Bobby Joe Long was a serial killer and a serial rapist from Florida. Bobby Joe Long would murder at least ten women during a ten month period near Tampa Bay Florida. In this article on My Crime Library we will take a closer look at Bobby Joe Long.
Bobby Joe Long Early Years
Bobby Joe Long was born in Kenova West Virginia on October 14, 1953. According to doctors reports Bobby was born with an extra X chromosome which leads to Klinefelter syndrome which causes extra estrogen to be produced. Long was teased for his large breasts and would undergo a breast reduction when he was a teenager Apparently the relationship with his mother was dysfunctional as he slept in the same bed with her until his teens
Bobby Joe Long would marry his high school girlfriend in 1974 and they had two children together before they divorced in 1980
Bobby Joe Long The Serial Rapist
Before moving to Florida Bobby Joe Long moved to California where during his time there he sexually assaulted and robbed a number of women. According to police Long answered ads in a Penny Saver magazine and when he arrived at the home and the woman was alone she would be sexually assaulted and robbed. By the time police in California figured out who was responsible the Statute of Limitations had expired.
Bobby Joe Long would move to Florida in 1980 and soon after he was pulling a similar move that he did in Florida. Police believed that he had sexually assaulted up to fifty women.
Bobby Joe Long Murders
Starting in 1983 Bobby Joe Long had moved to the Tampa Bay Florida area and soon women began to disappear. According to police Bobby Joe Long would drive around picking up prostitutes and women who were alone. Long would convince them to get into his vehicle where he would then drive to his apartment where the women were tortured, sexually assaulted and murdered. Some of the women were strangled to death and others were fatally stabbed.
Artiss Ann Wick, 20 – killed on March 27, 1984
Ngeun Thi Long, 19 – killed on May 13, 1984
Michelle Denise Simms, 22 – killed on May 27, 1984
Linda Nuttall – assaulted in May 1984; survived
Elizabeth Loudenback, 22 – killed on June 8, 1984
Vicky Marie Elliott, 21 – killed on September 7, 1984
Chanel Devoun Williams, 18 – killed on October 7, 1984
Karen Beth Dinsfriend, 28 – killed on October 14, 1984
Kimberly Kyle Hopps, 22 – killed on October 31, 1984
Lisa McVey, 17 – assaulted on November 3, 1984; survived
Virginia Lee Johnson, 18 – killed on November 6, 1984
Kim Marie Swann, 21 – killed on November 11, 1984
Bobby Joe Long Arrest
One of the last women that Bobby Joe Long attacked was able to get away and describe to police. After taking evidence from the woman they were able to match it to DNA left on other victims. Bobby Joe Long would be arrested outside of a movie theater and charged with the kidnapping and sexual assault of Lisa McVey.
During interrogation by Tampa Bay police Bobby Joe Long would ask for a lawyer however none was provided. Bobby Joe would eventually confess to eight murders.
Evidence at eight of the crime scenes would be matched to fibers found in Long’s vehicle
Bobby Joe Long Trial
Bobby Joe Long presented with an overwhelming amount of evidence agreed to plead guilty to an assortment of charges including eight murders and would be sentenced to twenty six life sentences without the possibility of parole . Part of the reason the plea deal was offered was that Bobby Joe Long confession was ruled inadmissible as he asked for a lawyer and none was given
However Florida prosecutors would charge him with the murder of Michelle Simms in which he was found guilty and sentenced to death.
Bobby Joe Long Execution
Bobby Joe Long was executed on May 23, 2019 by lethal injection. Bobby made no final statement and his last meal was roast beef, bacon, french fries and soda.
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It took more than three decades, but convicted serial killer and rapist Bobby Joe Long was executed Thursday evening in Florida as two of his surviving victims looked on.
“I wanted to look him in the eye,” said Lisa McVey Noland, who was 17 when Long kidnapped her early November 3, 1984, as she was riding her bicycle home from work. Long raped her and held her hostage for more 26 hours before letting her go, she said.
“I wanted to be the first person he saw,” Noland said. “Unfortunately, he didn’t open his eyes.”
Bobby Joe Long, 65, was executed at 6:55 p.m. without incident, a Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman told reporters. He had been convicted in the killings of eight women that terrorized the Tampa Bay area in 1984, according to CNN affiliate WFLA, and received a death sentence for the murder of Michelle Simms
“Now, after 35 years, we can say we have some peace of mind, knowing that justice has been served,” said Lula Williams, whose daughter Chanel was among Long’s victims.
After the execution, families of the victims and survivors addressed the media outside the Florida State Prison in Raiford, thanking Gov. Ron DeSantis and the law enforcement officers and prosecutors who they said saw to it that justice was served.
The other survivor, Linda Nuttall, said there was “no describing how this moment would feel.”
She and her husband had placed a classified newspaper ad in 1984 to sell some furniture. Long responded, and when he came to their home, he raped Nuttall while her two young children were in the house, she said.
“It’s just surreal,” Nuttall said. “But it closes another door for me.”
“He got what he deserved,” said Nuttall’s husband, Kevin. “Today’s just another chapter.”
Noland, now a deputy for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, read a victim’s impact statement and asked everyone to remember those who died at Long’s hands. But Noland said she had “no ill will” toward Long and that she had forgiven him.
“God has shown me the only way to really be free when someone bestows injustice against you is complete forgiveness,” she said. “My life changed forever and for the better. I chose not to remain a victim. I chose to live.”
Donald Pee Wee Gaskins was a serial killer from South Carolina who was executed for a series of murders. Donald Pee Wee Gaskins was a bad man whose drive to kill was among the greatest that I have come across, piss off pee wee and chances are he would kill you. In this article on My Crime Library we will take a closer look at Donald Pee Wee Gaskins
Donald Pee Wee Gaskins Early Life
Donald Gaskins was born in Florence County South Carolina on March 13, 1933. According to Gaskins he was called Pee Wee from a very early age and did not know his first name was Donald until his first court appearance. There was a lot of neglect in the Gaskins household and Donald would drink a bottle of kerosene when he was one years old that would make him suffer convulsions for the next two years.
Donald Pee Wee Gaskins Early Crimes
Donald Pee Wee Gaskins first major brush with the law happened in his teens when he along with a number of other youth would commit a series of robberies, assaults and a gang rape. Gaskins would be sent to reform school where he was repeatedly raped by other inmates. Donald would escape from the reform school and would get married. He would later return voluntarily to complete his sentence and be released at eighteen years old
After being arrested for attacking a girl with a hammer Donald Gaskins would be sentenced to six years in prison. While in prison Pee Wee would murder another inmate and received three more years in prison. This murder would change Gaskins from the prey to the shark. Gaskins would escape prison in 1955 and would be arrested in Florida where he was returned to finish his prison sentence in 1961
Donald Pee Wee Gaskins Murders
Very shortly after being released from prison Donald Pee Wee Gaskins would be back to his own ways committing robberies and selling stolen property.
Gaskins would be arrested for the rape of a twelve year old but he would flee before he could be sentenced. The State of Georgia would ultimately sentence him to eight years in prison. Donald would be paroled in 1968.
Donald Pee Wee Gaskins would pick up a hitchhiker in 1969 who he would sexually assault, torture and murder. According to Gaskins he referred to this type of murder as a “Coastal Kill” and he committed one every six weeks. Donald Gaskins has said that he committed eighty or ninety “Coastal Kills” however that number changed throughout the years.
In November 1970 Donald Pee Wee Gaskins would commit what he referred to as a “Serious” murder as the victim was someone that he knew. The first two “Serious” murders was his own niece and one of her friends , Janice Kirby, and Patricia Ann Alsbrook, who Pee Wee sexually assaulted and murdered. According to Gaskins there was a number of “Serious” murders done for a variety of reasons: the person looked at him the wrong way, had stolen from him and tried to blackmail him.
When it came to the “Serious” murders Donald Pee Wee Gaskins would execute the person with a gun and then bury their bodies around South Carolina. In 1973 Donald Gaskins would kidnap his neighbor and her two year old daughter who he then sexually assaulted and murdered.
In 1975 Donald Pee Wee Gaskins would be hired by a woman to kill her boyfriend Silas Barnwell Yates. Gaskins would end up killing four more people to cover up the murder.
Donald Pee Wee Gaskins Arrest
Donald Pee Wee Gaskins was finally arrested in November 1975. An associate of Gaskins told police that he watched Pee Wee murder twenty eight year old Dennis Bellamy and fifteen year old Johnny Knight. The associate also told police that Gaskins had admitted to him many more murders.
Ultimately Donald Pee Wee Gaskins would led police to an area where he had buried several bodies. When police dug up the area they found the bodies of eight people.
Donald Gaskins would be convicted of the eight murders and sentenced to death however the South Carolina Supreme Court would rule that capital punishment was unconstitutional and Pee Wee death sentences were commuted to life in prison.
Donald Pee Wee Gaskins Final Murder
In 1982 Donald Pee Wee Gaskins would murder a fellow inmate. According to court documents Gaskins was hired by the son of a couple who the fellow inmate had killed. Donald would attempt to poison the man, Rudolph Tyner, by poisoning him however when that failed to work Pee Wee would rig up an explosion that was implanted in a speaker. Rudolph Tyner would hold the speaker up to his ear and Gaskins would trigger the explosion killing Tyner.
Donald Pee Wee Gaskins would be convicted of the murder and sentenced to death, again. This was the first murder in South Carolina history where a white man was sentenced to death for killing a black man.
Donald Pee Wee Gaskins Execution
Hours before he was scheduled to be executed Donald Pee Wee Gaskins attempted to kill himself by cutting his wrists. Donald Gaskins would be executed by way of the electric chair on September 6, 1991
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He was a little man with a squeaky voice, dead eyes and a black heart.
Infamous killer “Pee Wee” Gaskins was the definition of a human paradox. At first glance, Donald Henry Gaskins was less than menacing.
But his barely 5-foot-5, 130-pound frame packed a lot of meanness. He confessed in 1978 to murdering 15 people and burying their corpses in three Pee Dee counties. At least four of his victims were 15 or younger. Gaskins admitted waiting for hours beside a dirt road until accomplices lured a 13-year-old girl close enough to apprehend her.
He once told a judge, “There’s quite a few bodies that’s never been mentioned … but you’ve got enough for now.”
Gaskins jumped in 1964 from a second-floor window at the Florence County Courthouse when on trial for carnal knowledge of a 13-year-old girl. He scampered to nearby swamps, where he eluded police for weeks. Authorities thought he was cornered when they heard bloodhounds baying, but Gaskins had tied them to a tree.
He drove a hearse around his native Prospect, a community in Florence County.
Gaskins was serving 10 life sentences at notorious Central Correctional Institution in Columbia when, in 1982, he carried out a contract, revenge killing of Death Row inmate Rudolph Tyner. Gaskins blew up Tyner by giving him a plastic cup he had told Tyner was an intercom. It exploded when Tyner put it to his ear.
That murder landed Gaskins on Death Row. But prison walls never stopped his scheming.
Two weeks before he became the 245th South Carolina prisoner to die in the electric chair, Gaskins plotted with his son to kidnap the 3-year-old daughter of then-Columbia-area solicitor Dick Harpootlian, whose prosecution moved Gaskins from a life sentence to his own date with death.
In his last night, Gaskins slashed his wrists and the crooks of his arms with a razor blade he had lodged in his throat and regurgitated. It took 20 stitches to save him for the electric chair at 1:10 a.m. Sept. 6, 1991.
Joseph Franklin was a serial killer who would be executed by the State of Missouri for the murders of eight people. Joseph Franklin who was a white supremacist was also convicted in the attempted murder of Hustler founder Larry Flynt. In this article on My Crime Library we will take a closer look at Joseph Franklin.
Joseph Franklin Early Life
Joseph Franklin whose birth name was James Clayton Vaughn Jr. was born in Mobile Alabama on April 13, 1950 to an abusive father and a negligent mother. Joseph father would leave the family by the time he was eight years old and he claimed that his mother acted like she wished she never had children.
During high school James Vaughn Jr would change his name to Joseph Franklin in tribute to Paul Joseph Goebbels (a Nazi politician) and Benjamin Franklin. His interest in Hitler would continue to grow and he hoped to start a race war.
Joseph Franklin Criminal History
Police believe that Joseph Franklin funded his travels throughout the United States by committing bank robberies and other crimes. Joseph Franklin criminal history is extensive.
In 1977 Joseph firebombed a church in Chattanooga Tennessee. Thankfully there was no injuries
Franklin would shoot and kill an interracial couple Alphonse Manning Jr. and Toni Schwenn in Madison Wisconsin in August 1977
Later that year Joseph Franklin would fire multiple gunshots at the Shaare Zedek Synagogue killing one person, Gerald Gordon, and wounding Steven Goldman and William Ash
In March 1978 Joseph Franklin would shoot Hustler founder Larry Flynt and his lawyer Gene Reeves in Georgia
In July 1978 Franklin would murder Bryant Tatum and injure his girlfriend Nancy Hilton
In July 1979 Joseph would shoot and kill Harold McIver
In May 1980 Joseph Franklin would shoot and injure civil rights activist Vernon Jordan in Indiana
In June 1980 Joseph would murder fourteen year old Darrell Lane and thirteen year old Dante Evans Brown in Ohio
A week later Franklin would shoot and kill Arthur Smothers and Kathleen Mikula.
Ten days later Joseph would shoot and kill two hitchhikers in West Virginia, Nancy Santomero and Vicki Durian
In August 1980 Joseph Franklin would shoot and kill two people, Ted Fields and David Martin, in Utah
Joseph Franklin Arrest And Trial
Joseph Franklin was stopped and questioned regarding a firearm that was inside of his vehicle. Joseph would end up fleeing from the interrogation. However police would figure out that he was responsible for a series of murders. Joseph Franklin whose body was decorated by racist tattoos had told police that he used blood banks to raise money. The FBI would alert all blood banks in the USA to look out for him. A blood bank worker in Florida would recognize Franklin and call police. Franklin was arrested on October 28, 1980 in Parkland Florida.
Joseph Franklin Execution
Joseph Franklin would ultimately be convicted on eight murders and sentenced to death. Larry Flynt who was shot by Franklin asked the court to spare him and sentence him to life. Another major issue that the courts had to deal with during the years that Joseph Franklin spent on death row is that he was a paranoid schizophrenic. Ultimately Joseph Franklin would be executed by lethal injection on November 20, 2013
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Neo-Nazi. White supremacist. Racist. Those are some of the words prosecutors around the country used to describe Joseph Paul Franklin. From 1977 to 1980, Franklin went on a nationwide killing spree, targeting those who were black, bi-racial or Jewish.
“Three years. The same length of time Jesus was on his mission,” Franklin once said.
Franklin’s mission? He said he wanted to start a race war.
“The worst serial killer I ever dealt with,” Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said.
Deters says his office got involved in the prosecution against Franklin in 1997 when a cellmate of Franklin claimed Franklin confessed to killing two black Cincinnati boys in June 1980.
14-year old Darrell Lane and 13-year old Dante Evans Brown were walking to get candy on Reading Road in Bond Hill when they were gunned down. For years, the murders were unsolved.
Deters’ office would need to get a confession from Franklin, who was sitting on death row for a murder in Missouri in 1977. But Deters would not be the one going face to face with the serial killer.
Melissa Powers, a current Hamilton County Juvenile Court judge, was an assistant prosecutor in 1997.
“I think men took the approach, if you send in a pretty face, they’re gonna confess, but I was hoping that you needed more than just that,” Powers said. She wrote a letter to Franklin, to see if she could get a response.
“I sent a photograph of my badge ID because I knew he changed his hair color, and frequently changed his hair color throughout, while he was out in the public, to avoid arrest or being identified,” Powers said. “So I mentioned that my hair color was different on my ID.”
Eventually, Franklin agreed to see Powers. There were ground rules. No cameras. Just a tape recorder. And no meeting on Hitler’s birthday. Powers flew to Missouri and sat face to face with Franklin.
“Basically what I was doing was very similar to what Clarice was doing in “Silence of the Lambs,” Powers said.
“Silence of the Lambs” was an Academy Award-winning movie released in 1991. It was a psychological thriller where an FBI trainee came face to face with a cannibalistic killer.
“I was on pins and needles making sure hopefully I knew as much as I possibly could about him, what his triggers were, what they weren’t, and I didn’t make a mistake,” Powers said. “There was a lot riding on my shoulders.”
Powers says she used flattery to soften Franklin up.
“Would keep hitting him with how smart he was or only he could have figured that out,” Powers said.
Powers got the confession, not only to the murders of Darrell Lane and Dante Evans Brown, but four others nationwide. The confession was recorded on an audiotape.
“That’s what I was trying to do,” Franklin said on the tape. “I just decided to turn up the heat a little bit. And just commit more killings. And just to try to force them to get me publicity.”
Powers’ job was not finished. She now had to transition from prosecutor to witness when Franklin came back to Cincinnati to stand trial.
Franklin was his own co-counsel and when he was up at the stand during sidebars, Powers says he would stand right behind her.
“Not comfortable at all,” Powers said. “It would make the hair on the back of your neck stand. You know it was very uncomfortable.”
Powers’ testimony led to a conviction, and two life sentences for Franklin. The sentences were symbolic, as he was already going to die for his 1977 murder in Missouri and was executed by lethal injection in 2013. Powers sees it a different way.
“I think for the families, especially the mothers of these children, to get that closure meant quite a bit to them, and I think that was the most important thing,” Powers said.
In July of 1974, the first Hustler magazine was published by Larry Flynt in Cincinnati.
Four years later, Flynt and his lawyer were involved in an obscenity case in Georgia. As they were walking back to the courthouse, Joseph Paul Franklin, who was across the street, shot them both. Flynt was partially paralyzed.
Joseph Franklin later said he targeted Flynt because Hustler depicted a bi-racial couple in one of its issues.
In 2013, Flynt stated that he was against the death penalty, and did not want Franklin to be executed. Franklin was on death row for a murder in Missouri at the time. He was executed by lethal injection a month later.
Alton Coleman and Debra Brown were two serial killers who would go on a crime spree through six states that included the murder of eight people. Eventually Alton Coleman and Debra Brown would be sentenced to death in three separate States. Alton Coleman would be executed in Ohio and Debra Brown will spend the rest of her life in prison. In this article on My Crime Library we will take a closer look at Alton Coleman and Debra Brown.
Alton Coleman And Debra Brown Early Years
Alton Coleman was born in Illinois on November 6, 1955. Alton Coleman mother worked multiple jobs and Coleman was raised by his grandmother. During his middle school years he would drop out and would be arrested six times for sex related crimes between 1973 and 1983. Ultimately two of the cases would be dropped. Two of the cases he was acquitted. Alton was scheduled to go on trial in Illinois for the sexual assault of a fourteen year old girl when the multi state crime spree began
Debra Brown was born in Illinois on November 11, 1962. She has a borderline intellect and suffered a severe head injury as a child. At the time she met Alton Coleman in 1983 she was engaged to another man however she would leave him to go with Alton. Debra Brown before the crime spree had no criminal record.
Alton Coleman And Debra Brown Murders
The multi state crime spree began in Wisconsin. Alton Coleman had befriended a single mother and soon after her nine year old daughter, Vernita Wheat, went missing on May 29, 1984. A few weeks later the little girls body would be found she had been sexually assaulted, tortured and strangled with a ligature.
Soon after in Gary Indiana Alton Coleman and Debra Brown would abduct two little girls, nine year old Annie and her seven year old niece Tamika Turks, who would be sexually assaulted. Annie would survive the brutal assault however seven year old Tamika would not.
Donna Williams was reported missing the same time as the little girls were abducted. Her body would be found in a river in Detroit Michigan a month later. The woman had been sexually assaulted and strangled with a ligature.
In Michigan Alton Coleman and Debra Brown would break into the home of an elderly couple who were badly beaten and robbed.
In early July 1984 a woman in Ohio family became concerned as she stopped communicating with them. When the family went to her home they would find her body along with her nine year old son hidden in a crawlspace of the home. Both had been strangled with ligatures.
Later that same day Alton Coleman and Debra Brown would force their way into the home of a couple who were brutally beaten and robbed. Oddly Alton and Debra would stay at a local Revered home and attended church services.
The next week Alton and Debra would abduct a fifteen year old girl, Tonnie Storey, whose body would be found eight days later. Police would discover an item stolen earlier in the crime spree under the teenagers body which would lead the FBI to place Alton Coleman on their Top Ten Most Wanted List
A day after the abduction of Tonnie Storey Alton Coleman and Debra Brown would break into another home where the woman was sexually assaulted and beaten to death. The woman’s husband would survive a brutal beating and would contact police. The man would tell police that Alton and Debra came over regarding a camper for sale and soon after the attack began
The vehicle stolen from the couple was found in Kentucky days later where Alton Coleman and Debra Brown kidnapped a college professor and stole his car plus drove back to Ohio with him locked in the trunk. The college professor was later rescued.
Alton Coleman and Debra Brown would head back to Illinois. Along the way way they would steal yet another vehicle and kill its owner.
Soon after arriving in Illinois Alton Coleman and Debra Brown would be arrested.
Alton Coleman and Debra Brown Trials
Due to the fact that the crimes committed by Alton Coleman and Debra Brown covered such a large area it took awhile to plan out the course of action in terms of prosecution. Michigan was ruled out pretty quickly as it did not have the death penalty.
In Ohio Alton Coleman and Debra Brown were convicted of the sexual assaults and murders of Tonnie Storey and Marlene Walters however they were not convicted of the murders of Virginia and Rachelle Temple. The two however were sentenced to death for the murders of Tonnie and Marlene. The pair would later be sentenced to twenty years in Federal Prison for transporting the college professors across state lines.
Alton Coleman Execution
Alton Coleman would be executed in Ohio on April 26, 2002 by lethal injection. For his last meal Alton had filet mignon, fried chicken breasts, salad, sweet potatoes, french fries, collard greens, onion rings, cornbread, broccoli, biscuits and gravy plus a cherry Coke.
Debra Brown Prison
Debra Brown borderline mental intellect has kept her from being executed and Ohio and Indiana no longer include her on their list of death row inmates. As of 2020 Debra Brown is in prison in Ohio
n the words of prosecutors here, Alton Coleman is a “poster child” for capital punishment, a cold-blooded killer whose murder spree in the summer of 1984 terrorized the Midwest, leaving eight people slain and Coleman with death sentences in three states.
But to his defenders, Coleman is exactly the kind of killer who should be spared: a man whose mother left him in a garbage can as an infant and whose grandmother subjected him to physical and sexual abuse–a history that coupled with brain damage prompted one doctor to describe Coleman’s mind as a “damaged container with damaged contents.”
Sitting in one of the low-slung buildings that house Death Row here, his hands and legs shackled with steel chains, Coleman looks back on both sides of his life and views it as something of a waste. His gaze is firm, his words are measured.
“I think I was doomed,” Coleman, now 46, said in an interview at Mansfield Correctional Institution. “Perhaps I should have died at birth.”
Instead, Coleman is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Friday morning. On Wednesday, Gov. Bob Taft denied clemency, saying no court has questioned Coleman’s responsibility for the slaying of the suburban Cincinnati woman–the case leading to Friday’s execution.
But as the execution nears, nagging questions about Coleman’s cases are unresolved, especially in Ohio, suggesting that even death penalty cases where guilt and innocence are clear–and where the crimes are truly horrible–can leave troubling legacies.
Last year, a panel of judges from the federal appeals court in Cincinnati reversed the death sentence in one of Coleman’s cases in Ohio–the murder of teenager Tonnie Storey–because his defense attorneys did no investigation of his upbringing.
That investigation, the appeals court said, would have uncovered a background so horrific that there was a strong likelihood that at least one juror would have been swayed to spare Coleman from a death sentence.
But in his other case–the murder of 44-year-old Marlene Walters, for which he is being executed, and the attempted murder of her husband, Harry–a different panel of judges from the same federal appeals court let the sentence stand, though the attorneys in that case also did no investigation of Coleman’s childhood.
The federal appeals court as a whole has refused to resolve the inconsistency, and the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to deal with it as well.
“Two different panels coming to contrary conclusions–that has to be resolved one way or the other,” said Dale Baich, a federal public defender in Arizona who has represented Coleman for more than a decade. “It comes down to basic fairness.”
`I wasn’t used to normal’
By virtually all accounts, Coleman’s upbringing was terrible. He never knew his father, and his mother–a drug user and prostitute who was institutionalized several times–abandoned Coleman in a trash can as an infant, court records show.
He was rescued by his grandmother, but under her care he was often neglected and subjected to physical and sexual abuse while living in Waukegan’s depressed and crime-ridden Market Street section of town, court records show. She practiced voodoo and often enlisted Coleman’s help, having him collect dirt from cemeteries and kill small animals for her potions, records show.
“I wasn’t used to normal,” Coleman said. “I didn’t know what normal was.”
Coleman also suffered brain damage–believed to be linked to his mother’s drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy and his childhood head injuries–making it difficult for him to make rational decisions, a condition worsened by his own drug abuse. Thomas Thompson, a New Mexico neuropsychologist hired by Coleman’s attorneys, described Coleman’s brain as a “damaged container with damaged contents.”
Prosecutors dispute Coleman’s claim of brain damage.
In a plea for mercy, Coleman also pointed to prison records that show he has been a model inmate, with no violations in 17 years. Two guards offered sworn affidavits of Coleman’s good behavior behind bars–a prison record that the prosecutors ridiculed as meaningless.
Coleman’s explanation for his murder spree is simple–drugs.
“All I know, I had to get narcotics to keep going,” Coleman said. “My main goal was to use drugs. I had no other destination whatsoever.”
Coleman’s case also has been dogged by charges that Cincinnati prosecutors improperly rejected nine of 12 blacks from the jury pool. The issue has not been addressed by appeals courts because Coleman’s original appeals lawyers did not raise it, and so it was forfeited for future appeals.
Those issues are set against one of the nation’s worst crime sprees, which Coleman undertook with a girlfriend, Debra Brown. She faces a death sentence in Indiana, and long prison terms in Ohio and Illinois.
“If there is ever a case that cries out for justice, it is this case,” said Ohio’s Hamilton County prosecuting attorney, Mike Allen. “This case cries out for Alton Coleman to pay the ultimate penalty for crimes he committed.”
Said Harry Walters, who was permanently disabled by Coleman’s attack: “It’s time to do it. I sincerely mean it. Execution is the solution.”
Strangled girl was first
The spree began in May 1984 in Kenosha, where Coleman, using the name Robert Knight, befriended Juanita Wheat and earned her trust. Coleman then kidnapped and murdered her 9-year-old daughter, Vernita. Vernita’s body, strangled and bound with wire, was found in an abandoned building in Waukegan.
At the time, he had already served time for rape and deviate sexual assault, had been arrested on other occasions for sex charges, and was facing a current rape charge, records show.
“I want to see something happen to him. I want to see it happen and feel it all,” said Juanita Wheat, now 55 and a nurse’s assistant in Kenosha who plans to travel to Ohio to witness Coleman’s execution.
“Justice is for all,” she added, “and you get what you deserve.”
As police pursued Coleman, he and Brown traveled the Midwest, stealing cars to get from Illinois to Indiana and through Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky, leaving dead bodies almost everywhere they stopped.
In Gary, he was convicted of killing Tamika Turks, 7, and in Detroit, Toledo and Indianapolis, he and Brown are believed to have murdered others, though Coleman was not prosecuted.
In Norwood, a working-class suburb of Cincinnati, Coleman and Brown stopped at the Walterses’ home to try to buy a camper that the Ohio couple were selling. Inside, they beat both, tied them up and left them for dead. Marlene Walters suffered some two dozen wounds to her head. Coleman and Brown were arrested a week later as they sat in the bleachers at an Evanston park.
“His alleged tough childhood does not excuse him from suffering the ultimate punishment,” said Allen, the Ohio prosecutor. “Alton Coleman is pure evil.”
Days before his execution, Coleman, bowed his head, said that he was remorseful and that he was preparing himself to die.
“I take responsibility for what I did,” he said. “I’ve messed up terribly in this life.”
Oscar Ray Bolin was a serial killer from Florida who was convicted on three counts of murder and would later be tied to another murder in Texas. Oscar Ray Bolin would be sentenced to death and executed by way of lethal injection. In this article on My Crime Library we will take a closer look at Oscar Ray Bolin
Oscar Ray Bolin Early Years
Oscar Ray Bolin was born in Portland, Indiana on January 22, 1962. His family consisted of laborers and carnival workers whose jobs would take them around the United States. Bolin parents were described as physically and mentally abusive towards their children.
Oscar Ray Bolin would be arrested a number of times throughout his youth for theft. In 1982 Oscar Ray Bolin would move to Florida with his girlfriend Cheryl Haffner who he would later abduct and drive around the Tampa Bay area for hours. Bolin would be arrested and charged with false imprisonment however the charges were later dropped and the two would get married.
Oscar Ray Bolin Murders
In 1986 Natalie Blanche Holley who was working as a manager for a restaurant was kidnapped when she left work and her body would be found hours later by a jogger. Natalie Blanche Holley had been stabbed to death.
Later on that same year, 1986, Stephanie Collins, a high school student was leaving her job working at a drug store when she disappeared. Her body would be found months later where her skull had been crushed and she had been stabbed to death.
When police found the body of Stephanie Collins they also had a report of a missing woman, Teri Lynn Matthew, whose body would be found later the same day in the same state as she had been wrapped in a sheet, her head had been beaten and her throat was slit.
Oscar Ray Bolin Arrest
Oscar Ray Bolin was arrested in Ohio for the kidnapping and sexual assault of a young woman. According to police the only reason she survived is that the gun jammed when Bolin attempted to shoot it. Oscar would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to twenty two years to seventy five years in prison.
A year later Cheryl Haffner would divorce him. Haffner would marry another man a year later and tell him that Oscar had confessed to the murders in Florida. Haffner would later testify that she helped Oscar destroy the evidence from the Florida murders.
In 1991 Oscar Ray Bolin would be convicted in Florida for the murder Natalie Blanche Holley and sentenced to death. He would later be convicted on the other two murders and again would be sentenced to death.
Oscar Ray Bolin was connected to a murder in Texas by his half brother who said he and Oscar had kidnapped and murdered a woman in Greensville Texas named Deborah Diane Stowe in 1987. Texas authorities declined to prosecute Bolin as he was under three death sentences in Florida
Oscar Ray Bolin Execution
Oscar Ray Bolin maintained that he was innocent of the Florida murders. When asked about the death penalty the night before his execution Bolin would tell the reporter that he was looking at it as a way out of prison for he had spent the last 28 years incarcerated.
Oscar Ray Bolin would be executed on January 7, 2016. He declined to make a final statement
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Oscar Ray Bolin More News
A Florida inmate convicted of killing three women in 1986 was executed Thursday night.
Oscar Ray Bolin, 53, was the first inmate executed in 2016. He was executed after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his last-ditch appeal for a stay.
The time of death was 10:16 p.m., the office of Florida’s governor said. The execution took 11 minutes, NBC affiliate WFLA reported. When asked if he wanted to make a statement, Bolin said, “No, sir.”
Oscar Ray Bolin was convicted of kidnapping, stabbing and bludgeoning three young woman from the Tampa area in 1986. He is being executed specifically for the murder of Teri Lynn Matthews.
Oscar Ray Bolin had a last meal of rib-eye steak, baked potato, lemon meringue pie and Coca-Cola at 10 a.m., while meeting with his wife, Rosalie, who married him in 1996, when he was already on Death Row.
Bolin had been scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m., but it was delayed while the Supreme Court considered his appeal for a stay. The high court rejected the stay in a decision issued shortly before 10 p.m.
In Bolin’s appeals, he argued that he deserves more time to show that an Ohio inmate who confessed to the crime — and then committed suicide — is the killer. Prosecutors have noted that inmate falsely confessed to other crimes before claiming Matthews’ murder.
Matthews’ mother, Kathleen Reeves, told NBC News this week that she has no doubt that Bolin — who was convicted after his brother and ex-wife testified against him — killed her daughter, a bank worker.
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