Man arrested in Colorado cold case murder after 25 years

A Colorado man has been arrested on costs of homicide in connection to a chilly case that has gone unsolved for 1 / 4 of a century.

James Daniel “Dan” Bishop, now 68, is charged with first-degree homicide within the 1999 disappearance of Dale Williams, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) announced.

Williams, 42, who owned an auto physique store in Nucla, Colorado on the time of his disappearance, was final seen on Could 27, 1999, when he acquired a name about serving to a stranded motorist.

Six weeks later, Williams’s truck was discovered submerged within the Dolores and San Miguel Rivers, in line with the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office. His physique was by no means discovered.

A .22 caliber rifle was within the mattress of the truck with a spent shell casing within the chamber. The rifle allegedly belonged to Bishop, in line with firearm buy data, investigators mentioned.

Sergeant Chuck Searcy, the arresting officer and lead investigator, advised the Telluride Daily Planet that Bishop had been questioned concerning the case in 1999 after he was captured on surveillance footage taking down lacking individual posters from a Nucla publish workplace. However no arrests had been made.

For years, there have been no new leads and the case turned chilly.

However investigators by no means gave up, in line with Searcy who mentioned Montrose County Sheriff Gene R. Lillard saved his promise to Williams’s widow and two daughters to maintain the case going.

“He was the driving pressure for our company to stay concerned,” Searcy mentioned. “Sheriff Willard actually put an emphasis on ensuring that we work on this case and that we attempt to discover solutions for the household. That allowed me the time and the liberty to work on this case in depth together with CBI.”

In September 2023, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, with assist from the Montrose County Sheriff’s Workplace, opened a brand new inquiry on the case.

Searcy labored alongside CBI Agent in Cost Brandon Ludwig, who he mentioned gave the case “contemporary eyes and a few contemporary perspective.”

Their investigation revealed that a couple of yr earlier than Williams disappeared, he and his spouse Diana allegedly helped Bishop’s spouse go away him and resettle in Texas at an undisclosed location.

Investigators say they consider Bishop acted collectively together with his cousin, who has since died, to homicide Williams, in line with the information launch. The cousin was not named within the launch.

“There have been numerous interviews and lots of of hours of investigation poured into this case,” Sheriff Lillard mentioned in an announcement Thursday.

“It has taken a complete crew effort of regulation enforcement, household and anxious residents to convey the case to the place it’s immediately. We’re grateful for the in-depth investigation over the past 25 years by the Brokers of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and Investigators and Deputies of the Montrose County Sheriff’s Workplace.”

Bishop was arrested at his dwelling in Naturita on October 17 by the Montrose County Sheriff’s Workplace, U.S. Marshal’s Service and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

He’s being held on a $1m bond.

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