore. She had been struggling so badly. She was in such a dark headspace. But as soon as Bobby took her, she thought, I need to live. She remembers thinking, I was deathly afraid that he was going to kill me. Here I was thinking about killing myself, and now I was going to be fighting for my life. End quote. After sexually abusing her in the car, Bobby drove Lisa back to his apartment. And Lisa is still blindfolded throughout the entire ride. Okay, she can't see anything. They get there, he drags her inside, he drags her to his bed, where he sexually assaults her again. And for the next 26 hours, Bobby Joe Long would sexually abuse her consistently. Bobby then sexually assaulted Lisa on his bed and then in the bathroom. And then he told Lisa that they were going to be taking a shower together. And then all of a sudden, Bobby kind of switches, and he starts being really nice to Lisa. Obviously, he isn't being very nice because of what he's doing to her, but he starts touching her really gently, washing her hair, brushing her hair, even blow drying her hair after the shower. And Bobby starts telling Lisa how nice she was, how pretty she was, how beautiful she was, and talks about how he's really enjoying her company. Sorry, it's not funny. It's just kind of absurd to me how twisted and sick his mind can be. But Lisa, I can imagine, is thinking, what the actual F is wrong with you, sick man inside of her head. However, on the outside, she saw this as an opportunity because to her, it felt like Bobby was sort of being vulnerable to her. And she's thinking, right, okay, I need to take advantage of this. She is absolutely petrified on the inside. But on the outside, she starts playing along, hoping to be able to get him to let his guard down, hoping to get him to trust her. So she starts playing along, being this very nice, sweet girl, which she was, but obviously she didn't want to be towards such a horrible man. But then Bobby takes her back to the bed. He sexually abuses her again. And then he falls asleep and tells her to go to sleep. Lisa, of course, doesn't. Instead, she spends all night thinking and brainstorming of ways of how she was going to figure out how to get herself out of this nightmare. The next morning, Bobby wakes up. He sexually assaults her again. But Lisa, being so incredibly smart, patient, and brave, she keeps up this act of this sweet, caring girl who wants to be with Bobby. She needs to make him think that she wants to be there, that she is not going to run away so that he relaxes, right? So Bobby is telling Lisa about how nice she is, and he starts talking about the idea of, quote, unquote, keeping her and saying that maybe she could just stay with him and she could be his girlfriend. And Lisa is playing along. She says, yeah, you know, maybe I can be your girlfriend, and maybe I can just stay here with you and be with you, and I won't tell anyone anything. I will just be here for you, for whatever you want me for. And it's working. Which is so. Like, this is such an uncomfortable situation, right? And it's shocking that this was working for Bobby. But then again, think about the kind of person that Bobby is. His little tiny brain is so sick and twisted, and it has been for years. And all Lisa is doing is playing into his sick and twisted fantasies. So it makes sense that in his stupid little brain, he. He starts thinking, oh, my gosh, this girl really likes me. She really wants to be with me, because he's an idiot, right? Anyway, so it's now the day after. And Lisa, by the way, she is still blindfolded. This entire time, she has been blindfolded because Bobby doesn't want her to see him, nor his apartment. But she tells Bobby that she needs to use the bathroom. And at first he's like, yeah, right. Like, no, absolutely not. You're not going to go to the bathroom by yourself. But eventually he lets her. And Lisa goes to the bathroom. She lifts up her blindfold for the first time, and she starts touching everything inside of that bathroom. The goal being to leave her fingerprints on as many surfaces that she can, so she's touching everywhere. She does that. She then walks out, and Bobby goes up to her to readjust her blindfold. And I don't know how she thought of this, like, again, in such a time of crisis, since, like, I would be panicking. I don't know how she thought of this. But she then tightens her face, like, kind of flexes her face to make it feel wider than it is. When Bobby goes to readjust and tighten the bl. The blindfold so that then she could relax her face and she could have this tiny little gap between her blindfold so she could try and see out of it. And it worked. So she's now walking around trying to see as much as she possibly can through this little tiny gap in the blindfold. But then Bobby sexually assaults her again. And Lisa is keeping up this act of being this lovey dovey girl that really cares for him. So, ew, this makes it so gross to think about and so horrible. But he's sexually abusing her. And Lisa asks if she can caress his face, making it sound like romantic, right? Like playing into his sick fantasies.
B
But.
A
But what she was really trying to do is memorize the features on his face because she can't see him. And she's hoping and praying that she's going to be able to get out of this nightmare. And if she is, she's going to have one goal in mind, to get this man caught so she can't see him, but she wants to feel his face. And he lets her. She's feeling around his face, feeling around his mustache, his bushy eyebrows, his nose, his lips, the shape of his jaw, just trying to memorize all of his features. And this entire time, by the way she's talking, he's talking. She's trying to keep up this act of sweet, caring, girlfriend almost. And she asks Bobby, why are you doing this to me? Bobby tells her that it's because he has this hatred towards women. And I'm not sure if he talks about his mom, if he brings up that aspect of his life, but he starts opening up to Lisa, saying that he has this hatred towards Women and that he is this anger that he just can't get rid of. And this is why he abducted her. And he's doing this to her. And he also mentions how he has problems of showing empathy towards women because he just hates them so much. Whatever. Cry me a river, Bobby. Like, come on, it just like, spare me, Bobby. Like, oh, poor little me. I have mommy issues and I hate women so much. That's why I abducted you. And I held you captive. Like, hope you understand. Like, ugh, I hate him. Anyway, Lisa then starts opening up and she makes up this fake story about being the sole carer for her father. So she tells Bobby about her father who had 33 heart attacks, and says that he's really sick. And she says that he's the only. She's the only person who takes care of him. And she starts telling Bobby, if I don't go home since my dad is so sick, he's going to eventually die. That's why you should let me go. And Bobby, shockingly, actually starts to feel sorry for Lisa. She was successfully manipulating him in the exact way that she intended to. Bobby starts feeling this weird sympathy towards her, so much so that he then stops sexually abusing her. And they just go to sleep that night. He didn't sexually abuse her. He just instead made her lie next to him and cuddle and. And then 26 hours into her captivity, at 3:30 in the morning, the second night, they're in bed cuddling and Bobby just sits up and says, I can't take you anymore. I need to take you home. And he tells her that the reason why he is going to let her go, the reason why he isn't going to kill her, is because of her dad, because of this fake story that she made up. Because he thinks that she needs to go home to be able to take care of her dad. He fell right into her fake story. Thankfully, this was in the early hours of November 4th. And Lisa is shocked, obviously, but she's going along with it, of course. Bobby then, while Lisa is still blindfolded, gets up and starts directing Lisa to walk outside with him and get in his car. Lisa then, being so quick on her feet, she starts counting the steps she's taking. Because remember, she still has her blindfold on. She still can't see anything. She still doesn't know where she is. She counts the exact amount of steps on the stairs. And then in the car, from underneath her blindfold, through that little gap, she caught a glimpse of the word Magnum on the side of the car. Dashboard, which is the kind of car it is, that's unique to the 1978 model. And she also notices very important and very significant that the car has red carpet inside of it. Bobby keeps driving. He eventually pulls over, and he tells Lisa to get out of the car, still blindfolded. And then he drives away. Lisa is frozen in fear, still with her blindfold off in the middle of the night, standing outside, she could not believe what had just happened. And she stands there with her blindfold on for around five minutes until she eventually manages to be brave enough to take it off. And Bobby was gone, the car was gone. She was alone. She is safe now. And she sprints inside of her house in tears, which is her grandmother's house. She walks straight into the house, and don't forget, that house is also the house that her abuser lives in, her grandmother's awful, awful, terrible boyfriend. So she walks in after being gone for however many hours. She's in tears. She's telling her grandmother and her grandmother's boyfriend everything that she had just endured for the last 26 years. Hours. And guess what? They don't believe her. They don't believe her, of course not. Because they're horrible, horrible, terrible people. And it breaks my heart that after going through the most traumatizing thing you could ever go through, you go home thinking, oh, my gosh, thank God, I'm safe now. And you just walk straight into another living nightmare. Because I cannot imagine what you must be feeling after being able to escape that. After being able to escape a serial killer. You walk in, desperate for help, and the first people that you see, one of them, who is your family member related to you by blood, and they just tell you that you're lying. She's telling them both that she was just abducted, kidnapped, that she had been sexually abused this entire time, held captive. And both the grandmother and the grandmother's boyfriend are screaming at her, yelling at her, accusing her of lying, and accusing her of making up this entire story. Lisa then goes to the police, and they don't believe her either, because do you want to know why? Authorities said that she was, quote, too calm to be a victim, which is why they didn't believe her, which is no words for that. Then her grandmother and the grandmother's boyfriend go to the station to accuse Lisa of lying again. It is the most unbelievable thing. Thankfully. And I say thankfully because I don't know what would have happened if this didn't happen. But thankfully, it was one police officer in the entire police station that believed Lisa One person who was willing to hear her out. So he sits down with Lisa and Lisa starts telling him everything. And this officer obviously is well aware of this serial killer that they had been looking for.
B
And.
A
And everything that Lisa McVeigh is saying sounds like this man could very well be the man that they have been looking for. The man who has been killing girls left and right. And then Lisa brings up the red carpet inside of that car. And the officer recalls the same red carpet fibers that had been found on other victims. And he thinks, this is it. This is our guy. Lisa is also able. Somehow manages to tell the officer that she was also able to see the word magnum them on the car. And she describes the vehicle. She describes the facial features of Bobby that she felt with her own two hands. She describes the little bits and pieces that she was able to see through the little gap on her blindfold inside of the apartment. And says, my fingerprints are all over that bathroom. Like I'm not lying. Please believe me. So this is huge, right? This is a huge break in the case. The ca. The break that they had been waiting for. And they start scrambling, trying to connect and this car to track down their guy. In the meantime, however, another two bodies are discovered. The bodies of 18 year old Virginia Johnson and 21 year old Kim Swan. Bobby Joe Long had killed Virginia before abducting Lisa, but he did abduct and murder Kim after he let Lisa go. So it was obvious that he. There were clear signs that he had no intentions of slowing down. And at both of those crime scenes, the same red carpet fibers were found. Luckily, it would not be long until he was eventually caught. While officers were out searching for this specific make and model of this car, they found it. And they identified Bobby Joe Long as the driver. But before arresting him, to make sure that it was him, they needed Lisa to pick him out of a lineup. And luckily, just by memorizing his facial features with her hands and never seeing them, Lisa was able to identify him from a lineup. She said that she was certain that Bobby Joe Long was her abductor. And with that, on November 16th of 1984, Bobby Joe Long was arrested and charged with the kidnapping and rape of Lisa McVeigh. At first, he denied everything, but sooner than later, he gave a full confession. And Bobby sat there extremely calm. And he admitted to having abducted, raped and murdered multiple women in the Tampa area in 1984. He talked about everything. He described how he would drive around, pick up his victims, often women who were alone and vulnerable. And in his own words, he spoke of each crime in detail, without any emotion or any remorse. He confessed to 10 murders, and up until then, authorities had only recovered eight bodies. But after his confession, they were able to find the remaining two. At his trial, prosecutors laid out the horror of Bobby Joe Long's crimes, presenting all of the evidence that tied him to at least 10 murders and dozens of sexual assaults. And the entire time, Bobby showed zero guilt for what he had done. And In September of 1985, the jury found him guilty and Bobby was sentenced to death. On May 23rd of 2019, Bobby Long was executed by lethal injection. And this entire story is horrific in every way, shape or form. I wish just as much as you that it never had happened. But it does make me very happy to say that Lisa McVeigh went on to turn her life around completely. She moved out of that terrible house, she put herself through school, and she pursued a career in law enforcement dedicated to helping other victims as well as working with children. Lisa McVeigh wanted to do that because of her own personal experience. And she is currently. I have goosebumps. She is currently a deputy at the same exact sheriff's office that brought her attacker to justice. She now has a family of her own and she is in many, many, many ways such an inspiration to people. And I have no doubt that she has been an incredibly inspiring and helpful resource for so many victims that have been through anything like this. But that is all I have for today's episode. Thank you guys for sticking around and hanging out with me today. Let me know your thoughts on this case because my mind is running with so many questions and different things. I hope you guys are having the best day. If not, go do something to make it the best day. Make somebody happy and I will see you in my next episode. Massive kiss on the forehead to every single one of you. Thank you guys so much for tuning into this episode of I wish you were here. As a reminder, you can listen to this podcast anywhere you get. Your podcast video version is also available on YouTube. Love you.
Episode Title: Abducted: The Full Story of Lisa McVey
Release Date: September 16, 2025
In this gripping episode, Michelle Cuervo tells the harrowing and ultimately inspiring story of Lisa McVeigh, a 17-year-old girl who was abducted and held captive by serial killer Bobby Joe Long for 26 hours. The episode explores Lisa’s traumatic childhood, her resilience during captivity, and how her quick thinking not only led to her survival but also played a pivotal role in ending Long’s killing spree. Michelle delves deeply into the backgrounds of both victim and perpetrator, reflecting on cycles of abuse, psychological factors in violent crime, and the lasting impact of survivors’ courage.
“That’s the number one word that comes to mind because I have the utmost respect for people who can think not only logically but also so intelligently in such a time of crisis.” (00:22)
“...even once, choking her to the point where she was unconscious. And afterwards, he slammed her head against the television.” (10:39)
“It’s been estimated by some sources that Bobby did this over 100 times, sexually abusing over 100 women, which is absolutely insane.” (16:18)
“Here I was thinking about killing myself, and now I was going to be fighting for my life.” – Lisa McVeigh, as quoted by Michelle (23:12)
“She is absolutely petrified on the inside. But on the outside, she starts playing along, hoping to be able to get him to let his guard down, hoping to get him to trust her.” (24:20)
“I have goosebumps. She is currently a deputy at the same exact sheriff’s office that brought her attacker to justice.” (41:20)
“She is in many, many, many ways such an inspiration to people. And I have no doubt that she has been an incredibly inspiring and helpful resource for so many victims that have been through anything like this.” (41:50)
Michelle Cuervo delivers a story that is both horrifying and inspirational. Through careful analysis, she threads Lisa McVeigh’s exceptional courage and tactical thinking within harrowing circumstances, leading not only to her own survival but to justice for many victims. The episode is a powerful testament to resilience, justice, and the lasting impact that a single person’s bravery can have on an entire community.