MD MD - Bishop Family murders, Bethesda, 1 March 1976

[snowleopard]

Good posts...I remember this case from my teenage years, I lived in the DC suburbs. It was the first time I realized that people could do something like kill a relative. I read this article recently and found it interesting. http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bet...dford-Bishop-Murders/?cparticle=2&siarticle=1 There appears there is probably at bit more to the story than was in most of mm. I believe he was living in Europe, he had all the skills and motivation to do it, but I think he is probably dead now due to the accumulated effects of stress, insomnia, other psych issues and probable difficulty getting decent healthcare on the lam at an advanced age.

 

[scoobydoobie]

I thought maybe Brad Bishop was the hijacker DB Cooper.

I attached a picture of Bishop and a recent composite made of Cooper. Sry but I don't remember the source where I stole these pics from. FBI site and some DB Cooper convention site maybe.

-I think the faces look identical except for the cleft chin is absent on Cooper. Could Bishop have disguised his cleft chin (he did spend years in military counter intelligence). Also, Cooper appeared a little older than Bishop was at the time, about 10 years older. Again, maybe he disguised himself to look older.
- both drank whiskey
- both smoked
- both about 6 foot tall and 180 pounds
- Bishop was trained as a pilot and was well read. Cooper obviously knew about planes, like which kind to hijack, refueling times, etc.
- Bishop was likely very familiar with airline procedures and maybe even the Seattle Tacoma area from his years of traveling for the state department. Cooper is thought to have used the city lights on the ground to orient himself and to know when to jump out, i.e. he was familiar with how Sea-Tac would look from a plane.
- Bishop was an avid outdoorsman, hiker, athlete. I'd assume Cooper would have to have been too considering how he bailed into the wilderness like he did.

So again, DB Cooper apparently did not have a cleft chin and looked to be in his mid forties. Whereas bishop did have a cleft chin and was in his mid thirties. other than that, they seem to be similar.

Of course the FBI could compare DNA samples of each guy...

 

[scoobydoobie]

-same complexion. Cooper was "olive/latin" according to fbi poster. Bishop was "medium" according to fbi poster

The very last entry in Bishop's journal: "Still, you stand on the threshold. You have soared to the heights & plummeted, each time, to the depths.”

 

[neesaki]

http://whnt.com/2015/06/16/fbi-using-social-media-to-search-for-top-ten-fugitive/

HUNTSVILLE, Al. (WHNT) – The FBI is using social media in its search for a top ten fugitive – William Bradford Bishop, Jr.

https://www.facebook.com/williambradfordbishop

 

[neesaki]

Another article with some photos of the family. There are just no words, how could a man could do something like this to his whole family: his own children, his own mother, and his wife. A psychopath to the Nth degree. JMO

By DAVID MCCORMACK and JAMES NYE FOR DAILY MAIL ONLINEPUBLISHED: 23:14 EST, 16 June 2015 | UPDATED: 01:49 EST, 17 June 2015

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...76-bludgeoning-five-family-members-death.html

FBI turns to Facebook to try and find 'family annihilator' ex-diplomat on the run since 1976 for bludgeoning five family members to death

William Bradford Bishop has not been seen since March 2, 1976
He is suspected of battering his wife, mother and three sons to death at their Maryland home the day before
Their bodies were found burning in a field in North Carolina the same day
Last year the FBI added Bishop, who was dubbed the 'Family Annihilator', to its top 10 most wanted list
The FBI is now hoping the launch of a Facebook page called Seeking William Bradford Bishop Jr will help find the elusive diplomat

Bishop's family, tragically slaughtered to death.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...76-bludgeoning-five-family-members-death.html

'It's getting late in the day for him,' FBI Special Agent in Charge Steve Vogt toldNBC Washington in 2014. 'He's 77, but we're going to put it out there and give it our best shot.'
Investigators believe that the well educated State Department officer who is fluent in five languages could have forged his own passport and over the years there have been a number of unconfirmed sightings in Europe.
Indeed, they believe that Bishop is still alive and could be living in plain sight, having altered his appearance since the death of his entire family.

Bishop's mother, also one of the victims.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...76-bludgeoning-five-family-members-death.html

 

[neesaki]

These are interesting facts about the case that I don't remember from before, at least some of them. The article is from 2014, so perhaps I missed it. Please correct me if it's already been posted, as I haven't had a chance to go back and read everything. TIA :wave:

http://thedailysentinel.com/feature_story/article_a0f63eec-50fc-11e4-a51f-471ccae5acdc.html

Where did he go?
On March 18, 1976, Bishop’s blood-soaked station wagon, a 1974 Chevrolet, was found at Elkmont in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, just over 200 miles from Scottsboro.
The FBI believes, given the size of the park, which encompasses more than 500,000 acres, Bishop, an avid outdoorsman, could have remained in the North Carolina/Alabama/Tennessee area for many years without being discovered.
Harold Swanson, who died in 2008, was a special agent for the FBI’s Knoxville office when Bishop’s car was found.
Swanson told the UPI’s Vines, “His sports jacket was draped over the back of the front seat of the passenger side. There was a suitcase on the seat and his shaving kit on top of that. Then there was a heavy car coat folded on top of that. A box of dog biscuits, standing upright, was on the front floorboard on the passenger side.”
Also found in the car:
• a blood stained blanket;
• a Mossberg 12-guage shotgun;
• a large, rectangular piece of heavy canvas;
• prescription medicine, including the tranquilizer Serax;
• and an ax.
“The way his sports jacket was placed, it couldn’t have ridden on the vinyl seat cover without slipping down,” Swanson told the UPI. “He had to remove it when he got out of the car and place it on the back seat.”
Swanson said the open box of dog biscuits would lead one to believe the dog was still with Bishop when he arrived at Elkmont.
“It just makes sense that he had no intention of going far when he got out of the car and walked up the trail,” said Swanson.

My bolding, no intention of going far when he got out of the car and walked up the trail? Well, :sheesh: every time I read something new about the case it becomes more strange.

 

[neesaki]

I've been fascinated by this case for decades and now we know alot more than we did. Someone has to know where he is/was; who is protecting him and why? I don't know if he's clever enough to have escaped all these years by only his wits.
So many reasons put forth for why he committed such a heinous crime, IF he did it. I tend to believe that he asked perfection of himself at an early age (per d'Amboise), yet no matter how hard he tried, he found out that it's not WHAT you know but WHO you know in the State Department that gets you ahead. Coupled with everything else going on in his life, his frustrations found release in killing his family. In today's society, he probably would've spared his family and gone on a shooting rampage at his place of work. Sure hope this FBI poster results in his capture.

You could be right about him expecting perfection. According to this, a co-worker of Bishop's said that his mother was hypercritical and always belittled him. As did his wife. Oh, what a sad case.
http://murderpedia.org/male.B/b/bishop-william-bradford.htm

According to a co-worker of Bishop's, his family (primarily wife and mother) constantly belittled him, telling him that he was a wash-up, and that he didn't have any ability in his job anymore.
This may have caused him to feel very upset, and could have ultimately led to his decision to commit what seemed to be a crime of passion. The co-worker also went on to add that this was usually Bishop's way to "put someone in their place", as he liked to say himself.

 

[hisjerseygirl]

just watched "The Hunt" episode about this case. absolutely chilling. what a coward. hopefully he's brought to justice somehow.

 

[scoobydoobie]

Bill Brad was db cooper

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

 

[colette]

Crime Watch did 2 segments on Brad Bishop : [video=youtube;y2ZQ9UCuzbQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2ZQ9UCuzbQ&ebc=ANyPxKoxkn_PGmjS4sHZHXjOZCj5GeUB846kuGSghirNYE FCXQl0PncFaXmtNPvsVtAzQjF0qsx8eEq_mkaMG-_uX9uvLBvqnA[/video]

 

[nedflanders1980]

Any news on this guy? I remember seeing this story on Unsolved Mysteries years ago and checking wikipedia on it from time to time. I'd never seen the Daily Sentinal article before. Thats a great find.


Anyone who thinks this guy is innocent or this has something to do with the CIA has seen way too many movies. He is guilty as sin IMO.


I never bought the sightings that people saw him in Europe. The chances of bumping into someone on the run in another continent are just too high to calculate. Further, he had only $400, his dog with him, only a weeks or two tops head start, and was on foot. I always thought he never made it out of the park and hearing the FBI agent say that, is just more confirmation. I've never been to any of these parks, but I've I know friends that have, and they go armed. I'm wondering if anyone can confirm it could be dangerous in the park with others and animals? My guess is that Bishop died in the wilderness either from exposure, foul play, or animal attack.

 

[colette]

I believe the sighting in the men's room by someone who used to work with him. Both had been world travelers.

 

[BillieL]

Bumping into acquaintances overseas is unlikely but not impossible. I once met a university friend in the rain forest north of Cairns, Australia. Me and my friend are Swedish and none of us knew that the other person also was traveling in Oz.

 

[elg120]

I really think hes in carolina still,given his background why would he leave the country?

 

[dotr]

Unsure if French is one of the languages Bishop could speak, might he be hiding in Quebec or anywhere else in Canada, where he would not particularly standout as an American? speculation.
Any reason to think Bishop is gay and hiding in that community?
Bumping. imo, speculation. rbbm.
http://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-searching-for-william-bradford-bishop-2014-4

• Apr. 28, 2014

New FBI 'Most Wanted' Fugitive Has Likely Been Hiding In Plain Sight Since 1976

Investigators have only had the knowledge of Bishop’s face and fingerprints to help them track him down. But he could have avoided capture all this time by assuming a fake identity and avoiding an arrest that would result in police checking his fingerprints.

After so many years of living under that false identity, neighbors and co-workers who possibly live among Bishop may have a hard time believing he isn’t a normal guy. “The most dangerous time for him was March 2 1976, and every day he was out there got a little better for him because he built a prior history for himself,” Vogt said.

Of course, Bishop could be hiding overseas, given his Department of State experience traveling abroad and his ability to speak several foreign languages fluently. However, Vogt emphasizes that maintaining a fake identity abroad is difficult even for someone with Bishop's experience. “You get overseas and it doesn’t matter how many languages you speak,” he said. “You’re still an American. You stand out.”
For that reason, Vogt believes it is very possible Bishop is hiding in the U.S

Vogt urges anyone who sees someone they think might be Bishop to give the FBI a call, despite any reservations they may have. “Don’t think, ‘Hey, it can’t be him.’ Just give us a call,” he said.

He also emphasized that people should look out for certain traits that Bishop can’t change as easily as his identity, such as his affinity for dogs, the outdoors, and motorcycles. "Bishop was described as intense and self-absorbed, prone to violent outbursts, and preferred a neat and orderly environment," states the FBI's description attached to Bishop's Most Wanted poster.

 

[MysteryMaven]

I keep flip flopping between thinking he made it to europe and thinking he killed himself. When they found his car he had left behind his belongings and medication but his gun was missing. I suppose he could have staged that to look like suicide but I have my doubts about the sightings. I think we all have seen a lot of cases where it was found out later that sightings of a missing person were false for some reason or another.

 

[My3LilKittens]

Bishop would be 81 now. I have a feeling they felt he was still in the states. Who says that he didn't leave the car where it was and got picked up by someone? All he needed was one individual to help him.....

Someone ALWAYS knows .....

 

[folieadeuxnola]

Cold Case: ‘Family Annihilator’ evades justice for 42 years - Daily Reflector

A swamp fire in 1976 led an eastern North Carolina park ranger to a grisly mass grave.

The prime suspect — the only suspect — has been running or hiding ever since.

Bradford Bishop lived the American Dream. He worked for the U.S. State Department earning a respectable salary; owned a home in Bethesda, Maryland; and had a wife, three sons and a golden retriever named Leo.

But on March 1, 1976, Bishop, 39 at the time, learned he wouldn't receive a promotion he'd been expecting. He told his secretary he didn't feel well and left work early. He went to his bank and withdrew his life's savings. He then bought a sledgehammer, pitchfork, shovel and gas can. He filled up the gas can and the family's 1974 Chevy station wagon, according to archived news reports.

Bishop went home after his three sons were asleep. He killed his wife in the living room, striking her several times with the sledgehammer, splitting her skull. He waited, covered in blood, for his mother to return from walking Leo. After beating his mother to death, trailing blood all over the walls, Bishop went upstairs into his sons' bedrooms. He hit each of them in the head several times while they slept, all according to alleged charges leveled in five first-degree murder grand jury indictments.

With five bodies in the trunk of the station wagon, Bishop drove through the night about 300 miles south to a rural spot in coastal Tyrrell County, about an hour from Elizabeth City, according to court records.

Bishop dug a hole, dumped the bodies inside and set them on fire. Later that day, he stopped at a sporting goods store and used a credit card to purchase a pair of sneakers. He had Leo with him on a leash.

Two weeks later, Bishop's abandoned car was found in an isolated area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. Inside the car were dog biscuits, a bloody blanket, a shotgun, an ax and a shaving kit with Bishop's medication. The spare-tire well in the trunk was full of blood, according to authorities.

 

[Silverfang]

Hmm, he's most likely dead, or at least in a state of fragile health. Hopefully we can find him, or his corpse. Give him the burial he DOESN'T deserve.

 

[dotr]

FBI Removes Accused Killer of His Family From Ten Most Wanted List
"FBI Removes Accused Killer of His Family From Ten Most Wanted List
Former foreign service officer is only the 10th person removed from list since 1950 without being caught, dying or having charges dropped
June 28, 2018

The FBI this week removed a long-sought fugitive—a foreign service officer accused of murdering his wife, mother and three young children in 1976—from its Ten Most Wanted List, bureau officials said.

William Bradford Bishop Jr. was only the 10th person removed from the Ten Most Wanted List since 1950 without prosecutors dropping charges or the fugitive being captured or dying. Despite removing him from the list, the FBI said it would continue to hunt for Mr. Bishop."

...