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Charges dropped against teenage son in death of Hillsborough developer

A high-powered influencer of politics and real estate in Tampa Bay, William “Bill” Bishop relocated his family to North Carolina in the years before his death in 2018. His son had been charged with murder.
 
William Bishop (second from left) appears in this photo with sons Jefferson (left), Alexander, and his ex-wife, Sharon. Bishop, 59, a prominent developer of several Hillsborough County neighborhoods, died in April in North Carolina. The murder case against Alexander Bishop was dropped this week. [Facebook]
William Bishop (second from left) appears in this photo with sons Jefferson (left), Alexander, and his ex-wife, Sharon. Bishop, 59, a prominent developer of several Hillsborough County neighborhoods, died in April in North Carolina. The murder case against Alexander Bishop was dropped this week. [Facebook]
Published Feb. 7, 2020

A North Carolina district attorney has dropped the murder case against the son of former Hillsborough County developer William “Bill” Bishop, who died under mysterious circumstances in April 2018.

Alexander Bishop was indicted in his father’s murder last February. He was accused of strangling the prominent real estate mogul with a dog leash inside the family’s upscale home in Durham, N.C.

But Thursday, the Durham County District Attorney’s Office filed court documents dismissing the murder charge against Alexander Bishop, now 17, due to “insufficiency of the evidence at this time.”

A spokesperson for the Durham District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the case Friday.

Related: Teen son of former Hillsborough developer charged with his father's murder in North Carolina

The decision was described by local media as a stunning reversal in the case, which had appeared to be moving forward toward prosecution despite multiple legal setbacks. In October, the district attorney’s office was forced to toss much of the evidence after Judge Orlando F. Hudson Jr. invalidated most of the prosecution’s 22 search warrants due to the lead investigator’s “misconduct” during the investigation.

In recent months, Alexander Bishop’s defense attorney Allyn Sharp filed additional motions requesting that the district attorney, a Durham police homicide investigator and the lead prosecutor be held in contempt of court for destroying and misconstruing evidence, making false or misleading statements when seeking approval for the search warrants, and failing to comply with her requests for discovery.

Related: Son tells NC police he found dog leash around neck of strangled Hillsborough developer Bill Bishop

“Three days after William Bishop died, a Durham Police investigator initiated a criminal investigation targeting Alexander Bishop because Alexander was the only person present in the home when Mr. Bishop was found unresponsive,” Sharp said in an emailed statement to the Tampa Bay Times.

“Alexander is grateful to finally be able to move on with his life after the tragic loss of his father and unwarranted criminal prosecution,” the statement said.

Alexander Bishop was 16 when he called 911 on April 18, 2018. He told the operator he found his father unresponsive in their basement theater room with their golden retriever’s leash wrapped tightly around his neck three times — with the dog, Winston, still attached to the other end.

Paramedics arrived to find Bill Bishop, 59, unconscious in a recliner and rushed him to Duke University Medical Center, police records said. They noted that the leash was no longer attached to the dog or wrapped around the man’s neck. Alexander Bishop said that was because he had removed it while calling his mother before calling 911.

At the time, the department’s criminal investigations division was instructed not to launch a homicide investigation at the scene. But that changed when Bill Bishop died three days later, and a Durham lieutenant received a call from the hospital relaying concerns that his death came under “suspicious” causes.

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The son initially told police he found his father with the handle of his dog’s leash wrapped around his right arm, but investigators later learned that a severe injury had left Bill Bishop’s arm largely unable to function, court records show. Alexander Bishop told paramedics he did not attempt to perform CPR because he had poor cell phone reception in the basement. He told police his dad had a history of prostate cancer and suffered from depression. Bill Bishop and his wife, Sharon Bishop, were in the midst of a divorce, their son said, and his father had been having problems with his new girlfriend.

The invalidated search warrants state that a paramedic at the scene told police “the son wanted him to know that he wasn’t going to be upset about his father dying.” Alexander Bishop said his dad was verbally abusive and he was “relieved his father was gone.”

“Alexander also told officers that he was extremely fearful for what his father would do if he survived,” the search warrants said.

Related: EPILOGUE: Developer Bill Bishop created "walkable communities"

A medical examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by cardiac arrest and a lack of oxygen to the brain due to “ligature strangulation.” Yet defense attorney Sharp noted that his autopsy revealed blockages in about 80 percent of the elder Bishop’s coronary arteries.

“William Bishop appears to have died after a tragic cardiac event during or after which the dog got his leash wrapped around William Bishop’s neck,” Sharp’s statement said.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.