Talk:Bradford Bishop

lack of sources
There is no source for the rather unrealistic claim that the idiom'put someone in their place' originated with this mass murderer. I am excising these sections; please provide a source for this claim. 24.224.214.165 (talk) 02:48, 4 June 2013 (UTC)

Hammer
_ _ The removed expression "metal hammer" is ambiguous and in that state added nothing to the article. Is this, paralleling "wooden hammer", a hammer composed of metal (unlike most mallets) or, paralleling "tack hammer", a hammer intended for working metal? Even if that is not known, the phrase's use might have some value if accompanied by information as to who described it as a "metal hammer". _ _ As to the article as a whole, it appears to be based on a source aimed at readers who fantasize about helping bring criminals to justice, and/or added to WP by such a person. It has a legitimate place here, but the tone is almost seriously unencyclopedic. It needs a lot more work than the little i have given it. --Jerzy•t 16:09 & 17:38, 7 August 2006 (UTC) _ _ As to another hammer ref, completely removed, can
 * The hammer has been described as "mallet-like" in press reports and in some police reports as a "sledge hammer".

serve any purpose beyond feeding voyeurism about violence? _ _ I started this cleaner version of a 'graph:
 * On the other hand, the Montgomery County, Maryland Sheriff did file a Freedom of Information Act request with the CIA but received no records. Sheriff Popkin is quoted in the Yale Daily News as saying
 * The CIA came in and did an investigation. Why would they bother doing that if they didn't know something?

but removed it instead, which has the welcome side effect of obviating the question of what the bizarre language i was modifying means. (I was unjustified in my tenative inference that Popkin is or was the sheriff: the language is consistent with the inference that the reporter is not directly quoting the sheriff, but quoting Popkin, a department employee who claimed to be quoting the sheriff; it is hard to see what else it can mean.) _ _ But the reason for removing it is that there is no sign here of anything beyond If there is more controversy than that, find it and include it instead. --Jerzy•t 17:38, 7 August 2006 (UTC) There probably is no Columba, North Carolina. NC 94 does run thru Columbia, North Carolina, and south from there for about 20 miles. --Jerzy•t 19:19, 7 August 2006 (UTC)
 * 1) a FOIA request from someone who AFAWK may have no idea how to make a useful one or what to expect,
 * 2) an idly suspicious question, voiced under the stimulation of a reporter's inquiry, presumably transcribed by a student journalist
 * 3) and "On the other", which expresses the editor's PoV, and ostensible original research, to the effect that the other signs constitute "smoke" making a "fire" plausible.

-- While I am not sure that the sneering, supercilious tone was necessary, I am sure that the edits made it a cleaner and better article. The only argument I would make is that the original sentence ending "... probably, although not definitely, accompanied by a “dark skinned woman”. Is more accurate than "Accordingly (sic) to witnesses, he had the family dog with him on a leash, and was accompanied by a woman described as "dark skinned". A single witness is absolutely sure that a woman was with him ... the police/FBI are not sure and it does not fit the consensus view of the crime – it is worth mentioning because the police put it the way it originally read. (Khan Noonian Singh 19:08, 25 September 2006 (UTC))

---So? Does this article stay in limbo forever? It has been 7 weeks since Jerzy's bombastic but very effective clean-up edit ... Who would make the call that it is ready to lose the “please edit” tag? (Khan Noonian Singh 19:08, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Expected Promotion?
The article states that Bishop was expecting a promotion and that on the date of the murders received word he would not receive it. What is the source for that contention? I cannot find it corroborated anywhere. The same for his alleged use of prescription anti-depressants. Tom Cod 20:25, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

Under External Links: The Promotion is mentioned in the Readers Digest summary of the case and the Serax use is included in the US DoJ's write up (1st paragraph under DESCRIPTION) (Khan Noonian Singh 20:32, 22 January 2007 (UTC))

Serax (oxazepam) is not an anti-depressant (as described). Its a benzodiazepine sedative and although it may be prescribed as an adjunctive therapy for eg. agitation or anxiety, it has no anti=depressant action or properties.Plutonium27 15:30, 13 April 2007 (UTC)Plutonium27Plutonium27 15:30, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

Hearsay That Makes No Sense
"According to a co-worker of Bishop's, his family (primarily wife and mother) constantly belittled him, telling him that he was a wash-up, and that he didn't have any ability in his job anymore. This may have caused him to feel very upset, and could have ultimately led to his decision to commit what seemed to be a crime of passion. The co-worker also went on to add that this was usually Bishop's way to "put someone in their place", as he liked to say himself."


 * So he was in the habit of committing crimes of passion? This makes no sense and certainly needs a citation.
 * Actually, it makes a lot of sense, going to his motive. But you are right, it does require some citation as otherwise it is simply speculation, though I do recall this story being circulated in the local Washington media at the time. And no, people who commit crimes of passion, generally don't do so as a matter of habit.Tom Cod (talk) 05:49, 14 December 2015 (UTC)


 * It should be noted that Bishop's neighborhood in those days was riddled with CIA officers, e.g. David Atlee Phillips. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.163.65.143 (talk) 16:06, 20 June 2008 (UTC)


 * That's uncited, but even if true, what does it matter? We66er (talk) 01:29, 14 September 2008 (UTC)


 * The citation would be the publisher's information in D.A.P.'s self-published books (Stone Trail Press) which give his home address. The relevance is that it was commonly believed that Bishop didn't work for the State Department.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.88.229.196 (talk) 15:19, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

Wife's Body Found?
This article says that his wife's body was found, "laying beside a book which she may have been reading at the time" but also says that, "dental records were used to confirm that the bodies found in North Carolina were of Bishop's wife, Annette, his mother, and three sons" So, which was it?Cottonshirt (talk) 03:58, 23 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Maybe she read in th car. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.171.176.252 (talk) 04:51, 23 February 2011 (UTC)

This part should be deleted
'''Ballet dancer Jacques d'Amboise revealed in his 2011 autobiography I Was a Dancer that he became a close friend of Bishop's parents, who were ballet fans, while he was still a teenager and that when he was seventeen and Bishop was fourteen, he lived with the family for a while. He described Bishop as very intelligent, reticent and intense. Years later, D'Amboise and his wife Carrie were meant to spend the night of the murders sleeping over at Bishop's home, but he was injured in a performance a few days earlier and they had to cancel. D'Amboise stated that he has wondered ever since if their presence that night would have prevented the murders or resulted in their being killed, as well.[12]''' It's irrelevant. 24.97.201.230 (talk) 00:15, 11 April 2014 (UTC)

Bradford's corpse possibly found
http://americanlivewire.com/2014-10-09-exhumed-body-may-belong-accused-murderer-missing-40-years/

Noted here for follow-up, if it proves relevant. 21:51, 9 October 2014 (UTC)


 * Seemed relevant, even if it wasn't him. Added. There's a good chance all the other sightings we mention weren't him, either. One thing that certainly isn't him is the sculpture we use in his infobox. I suggest replacing it with the image of his actual face from that article (and everywhere else about him). We already have the artist's interpretations at the bottom. That sort of reimagining in high-traffic media can be misleading in certain eyes. See Jesus. InedibleHulk (talk) 07:45, 12 October 2014 (UTC)

Unsourced claim that Bishop was a CIA agent
Bradford Bishop was a CIA agent. This is a fact that has been deliberately omitted from the official record. The Agency most likely does not want to advertise the fact they had a depraved sociopath working for them at one point, and back in the mid-70's, during the cold war, that one of their own would commit such an unspeakable crime, before he defected to the Soviet Union and compromised a number of intelligence and security operations which were being conducted in Europe. When Brad Bishop was stationed in Italy back in the 1960's, he was involved in operations to infiltrate student groups, at various Universities, and other groups, which were sympathetic to the Italian Communist Party, which back in those days, was a number one target of NATO and western intelligence agencies. While Bishop was working for the CIA, he was involved in an affair with an attractive young Italian woman, who was a college student in Florence, and was also working as an "Access Agent" for the KGB. The official storyline for Bishop was that he murdered his family, shortly after learning he had been turned down for a promotion at the "State Department." This was later disproven, when it was admitted that he had solicited an inmate at a federal prison to carry out the hit on his family months before he learned of his demotion. The people he had contacted had declined to carry out the hit, because it involved killing children. The real reason he killed them was because he wanted to cut all ties to the U.S. before he defected to the East. He lived in East Germany for a while and also lived in a Croatian neighborhood in the vicinity of Eisenstadt, Burgenland, Austria. He died approximately 5-10 years ago, and he is buried under the name "Vittorio" in a Mausoleum somewhere in Rome, Italy. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.39.118.245 (talk) 02:34, 21 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Interesting theory! Any sources for that, too? ;) Dorpater (talk) 18:45, 28 April 2016 (UTC)

Daughter?
Australian source displays a supposed daughter: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/woman-discovers-dad-is-a-fugitive-on-fbi-most-wanted-list/news-story/b7db5c91862275a6236d215fff905041 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2003:C0:DF09:ED00:F0F3:2FE9:5025:CD24 (talk) 10:02, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 02:41, 14 May 2022 (UTC)
 * William Bradford Bishop, Jr.jpg