LAND O' LAKES, Fla. — For multiple families across the Tampa Bay area, the final step toward justice will be complete in late May when the state executes convicted serial killer Bobby Joe Long who murdered at least 10 women in 1984.
“I just want to know why he did it,” Wendy Loudenback said. Her older sister, Elizabeth, was one of Long’s victims. "He did the crime and now everybody has to pay the price."
Long was sentenced to death by electrocution, but death row inmates are killed through lethal injection by default. Florida allows inmates to choose the electric chair by giving a written note to the warden.
It's a rare request, but Wayne Doty of Plant City requested "the chair" back in 2015. He's still on death row. As for Long, whatever he chooses, victims’ loved ones say they want to see him face his fate.
"I would like to go just to be there to support my sister,” Loudenback said.
Family members of another victim said the same thing. Chanel Williams was just 18 when she was killed. Her mother and sister said they are ready to see Long go.
“I told you it would bring comfort,” Chanel’s mother Lula Williams said. “Much-needed comfort.”
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"It's going to give me great pleasure to see him gone,” said Chanel’s younger sister, Algalana Douglas.
Long is set for execution on May 23rd unless he files an appeal.