WANTED William Bradford Bishop
Real Name: William Bradford Bishop, Jr.
Aliases: Brad Bishop
Wanted For: Murder
Missing Since: March 2, 1976
William Bradford Bishop
Case
Details: Brad Bishop of Bethesda, Maryland was a foreign service officer assigned to the State Department. Previously, he served in the U.S. Army as a counterintelligence operative. He was a polyglot, fluent in five languages. In 1976, the State Department was stingy with promotions, and Bishop did not get the promotion he felt he had worked for. Despite reassurances from colleagues that most of them also failed to get promoted, he took it with less than typical fortitude. Colleagues said that he had also complained of constant fights with his wife, Annette, and mother, Lobelia. Both women had nagged him for being "washed up" or "treading water"--going nowhere in his job. As he was also known for wanting to put his enemies "in their place", it is likely the failed promotion, combined with family tension, set tragic events in motion. On March 2nd, 1976, he told his secretary he was ill and was going to see a doctor. That was also his last day of work with the State Department. Instead of reporting to a health clinic, he went home, making two stops along the way. One was at a gas station where he filled a jerry can, and the other was at the White Flint Mall where he purchased a ball peen hammer from a hardware store. After arriving home, he bludgeoned Annette, Lobelia, and his sons, William III, Brenton, and Geoffrey, to death. He took the bodies to Columbia, North Carolina, where he dug a shallow fire pit in a dense area of woods, piled them in it, doused them with gasoline, and set them on fire.
Lobelia Bishop
A North Carolina state forest ranger noticed the smoke and reported the horrific scene. Dental records confirmed the identity of the remains. Bishop dumped the car at a campground in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park before vanishing. Police inspected it and found the bloodied ball peen hammer, as well as the receipt from the hardware store for the its purchase. Bishop fled the United States. Because he still possessed a State Department passport, he was able to travel much easier than civilians, as custom officers are generally more lax to those with official US government passports. He has not been seen since, but sightings have been reported all over Europe, notably Belgium, England, Finland, The Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland as he travels on his U.S. Diplomatic Passport. A sighting by Roy Harrell, a State Department coworker, placed him in Europe. In a Unsolved Mysteries interview, Harrell recalled traveling in Italy in 1978 and had a highly unlikely chance meeting. While in the city of Sorrento, he was in a men's washroom when he saw a bearded, haggard man wearing a soft cotton sports coat. At closer glance, he realized it was Bishop and confronted him, attempting to be assertive and him to travel with him from Sorrento to Rome to surrender to the Italian police. He panicked at his improbable reunion, then ran when Harrell suggested surrendering to authorities.
(from left to right) William III, Brenton, Annette, and Geoffrey Bishop
He was tried in absentia of the crimes and found guilty on five-counts of first degree murder and other charges. His most recent stateside sighting was of him traveling with the family dog and a dark-skinned woman. He was last seen September 19, 1994 in Basel, Switzerland. On April 10, 2014, he was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List.
Extra Notes: This case first aired on the January 9, 1991 episode. It was also featured on America's Most Wanted.
Results: Wanted. There have been no known sightings of Bishop if he is still alive.
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