Maryland

50 years on the run: Maryland family killing suspect still never caught

Published

1 week ago

March 3, 2026

50 years on the run: Maryland family killing suspect still never caught

There’s one thing that almost everyone who has touched the William Bradford Bishop cold case agrees with: He killed his family.

In the 50 years since the brutal murders in Bethesda, Maryland, many investigators have painstakingly gone through the boxes and boxes of evidence to piece together the crime.

Multiple alleged sightings of Bishop around the United States and even overseas in Europe have been followed up on. Yet two big questions remain: Why did he do it and where did he go?

News4 sat down recently with former and current investigators in the case.

“We knew who did it. That wasn’t the question. We just need to find where this guy is,” said retired Montgomery County Detective Brain Stafford.

“I would like him to face justice for what he did,” said retired FBI Special Agent in Charge Steve Vogt.

“The fact that this hasn’t been resolved, it does, I think, eats at us,” said Montgomery County Sheriff Maxwell Uy.

The Crime

According to investigators, on March 1, 1976, Bishop left his job at the State Department, telling his boss he wasn’t feeling well. He drove to Sears at Montgomery Mall and bought a gas can and a short-handled sledgehammer and then headed to Potomac Village, where he purchased a shovel and a pitchfork at Poch’s Hardware. Police say Bishop used that sledgehammer to kill his wife, Annette; their three boys, Brad, Brenton and Geoffrey; and his mother, Lobelia.

Bishop then drove six hours to the small town of Columbia, North Carolina, where he dumped the bodies in a shallow grave and burned them.

The family station wagon was eventually found almost two weeks later in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. Police think Bishop left it there after driving eight hours from Jacksonville, North Carolina, where a store owner remembered a man with a dog buying a pair of Converse tennis shoes.

Steve Vogt recalls first seeing the killings mentioned in the newspaper as an 11-year-old. He eventually got the chance to work on the case years later.

“Throughout my life after that, I was just tied to the case. It never left me,” he said.

Vogt told the I-Team he believes the last known sighting of Bishop was at a nearby hotel in the days around when the car was discovered in the mountains.

“The guy had checked in with a California driver’s license, a passport and he had a revolver on his bed. No one knew Bishop was carrying a California DL [driver’s license],” he said.

As for the motive, Vogt thinks it was about money and that Bishop wanted to start his life over. He said weeks before the killings, Bishop was passed over for a work promotion and that the family was having financial problems and missed a mortgage payment.

“They talk about narcissistic personality disorder. The guy saw his family as just, they’re his property, “ said Vogt.

Where did Bishop go?

How is it possible that with so many investigators on the case over the last five decades, Bishop has never been found?

“If you’re disciplined, you stay out of trouble, you don’t get fingerprinted, you create a new identity and don’t talk to anybody you ever knew before, you won’t get caught, especially in 1976,” said Vogt.

Vogt was instrumental in getting Bishop added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List in 2014. News4 asked him where he thinks Bishop went after leaving those mountains.

“I believe southeast, southern United States somewhere. I think that’s where he went and stayed,” he said.

But Brian Stafford, who worked the case for years as a detective for Montgomery County police, isn’t so sure. He keeps going back to a missing resolver that investigators knew Bishop had but that was never recovered.

“I honestly don’t know. I went through a long period of time thinking, we never got the revolver back. He walked off into the Great Smoky Mountains and shot himself,” said Stafford.

The tips have continued to come in over the last five decades, with sightings around the U.S. and even overseas in Italy, Sweden and Switzerland. There have also been rumors about Bishop being somehow connected to the CIA.

“I personally have not held to that theory, but we may never know,” Uy, the Montgomery County sheriff said.

No coincidences

“Everything he did, cold, calculated, obviously planned out before. I do not believe there are any coincidences in this case,” said retired detective Stafford.

It’s his belief that Bishop had been planning the crime for a while.

“Too much went right for him,” he said. “”I think that he knew when he left that house where he was going to take those bodies and where he was going after that.”

That’s a question the family of Ron Brickhouse would like answered. Back in 1976, the forest ranger was the one who discovered the bodies in that shallow grave in North Carolina. News4 spoke to Brickhouse back in 2014, years before he passed away. Even then, almost 40 years after the crime, he had a hard time talking about the case, saying it was difficult to get the images out of his head.

“It’s just bad memories,” he said. His family said that interview was the last time he spoke about the case publicly.

All these years later, they’re still hoping for some closure.

“I wish there could be, before I pass away. I was hoping that for my husband, but it didn’t happen,” said his wife, Patricia Brickhouse.

The FBI hopes the identification of a daughter of William Bradford Bishop will lead to more clues and tips in a 45-year-old cold case that has rocked the D.C. region for decades. News4’s Shawn Yancy reports investigators hope the discovery will help explain why Bishop killed his family.

The 50-year hunt

When News4 asked Stafford if he thought authorities were ever close to finding Bishop, he responded, “I don’t think we ever were.”

But five decades after the killings, the FBI said the Bishop investigation remains active and that they continue to receive a high number of tips.

Uy said he too has a deputy assigned to the case file.

“If we were to get a tip tonight, if we’re to get a tip today, the deputies in our criminal section can actively look into it,” he said.

“We did everything we could. And maybe still, maybe this 50th anniversary, maybe somebody someday will pick up the phone,” said Vogt.

All it takes is one phone call.

“I believe someone has seen him and they haven’t made the call,” he said.

While Vogt isn’t sure if Bishop is alive or dead, the case has never left him. He recently joked with a friend on New Year’s Day that his resolution was to catch Bishop this year.

“A few months back, I was in an airport and I saw somebody that looked like him,” he said.

But he doubts over the years that he’s actually ever seen the fugitive.

“No, absolutely not,” he said.

Investigators acknowledge time could be running out to resolve this case.

“I wouldn’t say that we’re past the point of getting our hopes up because we’ve seen cases resolve sometimes when we think that they’re not likely to,” said Uy. “Personally, he would be 89 years old if he was still alive today, and I really do not believe he’s still alive.”

But Stafford still wants answers for the five people brutally killed, the people who still remember them and every investigator who has worked the case over five decades.

“The question is, why not just leave? Why do all this? If you’re thinking you just wanna leave, you just want to go, and you don’t want to get a divorce, you don’t wanna go through all that, you just want to disappear, get in the car and go,” said Stafford. “Why did you decide you had to kill them all?”

They’re questions police say only Bishop can provide if he’s ever caught. And if he isn’t, “Justice is never served. Ultimately, he’s gonna answer for this crime, no matter what,” said Stafford.

“Maybe it still will happen. Who knows. You never give up ‘til it’s over, you know,” said Vogt. “When everybody that knew Brad Bishop is gone, is no longer on this earth and nobody cares anymore, that’s when it’s over. I mean, for me, obviously, when I’m no longer here, it’s over for me. But it’s just a mystery that you’d like to solve.”

If you have any information about the hunt for William Bradford Bishop you can call 1-800-CALL-FBI.

Shawn Yancy and the News4 I-Team share how they got the interview with William Bradford Bishop’s daughter and their years covering his case.

Sign up for our free deep-dive newsletter, The 4Front, to get standout News4 stories sent right to your inbox. Subscribe here.

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Maryland

Delaware retail weed sales in market’s first months fall far short of estimates

Published

12 hours ago

March 12, 2026

Press Room

Delaware retail weed sales in market’s first months fall far short of estimates

What are journalists missing from the state of Delaware? What would you most like WHYY News to cover? Let us know.

Delaware’s new recreational marijuana market is off to a slower start than expected, with stores ringing up $29.3 million in sales in the seven months since the industry launched, state statistics provided to WHYY News show.

That’s generated about $4.4 million in tax revenue for the state, based on the state’s 15% tax on cannabis sales.

The figures fall far short of what the state’s former marijuana commissioner estimated in 2023 after lawmakers legalized cannabis for adults over 21 and created the framework for the regulated market.

Delaware’s fledgling industry also has a long way to go before it can approach the per-capita sales in neighboring New Jersey and Maryland, a WHYY News analysis found.

Sales in New Jersey started in April 2022, and in Maryland began in July 2023. So while Delaware struggled for two years to launch its retail industry, many residents became accustomed to driving across the state line to buy legal cannabis.

Delaware finally began selling recreational weed on Aug. 1 at 13 existing medical marijuana dispensaries that paid $100,000 apiece for so-called conversion licenses.

The state Office of the Marijuana Commissioner has also granted conditional licenses to 16 prospective recreational cannabis retailers, though none have yet opened. A total of 30 retail-only stores are allowed by law.

The bottom line for now is that tiny Delaware is averaging $4.2 million a month in retail sales over seven months. Projected over a full year, that would amount to a little more than $50 million in sales and $7.5 million in tax revenue.

Delaware’s first marijuana commissioner, Robert Coupe, had predicted in 2023, however, that the state would have $281 million in annual sales that would generate $42 million in taxes.

But Coupe stepped down last January as Gov. Matt Meyer was about to take office, and Josh Sanderlin replaced him.

Sanderlin told WHYY News this week that he’s satisfied with retail sales figures to date for flowers, gummies and other cannabis products.

“I’m happy with how the program’s rolling out. We are seeing steady increases across the board,” Sanderlin said.

“We are rolling out some new licensees. We’ve had cultivators and some manufacturers come online and [more] are coming online, which helps expand the product base, helping lower prices for consumers. And most importantly, right now, we are working towards trying to ensure that more retailers can come online.”

Advocates say that Delaware needs more growing operations to increase supply and lower prices. (Courtesy of The Farm)

Zoë Patchell, president of the Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network, has been critical of how long it took Delaware to open its recreational market and said she’s not surprised that sales totals are only a fraction of previous predictions.

“I think it’s obvious that when prices for the same product in neighboring competitive legal markets are considerably lower, it’s not difficult to see why consumers are less eager to patronize Delaware’s legal market,” Patchell said. “A simple Google search shows that the same product is offered for much less in neighboring competitive states as close as Maryland.”

Zoe Patchel posing for a photo in front of an information booth — Zoë Patchell of the Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network said she’s not surprised that Delaware’s sales aren’t meeting projections. (Cris Barrish/WHYY)

Patchell specified prices for Betty’s Eddies, a brand of edible products licensed in several states.

A search by WHYY News found that one store in Delaware sells a five-pack of 10-milligram “Smashin’ Passion Chews” for $18 plus tax, which brings the total to $20.70.

A store in Baltimore, however, sells a 10-pack of 10-mg “Smashin’ Passion Chews” — twice as much — for $20, plus Maryland’s 12% tax, for a total of $22.40.

“So consumers aren’t stupid,” Patchell said, “and it’s easy to see what the going rate for cannabis is.”

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Maryland

Road condition, traffic congestion in Md. costs drivers thousands, report finds – WTOP News

Published

1 day ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Road condition, traffic congestion in Md. costs drivers thousands, report finds – WTOP News

A new report by the transportation nonprofit TRIPS found the condition of the roads in Maryland’s D.C. suburbs is costing residents over $3,500 annually.

A new report found the condition of the roads in Maryland’s D.C. suburbs is costing residents over $3,500 annually.

This includes increased wear and tear on vehicles as well as depreciation, wasted fuel, wasted time and the cost of traffic accidents.

Rocky Moretti is the director of development and research at TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit. During a news conference Wednesday, he said the average driver in Maryland’s D.C. suburbs is spending an additional 90 hours per year stuck in traffic and wasting an additional 26 gallons of gas.

Statewide, 30% of Maryland roads are in “poor” condition, which Moretti said is significantly higher than the national average. The D.C. suburbs fare somewhat better, with 27% in poor condition, according to TRIP. Another 24% of Maryland’s roads in D.C. suburbs are rated in “mediocre” condition, compared with 21% statewide, the report found.

“I’m sad to say, you know, a lot of that stuff just rings true with me. For a long time, I was a local commissioner back about 20 years ago, in the early 2000s. And we were constantly wrestling with the need to put more money in our traffic infrastructure and just struggling to find the funding for that, as we saw state and federal dollars continue to drop,” said Jim Kercheval, executive director of the greater Hagerstown committee.

The report said the federal transportation program that was last reauthorized in 2021 was a significant boost to Maryland, increasing federal funding for roadways by 29%. Highway construction inflation since that bill was passed, however, has increased 47%. At the same time, the state is seeing decreasing revenues from gas taxes because of electric and more fuel efficient vehicles.

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Maryland

Irish heritage and history run deep in Maryland. Now to celebrate it.

Published

2 days ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Irish heritage and history run deep in Maryland. Now to celebrate it.

The Delmarva Peninsula, particularly Maryland, has deep historical ties to Irish immigrants.
Ocean City celebrates this heritage with one of the Eastern Shore’s largest St. Patrick’s Day parades.
Irish immigrants played a significant role in building American infrastructure, such as the B&O Railroad.

The Delmarva Peninsula is no strange to Irish heritage and history.

Now, ahead of St. Patrick’s Day on March 17, 2026, here’s a closer look at just how that rich Irish history has shaped Delmarva and one of its most popular resort towns.

Irish immigrants helped shape Maryland infrastructure

The state of Maryland, in particular, has deep historical ties to Irish immigrants.

According to the Delmarva Irish-American Club, thousands of Irish immigrants arrived through the Port of Baltimore seeking refuge amid the Irish Potato Famine during the 1840s and 1850s. Together, the immigrants built railroads, dug canals, and formed tight-knit communities in areas such as Locust Point and Fell’s Point in Baltimore.

Irish immigrants also played a big part in early American infrastructure in Maryland.

Throughout the 19th century, countless Irish immigrants helped construct portions of the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad, the oldest railroad ever to be built in the United States. Even Delmarva Irish-American Club Vice President John R. O’Brien’s great grandfather was a stone mason on the second half of the Washington Monument.

In what ways does Ocean City celebrate Irish culture?

Ocean City, Maryland’s first ever St. Patrick’s Day Parade took place in 1980. Since then, the parade and accompanying festival have grown into one of the Eastern Shore’s biggest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

Following the influx of Irish immigration during the 1840s and 1850s, many individuals of Irish descent began to settle throughout Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic region. Now, that heritage is reflected in local organizations, churches, music traditions and community-wide events such as Ocean City’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

This year’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration will take place on Saturday, March 14, 2026. The procession will begin at noon at 57th Street on Coastal Highway, marching south to the 45th Street Shopping Center.

How can people honor their Irish heritage at home?

There are many ways people of all ages can honor their Irish heritage and history alongside friends and family at home.

A few Irish-centered activities include:

Listening to traditional Irish folk music
Baking Irish soda bread or stew
Learning about family genealogy
Reading Irish literature and mythology
Sharing Irish stories and folklore with children
Decorating with Celtic symbols and shamrocks

Fun Irish phrases such as “Sláinte” (meaning cheers or good health), “Céad míle fáilte” (meaning a hundred thousand welcomes), and the Irish blessing “May the road rise to meet you,” can also be incorporated into daily vocabulary.

What is the Delmarva Irish-American Club?

The Delmarva Irish-American Club was founded in 1980 by a small group of friends with the vision of celebrating the Feast Day of St. Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland, with a grand parade.

The club’s first membership drive resulted in 75 members. Today, there are nearly 300. The club is open to anyone who is Irish, of Irish descent, or likes all things Irish, Delmarva Now previously reported.

The Delmarva Irish-American Club — a 501(c)(3) social organization — is an all-volunteer, local charity that works year-round to celebrate and preserve Irish history and culture on the Eastern Shore.

“Our goal is to celebrate Irish heritage and share those traditions with the broader community while keeping them alive for the next generation,” Vice President John R. O’Brien shared.

The club is largely responsible for the Ocean City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and also supports Irish music, dance and cultural events throughout the year. To learn more, visit www.delmarvairish.org.

Olivia Minzola covers communities on the Lower Shore. Contact her with tips and story ideas at ominzola@delmarvanow.com.

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