No Gravestone Unturned: The Search for Brad Bishop Goes On
On a tip from an alert Alabama viewer of CNN's crime series, "The Hunt," the FBI wasted no time in digging up the body of an unidentified man who had been killed in a hit-an-run incident 33 years ago. A coroner's photo of the dead man's face showed a close resemblance to that of William Bradford Bishop, who had allegedly murdered his family in 1976 and has been a fugitive ever since. In under a week, the FBI exhumed the man's body and fast-tracked DNA processing. As I predicted, the unidentified man was not Bishop.
The FBI's action demonstrates the lengths that agency will go in seeking to resolve one of its Ten Most Wanted cases. Long odds won't deter the bureau. Better to dig up a long-deceased John Doe than to leave doubt. Justice is relentless in a case like this. And, if he is alive, Bishop must be jumpy, fearful that, 38 years after be bludgeoned his mother, wife and three young sons to death, justice may finally catch up with him. And the more nervous one gets, the more mistakes one makes. Knowing that your face and crime are suddenly revealed before millions of observant and ordinary citizens via the ubiquitous TV screen, that one of those observant citizens will recognize you and just make that fateful call to law enforcement, may cause you to leave your comfort zone and even panic.
Fugitives Whitey Bulger and John List were found out in this manner. Both murderers were arrested upon a tip from neighbors who had watched "America's Most Wanted" after spending many years living off the grid under new identities. List, who, like Bishop, murdered his family, died in prison. The octogenarian gangster, Bulger, can expect the same fate.
So, put yourself in the shoes of the wily Bishop. Seventy-eight years old, living the quiet life somewhere, here or abroad. What must he be thinking? My guess is that he's alert, yet calm; closely following the latest news about him, taking extra precautions to keep a low profile. Sharing much of his background as a former diplomat and military intelligence professional, I would have brushed off my contingency plans -- evade and escape procedures; alternative transportation options; forged identity documents with a new name (or names); secure financial resources. In fact, a smart operative would have already quietly abandoned his place and identity and moved on, leaving no trace. He would have built a new "legend," i.e., biographical back story much as deep cover and sleeper agents do. One fly in the ointment is Bishop's age. Is he still up to his game at 78? Still mentally acute, physically capable?
But, with so much attention now devoted to his case and the steady drumbeat of leads, he has to feel like a potential prey with carnivores steadily on his heels, relentlessly closing in, inevitably encountering that one slip-up, that one lucky opportunity, to take him down.