By all appearances,Bill Bishopseemed to be a doting father to his two teenaged sons. The successful land developer had moved from Florida to Durham, North Carolina, in 2008 to get a doctorate and enrolled his sons in elite private schools.
As the primary caregiver after separating from his wife in 2017, Bishop was “very devoted to his boys and went out of his way to make sure they were educated,” says friend Diane Egner.
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Egner says Bishop had his sons Alexander and Jefferson read “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” then took them to Europe to see where that history happened. “Bill saw similarities to the political climate America was in and wanted his sons to understand it,” she says. “The boys seemed very excited.”
Then, on April 18, 2018, the unimaginable happened.
Police found Bishop unresponsive in an oversized leather chair inside the home’s theater room. Alexander, then 16, told 911 dispatchers that he discovered his father with a dog leash wrapped around his neck — with the dog still attached to it.
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From left: Bill Bishop, Alexander Bishop.Facebook
“I “I think my dad is dead,” Alexander told the 911 dispatcher. The teen added that the “dog got his, like, collar wrapped around [Bishop’s] throat. His face is purple, and his heart’s not beating.”
“It’s all pretty incomprehensible,” Bishop’s friend Ed Turanchik tells PEOPLE.
source: people.com
