FBI: 'Family Annihilator' May Be in Los Angeles

According to the FBI, William Bradford Bishop Jr., 77, who allegedly murdered his wife, mother, and three sons in Maryland in 1976 by beating them to death with a hammer, may be at large in Southern California. 

The Los Angeles Times reports that after the day the family was murdered, Bishop, sometimes called the “Family Annihilator,” disappeared. He had allegedly transported the bodies to North Carolina, where he burned and buried them. Following that, he bought some sneakers in Jacksonville, N.C., and vanished.

Last week, he was put on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. The reason Bishop is suspected of being in California is that he likes the Sierra Nevada mountains and knows Pasadena. He was a member of the U.S. Foreign Service, is multi-lingual, and is known to wear a Yale University class ring.

Bishop was an insomniac, favoring scotch, wine, peanuts, and spicy food. He may still carry a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver that he inherited from his father. In 1976 he was 6’1”, 180 lbs. with brown hair and eyes and a 6-inch vertical surgical scar on his lower back.

The Times shows pictures of what artists think Bishop looks like now; $100,000 has been offered for information leading to his arrest and conviction.