Man pleads guilty to 4 Asian spa killings, sentenced to life
CANTON, GA. >> A man accused of killing eight people, most of them women of Asian descent, at Atlanta-area massage businesses pleaded guilty to murder Tuesday in four of the killings and was handed four sentences of life without parole.
Robert Aaron Long, 22, still faces the death penalty in the four other deaths, which are being prosecuted in a different county. The string of shootings at three different businesses in March ignited outrage and fueled fear among Asian Americans, who were already facing increased hostility at the time linked to the coronavirus pandemic. Many were particularly upset when authorities suggested Long’s crimes were not racially motivated but instead born of a sex addiction, which is not recognized as an official disorder.
In comments sure to further frustrate those who believe Long targeted Asian women, a prosecutor reiterated Tuesday that Cherokee County investigators saw no evidence of racial bias. That’s at odds with the hate crime enhancement that Long, who is white, faces just miles away in the four Atlanta deaths.
“This was not any kind of hate crime,” District Attorney Shannon Wallace said.
On March 16, Long shot and killed four people, three of them women and two of Asian descent, at Youngs Asian Massage in Cherokee County, according to police accounts. A fifth person was wounded. Long then drove to Atlanta, where he shot and killed three women at Gold Spa before going across the street to Aromatherapy Spa and fatally shooting another woman, police said. All of the Atlanta victims were of Asian descent.
In Atlanta, Long could be sentenced to death if convicted in the four deaths. There, he also faces charges of aggravated assault and domestic terrorism in addition to murder, and prosecutors have said they will seek to have the deaths classified as a hate crime.
Wallace explained that Cherokee County prosecutors came to a different conclusion. When Long walked through the first spa “shooting anyone and everyone he saw,” Wallace said he told investigators he was motivated by a “sex addiction” and his desire to eliminate sources of temptation at businesses where he engaged in sex acts. Investigators interviewed people who’d known him for years, including three of Asian descent, who said they’d never heard him say anything derogatory about any racial or ethnic group, Wallace said.
As for gender bias, Wallace said seeking a hate crime enhancement based on hatred of women would not have significantly extended his sentence.
The American Psychiatric Association does not recognize sex addiction in its main reference guide for mental disorders. While some people struggle to control their sexual behaviors, it’s often linked to other recognized disorders or moral views about sexuality, said David Ley, clinical psychologist and author of “The Myth of Sex Addiction.”
Wallace said prosecutors planned to seek the death penalty if Long didn’t plead guilty. All relatives of the victims they’ve been able to contact supported the plea deal in the interest of swift justice, she added.
Reached by phone, Michael Webb, the ex-husband of victim Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, said the family was “very satisfied” with the plea.
Bonnie Michels, whose husband of 24 years, Paul, was the first person killed, told the judge about the hole in her life left by his death.
“A part of me died with him that day,” she said. “I am shattered.”
Elcias Rocendo Hernandez Ortiz, who was shot in the face, also addressed the court, speaking in Spanish. He said it has been very hard for his family, and he feels for the relatives of those who died.
“Honestly, this man, why didn’t he think before killing so many people? I only want justice,” he said through a translator.