Brad Bishop seemed to have a life most people would envy. He was Yale-educated, had lived on three different continents, and had a prestigious job as a United States Foreign Service Officer. Married with three sons, and living in a fashionable home in Bethesda, Maryland, the thirty-nine-year-old Bishop appeared to be living the American dream. But appearances are all too often deceiving.

Brad Bishop was a ticking time bomb that exploded on March 1, 1976. That evening, the respected government employee committed an act that would make him one of the government’s most wanted. The man who seemed to have it all traded his life of envy for a life on the lam.

In some respects, the horrific murders with which Brad Bishop is charged have been overshadowed by his eluding capture. His is one of the FBI’s most frustrating cases as a global manhunt now into over halfway through its fourth decade has failed to produce his capture.

Brad Bishop

William Bradford Bishop II grew up in Pasadena, California.

After graduating with a history degree from Yale University in 1959, he married his high school sweetheart, Annette Weis.

Wedding Day

Three years later, Bishop earned a Master’s Degree in African Studies from UCLA. He then obtained a Master of Arts degree in International Studies from Middlebury College in Vermont. Bishop then joined the Army and spent four years working in counterintelligence. He also learned to speak four foreign languages fluently: Italian, French, Serbo-Croatian, and Spanish.

After leaving the Army, Bishop joined the State Department and served in the Foreign Service. He received a Master’s degree in History while stationed in Italy and also served in Ethiopia and Botswana.

In 1974, somewhat to his disappointment as he loved living abroad, Bishop was brought home to work at the State Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. as an Assistant Chief in the Division of Special Activities and Commercial Treaties.

Overseas Posts

Upon Bishop’s return to America, his sixty-eight-year-old widowed mother Lobelia helped him purchase his upscale home in Bethesda, Maryland, only a few miles northwest of Washington D.C., on the condition that she was allowed to live with her son and daughter-in-law’s family, which now included three sons, fourteen-year-old William Bradford III, ten-year-old Brenton, and five-year-old Geoffrey.

Bradford III, Brenton, Annette, and Geoffrey Bishop

 

Lobelia Bishop

Brad’s Mother

Within a year of returning to America, Bishop had become the State Department’s Director of Commercial Practices and Trade. He longed to be a United States Ambassador. He was rising through the ranks but not, in his opinion, quickly enough.

On the afternoon of March 1, 1976, Bishop’s colleague Roy Harrell encountered him outside of the State Department. Bishop was upset over not getting a promotion he had sought. He told Roy he was not feeling well and was leaving work early.

As Roy hailed Bishop a taxi, he told him to get some rest and to return to work only when he was healthy. Bishop nodded in agreement.

Brad Bishop never returned to work. His physical ailments were probably over within a few days, but his mental health was another matter.

Promotion Denied 

On the following day, Forest Ranger Ron Brickhouse responded to a report of a brush fire in a remote wooded area near Columbia, North Carolina, two-hundred-eighty miles south of Bethesda, Maryland. As the flames were suppressed, he saw the calling cards of an arsonist: an empty gas can and a shovel. Those discoveries were only the beginning.

As the smoke cleared and the heat abated, the Ranger made a chilling discovery. Interred in the ashes were the remains of five charred bodies, three boys and two women, buried in a shallow grave.

The label on the shovel was traced to a hardware store, and labels on two articles of the victims clothing identified the department store from which they were purchased. Both businesses were in Bethesda, Maryland.

The Bethesda Police Department were baffled as they had no reports of missing persons which they could link to the bodies. Six days later, however, a gruesome discovery provided the connection.

Site Where The Bodies Were Found

On March 8, Bethesda police responded to a call from a neighbor of Brad and Annette Bishop who was worried because she had not seen any member of the family for over a week. The Bishops traveled frequently and often for extended periods of time. When doing so, they had let the neighbor know so that she could pick up their newspapers, mail, and water their plants. This time, though, she had not been contacted.

When police arrived at the home, the neighbor gave them the key to gain entrance. As Detective Joe Sargent approached the home, he saw no signs of forced entry but did find several newspapers lying outside of the door, some nearly a week old. His concern rose upon seeing several blood drops leading out of the door and into the driveway.

The Bishop Home

Upon entering the home, Detective Sargent saw more blood drops leading from the doorway through the foyer to the stairs leading to the upper bedroom. The upstairs wall and ceiling were also coated with red stains, later determined to be from the blood of five members of the Bishop family; the exception was the family patriarch, Brad Bishop.

No bodies were found, but it was clear that something gruesome had been committed in the Bishop home. Detective Sargent described the findings as the worst crime scene he had ever encountered.

Crime Scene Photos

Ten days later, on March 18, a Ranger at Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains National Park, four-hundred-eighty miles southwest of Bethesda and over two-hundred miles from where the burned bodies were found in North Carolina, saw what appeared to be dried blood in the back of a 1974 Chevy Station Wagon parked at the Elkmont Campground near Jakes Creek Trailhead.

In searching the vehicle, investigators found a blood-soaked blanket and spare-tire well in the trunk. Also inside the car were a bottle of the anti-depressant drug Serax, a shotgun, and several shells.

The car was registered to Brad Bishop of Bethesda, Maryland. It appeared to have been abandoned for several days; one person believed the vehicle had been there as early as between March 5-7, four-to-six days after the murders. The location was near the Appalachian Trail and roughly four-hundred miles from where the bodies had been buried and burned.

Bishop’s Blood-Filled Car Is Found

Autopsies on the five charred bodies found in North Carolina two weeks earlier confirmed the remains were those of Annette, William III, Brenton, Geoffrey, and Lobelia Bishop. Noticeably absent among the burned bodies was one William Bradford Bishop II.

The following day, a grand jury indicted Bishop on five counts of first degree murder, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

A Wanted Man

Investigators believe they have pieced together Brad Bishop’s activities leading to the murder of his family.

On March 1, after leaving the State Department saying he was not feeling well, Bishop withdrew several hundred dollars from his bank account in the Foggy Bottom area of Washington, D.C., the neighborhood where he worked. Bishop is then believed to have gone to a Sears store in Bethesda’s Montgomery Mall where he purchased a ball-peen hammer and gasoline can. His next stop was a nearby gas station where he filled the can and his car. He then drove to Poch’s hardware store where he purchased a pitchfork and shovel.

       

Bishop’s Purchases

For Macabre Purposes

Police believe Bishop arrived home between 7:30-8:00 p.m. Approximately one-and-a-half to two hours later, after the children had gone to bed, he is believed to have committed familicide with the ball peen hammer he purchased earlier that day.

Annette was probably killed first as she was bludgeoned to death while sitting in a chair reading a book. Bishop likely then proceeded upstairs to slaughter his children as they slept. Last on the killing list was his mother, who was beaten to death when she returned home from walking the family dog, a golden retriever named Leo.

None of Bishop’s family appeared to have had an opportunity to defend themselves.

Family Slaughtered 

After literally hammering his family to death, police believe Bishop turned his station wagon into a hearse by loading the bodies into the back and driving the two-hundred-eighty miles south to the sparsely populated countryside of Columbia, North Carolina, where he dug a shallow grave, tossed the remains inside, and set them on fire.

Using his credit card, Bishop then purchased a pair of tennis shoes at the Outside Sports sporting goods store in Jacksonville, North Carolina, one-hundred-forty-five miles southwest of Columbia. A witness said he had his dog with him and may have been accompanied by a “dark skinned” woman. Several other sightings of Bishop and the woman were reported in the Jacksonville area in the days after the murders but before the bodies were identified. She was described as approximately five-feet-six-inches tall with a medium-heavy build.

Bishop is then believed to have driven to the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, where his car was found abandoned. The Bishop family may have camped in the area in July, August, or early September, several months before the murders.

Bloodhounds tracked Bishop’s scent to the visitor center and an outside trail before losing it.

Bishop’s Murderous Route

Brad Bishop was not seen for two years. The first sighting deemed credible of the fugitive was reported across the globe.

In July 1978, a Swedish woman who had collaborated with Bishop while he was stationed in Ethiopia, reported she had spotted him twice in a public park in Stockholm during a span of one week. The sightings, however, were not reported until several months afterwards because she did not know at the time that he was wanted for murder in the United States.

Seen In Sweden

The following year, another nearly surreal chance encounter may also have occurred in Europe, 4,600 miles from Bethesda, Maryland, when Roy Harrell, the last person who knew Bishop to have seen him before the murders, was vacationing in the tourist town of Sorrento, Italy.

Roy had gone to the Piazza Tasso Square to board a train to Rome but he first used the men’s room. As he was washing his hands, he saw a bearded, disheveled looking man enter the restroom. He is certain the man was his former State Department colleague turned accused killer, Brad Bishop.

Upon seeing Roy, the man he believed to be Bishop ran from the restroom and disappeared in the landing where the boats went to Capri.

Bethesda And Sorrento

As unlikely as the chance encounter seems, some sources state the FBI believes the sighting is credible, because Bishop and Annette had previously visited Sorrento, he was known to be fond of the area, and had spoken of wanting to live there.

A Possible Sighting of Bishop In Sorrento

Other reports, however, have called this reported sighting into question, saying Roy Harrell tended to fabricate stories.

Roy Harrell

Bishop’s State Department Colleague

The next and last sighting deemed credible of Brad Bishop was fifteen years later in 1994, when a former neighbor vacationing in Basel, Switzerland, believes he saw a clean-shaven Bishop entering a car.

1990s Computer-Aged Image of Brad Bishop

Approximately Age Fifty-Three

Bishop had a two week head start from the time the murders were committed to when the bodies were identified. Police believe he probably had multiple false identities secured beforehand enabling him to get out of America and travel between countries.

As a State Department employee he would have known how to create false papers and passports. Obtaining and using fabricated documents to hop from country to country was much easier in the 1970s than it is today.

So Long, Suckers

Approximately a month before the murders, in early February 1976, Bishop traveled to northern Italy on business. Several people recalled seeing him at a ski lodge in the company of a dark-skinned, possibly Caribbean, woman. Her description matched that of the woman seen with Bishop in the Jacksonville, North Carolina, clothing goods store shortly after the murders.

Whether the woman seen with Bishop in Italy is the same as the woman seen with him in North Carolina is not known. She has never been identified.

Did Bishop Have A Secret Lover?

In 2010, the FBI announced that prior to the murders, Bishop had been corresponding with Kenneth Bankston, a federal prison inmate serving time for armed bank robbery in Marion, Illinois. In total, police believe six letters were exchanged between Bishop and Bankston.

In the last letter, dated March 15, 1976, two weeks after the murders, Bankston references a woman about whom Bishop had apparently inquired. Bankston said the woman had been in the North Carolina state prison system, but he did not name her.

Investigators believe the woman mentioned in the letter could be the same unidentified woman seen with Bishop on two separate occasions on two different continents. A check of the women incarcerated in North Carolina during that time period has failed to produce any legitimate possibilities.

The FBI does not know how Bishop and Bankston knew each other. Bankston worked in the oil industry prior to his incarceration. Bishop’s father, William I, had owned an oil company, but police have not been able to find any evidence that Bankston worked for him.

Both Bankston and Bishop served in the military, but in different branches; Bankston served in the Air Force and Bishop served in the Army. The two men were never stationed near each other.

The letter also mentions a second inmate named David Allen. His connection to Brad Bishop is also a mystery. Both Bankston and Allen had died before the discovery of the letters. 

Kenneth Bankston

1969 Photo

In April 2014, the FBI placed Brad Bishop on their Ten Most Wanted List. It was an unusual move to place a fugitive on the Top Ten list so many years after the crime had been committed.

Bishop was removed from the list in June 2018 and replaced with a more current “dangerous fugitive.” Despite the removal, the FBI considers Bishop’s apprehension to still be a “major priority.”

Elevated To The Top Ten List

An unidentified man killed in a hit-and-run accident in Scottsboro, Alabama, in 1981 bore a resemblance to Bishop.

In October 2014, however, DNA testing determined he was not the long-sought fugitive. The Alabama man remains a John Doe.

Not Their Man

In March 2021, DNA testing confirmed Brad Bishop had fathered an illegitimate daughter. Kathy Gilchrist, who lives in North Carolina, was adopted at a young age and raised in Massachusetts. Her birthmother is believed to have met Bishop at a party while they were attending Yale. The discovery was made following Kathy’s taking a 23 and Me DNA test.

It is not known if Bishop knew of Kathy.

Kathy Glichrist

Brad Bishop’s motive for murdering his family has been debated almost as much as where he may be hiding. He was taking medication for depression and friends said his mental health had worsened over the few months before the murders. Bishop’s being denied the promotion he sought may have been the breaking point as some State Department workers, including Roy Harrell, said he was often chastised by his wife and mother as being a failure for not advancing faster in his career.

Friends of the couple say Bishop was unhappy with his desk job and wanted another foreign post but that Annette did not want to live abroad again. She had started studying art at the University of Maryland. Friends say she was seeking work despite her husband’s wanting her to remain a stay-at-home mom.

In 2013, Bethesda Magazine reported that the couple were in financial trouble and that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had been auditing their taxes. The existence of an audit has not been confirmed by the IRS or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The Motive for The Murders Is Much-Speculated

It has also been speculated that Bishop may have had intelligence training in the 1960s which has further helped him evade detection. Multiple people who had served with him overseas believe he either worked for the CIA or had connections to the covert agency. On his resume, Bishop claimed he was once a liaison between the Army and the CIA in Germany, and documents uncovered suggest he ran secret missions to communist Yugoslavia in the 1960s.

The CIA denies any relationship with William Bradford Bishop II.

Does The Accused Killer Have Covert Connections?

In the forty-eight years since the slaughter of his family, sporadic sightings of Brad Bishop have been reported across Europe. Among the countries believed to have been visited by one of America’s longest and most infamous fugitives are Belgium, England, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Spain, and the countries with the three most credible sightings mentioned earlier in Sweden, Italy, and Switzerland. His fluency in five languages would allow him to blend into any of those countries.

The FBI investigated and dismissed a report that Bishop had died in Hong Kong in 2010. The Bureau says it has no evidence indicating that Bishop is deceased.

Sightings Of The Fugitive Are Still Reported

William Bradford Bishop II is wanted on five counts of first-degree murder occurring on March 1, 1976. At the time, he was six-feet-one-inches tall and weighed approximately one-hundred-eighty pounds. He had a six-inch vertical scar on his lower back resulting from surgery, a cleft chin, and a facial mole on his left cheek.
Bishop exercised regularly, was in good physical shape, and enjoyed many physical activities such as swimming, jogging, tennis, and skiing. He was an avid outdoorsman, camper, fisherman, and hiker. He liked riding motorcycles and was a licensed amateur pilot.

A longtime insomniac, Bishop had been under psychiatric care and used medication for depression, which he likely still suffers from today.

Computer-Aged Busts Of Brad Bishop

Brad Bishop would today be eighty-seven-years-old. The FBI is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture or to the location of his remains.

If you have any information his whereabouts, dead or alive, please contact the number below or the Bethesda, Maryland, Police Department at (240) 773-6700 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

Still Sought

After Nearly Half-A-Century

In his 2011 autobiography, ballet dancer Jacques d’Amboiser wrote that he had lived with the Bishop family for a short time in South Pasadena, California, during the 1950s. He had remained in contact with the family in the years afterward and was particularly close with Lobelia.

D’Ambrosier also wrote that he was scheduled to perform at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C, on the evening of February 29, 1976, the night before the murders, but was forced to cancel at the last minute due to a knee injury. Lobelia had invited him and his wife Carrie to spend the evening at the Bishop home. D’Ambrosier said he had not notified her of his injury which prevented him from accepting. He assumes, but does not know for certain, that Brad and Annette Bishop knew of the invitation.

The murders occurred the following evening. The noted ballet dancer could not help but wonder if he avoided his swan song by not going to the Bishop home the previous evening.

Jacques d’Amboise

One life was spared in the Bishop home on the evening of March 1, 1976, that of the beloved family golden retriever Leo. Dog biscuits were among the items in Bishop’s car when it was discovered in Tennessee and several people recalled seeing Bishop and Leo walking in the Great Smoky Mountains. What became of Leo afterwards is unknown.

It seems unlikely that Bishop would have been able to take his prized pooch with him when he is believed to have fled to Europe.

When and where Leo died is unknown.

Lucky Leo

The Bluegrass group Coup de Grass composed “The Ballad of Brad Bishop” in 1978, two years after the murders.

 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/119868204/annette-kathryn-bishop#

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/245520601/william_bradford_bishop

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/245520671/brenton_germain_bishop

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/245520538/geoffrey_corder_bishop

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/121614110/lobelia-amaryllis-bishop#

SOURCES:

• America’s Most Wanted
• Baltimore Sun
• Bethesda Beat
• FBI
• “The Hunt” with John Walsh
• Los Angeles Times
• Murderpedia
• Unsolved Mysteries
• Washington Post
• WBIR NBC Affiliate Channel 10 Knoxville, Tennessee