Did Roy Harrell see Brad Bishop in Italy?

[StackTime]

Did Roy Harrell see Brad Bishop in Italy?

1 - Yes, it was Brad Bishop that Harrell encountered.
2 - No, it was someone else that Harrell has mistaken for Bishop.

[XCalibur]

Unless Harrell is flat out lying about the whole encounter, which I don't see why he would, I'd have to say yes. He knew him pretty well. And if he was mistaking Bishop for someone else whoever it was could have just politely declined that he was Bishop. He wouldn't have just panicked and ran away like that.

Like I said, its possible he is lying about the whole thing for reasons we can only speculate on, but if the encounter happened as he said I'd have to say it was probably Bishop.

[James T]

I think it likely he ran into a guy who was homeless/had mental health issues that just bore a resemblance to him & this guy then panicked when he suddenly had some random person saying he was a murderer & needed to go back with him to the US. That somebody in recent times said they believed Bishop was the victim of a hit & run in Alabama in 1981 thanks to a tip-police then exhumed the body & performed a DNA test which confirmed it wasn't him. The sightings are likely what we always see-people mistakenly reporting others-look at all the sightings of Madeline McMann the last 13 years that amounted to nothing etc.

[XCalibur]

Originally Posted by James T

I think it likely he ran into a guy who was homeless/had mental health issues that just bore a resemblance to him & this guy then panicked when he suddenly had some random person saying he was a murderer & needed to go back with him to the US. That somebody in recent times said they believed Bishop was the victim of a hit & run in Alabama in 1981 thanks to a tip-police then exhumed the body & performed a DNA test which confirmed it wasn't him. The sightings are likely what we always see-people mistakenly reporting others-look at all the sightings of Madeline McMann the last 13 years that amounted to nothing etc.

I don't recall that Harrell accused the man of being a murderer, he just asked him something like, "you are Brad Bishop aren't you? come with me lets talk."

And I doubt some random crazy guy in Italy would recognize the name Brad Bishop either. Most people in America wouldn't, unless you are a crime TV show junky like us.

Given that Harrell was a friend of Bishop's he would be far more likely to recognize him than a stranger seeing him from a picture or composite.

I think unless Harrell was lying about the whole encounter, it was probably Bishop.

[James T]

Originally Posted by XCalibur

I don't recall that Harrell accused the man of being a murderer, he just asked him something like, "you are Brad Bishop aren't you? come with me lets talk."

And I doubt some random crazy guy in Italy would recognize the name Brad Bishop either. Most people in America wouldn't, unless you are a crime TV show junky like us.

Given that Harrell was a friend of Bishop's he would be far more likely to recognize him than a stranger seeing him from a picture or composite.

I think unless Harrell was lying about the whole encounter, it was probably Bishop.

I don't find his story likely-UM were known for changing/inventing dialogue. The big thing is why if it was Bishop would he not just say sorry I have no idea who you think I am & walk away? Why run like a crazy/guilty man screaming which would just draw attention to you-again, was this artistic licence on the part of the show to make it seem more dramatic than it really was?

It seems hard to believe this guy wouldn't have said something about him killing his family. I know chance is also something where this could happen, but what is the chance of Bishop happening to be in a restroom at exactly the same time as an old work colleague/friend in another country? Same with all these other alleged sightings in other countries-most likely it was just seeing reports of it in the media & then their mind seeing him, as we always see with missing people/vehicle cases where reports of seeing somebody come in from all over the place & then it turns out the person is found dead & often in the vehicle & couldn't have been alive when all these sightings are coming in.

[JC1957]

My gut feeling is that Harrell did see Bishop.

I don't think anyone else would have panicked like he did and run outside to a blinding rainstorm.

[Calliope68]

Originally Posted by StackTime

Did Roy Harrell see Brad Bishop in Italy?

1 - Yes, it was Brad Bishop that Harrell encountered.
2 - No, it was someone else that Harrell has mistaken for Bishop.

I believe he probably did. I was reading an old reddit thread where someone pointed out that the sightings of WBB in Europe where all from people who knew and interacted with him regularly before the murders and disappearance. They did not recognize him from what they saw on a wanted poster or tv. They would have known his stance,walking patterns,facial expressions etc you just can't perceive from a 2 d image or tv. There were 3 separate sightings from a diplomat, a couple he played tennis with and Mr. Harrell. All three knew WBB either personally or professionally and spent a lot of time with him.

[JannTosh]

nope. I believe he thought he saw Bishop but it most likely was not him.

[Mike82]

For a long time I was 100% convinced that his sighting was legitimate. Recently, I have conceded that while I still believe his story, it was likely a case of mistaken identity. I recently saw a photo on unsolved.com that is a doppelganger of my father's coworker and close to 100% of witnesses would finger him in a photo lineup. In fact, someone even commented that they saw the person in my hometown and reported it.

If I was in Italy and had someone yelling at me in a foreign language and running towards me in a confined space I would have probably taken off too. Given that Bishop was apparently a very smart man I would suspect he would have calmly said something like "no English" with an accompanying puzzled look.

[drew790]

No, and he made it up.

[TheCars1986]

I don't think he did. I still believe that Bishop committed suicide somewhere along the Appalachian Trial shortly after dumping his car.

[schmave]

I used to believe this hands down, but more recently as I've read the accounts that cast doubt on if not completely discredit Harrell, I'm not so sure.
If Bishop did kill himself along at AT as TheCars1986 suggests, I'm sure there are plenty of places no one would ever find his remains.

[TheCars1986]

I have to admit that this case was never one of my favorites, so I never really dug into it outside of skimming some articles and what was shown on the UM segment. I had no idea that Bishop had had correspondence with an inmate in North Carolina in the months prior to the murders, and the letters seem to show that he was soliciting people to murder his family while he was away on a business trip. The fact that he went ahead and committed the murders himself makes me think that the passed over promotion was the boiling point, and that he killed himself shortly after abandoning his car.

[Tighthead]

Originally Posted by drew790

No, and he made it up.

I'm kind of 60/40 in favour of he did see him, but the doubt side is him making it up. I realize my opinion could charitably be described as logically complicated. I don't think it was a case of mistaken identity.

[Todd Mueller]

Originally Posted by Mike82

For a long time I was 100% convinced that his sighting was legitimate. Recently, I have conceded that while I still believe his story, it was likely a case of mistaken identity.

^^^^ This is what I think too.

Young me believed it. Old me thinks he believes he saw BB but I don't think he did. For one thing, I can't see him wondering around in this homeless, disheveled state and if he was, that he could be recognized so quickly after so many years. The sighting was probably real but I don't think it was him or that BB was ever in Europe.