The former girlfriend of Steve Stephens, who recently incited a manhunt following a broadcast on Facebook in which he murdered a 74-year-old man, revealed that the suspect had left her voicemail messages shortly before the incident promising her he would change.
Joy Lane has come forward to shed insight on Stephens’ troubled past, detailing the troubles he faced and the wrath she has incurred following the murders.
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Stephens forced Robert Godwin Sr. to repeat the name “Joy Lane” over and over before Stephens murdered him in a video which the killer posted to Facebook.
When speaking with Inside Edition, Lane says she is haunted by the fact that Stephens attempted to call her shortly before the murder, never hearing from him again.
“I have no idea what he was going to say,” she admitted. “The police said that I should not text him but I did anyway. He did not get back to me.”
In the days leading up to the murder, Lane says she received voicemail messages from Stephens in which he said, “I’m motivated to just strive to be the best in life now.” He repeated, “I’m really motivated.”
The pair lived together for three years, with Lane admitting nothing ever seemed wrong. Stephens’ problems with gambling resulted in Lane giving him the ultimatum, “It’s me or the gambling.”
Stephens claimed to have been carrying out the murders in Lane’s name, resulting in people blaming Lane for the crimes occurring.
After the murder, police moved Lane and her three children to a safer location, fearing that he could come after her next.
“I think of him as a good guy who did something really wrong,” she remembers. “I believe Steve loved me probably like no man has ever loved me before.”
The tragic events began to unfold on April 16 when the fatal encounter between Stephens and Godwin was uploaded to Facebook, bringing the murderer attention from around the country.
Following the initial crime, Stephens took to Facebook once again to broadcast a live stream of his thoughts and motivations, which activated a manhunt in the Cleveland, OH area.
What made his actions even more alarming is that, during his live broadcast, Stephens claimed to have murdered a total of 12 people, a claim which authorities couldn’t back up at the time.
Girlfriend Lane might not have known anything was wrong, but Stephens’ neighbor, Troy Henderson, had always been wary of the man due to witnessing disturbing behavior.
“That kid was not normal as we as normal people know it from the beginning,” Henderson said. “He was in his early teens when the family moved in there, and I was in my late 20s, but I could see something wasn’t right. [Stephens] was smart, but some days he seemed OK with talking to people on the street, but on other days he was staring off into space with a blank face. He was very up and down.”
Henderson had also recalled an incident in which Stephens abused his pet bird, with animal abuse being a common trait shared amongst people capable of murder.
Three days after Stephens’ murders, he turned the gun on himself following a brief pursuit by authorities in Pennsylvania.
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[H/T Inside Edition]
