National Park After Dark - The Family Annihilator: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Episode Date: August 24, 2026

On March 1st, 1976 William Bradford Bishop Jr. bludgeoned his mother, wife, and three young sons to death in their Bethesda, Maryland home. He drove their bodies to North Carolina, where he dumped them a shallow grave and lit them on fire before driving to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There, he ditched his car, walked into the woods and vanished - or did he? Come see us on tour! Grab your Thuja :) For a full list of our sources, visit npadpodcast.com/episodes For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials: Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdark Support the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page! Thank you to this week’s partners! AquaOmega: One of the highest-dose omega-3 supplements per serving, no fish burps, and for every bottle sold, removes 1 lb. of plastic and debris from the ocean and coastlines. Usecode NPAD for 20% off at myaquaomega.com/NPAD DeleteMe: Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to http://joindeleteme.com/ NPAD and use promocode NPAD at checkout Quince: Upgrade your everyday. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com/npad. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. WhatNot: Download Whatnot today and get $20 off your first purchase. Search Whatnot, W H A T N O T, in the app store, sign up, and start finding the best deals on the products you love with $20 off your first purchase. Bellessa: EVERYONE who signs up wins a FREE Rose suction toy with their order! https://www.bboutique.co/vibe/nationalparkafterdark- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kathy Gilchrest cherished her parents. Norma and Jack were supportive, loving, and caring, encouraging her to be her ambitious self throughout childhood and celebrating her wins through adulthood. They were everything a daughter could ask for, but they were not her birth parents. Kathy grew up knowing she was adopted, but never really considered searching for her biological parents

until well into adulthood as a sort of post-retirement project. As she swabbed her cheek and sent in her 23-and-me packet for analysis, Kathy daydreamed about who her parents could be. Could they be famous? Celebrities? Would she recognize their names or their faces? Initially, her DNA results connected her to a woman named Susan Gilmore, that not only turned out to be her third cousin,

but an internet sleuth with a penchant for genealogy. With no other direct hits with her DNA profile, the pair got to work. For well over a year, they diligently followed every lead, pouring over records and building out a family tree with varying success. And then one day, Kathy's phone rang. It was Susan, her voice a combination of excitement and trepidation. I found your father. This time, I really found him.

Kathy's response was a bit sarcastic. Oh yeah, so is he famous? Susan's response was serious. Yeah, kind of. I think you need to sit down. Armed with a name. name William Bradford Bishop Jr., Kathy typed it into Google. She could have never prepared herself for what popped up. There, she found the eyes of her father, so similar to her own, staring back at her

through the screen, from an FBI's most wanted poster. Turns out, William Bradford Bishop Jr. was not just her father, but a wanted fugitive and a vicious family annihilator. Welcome to National Park After Dark. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Cassie. I'm Danielle. And that was one of my favorite intros you've ever done. I'm so sad for this episode.

Thank you very much. It's so interesting how sometimes my intros come about. And I feel like I always do them first when I write an episode, which is very strange, because sometimes it's like you need the meat of the story first. And then you're like, how do I want to really like enter into? this, you know, saga. And here I'm like, this is going to set the tone. Yeah. It's definitely a good direction. I'm seated. I'm ready for this story. Well, your family is like very into discovering things with DNA recently. My cousin has been on a journey searching for our family and he found them.

Our family in Italy and he's actually, as we record this, is in Italy right now connecting with them, which is really exciting. And then I recently had family on my dad's side that has been reaching out to me. And we discovered there's like children on that side that we had not for my dad, but his brothers that we like have never known about. And it's been really interesting this past year in my family. You never know what's going to happen when you swab that cheek and send it in. What relatives you're going to have.

You're unlocking a whole lot. Yeah. Sure are. Well, before we get going with this episode, a couple things to cover here. Number one, happy National Park Week. Happy National Park Week. We are so thrilled to celebrate the parks each and every week. But this week is particularly special not only because there are a lot of fun programs and things happening throughout the National Park Service at a park level, but from our level, we have a fun little thing going.

on. If you're watching us on YouTube or if you see us in social clips, you might be a little confused as to why Cassie and I are matching because it usually is against my will. A dream come true for me. But we're doing it for a reason because we teamed up with a really cool local small business in Vermont. Yeah, which is really exciting for me, my home state. Yeah. So we teamed up with Thuya to create a midlayer for National Park Week and all of our proceeds will be going to a national park nonprofit of your choice. So let us know and we are going to pick one. But what's extra special about these midlayers is one that they're handmade from a local shop right here in Vermont, which is exciting. But also they're going to have a National Park Topo map

inside the pocket, which is really fun. And you get to pick the park. There's a couple to choose from. And of course, Danielle has Yellowstone. There was no other choice for me. And it has a little NPAD on it too to rep National Park after dark. Embroidered NPAD and on one side and on the other side, there's a little embroidered Vermont. Yeah, outline. So, uh, Thuya, we love them. You should definitely go check them out, not just for our midlayers, but all the other products are amazing. We both have other, through you wear gear. And I feel like this is the first time we've actually collabed with real outdoor gear that you are going to want to wear this fall and this

winter when you're out, that you're going to want to wear while you're outside. Yeah. Yep. So we're only going to have them available for a limited time. They're going to be, you know, limited quantities and stuff. So we will give you all of the links in the show notes on our socials and all that of where to head over to get one if you'd like. They're really cool. I mean, you've been wearing them when you were out west, even during the summer because you were freezing all summer. Yeah, it came in handy when I drove through a blizzard on June 29th in Wyoming.

There you go. All right. So, well, heading into the episode today, if you didn't gather this from the intro, It is going to be a tough one. There are going to be some pretty brutal descriptions of a mass murder. There is murder of children involved in this episode as well. So please just keep that in mind if this episode is not for you, totally understandable. We want you to listen with care.

And the reason I chose to do this episode now is because this year is the 50th anniversary of this crime occurring. So it just felt timely. And it's just a little insane. I've never heard of this either. Oh, get ready, honey. Okay, let's begin. I can't wait any longer. The funny thing about life is you never know when it will change.

Sometimes the transformation comes in small, nearly inconceivable moments, a process so gradual you don't even notice until you reflect later. Other times, change comes. and moments so memorable, they serve as clear delineations that parse your life into befores and afters. For North Carolina Forest Ranger Ronald Brickhouse, one of those moments came on the afternoon of March 2, 1976, and he hasn't been the same since. The day began as routine as ever. He was perched 120 feet above tree level in a fire tower, scanning the forest below when he noticed a plume of smoke rising in the distance. His first thought wasn't that of a forest fire, but of construction.

He was aware of a new home being built in that specific area of Tyrell County and their habit of burning construction debris. He jumped in his truck and headed in the direction of the construction site, but when he arrived, he found it vacant, no sign of people, smoke, or fire. Perplexed, he turned around to find the source, turning down a nearby logging road that headed in the direction of the haze. He didn't have to drive for long when he saw it. The source of the fire hadn't been garbage. Inside of a hastily dug shallow hole about the size of a bathtub were the bodies of two adult women lying face to face and partially burned.

The fire inside of the actual hole was out, but a gas can nearby was flaming and the fire had spread to the nearby forest, burning about a half acre worth of pine saplings. Rushing to place a lid on the gas can, he reached for his radio and alerted the county sheriff. In those moments where it was just him and the deceased, Berkhouse couldn't help but take in the scene around him. Whoever did this seemingly had just been there. Authorities arrived soon thereafter and began to process the scene. If it wasn't horrifying enough, it was about to get worse. Below the partially charred remains of the two women were three more bodies. All of young boys dressed in their pajamas.

Law enforcement swarmed the scene, set up a perimeter, and began processing the area. For nearly a week, they were at a loss. No lead as to who these individuals were, how they came to be there, and above all, who did this to them. That is, until a call was made roughly 300 miles away. On the morning of March 8th, Montgomery County Police arrived at 8103 Lilleystone Drive in Bethesda, Maryland. The house was located in an affluent upper-middle-class neighborhood. A suburb of Washington, D.C., the community is considered pretty top-tier when it comes to living, education, and safety. So when a concerned neighbor noticed the normally active, buzzing with activity home had been eerily quiet and still for days, they called the police for a welfare check. Police arrived and before they even knocked on the door, they knew something was terribly wrong.

leading from the front door to the driveway was a trail of blood. Upon entering the home, they found the space devoid of life, but discovered clear evidence of what had unfolded. Large pools of coagulated blood in multiple rooms throughout the home, blood-soaked linens, pillows, and mattresses. In some locations, hair and fragments of human tissue and bone, but not a single body. As police processed the home and began investigating

who lived in the residence, the dots were connected. The bodies discovered off the logging road had been identified, and they were matches for the individuals missing from Lilystone Drive, 68-year-old Lobelia Bishop, 37-year-old Annette Bishop, 14-year-old William Bradford III, 10-year-old Brenton, and 5-year-old Jeffrey. They were the family of a man named William Bradford Bishop Jr., a 39-year-old U.S. government Foreign Service Office. officer, the only person from the family missing from the scene who instantly became law enforcement's prime suspect. William Bradford, Bishop Jr., who I'm going to refer to as Bishop for the rest of this episode, because that's a mouthful, was indicted by a grand jury on five

counts of first-degree murder in March of 1976, but prior to that, from an outsider's perspective, he had his life together. Born in 1936 in South Pasadena, California, California, the only child to his parents, Lobelia and William, Bishop had a pretty idyllic childhood. His father had found success in the oil business, which afforded his family a very comfortable life. The family spent a lot of time skiing, camping, and hiking together between Bishop's schooling, which served as the foundation for Bishop's lifelong love of the outdoors. Lobelia did some charity work as the hospitality chair at the local children's hospital, and aside from working in the oil industry, his father also did charity work, namely at the Pasadena Civic Ballet.

Lobelia kept a pristine home and was a doting wife and attentive mother. Her charity work and volunteer work was extensive as she filled her schedule with classes in the arts, cooking, and language. Bishop went to a private elementary school, then onto a public high school where he grew to be tall and slender, but athletic. His competitive edge and drive for success landed him the quarterback position on the high school football team, and he became an avid outdoorsman and also an intellectual. By senior year, he had become the class vice president and had brought his high school sweetheart home to meet his parents, who were immediately taken with the young woman. Annette Weiss had moved to California from Ohio with her parents and brother as a child and grew up in Southern California. She was really kind, helpful, and it seemed like she bonded pretty immediately with Lobelia,

who in particular really took a liking to her, and it seems like they found common ground over a love for the arts. Bishop had his sights set on UCLA, but after being accepted to the prestigious Yale University, he moved east. As an American Studies major, he didn't exactly excel in Yale, but he did well. enough. And he ended up becoming actually a little bit frustrated with finding himself considered, you know, pretty average amongst the other students, which is kind of like, okay, you're in Yale. But you're doing great. It's like you're surrounded by a lot of very intelligent people.

Yeah, but I think. But you got there. You got there. And I think just based on reading about him, It just seemed like he was really comfortable and happy with being kind of like the best and the best in his hometown. Yeah. And he kind of expected. He was like a big fish in a small pond and then now he's surrounded by bigger fish. That's right. When he entered the class of 1958, he played freshman football and joined Delta Kappa Epsilon, but discovered making friends there didn't come as easily as it had been for him in high school. There are even reports that he began to claim he was the descent.

of one of the original families on the Mayflower, perhaps in a move to gain some sort of status among his New England peers. What? New Englanders care about the Mayflower a lot. I have never cared about if you're related to anyone on the Mayflower even a single time. But that being said, I did not go to an Ivy League school. So maybe that's something the elite care about. We wouldn't know.

We would not know. We went to state schools. We did. We sure did. And look at us now. We're doing fine. And I don't know anyone from the Mayflower. I don't think I know either. Although I did learn, I was just in Salem before the rush hit, that there was one original person on the Mayflower that decided to move to Salem and bought property there. Wow. Yeah. So there's your Mayflower fact. Okay, anyway, Bishop visited home between semesters. But while in school, he began to suffer from insomnia. He was prescribed Syracs, a benzodiazepine, used to treat anxiety and depression. During his senior year, Bishop's family was unable to afford his tuition due to some financial

hardship that they were experiencing. So as a result, he took the year off and he worked doing some manual labor jobs to help pay his way, you know, contribute his way for his senior year. So he returned to Yale later to finish his degree. After graduation from Yale, he and Annette married and Bishop joined the Army, and in 1960, he enrolled in the Army Intelligence School in Baltimore, then was later sent to other Army language institutions where he became fluent in Serbo-Croatian. He was assigned to Europe and moved there with Annette and their newborn son, William Bradford

III. He used his language skills to essentially spy on Yugoslavia from listening in on radio broadcasts and military radio to intercept different transmissions from his post in northern Italy. And much of his work in the government intelligence sect was secretive, and because of that, the public records are kind of on the slim side, but we do know that his work took him and his growing family from Italy to Ethiopia and Botswana. He became fluent in other languages as well, including French and Spanish. In addition to his undergraduate, a degree from Yale, he also earned two master's degree in Italian from Middlebury College in Vermont

and African Studies from UCLA. Whoa, Vermont. Wow. Woohoo. Middlebury College represent. I mean, you don't want this guy representing you, but yeah, represent this murderer guy. I'm like, wow, this guy is so intelligent and it feels like he had this whole life ahead of him and what for? He kept a journal and his writings give a window into his daily life, but also his thoughts. He wrote repeatedly about achievement in particular. He was very, very big on like checking the boxes of life, pushing himself to be better at work and meditating on ideas of excellence, confidence, and freedom. He and Annette enjoyed his postings. They skied in the Alps and while in Botswana, Bishop took flying lessons to earn his pilot certification. They have

eventually returned to the states in 1970 and settled into a home in Bethesda. Lobelia, following the death of her husband, Bishop's father, moved in with the family, which soon became complete with three sons and a golden retriever named Leo. Lobelia enrolled in classes working towards earning a master's degree in art. Annette worked diligently raising their three young boys, and Bishop acquired the position of Assistant Chief of the U.S. State Department of Special Trade Activities and Commercial treaties. While not working, he enjoyed riding motorcycles, swimming, and playing tennis with his family. Again, like kind of taking those activities that he enjoyed as a child himself and kind of

integrating them into his family life. So by all appearances, this family on Lily Stone Road was doing really well. Yeah. But we all know that a person's impressive resume or fancy home can be far from a person's inner world. Since being back in the suburbs, attending various social events, including his high school's 20-year reunion, Bishop began comparing himself to others. He repeatedly asked other men what their salaries were and really pride about details of their life, their lifestyle, what they're doing, how they're doing things. He feels really insecure about his own decisions. Like he wants to come compare and see how he is doing in relation to other people that he knows. It seems very like keeping up with the Joneses a bit.

Do you know that? We don't know that reference. That's okay. That's okay. Is it a movie? It's, don't worry about it. Okay. So while he did make a good living, because if, you know, if you do look up Bethesda,

Maryland, it's a D.C. suburb. it's, you know, it's a pretty affluent place. He resented the fact that his mother contributed to the family's finances and even paid a significant portion of the home's down payment. He worked hard and became transfixed on earning an upcoming promotion. But on March 1, 1976, when the list of names was tacked to the wall for this promotion, and he was not among them, something inside William Bradford Bishop Jr. snapped. Soon after, he informed his colleagues that he didn't feel well and left work early.

He climbed into his 1976 Chevrolet station wagon and drove towards home, but not without making several stops beforehand. He withdrew several hundred dollars from the bank, purchased a sledgehammer, pitchfork, and shovel, and a gas can at a local hardware store. And lastly, he stopped at a local service station where he filled the newly purchased can with fuel. So now kind of looping back to the beginning when police are going through this crime scene, Lily Stone Drive, which is now, you know, an active homicide investigation. This is what law enforcement believes unfolded next. Bishop arrived home that evening to his wife finishing dinner

and his boys going about a normal night. The oldest, William III, was on the phone with his girlfriend and the others were putting on their PJs. After a meal was had, the boys settled into their beds and Annette curled up on the couch in the basement family room and cracked open a book. She never saw her husband coming. Bishop approached her from behind, using his newly purchased sledgehammer, he bludgeoned her to death, repeatedly striking her skull. Lobelia, who was out walking Leo, walked in on the horrific scene. She tried to run, made to the bathroom and slammed the door behind her. But Bishop, well over six feet tall, full of rage and adrenaline, was able to smash the wooden door open, reach in through the hole, and unlock

the door. He struck his mother with the hammer as well, but devastatingly, her autopsy later revealed her death differed from everyone else in the home. While the injury to her head was traumatic, it was not her cause of death. Rather, it appeared she died from cardiac arrest related to the attack. She was just so scared. She was scared. That's horrible. Leaving the bathroom, Bishop headed towards his sons.

William III, the oldest, had heard the bathroom commotion and had gotten up to investigate. Known as Brad by his family and occasionally nicknamed Pino, he was intelligent, expressive, and curious, and he spent portions of his childhood overseas learning to adapt across languages and cultures before moving to Maryland. Friends and neighbors described him as a young and lively spirit who as a young boy had loved to wear costumes and masks and through adolescence remained imaginative and playful. He was also thoughtful and observant and a good student who was engaged in organized swimming at the time. He was just 14, just beginning his teenage years when he was brutally attacked by his father in the hallway. According to forensic investigators, he suffered the most severe injuries of any of the children. The attack was so aggressive that fragments of his skull were later found on the carpet.

Bishop then went to his youngest son's room. They had both slept through the attacks and were laying undisturbed in their bunk beds, wrapped in football patterned pajamas, and laying on pillow cases dotted with stars. One by one, he did the same to his youngest boys. An attack so brutal, it left their faces unrecognizable and indents on the ceiling above their bunk beds from his back swings of the sledgehammer. He then showered, changed, wrapped each body in towels and linens before bringing them one by one out to the station wagon parked in the driveway. He gathered some spare clothing, including a nice suit, his emergency go bag, complete with his diplomatic passports, several weapons, including a revolver his father had gifted him, and his dog, Leo.

And then he began to drive. He chained smoked cigarettes and at one point ripped the rearview mirror off and threw it onto the floorboard while he drove south towards Tyrol County, North Carolina. And from the beginning of this episode, we know that he selected an area off of a remote logging road to dispose of his family before lighting them on fire and fleeing the scene in the early hours of March 2nd. Oh, this is all so horrible. I know. Just everything you just said. I know like it's kind of went through it, but man, I just can't imagine what could trigger someone to do that to their family. Like, I know you said some stuff happened at work that he was upset about, but like, what?

I know. And it feels like, and maybe you'll get into this more, but it feels like there was no indication that he was capable of something like this. He had no prior, like, well, we'll get into it as far as like outbursts and things, like glimmers in his personality of like, that doesn't seem. Like maybe something was brewing. Yeah, but when, you know, you think of somebody who commits this level of horrific crime, you think, okay, was there past indicators, were they cruel to animals? Did they get in trouble before? Were they violent in any other way? Like, things like that.

and there's not really that much of it. Yeah. So later that day on March 2nd, Bishop made a stop at a Jacksonville, North Carolina sporting goods store where he made a $15 credit card purchase, and record showed that he bought a pair of tennis shoes. The cashier recalled helping him cash out and described him as freshly shaven, wearing a suit, and he was not alone. He appeared to be with a woman of apparent Caribbean descent.

The cashier thought that they were together, perhaps even a couple. It wasn't like, oh, they were standing close by and were engaged in conversation. It seems as if they had known each other, were possibly romantically involved. But most, like, you know, memorable to that fact was she was holding the leash of a golden retriever. And Leo is a golden retriever. There's like another woman. I don't. I don't know.

This is giving like Chris Watts. It's reminding me a lot of that story. Yeah. And like there's this woman here and I'm including this detail because it's relevant and it did happen. But interestingly, it's kind of like, okay, and then what with her? Like who is this person? She's never been identified. She doesn't come back later.

So interesting. Just know that. By March 12th, an official warrant for Bishop's arrest was released. But days went by with virtually. no movement on the case or his whereabouts until March 18th. A call came in regarding a seemingly abandoned rusty maroon-colored Chevy station wagon. The vehicle had been parked near the Jake's Creek Trailhead within Great Smoky Mountains National Park for nearly two weeks.

Park Rangers had arrived, found the vehicle locked, and ran its Maryland plates. Within seconds, they realized that this was the vehicle of a wanted murder suspect. FBI agents descended upon the park. They gained access into the car and found undeniable evidence that Bishop had been there last. After gaining access into the station wagon, several items including a shotgun and shells, cigarette butts, dog treats, park maps, and brochures highlighting Great Smoky Mountains hiking trails, men's clothing, a toiletry bag, prescription medication, and blood-stained blankets were found inside. The back seats were folded down.

and were streaked with blood. There was so much of it, it had actually run down into the spare tire well and congealed within it. So horrific. And he was, he drove around like that from Maryland all the way to Tennessee. He drove several hundred miles with his entire family dead and bleeding out in his car and his dog in the front seat, feeding him treats.

his dog must have been so anxious and mortified at this point too because you know dogs dogs now yeah of course and leo was being you know like lobelia walked in from actively like he saw i got a walk yes and then she was brutally attacked so yeah the FBI together with great smoky mountains national park backcountry rangers began an extensive search of the park complete with helicopters, grid searches, and numerous tracking dog teams, including dogs that had been involved in other high-profile cases, such as searches for Patty Hurst and Jimmy Hoffa. One of the dogs actually got a very strong hit and led the team to the front porch of one of the cabins in the historic Elkmont area of the park.

Shoe prints with no treads like those found on dress shoes. You know, dress shoes are pretty like slick on the bottom. They don't have treads like hiking. shoes were found near Double Springs Gap Shelter. However, soon thereafter, heavy rains descended on the area, obscuring whatever clues may have remained. FBI wanted posters, Donning Bishop's face were distributed far and wide. The backcountry was closed, and hikers exiting the forest were met with rangers and FBI

agents who had a lot of questions for them. Interviews with hikers, campers, and park visitors gave a lot of information. Some claim to have seen a man matching Bishop's description walking towards Gatlinburg, while others could have sworn they saw him near the Sugarlands Visitor Center. A pair of Boy Scouts said they spoke with a couple who told them of a weird encounter. They had been joined at their camp by a man in city clothes and shoes carrying a duffel bag and a tent. More tips came in from sightings in the Cades Cove area, at a grocery store in nearby Cherokee, and then from a shopkeeper in Spindale, North Carolina.

far outside of the park of a man hoping to trade in a pistol for a magnum and had identified himself as a U.S. State Department employee, which has, I mean, he had his father's pistol revolver with him and, you know, maybe he's here trying to trade it in, who knows. While every lead was pursued, they all resulted in dead ends. On the evening of March 26th, the park called off the search and reopened the backcountry. Some believed he had entered the deep, remote reaches of the half a million acre park to end his own life,

while others weren't convinced. FBI profilers in particular pinned a bishop as a guy that would run for as long as he possibly could before he was caught, not as someone who would give up, end his own life, or turn himself in. Yeah, I'm not convinced that he would go there.

He's just gone so far out of his way to leave Maryland, dump his family's bodies far away from his home, and then continue even further. If his goal was to end his own life, I think he would have done that in one of the previous locations. I agree with that for sure. Bishop also had extensive wilderness experience and was military trained in survival. Some thought perhaps he took to the Appalachian Trail. But the leading theory is that Bishop may have intentionally left false trails within the Elkmont region of the park, speaking with people and wandering around to leave evidence before ditching Leo,

who was eventually found unharmed by other hikers running loose in the park, and then fleeing the area with an accomplice. So some people are like, yeah, he's too intelligent to have, like, left things into, I mean, mistakes happen and things happen. But there are a number of people who think, yeah, he knew what he was doing here by leaving his car here, maybe wandering around, making memorable connections with certain people and having conversations or dressing in a way that would leave an impression on others. Having his dog loose in the park. So it looked like maybe something happened to him out on a trail somewhere where he wouldn't be found. And then there's also this question of this woman who,

may or may not be involved in this as well. Right. So they're like, yeah, he was seen with another person, this woman. So we think he came in, did some things in the park, left an impression, left some, you know, false leads, and then got out of dodge with this woman. All the while, within days of the discovery of the Bishop family murders, the media went insane with the story. News of the murders and the missing bishop spread across the nation on nightly news programs and publications like the Washington Post and Time magazine.

Bishop's former Yale roommate, Dayton Loomis, nearly spit out his coffee when he read the headline in his local paper. He was working as the director of the Cripple Creek Museum in the Cripple Creek, Colorado, the old mining town, when he heard the news about his former friend. And he actually went on to write a book about, you know, his experience as a roommate to Bishop And then the case in general, you know, afterwards. He published it in 2009 and it is titled Not Wanted. When news hit the U.S. State Department, Bishop's Place of Employment, they were quick to confiscate

all documents within his office to file away as evidence. And of course, water cooler chat was popping. You know, like, can you believe what this guy did? You know, this is your coworker. This is someone that you may have known for years or decades. Yeah, and now it's happening. And you worked with this guy every day and you had lunch with him. You had conversations with him.

And now he's this man on the run from murdering his whole family. Colleagues from both the U.S. State Department state side and from his international postings recall him as being charismatic and had a hard time grappling with how the man they knew was capable of such a violent crime. while others didn't need much convincing, as Bishop was also known to be arrogant and quick to anger. Unbeknownst to them, Bishop had actually begun taking more medication, because remember, I told you he was put on Sarahx, I think, is what the medication was called, but he actually was seeking out psychiatric care and was on different medications to help with his mental health.

But that was very hush, hush, and wasn't disclosed. to his place of employment because at the time, it was looked down upon for federal employees to do that and was even straight up prohibited in some government positions back then. It was like he could have lost his job. So he, that was not knowledge. His place of employment did not know that. Among the mounting questions, you know, because there are a lot of them at this point, chief among them remained.

why did he murder his family, did he act alone, and where the hell is he? And this is where we enter a bit of conspiracy theory territory. And this is going to get, I don't know if conspiracy theory is really the term, but there's a lot of, there's a lot of theories as to why he did this if he acted alone, where is he, what happened? And so I'm trying to streamline them as best as I can, but just know there are many. Found amongst personal and office files within his office at the State Department, law enforcement discovered a letter which hinted at a potential murder-for-hire plot involving

several people. The writer, Albert Kenneth Bankson, was an inmate serving time at the federal penitentiary in Illinois for bank robbery, and he mentioned an associate named David Paul Allen, who was apparently familiar with the area that the bodies ended up. This letter also contained references to a she, who was quote-unquote, most certainly in a North Carolina state penitentiary, but did not include her identity. This later goes on to say, you could walk to Phelps Lake from Creswell, I think it's about five miles.

After cross-referencing some different maps, investigators discovered that indeed, Phelps Lake and Cresswell are just a few miles from the spot where the bodies of the Bishop family were discovered. The letter was marked with a number six, and in the text of the letter, it referenced different information found in previous letters like letter four and letter five. And in an interview with law enforcement, Alan admitted that he and his associates were given $25,000 in jewelry to kill Bishop's family while he was away on a business trip to Geneva. which he did indeed go on a business trip to Geneva one week prior to the murders. And this person remains adamant that he actually never went through with the crime and that essentially they took his money and ran with it and like screwed him over.

So he came home to his family still alive and was pissed. Yeah. Yes. That's so fucked up too. Which part? I mean, just the fact that he, like at first, the way that you first were telling this story, it felt like he had this moment where he snapped and he went to a store and he just grabbed some stuff and he did it. And then he was like, well, I got to be on the run now.

But now, knowing this backstory, it's like this had been premeditated for a long time, long before this moment at work where he dipped out and did all that. Didn't get a promotion and had this like moment. Yeah. Yeah. It kind of changes everything about what I thought about him. Well, law enforcement also tracked down other inmates and people allegedly connected to Bishop that they're finding throughout mentions in this letter, right? Including someone that is identified by police only as Sunny. And this person happened to be a leader of the white supremacist Aryan Nation and the so-called Dixie Mafia who suggested that Bankston, the right of.

of the letter may have requested a passport in exchange for finding a hired killer. As the letter seems to suggest when he writes in it, quote, I was only interested in Mexico and or Central America, as you know. So it seems as if, and I know that was just so confusing, because it took me several hours to just kind of understand what I was reading while researching this and who different people were and what. But essentially, it seems like some. it remains unclear, but somehow Bishop was put in contact with some shady people who were

in prison and he offered them through his connection with the government and his nature of work, hey, I can hook you up with false documents, different passports, whatever you want. I'll give you 25 grand. I'll give you jewelry. I'll do whatever. You guys find me through your network somebody that will kill my family for me. that's essentially what I just said, what I gathered from all of that. And law enforcement is kind of going throughout these people to try and figure out exactly

what went down. And some of them are saying, yeah, that's essentially what happened. But we screwed him over. We took his money and ran. Which seems pretty accurate as well because I was kind of like spinning in my head of, oh, did someone else kill them? But he took it like his family car was covered in. blood and he was seen in these locations. So that part seems really believable that they did just

take his money and run and then he did this all himself. Well, because at first, they're like, okay, so, you know, there's three young children and his wife and his mom are dead. And for a hot second, they're like, oh, well, what happened to him? Is he okay? Where is he? You know, is he also a victim in this? Did someone kidnap him? kill his family and kidnap him or whatever, and then very clearly, it's not what happened. No. So frustratingly, the registered letter was postmarked March 15, 1976, leading investigators to assume that it had arrived at Bishop's office at the State Department a few days after the FBI and county police had searched the office for clues in connection to the case. Apparently, this letter was opened by a secretary and then placed in Bishop's files after they had been reviewed by law enforcement and packed away. It wasn't until nearly six years later that investigators came upon this letter during a review of the case.

So investigators were able to track down some of these people mentioned in the letter, as I said above. However, the writer, Bankston died of cancer in 1983. The FBI also ended up dismissing the Bankston letter as a whole. So here's a twist to this. After looking into who the author of this letter was, they deemed that he had a history of concocting different stories and was always on kind of like the hunt for searching for different angles to give him legs up in prison. You know, like, I have information.

I'll give you information if you give me like, you know, better deal or whatever, just trying to look out for himself. He's just not a credible. source. It is worth noting, though, that the others they interviewed and the connections that those led to did seem like they were taken very seriously by law enforcement and seemed to have legs. So whether or not Bankston was notoriously unreliable, it seems like the other people involved did add a layer of credibility that law enforcement did take seriously. So it's kind of convoluted and confusing because they're like, yeah, we're discrediting this letter.

we can't take it seriously, but there's some information in it that we are taking seriously. So I'm a little lost on that. But there were also leads stemming from an FBI informant in a Virginia motorcycle gang living under the Federal Witness Protection Program, who essentially said Bishop was having an affair with a woman at the State Department who also was somehow associated with this motorcycle gang who then later helped him flee the country and then later come back to how. hide in plain sight. The FBI even investigated tips that suggested Bishop may have been involved with the CIA and perhaps was a participant or victim of MK Ultra, an illegal human

experimentation program run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency from 1953 through the 1960s. Essentially, without going, I mean, there are our entire podcasts about MK Ultra, but essentially its goal was to find and develop drugs, chemicals, and procedures that could control human behavior, erase memories, and force confessions during the Cold War. So there were some whispers of him maybe being a victim to that, being involved in that in some way, or whispers of him being a CIA spy. And as such, his high up connections would be of great help in helping him hide out, flee the country, do whatever he needed to do, essentially. Seems a little far-fetched.

Yes, I agree. Timing. Yes. He suddenly gets inducted into this thing right after he murders his whole family and disappears. Or he's a CIA operative. And it just feels. Yeah. It feels like I needed to mention it because it is something that was debated.

And it was a lead that was kind of investigated even if it didn't go anywhere. But a lot of people talk about that. And then the whole MK Ultra thing, it's like, well, maybe. he was the victim of this government, you know, shady program and it warped his brain and he snapped and it wasn't his fault. I'm like, I don't believe any of that. Why are we trying to find a reason why this isn't his fault also? Right. Give me a break. So this Bankston letter wasn't the only thing to pop up years later because remember it came

six years after, which is frustrating because a lot of people, you know, one of them died. Some of them didn't know. They couldn't get in touch of things, and it wasn't as fresh. But it wasn't the only thing that would just, like, come up later on regarding this case. In the year 2000, 24 years after the murders took place, a woman was shopping at a flea market in Greensboro, North Carolina. She picked up an old journal and flipped through the pages, and the first one read Bradford Bishop Diary. Intrigued, she thumbed through more. of the pages before deciding to purchase it.

After going home and telling her son of the find, he quickly Googled the name because he's like, God, that sounds familiar. Like that name sounds familiar. Where have I heard this? Yes. Needless to say, they immediately turned this diary over to the Montgomery Police. Was it dated after he disappeared? Well, no, no, no.

Sorry to disappoint. But at first, they were skeptical. law enforcement was like, I don't know. Like, at this point in time, especially in this area, this crime kind of took on like a cult, like, following. And it was just such a insane case that they're like a little wary of hoaxes and things like that. Is this legit? However, not only did the handwriting match other known samples of Bishop's penmanship, but under his name were the words 7-76, Cole James,

auction. And indeed, on July 9th, 1976, so 7 slash 76, the family's possessions were auctioned off at the Cole James Auction Gallery in College Park. The station wagon, once processed, was sold off to a Great Smoky Mountains National Park Ranger, which was interesting, I thought. I was unable to see what he did with the station wagon. After it was processed for evidence and all that, it was done with. I don't know if maybe he had it destroyed or what. So yeah, so like their station wagon, they're pretty much all of their belongings were auctioned off. So this is after he disappeared and stuff, right? And he's on the run. But it wasn't written after he disappeared. I thought that was your question. Like this diary. I'm confused. Did he write this?

This is his, yes, this is his diary that was in his home during the murders. And then after the murders, the home was in its contents, well, the home was sold, but its contents were auctioned off. The auction is just, it's labeled as part of the auction. Okay, I thought, I was imagining that he was writing about the auction in his journal. No, no, no, no, sorry, if that was unclear, but yes. So that was just the label of the auction and the date it took place. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Yeah. Real Canadian Superstore has everything you need this. Back to School. Save on lunchbox savers like Zincke's sliced deli-me meat products for always $375 and get life brand pure Vita shampoo or conditioner for $8 each.

At Real Canadian Superstore, when you're ready, we're ready, with a whole world and more. When Westchette first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion, inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when West Jet welcomes you on board. Here's to Westjetting since 96. Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at Westjet.com slash 30 years. Who bought the journal and how it ended up in this, you know, flea market essentially, are unknown. But it does a little side note, did a little palate cleanser for just a second because this is really heavy.

That reminds me of the lady. Do you, did you hear about this? Like the lady who was, it was in Texas and she was at a goodwill. and she found this, it wound up being a 2,000-year-old ancient Roman marble bust, and she bought it for like 35 bucks in 2018. And she did some research on it because she's like, God, this looks really authentic and like, I don't understand what's going on here. And she reached out to all these professionals.

Turns out it's a 2,000-year-old Roman relic that, the Nazis stole during World War II and somehow it wound up on this goodwill shelf in Texas. That's wild. That's actually wild.

And she donated it to like a museum or something now, but do you remember that show? Truly, do you remember that show Trash or Treasure? Vaguely. It was on when we were kids. I remember I used to watch it with my grandmother.

So I know that it was like a long time ago, but essentially what the show was, is that these people would come on and there was like a professional antique person, whatever their role was. And they would come on and they would bring an item from their house. And I remember one woman brought a huge glass elephant. And they bring something that they think is valuable and they get the value of it. And they'll be like, okay, what do you think this is worth? It'll be like, well, I think this is worth $5,000. And then this person will tell you, well, actually, this is what you have with you. It's worth $6 or what you have with you.

It's like, whoa, this is from this timeline. This is worth like $700,000. It's like a different version of Antique Roadshow. Yeah, probably a much earlier version. Yeah. Yeah. It says it was a show from the 1950s. So maybe my Grammy just had it on for us because it was a show she liked.

This is just like a memory that I forgot about until you started telling that story. And I was like, wait a second. Trash or treasure. Yeah, Antiques Roadshow stole their idea. Wow. And made millions. It's on to this day. When I leave and I leave the TV as like, I don't know, noise for the dogs.

And one of the only, because I don't pay for channels, so I only get like three or four local programs or whatever. And I always put it. It's either Survivor on loop repeat or Antiques Roadshow. So I always ask them, what do you want to watch today? Your dogs are like, please don't turn the TV on. Okay. So anyway, back to the diary at hand here. It covered six years from October 1965 to October of 1971 and contains a lot of

quotes from writers such as Walt Whitman, but also Bishop. ships musings, including, quote, if you're going to succeed in the Foreign Service, make ambassador before your 50. Hold positions of responsibility. Constant dedication and considerable sacrifice of time and thought are required. And then there are also what appear to be kind of like notes to himself, such as, quote, toxic, degenerative psychoses, chronic, low-level maniac, involutional megalomania. Ominously, his last end, Entry, dated October 23, 1971, reads, quote, Your family grows more beautiful and you still stand on the threshold.

Outwardly, your accomplishments are great. My such symbols equal promotions, citations, languages, degrees. Still, you stand on the threshold. You have soared to the heights and plummeted each time to the depths. Over the years, the story of the bishop murders and bishop's potential whereabouts have been featured on America's Most Wanted, Unsolved Mysteries, ABCs vanished, and On the Hunt with John Walsh. Countless news programs, editorial features, books, and even songs. Law enforcement have tracked down tips and leads from states all over the country and throughout

the world, as far away as Russia, Cambodia, and Hong Kong. Bodies have been exhumed. John Does have been cross-referenced, and lookalikes have been reported and questioned. A man in Sacramento, California had somehow used to be used to be exhumed. Bishop's social security number. However, sightings overseas, particularly in England, Belgium, France, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, and Switzerland have been especially intriguing. In the summer of 1978, a former Foreign Service officer who knew Bishop personally from his time working with him in Ethiopia, claimed to have seen him twice on the same street in Stockholm. The following year, another former co-worker stated he ran into him at a urinal in Italy.

And he actually turned to him and said, you're Bradford Bishop, aren't you? And the man turned to him, said, oh my God, no, and then fled into the pouring rain outside. That's a hell of a reaction for someone that you're not. Right. Because at first, when I was reading it, because, you know, you're just reading the text and there's no inflection. Like, it was it, oh my God, no? Or like, oh, my God, no. Like, which...

But why would you flee? Why would you run away? You know? Yeah. And if you're in Italy, would they really know who that name belongs to, you know? Mm-hmm. In 1994, while on vacation in Switzerland, of all people, the bishop's neighbor, former neighbor, noticed a man staring at her and her husband at the train station.

Feeling a sick realization, she recognized the man for who she swore he was, Bradford Bishop. In a scene straight out of a movie, once he saw both the husband and wife staring back at him in his direction, this man closed his window, put on his glasses, and opened up his newspaper as his train rolled out as theirs was coming in. They contacted the FBI, but to their knowledge, nothing ever came of that tip. In 2014, Bishop was placed on the FBI's most wanted list. Along with being placed on a fresh set of wanted posters sporting his 1970s self and age-progressed photos, the following details were released. He drank scotch and wine and enjoyed eating peanuts and spicy food.

Bishop is described as intense and self-absorbed, prone to violent outbursts, and who preferred a neat and orderly environment. He has been seen in many photos wearing his class ring from Yale, something that meant a lot to him and that he still may have or wear. Although he was taken off the list in 2018, the tips continue to flood in regarding Bradford Bishop's supposed whereabouts and the case as a whole on a regular basis. More recently, FBI Special Agent Cody, who has been working on the Bishop case since 2018, confirmed what was suspected by Kathy. and Susan, who we talked about at the very beginning of the episode. By using DNA collected from evidence in the form of a cigarette butt left in the station wagon abandoned in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the FBI lab conclusively determined

that Kathy Gilchrist is indeed the biological daughter of Bishop. Because at first, you know, it's just her and her third cousin being like their own research and connecting dogs. And how old is she? She's in her 50s. maybe even 60s by now because she's retired. I'm just thinking of the timeline. Was she born?

Like, when was she born in relation to this incident? Thank you for asking. I'm about to tell you. Okay. Great. So, yes, that may have, you know, answered one question. Like, okay, yes, we can conclusively say, for sure, Kathy is the biological child of Bishop.

But now there are other questions by extension of that. Because Kathy was born prior to who. his other children, even perhaps while he was still a student at Yale, because her mother's identity remains unclear. It is unknown who the mother of Kathy is, how she met Bishop, when she, you know, like there are so many question marks. And we don't even know if Bishop knew about Kathy because if you remember him and Annette were high school sweethearts. They met when... Oh, yeah.

They were together since they were in high school. Yeah. So he had an affair at some point in time. He had an affair at some point in time. Was it the only affair? Probably not. I'm going to venture to say no, especially because there's a woman he was seen with directly after murdering his wife. That's awesome.

So something to consider. For as much as we know about the darkest chapter of Bishop's life, much of who he was before he killed his family and whatever became of him after remain a mystery. In 2020, Kathy wrote a book titled It's In My Genes. It serves not only as a way to share her side of the story. She had actually found out she had six other half-siblings along her genealogy journey, none of which were fathered by Bishop, by the way. Okay. So she talks about Bishop, of course, her life, what she found out, but the book also serves as a warning. As she said in a 2025 Washington USA-9 article in reference to people who are curious about digging into their DNA, quote, it's a warning to people who are not quite ready to learn the truth. It is not a game. If you can't handle the information, don't ask the question.

The truth of Bishop's whereabouts remains unclear. Just as with the public, law enforcement varies on their opinions as to whatever did come of Bishop. Some say he likely faded into obscurity in the U.S. rather than attempting faking papers or a life in another country that wasn't his own. But others argue the opposite. His years of experience abroad, his fluency in other languages, and love of other countries, particularly Italy, as well as all those sightings from his former, you know, his neighbors, his former coworkers abroad.

They're basically saying, you know, that may have served as like a comfort zone. You know, he's comfortable. I feel like he fled. Some say he likely ended his own life shortly after the murders while still in Great Smoky Mountains National Park or was perhaps killed by an animal in the back country, while others say that there's no way he would turn to suicide. He was just too much of a narcissist to end his own life. If their lives were not taken from them, it is likely that Lobelia would have passed away from old age by now, but Annette would be 87, William Bradford III would be 65, Brenton would be 60, and Jeffrey would be 55.

They were all cremated and their ashes were spread in an undisclosed location. The home on Lilystone Drive, sold multiple times since the murder to families well aware of what happened there in 1976. Most recently, it sold in 2009 for $750,000. Wow. That's what you pay for a murder house now? Yeah, it's a tough market out there. I'll say. The Bradford Bishop case remains open and offers a hefty monetary reward for information leading to his arrest.

If he was alive today, he would be 90 years old and would be the longest running and oldest fugitive to have ever appeared on the FBI's most wanted list. As FBI Special Agent Steve Votes said in June of 2015, all we need is one phone call to break the case. So on that note, if you have any information you think could be helpful to the William Bradford Bishop Jr. case, please contact 1-800 call FBI. Wow. Wow.

That's an insane story. And I definitely think, and of course, what do I know? This is the first time I'm hearing the story. But my feeling is that he would have fled the country because he had access to, he had passports, he had money. He was already, it sounded like, was trying to get some other papers and stuff that we heard of from inmates and stuff. And he did speak multiple other languages. what would be stopping him from fleeing the country? I agree.

I think with this one, it feels almost like the most obvious answer is the answer, because I know there were so many different theories and thoughts that ranged from, okay, maybe he just ended his own life to he's a CIA operative and all that. But I am in the same boat as you. I think that, especially at this point in time, you know, there's, it was far easier to get away with, there was no passport flag. Like, you're trying to flee the country. There's no, if it wasn't abundantly clear, other countries were well aware that this person was wanted. But I'm saying, like, in the moment, while there was that lag in time of they don't even know who these murder victims were, they haven't even identified them yet.

He had a go back. He had all this stuff ready. He could just hop on a plane. and go. So I don't know. But I am of the opinion that he fled the country. He laid low for the rest of his life. Whether or not he is still alive today, I don't know. But I think that he just kind of flew under the radar, probably changed his name and just started over in a different country. But it's certainly possible that he's still out there somewhere. Yeah. But just absolutely horrific. I mean, the brutality of those murders and not only the brutality, but the, to do that to

your mother, your wife, and your three young children in such a personal, aggressive, full of rage way. I just... What for? Why? That's the problem. That's the question. Like, why? I don't understand the buildup of anger. It's like, okay, yeah, you were... like tightly wound. Okay. You didn't get a position. It seemed like he had a very clear idea of what he wanted for his life. And somehow he felt like he was missing the mark.

Yeah, that's kind of the vibes that I get, especially when you mentioned how he was kind of sizing up other people to see what they were doing with their lives, what their salary was, what they were up to. And it kind of felt like he had all these boxes he was checking. but he was still deeply unhappy. And I almost wonder if this was his way of being like, I built a life that I hate. I'm going to get rid of it and start new.

And his version of doing that was murdering his whole family. It's like, okay, I don't have that in my life anymore. I'm out of fear. Yeah. Which is obviously horrific and horrendous. But that's like kind of. I just don't understand. I don't understand why.

And even with that, I mean, you could just leave. But of course, then there's divorce and alimony and child support and like all that. So it gets more complicated. But like, man, to do that to your family that you wrote yourself in your journal that you have this beautiful family. Mm-hmm. And. Yeah. Yeah.

Well. And it's just I know it had it definitely had a strong national park tie because of the vehicle. He was last seen there. etc or allegedly last scene there i just to think that you could have like walked by this guy on your national park trip when you're hiking just hiking in the park and this is who is next to you yeah well think about that on your next think about that do you have pallet clenter do you have anything i forgot to bring something fun no

Let's just be depressed. Okay. Let's do that. Oh, I have a palette cleanser. Okay. We're going on tour. You guys should go hang out of us. Yes, we are going on tour.

And we've sold out a few venues. So thank you very much to everyone who has already bought tickets. If you're thinking about buying tickets, you should do it now. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And links are in our show notes. So you can find all the cities we're going to there.

Can't wait to see you. All right. Well, we'll see everyone next week. Please enjoy the view. But watch you're back. Bye. Bye. Thanks for joining us for another episode.

We hope you learned something new and have another location to put on your list. If you want more MPAD content, make sure to follow along with our adventures on all socials at National Park After Dark. For more stories just like this one with the added bonus of exclusive content, you can join us on Patreon or Apple subscription. If you prefer to watch our episodes, head over to our YouTube channel. And if you're enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite listening platform.