MarketArthur Gary Bishop
Company Profile

Arthur Gary Bishop

Arthur Gary Bishop was an American serial killer and sex offender who abducted, sexually assaulted, murdered, and mutilated five young boys in Salt Lake City, Utah, between 1979 and 1983.

Early life
Arthur Gary Bishop was born on September 29, 1952, in Hinckley, Utah. He was the eldest of six boys born to Eugene and Carol ( Talbot) Bishop, both of whom had ancestors that had resided in the area for decades. Bishop claimed that his first ever feeling of sexual gratification came after seeing a picture of the binding of Isaac in the Book of Genesis. Growing up in Hinckley, Bishop was an Eagle Scout and a devout Latter-day Saint. He was a quiet child who was described as a loner but also very intelligent. From 1966 to 1970, he attended Delta High School, where he was recognized as an honors student who succeeded best in business classes. He was elected to be the school's business manager and was a key-note speaker at his graduation. He then enrolled at Stevens–Henager College where he majored in accounting and business administration. He was recognized by college president J. M. Stevens as an honors student with a 3.7 GPA in 1971. When he was 19, Bishop served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Philippines. He was arrested for embezzlement in February 1978 While in Salt Lake City, he joined the Big Brothers program, where he was a "big brother" to a 10-year-old boy for nearly a year. Bishop was forced out of the program, before his first murder, after directors discovered he was molesting other children. ==Murders==
Murders
Alonzo Daniels Bishop killed his first victim, a four-year-old named Alonzo Daniels, on October 14, 1979. He lured the boy from the courtyard of his apartment complex to his own apartment with the promise of free candy. Kim Peterson Bishop molested a young boy, later known by the pseudonym "John," using money and toys to ensure John's compliance. On November 8, 1980, John introduced Bishop to 11-year-old Kim Petersen at a roller-skating rink. At Bishop's request, John agreed to contact Petersen on the pretext of buying a pair of roller skates that Petersen was trying to sell, all so Bishop could obtain photographs of Peterson. When Bishop and John called Petersen, Bishop took the phone and asked Peterson to meet Bishop and John at a pool parlor. Bishop asked Peterson to go out to Cedar Valley and hunt rabbits. Peterson said yes, and after convincing him to take photos in the car, they got out and started walking. Bishop, walking behind Petersen, shot Peterson in the back with a .38 caliber revolver. Petersen began crying and Bishop shot him twice more in the head. Bishop molested Peterson's corpse, mutilated him in a fit of anger, and buried him, close to the body of Alonzo Daniels. Several shoppers recalled a smiling man standing near the child but could only give vague descriptions of his appearance. Police launched one of the biggest searches in Salt Lake County history: teams of searchers scoured neighborhoods, divers dredged ponds and lakes, shoppers at the supermarket where Davis vanished agreed to undergo hypnosis to dislodge greater details of the abductor, fliers were printed offering a $20,000 reward, and the FBI were contacted, but were unable to find any trace of the boy. Troy Ward After murdering Danny Davis, Bishop vowed to never do it again. However, almost two years later, on June 22, 1983, Bishop abducted 6-year-old Troy Ward while the boy was waiting on the corner near his home for his mother to return from the store with ice cream and cake; it was his sixth birthday. Bishop, now using the alias Roger Downs, took Ward to his bungalow and asked if he wanted to play a game. Ward said yes, and Bishop handcuffed him, tied him between two pillars in his basement, and pulled his pants down. When Ward began to cry, Bishop hit him with a rubber mallet until he was silent. Bishop put Ward's body in a trash bag and tossed it into a stream in Big Cottonwood Canyon, thinking it would be easier than burying another body in the desert. Graeme Cunningham One month later, on July 14, 1983, 13-year-old Graeme Cunningham was set to go on a trip to California with a friend and his father: "John" and Roger Downs (Arthur Bishop). After Bishop picked up Cunningham, he tricked the teenager into going back to his home to pick up some marijuana to sell for cash. Bishop asked if Cunningham would pose for some photos, to which he agreed, in exchange for a skateboard. Bishop was afraid Cunningham would tell, so he hit Cunningham in the head twice with a hammer. He took Cunningham to the bathroom, filled the tub, and drowned him. He disposed of the body the same way he did Ward's. Two days later, "John" and Bishop went to California. == Arrest ==
Arrest
Local police looked into their past reports and found that Bishop (Roger Downs) lived in the vicinity of four of the abductions and knew the fifth child's parents. Police brought him in for questioning on the pretext of his assisting officers with their inquiries into Graeme Cunningham's disappearance. Feeling the pressure of the interrogation, Bishop told detectives he wanted to show them something at his house. When they arrived, they found more than 300 photos of young boys, some placed in a white wedding album, and 125 pictures of naked boys cut out from magazines. Police were able to identify and interview 21 boys he photographed and molested, but Bishop said that their estimate was low and to "double or triple" that amount for a more accurate total. Back at the station, police managed to obtain Downs' real name and eventually got him to confess to all five murders. The confession lasted less than an hour, after which Bishop led the police to the graves in Cedar Valley. ==Victims==
Victims
• Alonzo Daniels, age 4, October 14, 1979 • Claude Kimley Peterson, age 11, November 8, 1980 • Danny Davis, age 4, October 20, 1981 • Troy Ward, age 6, June 22, 1983 • Graeme Cunningham, age 13, July 14, 1983 ==Trial and execution==
Trial and execution
Bishop was brought to trial on February 27, 1984. During his trial, Bishop claimed that an addiction to child pornography molded his violent sexual fantasies and eventually drove him to act them out. The trial lasted three weeks; on March 19, 1984, Bishop was found guilty of five counts of first degree murder, five counts of aggravated kidnapping, and one count of sexually abusing a minor, and sentenced to death. Upon receiving his sentence, Bishop apologized to his victims' families and requested to be executed by lethal injection. After his conviction, he wrote a letter in which he explained the motivation for his crimes: Bishop was executed by lethal injection at Utah State Prison in Point of the Mountain on June 10, 1988. He declined a last meal. Before his execution, he again expressed remorse for his crimes: == See also ==
tickerdossier.comtickerdossier.substack.com