{"id":8817,"date":"2023-09-05T17:46:17","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T22:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?p=8817"},"modified":"2023-09-05T17:46:17","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T22:46:17","slug":"mfdj-09-05-23-murderous-missionary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?p=8817","title":{"rendered":"MFDJ 09\/05\/23: Murderous Missionary"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Today&#8217;s Chilling Yet Truly Morbid Fact!<\/h3>\n<p>Arthur Gary Bishop was a former Eagle Scout, one-time Mormon missionary and active volunteer in the community, but the seemingly mild-mannered accountant was hiding a terrifying secret: Bishop was also an accomplished serial killer, claiming the lives of five young boys, ranging in age from 4 to 13 years old, in less than five years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was part of this community, but I really think that\u2019s why he was able to operate the way he did,\u201d Michael George, an investigator for the Salt Lake City district attorney\u2019s office told \u201cViolent Minds: Killers on Tape,\u201d airing Sundays at 7\/6c on Oxygen. \u201cHe was part of this culture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bishop chillingly described the killings in a prison interview with\u00a0Al Carlisle, a psychologist at Utah State Prison who was striving to understand what drives someone to murder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne reason I killed was because at one point it became enjoyable for me,\u201d Bishop explained in one 1986 interview. \u201cI mean, there was a pleasure there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For years, Bishop tried to fight his internal demons while growing up in a conservative Mormon family in Hinckley, Utah. He attended church regularly and was an accomplished Eagle Scout \u2014 but even in his teens he was plagued by dark thoughts.<\/p>\n<p>He confided to Carlisle that when he was 14 years old, he saw a younger boy in a swimming hole and fantasized about sexually abusing him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe figured in order to sexually fondle him he would have to kill the boy first. That thought shocked him and frightened him initially, however, after that, he entered the beginning stages of pedophilia,\u201d Carlisle would later write.<\/p>\n<p>Just a year or two later, Bishop had his first sexual experience with a boy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He was probably 2 or 3 years younger than I am,\u201d Bishop said. \u201cWe started playing with each other, and we did that quite a few times.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 1971, Bishop was sent by the Mormon church to the Philippines for a two-year mission and while he did want to finish his mission \u201cin good standing\u201d the trip also proved to be a turning point for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was hard about that was that, uh, these kids run around nude,\u201d he\u2019d later tell Carlisle. \u201cAnd it was very difficult to turn away and to concentrate on what you were supposed to be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bishop realized that \u201cwhatever this desire was that I had in me was not going to leave\u201d and succumbed to the feelings, initially finding victims to molest within his own family or while volunteering with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program back in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt this point in his life, Art had given up on his attempt to change. It wasn\u2019t that he couldn\u2019t change. It was that he didn\u2019t want to try any longer,\u201d Carlisle wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Bishop\u2019s one-time Little Brother in the program \u201cMichael\u201d spoke to \u201cViolent Minds: Killers on Tape\u201d and described meeting Bishop when he was just 10 years old.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first thing I remember about Art is he was fun. He was playful and looking back at it I could see why any little boy would be drawn to Art. He had the cool toys. Art was kind and I think he also tried to make sure that I was having my curiosity about things satisfied,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The molestation began one day after Michael had a bad headache and Bishop suggested he take a hot bath.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I found out about the murders years later, the first place my mind went was all of those times when I could have been one of the ones who died started coming to my mind,\u201d he said. \u201cI really think the only thing that kept me from being one of those numbers was that he didn\u2019t see me as a threat because he had done such a masterful job of keeping me curious and having his trust.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bishop was eventually forced to resign from the program. He asked to be ex-communicated from the Mormon Church in 1979, after he realized he was no longer adhering to the faith.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just got to the point where on the Sundays I could go to church, I didn\u2019t go anymore, and you just felt [it] slipping away. And when this stuff slips away, you know, this positive stuff that you\u2019ve had in your mind, then you find that a lot of these urges that you fought all your life are beginning to re-emerge strong,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/images.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8820\" src=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/images.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"255\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<em>Arthur Gary Bishop<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Bishop murdered his first victim, 4-year-old Alonzo Daniels, just one month later on Oct. 14, 1979.<\/p>\n<p>According to Bishop, he spotted the young boy playing outside near his apartment complex.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis first kid wasn\u2019t planned or anything,\u201d he said. \u201cIt kinda happened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bishop lured the boy into his house, gave him candy and asked him to sit on his lap. When he began to touch the boy, Daniels told him he was going to tell his mom.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe pushed my hand away. He says that \u2018I\u2019m gonna tell mommy.\u2019 And I thought, what if I get caught? I don\u2019t dare let him go. I should let him go, but I don\u2019t dare,\u201d he told Carlisle.<\/p>\n<p>Once he took the young boy\u2019s life, Bishop admitted the \u201crestraint\u201d he felt holding him back had disappeared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was after that I really felt no taboo against killing, I guess,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>After the murder, Bishop changed his appearance, moved out of the apartment complex and began to go by the name Roger Downs.<\/p>\n<p>By this point, he had also begun caring for a young boy named Jeff, whose father had recently died. Bishop approached the grieving widow and pretended to be a friend of the boy\u2019s father, offering to be a male role model in his life. Jeff began to spend more and time with Bishop, who he called his \u201cstep-father.\u201d For Bishop, the unique arrangement served as a way to lure more victims.<\/p>\n<p>He met his second victim, 11-year-old Kim Peterson, after Jeff befriended the boy. When Bishop saw Peterson a few days later, he asked Peterson to come hunting with him for the promise of $20, then drove to the same spot he had dumped Daniels body, took naked photos of him and then shot Peterson in the back.<\/p>\n<p>When Carlisle asked Bishop if he had any reservations about killing the boy, Bishop said he had \u201cvery little.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith Alonzo, I felt bad after because with him, I had a reason. I was afraid of him telling on me. But with Kim, I think in my own mind, it says well, it\u2019s killed once. Can you go to hell anymore for killing twice?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bishop admitted that over time he saw the boys as \u201cno longer human\u201d and believed they were just \u201cmerely something to please me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On October, 20, 1981, Bishop abducted 4-year-old Danny Davis from a supermarket near his home after promising the boy he could play with and keep toys he had at his home. The kidnapping prompted a massive search effort by law enforcement, but they\u2019d find no sign of the young boy.<\/p>\n<p>The next year, he abducted Troy Ward on June 22, 1983 after picking him up in his car at a corner near the boy\u2019s house.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embedded-entity image\" data-embed-button=\"media\" data-entity-embed-display=\"view_mode:media.embed\" data-entity-embed-display-settings=\"[]\" data-entity-type=\"media\" data-entity-uuid=\"ef6a68b8-b668-4ed4-a91f-ee9347fa8928\" data-langcode=\"en\">\n<div class=\"media__image\">\n<div class=\"media__image-wrapper\">\n<div><picture><source srcset=\"\/sites\/oxygen\/files\/styles\/scale_960_no_scale\/public\/2023\/04\/arthur-gary-bishop-firstmindhunter105.jpg?itok=oxbkSrB3 1x, \/sites\/oxygen\/files\/styles\/scale_1440_no_scale\/public\/2023\/04\/arthur-gary-bishop-firstmindhunter105.jpg?itok=C8Q_Py2Q 2x\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"(min-width: 640px)\" \/><source srcset=\"\/sites\/oxygen\/files\/styles\/scale_640_no_scale\/public\/2023\/04\/arthur-gary-bishop-firstmindhunter105.jpg?itok=jeFO4xSU 1x, \/sites\/oxygen\/files\/styles\/scale_960_no_scale\/public\/2023\/04\/arthur-gary-bishop-firstmindhunter105.jpg?itok=oxbkSrB3 2x\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"(min-width: 300px)\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cThe killing urge isn\u2019t always there,\u201d Bishop said of the time between his kills. \u201cContrary to what everybody seems to believe, you know, I didn\u2019t go around constantly saying, &#8216;hey, I\u2019m gonna kill,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI would say for the most part, I killed everybody that I planned to kill. But it was just something that you\u2019d feel so much pressure about something inside the only way to relieve it was to act out that murderous impulse within you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His killing spree came to an end after 13-year-old Graeme Cunningham disappeared on July 14, 1983. Investigators were able to link the crime to Bishop \u2014 who at the time was going by the name Roger Downs \u2014 after they discovered that Cunningham had been friends with Jeff.<\/p>\n<p>According to Salt Lake City Police Det. Don Bell, Cunningham disappeared shortly after receiving a phone call at his home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was shortly after that telephone call that Graeme told his mom, \u2018I\u2019m just going to run down to the corner I\u2019ll be right back\u2019 and she goes \u2018ok\u2019 and he said \u2018love you\u2019 and she said \u2018love you\u2019 and he went out the door and was never to be seen again,\u201d Bell recalled.<\/p>\n<p>As police began to search for Cunningham, they talked to his friends about who had been closest to the 13-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of the boys said, &#8216;Well, we think Graeme likes so and so or so and so, but we\u2019ll tell you who thinks he\u2019s Graeme\u2019s best friend. And we said &#8216;who\u2019s that?&#8217; and they go \u2018Jeff, Jeff thinks Graeme is his very best friend,'&#8221; Bell said. &#8220;We would counter that with, \u2018well, what does Graeme think?\u2019 and almost all of them said Graeme thinks Jeff is a little weird but he thinks Jeff\u2019s stepdad, a\u00a0man named Roger Downs is really weird.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>One of the boys also reported that Bishop \u2014 who was using the name Roger Downs \u2014 had pictures of naked boys. Bishop was moved to the top of the list of possible suspects.<\/p>\n<p>Bishop had left town on a trip to California with Jeff, but when he returned about a week after the disappearance, he agreed to talk to police.<\/p>\n<p>While in his own separate room, Jeff confessed that Bishop had been molesting him.<\/p>\n<p>After making the discovery, Bell went to speak with Bishop, who he\u2019d discovered had used various names in recent years and was wanted for embezzlement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe longer we talked the more I could tell that he was just lying,\u201d Bell said. \u201cAnd so, at some point in that interview, which had gone on for about an hour, I confronted him and said I did some investigating, \u2018you\u2019re lying, you\u2019re lying to me about who you are.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an unexpected turn, Bishop agreed to tell police \u201ceverything\u201d if they would take him to his home. There he showed them a white wedding-type album filled with photos of naked boys in an attempt to make them \u201cunderstand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy only concern at that time was the Cunningham boy. Maybe Graeme had an accident. What I was trying to do was give him an out, cause a lot of times suspects if you give them an out they\u2019ll talk,\u201d Bell recalled. \u201cHe just very calmly looked at me and said \u2018oh he\u2019s not hurt\u2019 and I said \u2018how can you be sure?\u2019 and he says, \u2018cause I killed him. I killed them all.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bell said he was \u201cjust blown away\u201d by the chilling confession.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the course of my career, I think he was one of the scariest people I ever met,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n<p>Bishop was found guilty in 1984 of all five murders and sentenced to death.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Arthur_Gary_Bishop.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8819\" src=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Arthur_Gary_Bishop-224x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Arthur_Gary_Bishop-224x300.png 224w, https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Arthur_Gary_Bishop.png 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 224px) 100vw, 224px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As a Mormon himself, Carlisle struggled with agreeing to sit down with the confessed killer, but ultimately decided there could be a benefit to trying to understand Bishop\u2019s mindset.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s tragic that five innocent boys were forced to give up their lives to satisfy Art Bishop\u2019s psychopathic desires,\u201d he\u2019d later write. \u201cHopefully, we will find a way to recognize when a serious psychological problem is beginning to develop at a point where we can perhaps do something to keep it from becoming psychopathic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/download-4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8818\" src=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/download-4-300x81.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"81\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/download-4-300x81.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/download-4.jpg 431w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<em>Bishop&#8217;s victims<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Culled from: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxygen.com\/violent-minds-killers-on-tape\/crime-news\/serial-killer-rapist-arthur-gary-bishop-victims\">Oxygen<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bishop was executed by lethal injection\u00a0at\u00a0Utah State Prison\u00a0in\u00a0Point of the Mountain on June 10, 1988. He declined a last meal. Before his execution, he again expressed remorse for his crimes:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"templatequote\"><p>I want to offer again my most profound and heartfelt apologies to my victims&#8217; families. I am truly sorry. I have tried my best to empathize with their grief and devastation and I hope they come to know of my concerns and prayers for them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Plastination Specimen Du Jour!<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/well-284.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8821\" src=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/well-284-211x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"211\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/well-284-211x300.jpg 211w, https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/well-284-721x1024.jpg 721w, https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/well-284-620x881.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/well-284.jpg 736w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Fetus with a most severe deformation of the brain, in which the cranium and extensive parts of the brain are missing.<\/p>\n<p>Culled from:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3zyDhSD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bodyworlds: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today&#8217;s Chilling Yet Truly Morbid Fact! Arthur Gary Bishop was a former Eagle Scout, one-time Mormon missionary and active volunteer in the community, but the seemingly mild-mannered accountant was hiding a terrifying secret: Bishop was also an accomplished serial killer, claiming the lives of five young boys, ranging in age from 4 to 13 years [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facts","category-ghastly"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8822,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8817\/revisions\/8822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}