BILL BISHOP
Killed by his own son?
Alexander Bishop, just 16 when he dialed 911 on April 18, 2018, patiently repeated his street address three times for the dispatcher before getting to the point: “I think my dad is dead.” His deep voice wavering, the high-school student went on to recount how a freak accident had unfolded in the basement theatre room of the Durham, North Carolina, home and how his father, Bill, had been strangled by a leash on the
family’s yellow lab Winston. “I think my dog got his, like, collar wrapped around his throat” Alexander told the dispatcher. “His face is purple, and his heart’s not beating. My dad is dead.”
Paramedics responding to Alexander’s call revived William “Bill” Bishop’s heart, but the 59-year-old multimillionaire land developer died three days later. The medical examiner ruled it a homicide by strangulation, setting in motion an improbable murder mystery – from
the menacing dog leash to a stash of missing gold – that culminated in the arrest of Alexander, charged with first-degree murder. Alexander, now 17, pleaded not guilty and is living with his mother, Bill’s ex-wife Sharon Bishop, on $250,000 bail awaiting trial.
“Sharon had called me and said Bill had a heart attack,” says Ed Turanchik, Bill’s former business partner.” Then the news came out about the autopsy and now the arrest. It’s all pretty incomprehensible.” Another friend, David Moore, puts it bluntly: “How the hell could this have happened?’’
To all appearances Bill was an attentive father to Alexander and his brother Jefferson, 18, who ably juggled spending time with his boys and the work in real-estate development that built him a $7.9 million fortune. After Sharon and Bill separated in 2016 (the divorce was finalised April 6, 2018, two weeks before Bill’s death), he also became the primary caregiver for the boys, who were enrolled in two of Durham’s most elite private schools. “Bill was very devoted to his boys and went out of his way to make sure they were educated,” says friend Diane Egner.
Alexander painted a different picture of his family life – he told a story about his father’s death that police later found suspicious – when officers responded to his 911 call. According to a search warrant written by police investigator T. Huelsman, Alexander said he found his dad with the leash looped over his right arm and wrapped around his neck “with the dog still attached”. Police later learned that a 2012 fitness-camp accident almost totally disabled Bill’s right arm, making it unlikely that he would have been using the leash with that arm. According to Huelsman’s search-warrant affidavit, an emergency medical service supervisor on the scene also reported that Alexander said “he wasn’t going to be upset about his father dying. His father verbally abused him and his mum for a number of years”. In 2010, as she sought court-ordered protection, Sharon alleged violent outbursts by Bill, but seven years later she gave him full custody of the boys as she started rehab for alcoholism. Huelsman’s sworn filing also notes that a search of Bill’s home turned up a purchase order for more than $677,300 in gold bars – but no actual gold – and a search of Alexander’s phone found research on “the price of gold per ounce” and “how to transfer bank accounts after death”.
But an April 15 motion by Alexander’s lawyer Allyn Sharp accuses Huelsman of lying. The purchase order was for gold that Bill sold – so, not missing – Sharp’s motion contends. She also alleges that officer bodycamera footage includes first responders saying they believe the leash was responsible for the strangulation. Meanwhile, family friends are left second-guessing. At a memorial for Bill, his friend Joe Kosloski recalls he thought Alexander “seemed like he was upset”. Kosloski still struggles to understand it. “It’s just unbelievable,” he says, “to think Alexander did it.”
“Everything Bill did he did for his boys” —Friend Joe Kosloski