Lone Survivor Of Brutal Serial Killer Bobby Joe Long Will Witness His Execution

TAMPA, FL — Convicted serial murderer and rapist Bobby Joe Long has been denied a stay of execution and is scheduled to die by lethal injection on May 23.

Among the witnesses will be Lisa McVey Noland, the only known survivor of Long’s crimes, who has since served as a deputy in the Hilsborough County Sheriff’s Office for more than 20 years.

In November 1984, the 17-year-old Noland was attacked by Long as she was riding her bicycle home following her shift at a doughnut shop. Long then abducted Noland, and brutalized and raped her repeatedly over the next 26 hours before she convinced him to let her go.

Recalling the assault, Long said, “He came up behind me, grabbed me, put the gun to my left temple. When I felt the steel, cold barrel of that gun, it was very familiar. My grandma's boyfriend used to put a gun to my head every time he molested me for three years.”

Once inside Long’s residence, Long said, “He proceeded to escort me to the bathroom and he gives me a shower. The next 26 hours, I was raped by this monster. And I want to put it out there — it's not molestation, it's not sexual assault, it is rape. I endured that for 26 hours.”

Throughout her ordeal Noland, who doesn’t consider herself religious, said she recited the Lord’s Prayer in silence and begged God to just keep her alive. It was an ironic situation, Noland said, because just one day earlier she had contemplated taking her own life to escape the pain of the abuse she had endured at home.

Noland said, “I'm kind of glad that the encounter with Robert Joe Long happened. Because if it had not happened, I would not be standing before you here today. The night before, I'm doing my suicide note, and the next night, I'm fighting for my life. I wasn't going to allow anybody else to take anything else from me.”

Eventually, Noland swayed Long by telling him her father was sick and that only she could take care of him. The rapist then blindfolded Noland and drove her back to the area from which he took her.

Peeking through her blindfold, Noland managed to to see the word “Magnum” on the back of Long’s car. During her torment, Noland had also made use of techniques she gleaned from TV cop shows, such as counting the footsteps to Long’s home, making sure to leave fingerprints wherever she could, and feeling his face for distinguishing marks such as a pockmarks or a mustache (Long had both). All that information ultimately led police to Bobby Joe Long.

The experience also put Noland on her path in life — to protect and serve others as a law-enforcement officer, specifically working as a school resource officer at Davidson Middle School.

Long has been on Death Row since 1986. Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed the convict’s death warrant last week. Noland said she cried over the news and accepted an invitation to witness her attacker’s execution.

Long said, “Yeah, there’s forgiveness, okay, but there’s also a price to pay for that forgiveness and his time is coming. He knows it and, ironically, he is very scared and it’s about time. Your life’s about to end. Because where is the justice, where is the humanity for those victims that he took?”

On May 23, Long said she intends to wear a T-shirt with the word “Long” written on the front, and “Overdue” on the back. She added, “I’m right there beside my victim's families. I’m going to hold their hands and walk them through it.”

Finally, Long noted, “Knowing that he is going to die in less than 25 days from now, I’m hoping to get a full night’s sleep without any interruptions. I have not slept since 1984 a full night of sleep.”

Bobby Joe Long assaulted, raped, tortured, and murdered at least 10 female victims between 1981 and ’84, often posing his victim’s remains in sexually demeaning positions. Prior to the homicides, Long raped at least 50 women as “The Classified Ads Rapist.”

In 1986, Long received 28 life sentences, four sentences of 99 years, and the death penalty. Long’s attorneys most recently argued that lethal injection represented “cruel and unusual punishment” for their client. They lost that argument.

For more on this case, watch the "Nobody's Victim" episode of Investigation Discovery's Surviving Evil on ID GO now!

Read more: WTSP, WFTS, Patch Tampa