House md season 5 episode 10
He is 6'1", with brown hair, brown eyes, and a medium build.Įxtra Notes: This case first aired on the Januepisode. His most recent stateside sighting was of him traveling with the family dog and a dark-skinned woman. He panicked at this improbable reunion, then ran when Harrell suggested surrendering to authorities.īishop was indicted in absentia on five-counts of first degree murder and other charges. At closer glance, he realized it was Bishop and confronted him, asking him to travel with him from Sorrento to Rome to surrender to the Italian police. 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. In a Unsolved Mysteries interview, Harrell recalled traveling in Italy in 1978 and had a highly unlikely chance meeting. Diplomatic Passport.Ī sighting by Roy Harrell, a State Department coworker, placed him in Europe. He has not officially 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. It is believed that Bishop then fled the United States.īecause Bishop 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. Police inspected it and found the bloodied ball peen hammer, as well as the receipt from the hardware store for its purchase. It was discovered by a ranger on March 18, almost three weeks after the murders.
He then dumped the car at a campground in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park before vanishing. After Bishop dumped the bodies, he bought a pair of tennis shoes near Columbia. Dental records confirmed the identity of the remains in North Carolina. More blood was found in other rooms of the house. Inside the bedroom, the floor, bed, and ceiling were splattered with blood. The blood trail also went up the stairs to an upstairs bedroom. Upon entering the home, he noticed more droplets on the floor leading to the foyer. When he went to the front door, he noticed blood droplets on the porch. Joe Sargent arrived at the home and met with the neighbor. Six days later, on March 8, a neighbor of the Bishops contacted the police, suspicious of their absence. However, at the time, the Bethesda police had no missing persons reports that matched the victims. The shovel was determined to have come from the Bethesda hardware store. Two articles of the victims' clothing bore the labels of expensive department stores in Bethesda. Initially, there were few clues in the disturbing case. On March 2, a North Carolina forest ranger noticed the smoke and discovered the horrific scene, then reported his findings to the local police. Following the murders, Bishop took an all-night drive 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. None of the victims had a chance to defend themselves. The boys were presumably killed next, followed by Lobelia.
It is believed that Annette was killed first, as she was found beside a book that she was reading. That night, he bludgeoned Lobelia, Annette, and his three sons, fourteen-year-old William III, ten-year-old Brenton, and five-year-old Geoffrey, to death. Investigators believe that he arrived home around 7:30 or 8pm. One was at a gas station where he purchased and filled a gas can, the second at the White Flint Mall where he purchased a ball peen hammer and shovel from a hardware store, and the third was at a bank where he withdrew several hundred dollars in cash. Instead of reporting to a health clinic, he went home, making three stops along the way. That was also his last day of work with the State Department. On March 1, 1976, Bishop told his secretary he was ill and was going to see a doctor. 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. Both had reportedly nagged him for being "washed up" or "treading water"-going nowhere in his job. Despite reassurances from colleagues that most of them also failed to get promoted, he took it with less than typical fortitude.Ĭolleagues said that he had also complained of constant fights with his thirty-seven-year-old wife, Annette, and sixty-eight-year-old mother, Lobelia. However, in 1976, the State Department was stingy with promotions, and Bishop did not get the promotion he felt he had worked for. He was a polyglot, fluent in five languages, and seemed to make an ideal State Department employee. He had grown up in Pasadena, California and graduated from Yale University in 1959. Details: Brad Bishop of Bethesda, Maryland was a foreign service officer assigned to the State Department.