Florida executes serial killer, 35 years after crimes

A serial killer was put to death on Thursday in the US state of Florida, 35 years after he raped and killed at least eight young women in the Tampa Bay region.

Robert "Bobby" Long, 65, was executed at the Florida State Prison in Raiford, the state's Department of Corrections said.

"The execution took place without incident," Michelle Glady, the department's director of communications, said in a statement.

He was sentenced to death in September 1985 for killing a woman the year before. During the investigation, he confessed to killing seven others as well as to committing multiple rapes, according to the execution order.

The then recently divorced father of two began his violent spree in early 1980s. He first chose his victims from the classifieds section in local newspapers. He contacted women who were selling items, went to their homes and raped them before fleeing. That earned him the nickname of "classified ad rapist."