Dear Brad,
You've been on the run for 37 years now. It's time to turn yourself in.
Why? Because you'll soon turn 77 and because you owe it to Annette, Lobelia, Brad III, Brent and Geoffrey.
As you approach the end of your life, do you really want to go to your own grave not having atoned for what you did to them? I believe you still have a conscience, that your sin eats at you each and every day, that you know in your heart that you need to explain your act.
How is it that I can say this? Well, Brad, I feel that I know you. You see, we have some things in common. We're both ex-Foreign Service officers, we both have Ivy League degrees, we both started our government careers in military intelligence, we're both multilingual, we're both over 6'1" and fit. And we both married smart, beautiful women and had trophy children. The similarities end there. You killed your family. I cherish mine.
When I entered the Foreign Service two years after you bludgeoned your wife, mother and three sons to death at your suburban Maryland home, you were still the subject of regular water cooler chatter among State Department folks. Ex-colleagues shook their heads, still expressing utter shock at what drove you to commit familicide. They described you as whip-smart, charming and hard working, though a tad on the intense side. By all accounts, the Bishops were held up as the model Foreign Service family. The claim that you were taken over by a demonic rage over being passed over for promotion, leading you to methodically plan the murders of your family members just didn't make sense to them. After all, cerebral Foreign Service people are renowned for being in control of their emotions, if they have any at all.
I even wrote a book with you as a lead character. I researched everything I could find about you to try to get inside your head in preparation for writing Chasm, a thriller in which a deeply troubled FSO, William Winford Ferret, murders his family after pressures at work tip him over a thin psychological edge. If you haven't already done so, pick up a copy and let me know what you think after reading it. It was an Amazon bestseller.
During my research, I came upon something called "catathymic crisis" as a possible motivator for some serial killers. According to this psychological condition, there is "the development of the idea that a violent act – against another person or against oneself – is the only solution to a profound emotional conflict whose real nature remains below the threshold of the consciousness of the patient." After the act, the perpetrator then experiences a sense of relief, followed by a superficial feeling of normalcy which returns the subject to calm, rational behavior.
This then would explain your methodically collecting the bodies of your family members, driving five hours to North Carolina where you dug a shallow trench and ignited them with gasoline, purchased a pair of tennis shoes, then drove west to Tennessee with the family dog (alive), where you abandoned your blood-filled station wagon and disappeared. Poof!
I, for one, don't buy the notion that you then wandered stir-crazy into the Smoky Mountains, died of exposure and were devoured by bear and boars. No. I think you're still alive. You're an experienced outdoorsman, health-conscious and smart. I believe you probably hopped a bus to some city, thence onward to some place, maybe Europe. There have been almost as many live sightings of Brad Bishop over the years as there have been of Big Foot and Elvis. But there were three credible sightings of you between 1978 and 1994 in Europe by people who actually knew you.
Here's my thinking, Brad. Yes, you may have fluency in five languages, but you're a native speaker of none of them. Being anywhere abroad, your Americanness stands out no matter how much you try to disguise it. After those close calls in Basel, Stockholm and Sorrento, you returned to North America -- maybe the U.S., maybe Canada, countries much freer of national IDs and travel controls compared with European nations, particularly pre-9/11. Remember Mao Tse-tung's axiom, "The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea"? Same goes for fugitives from justice. You studied Mao. You took this dictum to heart. You may be hiding in plain sight.
Which leads me to two other notorious murderers: John List and Whitey Bulger. The parallels between you and List are uncanny. Five years before you massacred your family, List killed his wife, mother and three children -- only he shot them each in the back of the head, execution-style rather than bash their heads in with a small sledge hammer as you did. He then vanished and stayed that way for 18 years until someone who'd seen his face on America's Most Wanted tipped off law enforcement. He had remarried and lived mostly under the radar, much as you have done. He died in prison in 2008 at age 82. As you've seen in the news, the gangster, Whitey Bulger, is currently on trial for 19 alleged murders. He had also managed to stay on the lam for 16 years until publicity by America's Most Wanted and outstanding law enforcement sleuthing led to his arrest. Bulger is 83.
These men were nabbed by surprise, hauled in like caged animals in their advanced years. Do you want to suffer the same ignominious kind of capture? Wouldn't it be better to turn yourself in, head held high, stating that you're now ready to explain your motive and readiness to accept your punishment like a man? You owe it to them, Annette, your high school sweetheart and blossoming artist whom you married right out of college; Lobelia, with her warm Gallic personality and pride in her son; Brent, whose soccer matches you, the proud father, filmed; Brad III, who had just entered high school, and Geoffrey, a rambunctious kindergartner. John List, a religious man, killed his family convinced he was sending them to heaven. Your Serax-infused brain surely jumped to some similar, twisted rationale. The old Flip Wilson line, "The Devil made me do it!" comes to mind. BTW, are you still struggling with depression? If not, you should be.
So, let's leave it like this, Brad -- from one FSO to another: Drop me a line. Tell me what drove you to terminate the lives of your wife, mother and three sons. Confide your innermost thoughts and feelings. I'll then report them honestly and even write a book about it all after you bravely turn yourself in. You can email me via my Facebook page. So that I can separate you from the inevitable cranks and poseurs, please include the following keys:
- The SCI clearances you held when you were in Army intel.
- The names of three Yale roommates and that of the quarterback on your college football team.
- Your Foreign Service cone and the names of three of your A-100 classmates.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Jim
