Bobby Joe Long biography

Synopsis

Younger Years

Born Robert Joseph Long in Kenova, West Virginia on October 14, 1953, to parents Louella and Joe, Bobby Joe Long moved with his mother to Florida when he was 2. He spent his younger years traveling between southern Florida and West Virginia due to his parents' sporadic relationship (they twice married and twice divorced). Long and his mother shared a bed until he was 13 years old.

Long began to develop hatred for women at a young age, beginning with his mother. Louella Long, who worked in a bar, often wore racy clothing to work and brought different men home with her.

In 1959, Bobby Joe failed the first grade. He finished the following year, and not long after, was involved in a major accident: He was hit by a vehicle, knocked unconscious and hospitalized. Less than a year later, he was involved in a strangely similar incident: He ran into a street and was hit by a moving car, suffering an irrepairable jaw injury.

Early Crimes

In the mid-1960s, Long met his future wife, Cynthia Bartlett (later known as Cindy Levy). In 1970, at 17 years old, he became a high school dropout. One year later, while still dating Bartlett, Long was accused of rape, but escaped criminal charges due to a lack of evidence. He and Bartlett married in January 1974, and by the end of the following year, they had become the parents of two children, a son and daughter.

Becoming parents earlier than planned put stress on the newlyweds, and their relationship soon became volatile. Additionally, around this same time, Long was involved in a serious motorcycle accident: He was hit by a vehicle while riding his motorcycle, and was subsequently hospitalized for several weeks. Cynthia later claimed that Long's temperament changed following the accident; while he was always short tempered, he became physically violent with her impatient with their children, she said. Long had also developed a strangely overt, compulsive and often dangerous sex drive—crime analysts would later attribute his violent character to a sexual obsession, labeling him as a sexual sadist.