Real Crime Stories/Paranormal Hauntings

Fugitive: Bradford Bishop

William Bradford Bishop Jr. (born August 1, 1936) is a former United States Foreign Service officer who has been a fugitive from justice since allegedly killing his wife, mother, and three sons in 1976. On April 10, 2014, the FBI placed him on the list of its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. On June 27, 2018, Bishop, who would be 81, was removed from the list, making room, the FBI said, for a "dangerous fugitive." However, he is still being actively pursued by the FBI.

Biography

William Bradford Bishop Jr. was born August 1, 1936, in Pasadena, California to Lobelia and William Bradford Bishop Sr. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in history from Yale University and a Master of Arts degree in international studies from Middlebury College. Alternatively, he has been reported to have a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Yale and a master's degree in Italian from Middlebury College. He also holds a master's degree in African Studies from UCLA.

After graduating from Yale in 1959, Bishop married his high school sweetheart Annette Weis, with whom he had three sons. He joined the U.S. Army and spent four years in the counterintelligence area. Bishop also learned to speak four foreign languages fluently: Italian, French, Serbo-Croatian, and Spanish. After leaving the Army, Bishop joined the U.S. State Department and served in the Foreign Service in many postings overseas. This included postings in the Italian cities of Verona, Milan, and Florence (where he did post-graduate work at the University of Florence) from 1968 to 1972. He also served in Africa, including posts in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and in Gaborone, Botswana, from 1972 to 1974. His last posting, which began in 1974, was at State Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. as an assistant chief in the Division of Special Activities and Commercial Treaties. He was living in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife and three sons as well as his mother, Lobelia.

Killings

On March 1, 1976, after learning he would not receive a promotion he had sought, Bishop told his secretary he did not feel well and left his office in Foggy Bottom. Police believe he drove to his bank, where he withdrew several hundred dollars, then to Montgomery Mall, where he bought a sledgehammer and gas can; he also filled the gas can and the tank of his station wagon, at an adjacent gas station. ] From there he drove to a hardware store, where he purchased a shovel and pitchfork.

He returned to his home in Bethesda between 7:30 and 8 p.m. Police believe Bishop's wife was likely killed first, then his mother as she returned from walking the family dog. Finally, his three sons (aged 5, 10, and 14) were killed while they slept in an upstairs bedroom.

Bishop allegedly drove the bodies 275 miles (443 km) in a station wagon to a densely wooded swamp about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Columbia, North Carolina, where on March 2, he dug a shallow hole where he piled the bodies and set them ablaze with gasoline. Found with the burned bodies were a gas can, a pitchfork, and a shovel with a label of "OCH HDW", which was determined to be from Poch's Hardware.

Bishop is known to have purchased tennis shoes at a sporting goods store in Jacksonville, North Carolina later that same day. According to witnesses, he had the family dog with him and was possibly accompanied by a woman described as "dark skinned".

On March 10 a neighbor contacted police, after not seeing the family for some time. A detective found blood on the Bishop home's front porch and on the floor and walls of the front hall and bedrooms. Dental records were used to confirm that the bodies found in North Carolina were of Bishop's family.