The Hunt for William Bradford Bishop: Authorities Exhume Body in Alabama

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: NBC4 in Washington, DC

Body bears a "strong physical resemblence" to suspect in family's murder

By Tisha Thompson
Thursday, Oct 9, 2014 • Updated at 11:44 AM EDT

Investigators who continue to probe the 38-year-old murders of a Maryland family exhumed a body in Alabama on Thursday morning, after authorities noted the dead person's resemblance to suspect William Bradford Bishop.

Bishop is accused of using a sledgehammer to murder his wife, Annette; his mother, Lobelia; and his three boys, 14-year-old Brad, 10-year-old Brenton and 5-year-old Geoffrey, in their Potomac, Maryland home in 1976.

The family's bodies were found burning in a shallow grave off a logging road near Columbia, North Carolina. Two weeks later, investigators found Bishop's car in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. ... Bishop disappeared after the murders.
....

Since then, hundreds of tips have poured in -- including the one that led to the request to exhume the body of an unknown man in Alabama. The man, called only "John Doe," died in 1981 after a car hit him as he was walking down Highway 72 in Scottsboro, Alabama.

Read more: http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Brad-Bishop-William-Bradford-Bishop-Exhume-Body-Alabama-278571321.html

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FBI exhumes body in Ten Most Wanted search

By Associated Press October 9 at 1:30 PM

WASHINGTON — The FBI exhumed the body of an unidentified man in Alabama on Thursday in its search for a former diplomat accused of killing his family with a sledgehammer nearly 40 years ago.

In court filings, the FBI said there is a strong resemblance between photos of the John Doe in Alabama and former State Department diplomat William Bradford “Brad” Bishop Jr. He is accused of using a sledgehammer to kill his wife, mother and three sons in their Bethesda, Maryland, home in 1976. Their bodies were found in a shallow grave in Columbia, North Carolina.

FBI to exhume body from Scottsboro cemetery that may be fugitive on 'Ten Most Wanted' list

By Jonathan Grass | [e-mail]
on October 08, 2014 at 10:24 PM, updated October 08, 2014 at 10:30 PM

SCOTTSBORO, Alabama -- The FBI will be removing a body buried in a Scottsboro cemetery on Thursday to see if it's really that of William Bradford Bishop Jr., a man who has been on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list since April.

FBI spokesman Paul Daymond said they received a tip that a "John Doe" buried in 1981 could be Bishop based on the man's appearance.

'John Doe' body exhumed Thursday morning

Posted: Thursday, October 9, 2014 1:52 pm | Updated: 2:17 pm, Thu Oct 9, 2014.
By DeWayne Patterson

On a bright fall morning Thursday, local and federal authorities, including a circuit judge, a district attorney, federal prosecutor, members of the FBI and local law enforcement, gathered at Cedar Hill Cemetery as the body of a man believed to be a notorious fugitive, who has been on the run after allegedly killing his family, was exhumed.

Workers began after 9:30 a.m. digging up the grave where the marker, barely readable after more than 30 years, says, “John Doe….buried in 1981…”

Around two hours later, the vault was lifted from the ground, loaded and taken to Scottsboro Funeral Home.

Authorities believe the man known only as “John Doe,” who died while walking on U.S. Highway 72 after being hit by a vehicle on Oct. 18, 1981, could be fugitive William Bradford Bishop, Jr, the oldest member of the FBI’s Most Wanted.

[Tom Ripley]

1. Thanks for the news; I have long been familiar with this case

[bpj62]

2. Lyons Sisters

And if they can find the remains of the Lyons sisters we can finally put to the top two missing persons cases from the DC area. The Lyons sisters were my age when they disappeared in March of 1975. I also remember the hunt for Bishop back in 76 and the Washington Post and Washington Star printing a picture of the burnt out station wagon. The digital age has been a boon to cold cases.

[bluestateguy]

3. There were reported sightings of him in Europe as late as 1994

As a State Department employee he had an ability to make fake ID's to stay on the run a long time.

[Rhinodawg]

4. Well, I guess if you want to dissappear ,

Alabama is the place to do it.