Lisa McVeigh had a difficult childhood. Her mother was an alcoholic and drug addict who ended up on the street. At the age of 14, Lisa moved to live with her grandmother, who lived with a man. After many years of sexual and emotional abuse by her grandmother's roommate, Lisa decided that she could live like this anymore and firmly decided to commit suicide. At that time she was 17 years old.
Lisa McVeigh in her youth.
In the early morning of November 3, 1984, the girl finished her shift at the little Crispy Cream Cafe in Tampa, Florida, and cycled home. On the way home, she pondered her plan: how to return home and settle accounts with life. She even wrote a suicide note. However, fate had other plans for her, and a chance encounter with evil gave Lisa the determination she needed to start living a normal life.
A still from the documentary "Surviving Serial Killer" about Lisa McVeigh.
As the pensive Liza was riding her bicycle home, a car drew up to her and began honking to get her attention. Ignoring her, the girl continued on her way. After a moment, she turned around and noticed that this car was parked on the side of the road. She was suddenly pushed off her bike. The cold barrel of a pistol was pressed to her forehead. An unknown man blindfolded her and pushed her into this very strange car. He also threatened her with a knife that if she behaved "badly", he would let him into business.
The road that changed Lisa's life.
Lisa was in a state of shock when the kidnapper brought her to his apartment and raped her many times.
The main idea that was spinning in the girl's head was that they were going to kill her and that she did not want to die, despite the fact that only a few hours ago she had planned to commit suicide. “I was mortally afraid that he would kill me. I thought about suicide, and now I want to fight for my life,”Lisa later gave an interview to Fox13 TV channel.
Promotional video:
Lisa McVeigh, still from Fox13.
At that time, Lisa had no idea that the person who kidnapped her was the wanted famous serial killer - Bobby Joe Long. At the time of Lisa's abduction, he had already brutally raped and killed at least 10 women in the Florida Tampa Strip.
The news was rife with reports of a serial killer in Florida.
Lisa was not stupid and understood that if she wanted to survive, she would have to win the trust of her captor. She asked why he hurts her, because he doesn't even know her. Bobby replied that he had experienced a bitter breakup with his wife and was doing it with her because he was taking revenge on women in general for his insult. After listening to him, Lisa told him that she would be proud if she were his girlfriend, and that he seems like a good and decent person, he just got confused in himself. Lisa invented the legend that she is the only daughter and that her father is very sick and she is the only one who should take care of him. She touched her captor with this, and he showed sympathy for the girl, dropping her on the road, after 26 hours of torment.
“When he let go of me and left, I took off the bandage and saw this amazing oak tree. I used to want to die, but now I want to live,”Liza recalls. She felt as if she had been given a new life and had a second chance to start a different life.
The only ATM in the area helped find the maniac.
Fortunately, she was able to see and remember Bobby's face and was able to describe him to the police along with a description of the car he drove. Before dropping her off, Bobby stopped at the ATM, and Lisa saw that they were next to Howard Johnson's motel and an expensive hotel. After the girl contacted the police to report her abduction, investigators began looking for an ATM near these 2 hotels. There was only one ATM. After making a request to the bank, they were quickly provided with a list of people who had used the ATM that night around the same time Lisa was released. There was only one - Bobby Joe Long.
Bobby Joe Long's arrest.
Lisa McVeigh was Bobby Joe Long's only victim to survive the kidnapping. He confessed to 10 murders and more than 50 rapes in Florida. He was sentenced to death.
Bobby Joe Long in the courtroom, Fox13.
Until the execution of the sentence, he was on death row. During this time, Lisa McVeigh became Lisa McVeigh Noland, a deputy sheriff in Hillsborough County, near where she was kidnapped.
Lisa McVeigh Noland holds a press conference.
“I didn't want anyone to hurt me again, and the only way I could do it was to go to the police,” she said in an interview. Her reincarnation went from a helpless and lost girl in this cruel world to a strong and confident woman who feels “on top of her mountain”.
Bobby Joe Longu, has been on death row since 1984.
In April 2019, Governor Ron Desantis signed Bobby Joe Long's death warrant. May 23, 2019 he died by lethal injection. Lisa McVeigh Noland was there to make sure Bobby Joe Long took his last breath.