Forensic Files - Season 2, Episode 1 - The Common Thread - (In HD) | Forensic Files

There were many eyes on Lana Long as she walked out on stage for her nightly routine.
[Music] She was a popular performer at the Sly Fox Lounge, a club well known for
beautiful exotic dances. Sometime after the performance, Lana Long had an unexpected encounter.
The crime committed that night might have gone unsolved had it not been for a common thread.
Yeah. [Music] It's going to be great. One Sunday afternoon, two boys were playing
together on an abandoned highway. >> Ready? 3 2 1. [Music] >> As they ran through a field chasing a
parachute, they discovered a horrible sight. The nude, decomposed body of a young
woman. She was lying face down with her hands bound behind her back. A cord was wrapped three times around her neck like
a leash. Under her body lay a white silk scarf tied in a knot. >> This killer was trying to make a
statement. He could have killed this woman with a lot less trauma. But the uh the deepness of this bruise
uh the the the prominence of this bruise uh indicated that uh that he applied a lot more force than it was necessary to
end this woman's life. He was violent. >> The victim was identified as 20-year-old
Lana Long, an exotic dancer who worked at the Sly Fox Lounge in Tampa. Detectives found some faint tire tracks
near the body, but little else. Homicide investigators interviewed Lana Long's boyfriend, John Corkran. Cochran hadn't
reported Long missing, even though they lived together, and he hadn't seen her for 3 days.
>> He had an explanation of why he didn't report her missing. It was kind of vague. We were concerned about that.
Cochran admitted that he argued with Long on the day of her disappearance about the number of men who were calling
her at home, asking her out on dates. Two weeks later, a second body was discovered in a deserted location. I can
vividly recall getting in the car, driving to the crime scene, saying to myself, "Please don't let her be bound.
Please don't let her be tied up." It felt like a ton of bricks had just fallen upon me cuz here we go from
rarely having a victim bound to now two within two weeks of each other. >> The victim was identified as 22-year-old
Michelle Sims, a former beauty contestant who had turned to prostitution to support a drug habit.
Neared the body, police discovered some fresh tire prints in the soft sand. But there was something unusual about the
tire impressions. The vehicle had three different tires. Detectives made plaster molds of the
tire impressions for analysis, hoping they would provide some clue to the identity of the murderer.
Because of the similarities in these two cases, investigators believed that both
murders were committed by the same person. This time, however, John Cochran had an alibi and was no longer
considered a suspect. In the forensics lab, when Michelle Sims clothing was analyzed, they discovered a tiny clue, a
mysterious red fiber. It was similar to a red fiber discovered at the Lana Long crime scene on the white silk scarf
found under Long's body. On September 18th, 1984, the nude body of a third woman was discovered. The victim,
18-year-old Chanel Williams, who had a prior arrest for prostitution. This particular case, it was a black
female. Her body had been dumped on the roadside. She was completely nude. She was not bound in any way. Uh there was
some clothing found next to her tied in a knot. She had suffered a gunshot wound to the
back of the head. So when you look at this case, it it's totally different than the other cases.
Or is it? The forensics lab found the answer. Tiny red fibers were discovered on William's clothing. Fibers similar to
those found on the other two victims. While detectives launched a full-scale investigation, they hoped that these
mysterious red fibers would lead them to their serial killer before he struck again.
The Hillsboro County Sheriff's Department wanted to know all they could about the mysterious red fibers found on
the three murdered women. Each of the tiny fibers was microscopically analyzed and compared
under a scanning electron microscope magnified more than 1,000 times. Scientists noticed an unusual size and
shape to the fibers. Instead of being round or square, the fiber looks more or less triangular, but like a triangle.
It's been pinched so that you see the three legs sticking out from the core of the fiber. The fibers from the three
women were all triangular or trilobyl. The next task was to identify whether the fibers were natural or man-made.
Since man-made fibers are made from chemicals, scientists use what is called a melting point apparatus to determine
the temperature at which the fiber would break down. The results revealed that the red fibers were nylon. And by
microscopically measuring the light reflected through the fibers, scientists determined that all three trillobal
nylon fibers were dyed the exact same color and were from the same dot. The conclusion, the red nylon trilobyl
fibers found on the three victims were all from the same source. Nylon trilobyl fiber is used mostly in carpet, high
durability, inexpensive carpet. Since this fiber masks dirt, it's often used in automobiles and hotels. Next,
homicide detectives turned their attention to the tire impressions found near the bodies. Tire tread experts
noticed that there were three different tires on the vehicle. The impression of the front tire was simple to identify.
It was an extremely common model made by the Goodyear Tire Company. The right rear tire was manufactured by the
Goodyear company as well. It was a lowpriced model called the Viva. But there was something unusual about the
tread. It was a white wall tire and was on the rim with the white wall side facing inward.
The left rear tire could not immediately be identified since it was not among the
thousands of known tire treads in the FBI's computer database. So investigators sent the tire impression
to the Goodyear Tire Company in Akran, Ohio to see if they could help identify it. Goodyear's tire expert recognized
that it was a specialty tire and a very expensive one, not sold in retail stores. It was a model called the Vogue,
made by the Vogue Tire and Rubber Company and was used exclusively on Cadillacs. The tire impression showed
that it too was a white wall tire which was placed on the vehicle with the white
wall side facing inward. If the detectives could find the vehicle with this unusual combination of tire treads,
they would have the vehicle which left the tire tracks at two of the murder scenes. They also suspected that this
vehicle would have red nylon trillobal carpet. Gary Terry decided not to release this important information to
the press. >> Serial killers watch the news, read the newspaper just like anybody else. We
were aware of the experience up in Atlanta, Georgia with the Wayne Williams case. I had personally talked with the
investigators up there. He changed his pattern after he saw it described in the newspaper.
He began reading about trace evidence. So he began dumping the bodies in the rivers to wash the bodies and destroy
latent or trace evidence. Deputies believed that the killer was cruising for victims along Nebraska Avenue, where
prostitutes usually congregate. Female police decoys walked the strip dressed as prostitutes in an attempt to
lure the killer. The number of patrol cars in the area also was increased. Author Anna Flowers described the search
for the killer in her book, Bound to Die. I've talked to a lot of uh uh officers who say, "I have to think like
the killer in order to catch him. I worry what it what would it take for me to become the killer?" Interesting
thought. >> Despite police efforts, a fourth nude body was discovered in a deserted area.
The victim, 28-year-old Karen Den's friend, who had turned to prostitution to support a drug habit. Deputies knew
that the serial murderer had struck again when they found red nylon trilobyl fibers in Din's friend's clothing. The
pattern that we saw here, uh, the way that these bodies were left, uh, the way that they were
strangled, uh, the way that they were tied indicated that we had a serial killer.
>> Despite leaving behind the fiber and tire track evidence, the killer was smart, but his next target, a
17-year-old girl, outsmarted him. 2:30 a.m. After working the night shift at this doughnut shop in Tampa, Florida,
17-year-old Lisa McVey rode her bicycle home along a dark, deserted street. Suddenly, a man jumped from behind a
parked van, knocked Lisa off her bicycle, grabbed her by the hair, and forced her into his car.
>> God, help me. I was thinking I was going to be killed. Oh my god. Just just just
help me. >> He drove McVey to an apartment. Over the next 24 hours, she was repeatedly raped and sodomized,
blindfolded, petrified, and convinced she would die. Lisa McVey made an important decision.
>> I had the life of God in me. I wanted I had the willingness to live, to survive.
That's it. the survival part. Um, when you're in something like that, you would be surprised yourself what you're
capable of. >> While still blindfolded, McVey was permitted to use the bathroom. She left
her fingerprints everywhere she could under the toilet seat, around the sink, on the haird dryer.
If I had died, if I was killed, I want them as far as the police or whoever found me to know that I was there and I
tried. Lisa was a very sharp young lady. I personally feel what saved her life was her actions. And those actions were
to say yes sir and no sir to every demand that the suspect made of her. At 3 in the morning, after 24 hours of
captivity, Lisa, still blindfolded, was forced back into the car at gunpoint. She was very street smart. Although she
had been blindfolded, she could see under the blindfold enough to give police very important data.
>> I was trying to get a good clue idea of what area I was in. I wanted to know where I was coming from. And I remember
leaning back in the chair. I can see in the blindfold that I saw two hotels side
by side each other practically I then the 275 goes in between them and said Howard Johnson equality in
>> Lisa noticed the word magnum on the dashboard saw that the seats were white and that
the car had red carpet. Her abductor stopped the car for a few minutes and Lisa heard a familiar sound.
[Music] a 24-hour bank teller machine. >> I heard the sounds of the keys of the buttons on the machine.
A short drive later, he stopped the car, opened the door, put Lisa on the street
along with her clothes, warned her not to remove the blindfold for another 5 minutes, and drove away.
freedom. Wow, I'm alive. I'm here. What do I do now? I looked both ways and I fell to my
knees and I started crying. >> Lisa McVey was taken to the hospital and her clothing sent to the forensic lab
for analysis. But before it could be analyzed, detectives were called to another
homicide. Another nude body found near a highway overpass. >> And you could tell it was him. There
were actually no liatures on the body, but you could see ligature marks where he had removed the liatures.
>> When the forensic lab analyzed the clothing from Kim Swan and Lisa McVey, they discovered a shocking piece of
information. Kim Swan's clothing contained the same red nylon trilobyl fibers as the other
victims and the same red fibers were found on Lisa McVeyy's clothing. >> It was disbelief.
We couldn't believe that we have for some reason the killer has not killed he's let a victim survive.
Lisa McVeyy's courage and determination made her the first known survivor of the
serial killer. Could she provide enough information to find him? When police realized that Lisa McVeyy's
rapist was the serial killer, the clue she provided took on a new importance. She saw the word magnum on the dashboard
of his car. Only one car had the word magnum on the dashboard. The 1978 Dodge Magnum. A computer search of Dodge
Magnum owners in the area revealed a list of 486 names. McVey also told investigators that her abductor used a
24-hour bank teller machine shortly before she was released. When the records of all bank machine transactions
for November 4th were compared with the list of Dodge Magnum owners, only one name was on both lists. Robert Long.
Robert Bobby Joe Long was a 31-year-old part-time X-ray technician. Separated from his wife, he was the
father of two children. Since Lisa McVey was blindfolded during most of her captivity, she could not positively
identify him from photographs. So, Bobby Joe Long was immediately placed under 24-hour surveillance.
Long was followed to this movie theater, and when he went inside, deputies inspected the tires on his car. On the
right rear side was a Goodyear Viva. on the left rear side, the expensive specialty tire, the Vogue. Both tires
were inverted with the white wall side facing inwards. They were the same tires and in the same position as the tire
impressions found at two of the murder sites. When Long walked out of the movie theater, deputies immediately arrested
him and confiscated his car for further analysis. The tire treads matched the plaster impressions taken from two of
the crime scenes. Long's blood type matched a seaman stain found on one of the victims. But it was the carpet
inside the dodge magnum that linked long to all of these crimes. The red nylon trilobyl carpet fibers
inside Long's Dodge Magnum matched the fibers found on the murdered women and they also matched the red fibers on Lisa
McVeyy's clothing. How was he getting so much fiber evidence on this the clothing
of the victims? Well, he was stripping his victims down in the car and he was throwing the clothes in the floorboard
of his vehicle and the victim was kicking the clothing kicking it kicking. It was picking up the fiber evidence out
of the floorboard of his vehicle. Fiber evidence is often referred to as a silent witness. It doesn't say a thing,
but it just speaks volumes. >> When told of this evidence against him, Bobby Joe Long confessed to the rape and
abduction of Lisa McVey as well as the murders. He also confessed to two additional
murders the police knew nothing about and led them to the bodies. In all, he confessed to 10 murders.
>> It's sad what happened to him and that I could do something like that to somebody.
All the victims. All of them. You know, and you're talking about a lot of them. A lot.
A lot of lives just gone right down to twos because of me, you know, in one way or another. And
it's not a good feeling. It's not a pleasant feeling. I'm not proud of anything I've done.
And the worst thing is I don't understand why. I don't understand why. >> Yes, it was bad. Yes, it's very
traumatic to my life, but it's made me who I am today. the challenges in my life, the weaknesses that I had then has
made me stronger and better person today. And that's how I'm able to survive. >> I'm a firm believer that this is not all
the homicides Bobby Joe Long did. You don't start killing the way Bobby Joe Long started killing. Have we found all
the victims? No. Are we going to find all the victims? I doubt it. Not unless someday he decides to give us the rest
of the information and the rest of the story. [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat.
[Music]

Ten bodies had been found between May and November 1984 in Florida. A 17-year-old female named Lisa McVey was abducted but released, leading police to the perpetrator, Bobbie Joe Long. Now in HD.

Brief Summary

The episode details the murders linked to Bobby Joe Long and the survival of Lisa McVey, leading to his capture.

Key points

Lana Long's Tragic End. The body of Lana Long, a popular exotic dancer, is discovered, marking the start of a chilling investigation.
Lisa McVey's Survival. After being abducted, Lisa McVey's quick thinking and determination help her survive and provide crucial evidence.
Bobby Joe Long Confesses. Bobby Joe Long confesses to multiple murders, revealing the extent of his crimes and the impact on the victims' lives.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I had the life of God in me. I wanted... to survive.

Lisa McVey on her will to live during captivity.

12:23WatchSep 18, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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