319. From Diplomat to FBI’s Most Wanted: William Bradford Bishop

Our True Crime Podcast

Flanderson Media, LLC

True Crime, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.7 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 July 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

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Summary

How hard is it to disappear after killing someone? But what if the victims were your own family? The idea of vanishing after such a crime seems unfathomable—yet some manage it, at least for a while. Few cases illustrate this more chillingly than those of John List and Robert Fisher, two men accused of murdering their families and slipping into the shadows. So it has happened before and will undoubtedly happen again, which takes us to today’s case. It was a quiet Monday morning in Washington, D.C., on March 1, 1976, when William Bradford Bishop Jr.—a rising foreign service officer at the State Department—received the news that would, according to investigators, set a horrific plan in motion. He’d been passed over for a promotion. By mid-afternoon, Bishop told his secretary he was feeling unwell. Colleagues noted that he seemed agitated. One of them, Roy Harrell Jr., would later become the last confirmed person to see him. Bishop left the Foggy Bottom building and disappeared. What followed was a meticulously planned crime. Join Jen and Cam of Our True Crime Podcast as we discuss ‘From Diplomat to FBI’s Most Wanted: William Bradford Bishop.’ Listener discretion by @octoberpodVHS Music is by our EP @theinkypawprint Sources: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102328_4.html https://people.com/william-bradford-bishop-people-magazine-investigates-murder-family-fbi-wanted-8763135 http://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/series/brad-bishop/The-Hunt-for-William-Bradford-Bishop-254259061.html http://www.nbcwashington.com/video/#!/news/local/William-Braford-Bishop-Added-to-FBI-s-Ten-Most-Wanted-List/254741211 https://web.archive.org/web/20130407061938/http://www.amw.com/pdf/brad-bishop-letter-from-bankston.pdf http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-us-diplomat-murder-suspect-added-to-fbis-most-wanted/ http://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/series/brad-bishop/Inside-the-Evidence-Room-in-the-Hunt-for-William-Bradford-Bishop-254602021.html https://archive.org/details/anatomyofmotivef00doug http://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&docref=news/14FA438034ACC1A8 https://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/brad-bishop/fbi-confirms-nc-woman-is-accused-killer-william-bradford-bishops-daughter/2807832/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74885288/bishop-wanted/ https://www.thewashingtondailynews.com/2014/04/11/the-bradford-bishop-mystery/ https://web.archive.org/web/20140416143734/http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/april/william-bradford-bishop-added-to-fbi-top-ten-list/william-bradford-bishop-added-to-fbi-top-ten-list/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102328_4.html https://people.com/william-bradford-bishop-people-magazine-investigates-murder-family-fbi-wanted-8763135 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	We've grown up surrounded by beauty ideals that promised confidence, but often delivered shame.
0:05.5	In a special episode of a millennial mind, I sat down with Nicola Adams to explore how appearance-based
0:11.3	compliments and body talk shape our self-worth without us realising it. In partnership with the
0:16.9	Dove Self-Esteen project, we unpack the tools to change the conversation for
0:21.1	ourselves and for future generations. Listen now and download the free body confidence journal
0:26.4	at Dove.com forward slash Y2K.
0:30.5	Sit in quietly once you've made the house all shiny.
0:34.2	Downtown can be just fine, plain bangers from them 90s.
0:38.4	Tea break. Lunch break. Maybe listen to the outbreak.
0:42.3	Sometimes it's not time for some tombola, right?
0:45.2	It's enjoying lasagna time, chilling with a book time or time to visit your nan time.
0:51.0	Go on. Play some other time. Put your phone down. Tombollah. Open for fun. Terms apply 18 plus
0:58.1	gambleaware.org. Hello. I'm Edward October. Over the years, I've narrated more ghost
1:04.6	stories, horror shows and creepypastas than I can count. And yet, the crimes discussed on our true crime podcast managed to scare
1:13.3	the shit out of me. This program is not suitable for children or the faint of heart. If you are
1:18.9	such a person, go ahead and switch off this podcast. Listen to something else. Are you still
1:25.6	with us? Well, we've warned you.
1:48.3	Hi, Jen.
1:50.1	Cam, how are you?
1:51.6	I'm doing pretty okay.
1:54.6	So, Saturday morning, which is a little different for us.
1:59.8	We usually check in on Sunday morning, but today we're just doing one today and one tomorrow, yeah.
	...

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