UPDATE: Dale Williams

All witnesses purchase of interest, and suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Welcome to Primetime Crime. I'm your host, Kylie. Let's talk right now in your Crime, and then together we are going to work on warming up some cold cases. Let's go. Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Primetime Crime. It's Kylie and we are going to go ahead and dive into right now at your Crime. There's really only a couple of things I want to talk about. First thing is first, the Menanda's brothers have finally gotten a date for their resentencing hearing, which is going to be on December eleventh, and from there we will be able to figure out what is going on as far as if they are going to be eligible for parole or not. So I will continue to keep you guys updated on that. Second thing I want to talk about real quick, the state has rested in the Delphi trial. I really don't even know. So much has gone on. There's been so much happening in the trial. I don't really know what I think yet, and as soon as I do, I will let you guys know my opinion. But I'm really curious to see what the defense comes up with and what they have to say. Last thing I want to talk about, real, real quick is Lori Valo, because this one never freaking stops. In one of the last episodes, I talked about how they were going to do the competency evaluation on her and then her lawyer, her public defender basically wanted to withdraw due to some conflict of interests, and Lurie, being who she is, has decided that she would like to represent herself in the murder trial that is set going to be set in Arizona for the murder of her husband, Charles Valo and the attempted murder of her ex nephew in law, Brandon Boudreaux. I say you let her represent herself because it would be something else to watch that whole thing go down. Anytime somebody represents themselves in trial in court, it's always so wild to me and entertaining that they think that they're actually going to be successful and win. So it's going to be very interesting to see what comes of this. Of course, I don't feel like she should represent herself, but I also feel like she should represent herself. Why the heck not? What does she have to lose. At this point, she's already going to be in prison for the rest of her life, and I would be so interested to see what she has to say about everything, and all of the murder and attempted murder and all of the different things. I just couldn't even imagine what she'll come up with. But I'll continue to keep you guys updated on that one. And there's really not a whole lot more going on right now in True crime, notably that I felt like we really need to discuss, but I'm sure there will be a heck of a lot more that I'll be catching up on next week's episode. Honestly, I am just really really tired. I worked Sunday, so this is technically my Friday, and I am feeling every bit of the Friday fields right now, even though it's only Thursday. But we are going to go. Ahead and get into this week's episode, which is a good one because it's an update episode on a case that I have previously covered. We are going to go ahead and get into it. We are going to go ahead and dive into one of my favorite type of episodes, which is an update episode with actual progress and resolution, which we love in the unsolved cold case community. So I originally covered the story of missing person Dale Williams out of Colorado in August of this year. It was episode one forty seven. I recently did it after coming back from Crime Con. I decided that I needed a cover Dale story, And of course, this is always what we want. We always want. Want there to be some form of resolution or breaking news in a case like this that has been dormant and there hasn't been any action or movement in it for such a long time. So in the episode near the end, I kind of predicted that twenty twenty four was going to be the year that we had a break in this case because they were doing some DNA testing that was found on the vehicle that Dale had, his truck, which was found abandoned in a body of water in Colorado. So we're going to talk about how they came to finally make an arrest in the Dale Williams case. Dale is presumed deceased, unfortunately, but we're going to talk about all of the aspects of this case, everything that kind of led to investigators coming to this conclusion. And it is crazy to me. That kind of like was pretty much put out there by Dale's family. This person was somebody in the community who knew the family, who knew Dale pretty well, was an acquaintance of Dale's, a friend of Dale's at one point in time. And it's crazy that this person lived in town. And yeah, watch Dale's children grow up after he went missing, and watch Dale's wife Diana grieve and worry about her husband. This person did all of that stuff while. Seemingly going on with his life. And there's more than just one person involved in the story, allegedly, according to what investigators have uncovered. So we are going to go ahead and get into that now. If you haven't listened to Dale's episode, please go back and give it a listen. It's only about thirty minutes long. It's not a real long, convoluted story, but go ahead and go listen and then come back to this episode so you can kind of here how investigators came to arrest who they arrested. So we are going to go ahead and dive into the Dale Williams update that we have all been waiting for. Okay, first thing is first, this happened in Colorado in a town that I called Nukla. But I've heard it also pronounced nuckla. I've heard it pronounced nuclea. I don't know how you say that, but we're going to say nuckla because that's what the Google told me, So we're going to go with that. So this is a article that was published and it goes into the details of the affidavit, which kind of gives us all the information that we have right now on why they arrested this specific person. So they arrested sixty eight year. Old James Daniel, who goes by Dan Bishop. He was arrested on Thursday, October seventeenth and was detained on suspicion of first degree murder and hell on a one million dollar bond. Now I do know that that bond has already been diminished and it's gone way down. I don't know to what, but this man should not be out of prison. He lived pretty much most of his twenty five years of his adult life as a freeman. He needs to stay in jail my opinion. Now, Dan Bishop has denied having anything to do with Dale William's disappearance, and he did say, you know, I didn't have anything to do with it, but yeah, things. Do look suspicious. I mean, obviously they look suspicious because he moved in very suspicious ways. If you did. Listen to my episode, Dan is the man who I refer to as John because I didn't have a name for him. I just knew that he was a former friend acquaintance, and I referred to him as John because he did a bunch of shady things. So apparently Dale and his wife Diana had helped Dan's at the time wife leave him because there might have been some abuse going on. I'm not really sure what the circumstances were, but Dale and his wife helped this woman escape a bad, troubled marriage for whatever reason it was, and Dan held a lot of resentment towards. Dale for this. There was photos left in the autobody. Shop that were all torn up, and other threats and such that were essentially made towards Dale and his family. Were going to get into that in a little bit. And then there was also the instance of after Dale went missing and they had put posters of Dale up in the post office, they were disappearing and being taken down, so they ended up putting up a camera and they caught none other than Dan Bishop taking them down. I mean, how much bad stuff. Can you do and claim you're not involved before people start realizing that you are involved and you're moving in really, really shady ways. And he had motive, at least in his mind, he had motive because he was upset that Dale helped his wife escape what seemingly seemed to be not a good marriage. So we're going to go into all of that because there are more people involved in this other than Dan Bishop allegedly. Now he is, of course saying that he is innocent, but we're going to get into more details that really really show that, in my opinion and obviously investigator's opinions, that Dan Bishop is front and center of this case. And he knew Dale, he knew Dale's family, And I can't imagine what kind of person it must take to not only harm somebody, but then to live in the same community, be in the midst of this person's friends and family, and keep that a secret, and you're involving other people in it. It's not just a. Sole thing allegedly that Dan Bishop did. It involved other people and I cannot imagine keeping that to myself and being able to live with myself after something like that. So we're going to get into the affidavit now, and it basically said that Dan's cousin, who is named Velden Barnes, he goes by the nickname Bones. He is now deceased, and a girlfriend of Velden Barnes who is also deceased, They are also involved in this scheme to Harmdale. So investigators are also saying that Dan Bishop gave his cousin Velden his prized corvette basically as compensation for helping. The situation with Dale. Now, if you remember, Dale was at his autobody shop when he got a phone call from somebody who said that they were stranded and they needed help, and there was someone with Dale when that phone call came across, but the person really wasn't sure who the stranded motorist was, if it was somebody that Dale was familiar with, or if it was a man, or if it was a woman. He felt that it was a woman. He kind of got that impression, and investigators are alleging that it was actually Velden's girlfriend who is named Debbie Lacy. She is the one that allegedly called the autobody shop on May twenty seventh of nineteen ninety nine to request help because her vehicle was stranded and it was just like that that Dale Williams pretty much vanished and has not been seen since. So they did find Dale's truck on July fourth of nineteen ninety nine. Dale, of course was not in the vehicle, but they did think that the. Vehicle was placed there as kind of a way to try to hide it. But you're not going to hide a big pickup truck in a body of water. Don't be stupid, especially in a small town. You're not going to hide a big pickup truck. This is why people get caught, because they really do stupid things. So the pickup truck is put in this river and it's found. It's found by kids who are swimming, because it's hard to hide a pickup truck. So in this investigation they found a twenty two rifle. It had spent shell casings in the chamber, and that gun. Was tied back to Dan Bishop. It was purchased from the True Value Hardware store a few years before Dale had disappeared in the town that Dale and Dan lived. That is a. Huge, huge, huge piece of evidence that ties Dan directly to the murder. Your rifle was in the truck, the bed of the truck of a missing man that seemingly vanished into thin air. That's not going to look good for you. But again, I think in their head they were going to get away with this. The truck was never going to be found, the gun was never going to be found, Hence it would never be tied back to them. But unfortunately, criminals are dumb, and it was tied back to them. Now. In some of the other things that happened with Dale and Diana that were kind of suspicious, Diana worked at a video store and there had been a twenty two handgun that basically was stolen from the autobody shop that Dale worked when it was broken into, and this pictures torn, pictures were scattered around with twenty two bullets. So this gun and ended up actually being dropped off in the return box of the video store that Diana worked at. So this was kind of another thing that this was before. Dale disappeared, that Dale and Diana were very taken aback by They thought that somebody was threatening them, and it's obvious someone was threatening them. So a relative of Dan's basically told the investigators that she was the one who dropped the gun in the box out a request of Dale Williams. She is saying that Dale asked her to take the gun that was stolen from his autobody shop and drop it in the video store return to scare Dale's wife, which I don't really believe that second part. I don't believe that Dale said I want you to steal a gun from my autobody shop and then I want you to take that gun and drop it in the video return box area that my wife works at in order to scare her. But that's the story that this woman is coming forward with, which I guess we need to be happy that she came forward at all, because again it ties Dan Bishop to Dale Williams. But I don't think that Dale made that request. I think that was a one hundred and ten percent Dan Bishop on his own making that request, because that just doesn't make. Sense to me. However, that is all my opinion, and that is just what has been reported per the affidavit. Also, according to one of the investigators, at the time of Dale's disappearance, the same woman allegedly told officials that she was concerned about Dan giving his corvette and a gun to Velden Barnes and when this kind of came out as of recently, the woman had demanded to see this evan that she had made this statement, and the detective said that he didn't have the report of the woman's original statement with him, so he couldn't show it to her. I'm sure it exists. I'm sure it is in the ever long Dale Williams file. But that whole thing. Is just a hot mess, disaster, Like, oh my god, I don't know why people think that they're going to get away with stuff. It just boggles my mind. It all comes to light, and this isn't just one person who was holding. All of this stuff back. It is multiple people that have a role and know something and refuse to talk what is even happening. So this is directly from the article. The Montrose County Sheriff's Office and CBI allege a trail of evidence links Bishop to the disappearance and presume death, his gun an alleged murder weapon in the missing man's submerged vehicle, giving his corvette to bomb burn. Barnes ties to the woman who called Williams for help the day he went missing. Inconsistent stories about where Bishop was the day of the disappearance and his later alleged a mission to having been in Knuckla after all with Barnes on that day. Based on the facts of the case, after Dale was murdered, his body was disposed of, as well as his truck into the Dolores River. These acts would require more than one person to complete. Following the murder of Dale Williams, there was also suspicious behavior at the time of William's disappearance. After someone began tearing down missing person signs left at the post office. Law enforcement placed a hidden camera. They recorded Bishop removing the posters, although when interviewed earlier this year, he told the investigators he hadn't torn down the posters, rather that he had accidentally knocked a stack into the trash. I am going to also say that there's also allegedly reports. That Dale had an affair with this estranged wife of Dan Bishop. I'm not entirely sure that I personally believe that. I think that, of course it could be true. It is in the affidavit. But Dale Williams seemed like a pretty good stand up guy, and it seemed that in the initial everything that I read that Dale and his wife had a really good relationship and that they helped this woman who was married to Dan pretty much escape a not so great situation. But I did want to bring that up because it is in the affidavit. Investigators also go on to allege that, for unspecified reasons, Dan Bishop gave his corvette to Veldenbarnes on the day that Dale Williams disappeared. The car ended up being sold to a Colorado Springs business on June seventh of nineteen ninety nine for thirty five hundred dollars, and Velden Barnes did sign the bill of sale and the payment was issued to Lacey, who is the former girlfriend of Velden Barnes, because she had an ID and Velden Barnes did not now. Velden Barnes, like I said, is deceased, but he was a career criminal. He was arrested weeks after Dale's disappearance for armed robbery. And then we also have this woman who was dating Velden at the time. She was in contact. Allegedly with Dale Williams in the days before he disappeared. She had contacted him in regards to renting an apartment from him, and they also said that she was definitely the woman who called Dale Williams for assistance. Phone records from Dale's shop show a call from an unknown number about four minutes after Dan Bishop's phone records show he had called the shop. So per the affidavit, Dan Bishop said he was calling Dale Williams about a truck he had stored on Dale's lot and planned to meet him the day after he disappeared. But following Dale's disappearance, there are no further calls from Dan Bishop to the shop after May twenty seventh, which is the day that all of this transpired. So essentially, to me, what it sounds like is Dan Bishop called the shop to see if Dale was there basically and what he was up to, and then right after that, this mysterious woman calls and is needing roadside assistants, and because Dale is a good guy and is hopeful, he decided to go and it was all a setup, which is so freaking sad to me that he was set up by people that were supposed to be, if nothing else, just kind and not horrendous people that would set up an entrapment and a murder. Essentially, who does that? So in twenty fourteen, a CBI. Agent ended up speaking with Dan Bishop's former wife, the one that we were talking about earlier, and in the affidavit, it says that she reported overhearing Dan threatening to kill Dale Williams, which of course Dan denied, and it says that she recalled that Dan had explained to her that his father was a miner and thus was aware of numerous remote mind shafts that could easily conceal a human body. According to this woman, Dan stated that Dale's body would never be found and the crime would remain unsolved. That's not going very well for you, is it, Dan. She also said that she had personally had a rifle when she lived with Dan Bishop, but that she left it behind when she ended up moving out of the house. She would later leave the country, so she no. Longer I don't know her status as of right now, but after they separated she left and went back to her home country. Investigators then said that they spoke with Lacey, the girlfriend of Velden Barnes, at the end of two thousand and she told them that she helped Dan move from Nukla to Nutria. I probably said that. Wrong, and that she was interested in doing some hotel work in Telluride. However, there is evidence that she ended up returning to Grand Junction with Velden Barnes around May twenty seventh of nineteen ninety nine, and she told the authorities that Dan Bishop gave Velden his car because Dan owed Velden money, and the pair ended up selling the vehicle and they bought drugs and alcohol with the money that they earned from the car, and. They also bought a van. There was also a jailhouse informant that had been jailed with Velden Barnes in Mesa County, and the affidavit basically notes that this person was a quote unquote dementia patient and this man reported overhearing Velden making a reference to being put on death row and basically saying, if they ever caught me for what I really had done, I would be on death row. So in twenty twenty. Three, the lead investigator spoke with Dale's wife about the torn up photo and the gun that was placed in the video dropox and at that point in time she said she believed that Dan Bishop was responsible for it. And then October nineteenth of twenty twenty three, the MCSO and other agencies decided to search and excavate the West sixth Avenue residence where Dan Bishop had lived at the time of Dale William's disappearance, and it doesn't really say if they found anything of evidentiary value, but they did say that one person at the scene allegedly said that they saw Dan Bishop drive by multiple times on his motorcycle during the course of this search, which is very interesting. There was also other members of Dan Bishop's family who talked about Dan Bishop giving Velden Barnes this corvette, and there was also another one of Dan's former wives who said she did think that there was foul play in Dale William's disappearance, but she didn't think that Dan had a hand in it because he was always a quote unquote gentle person, but she knew that he was angry about the situation between Dale Williams and this ex wife of Dan Barnes. This woman also said that she had owned the corvette at one point in time, but had basically signed it over to Dan Bishop in exchange for full custody of their children. This family is con Let me just say, I don't even know on what planet you would exchange your car for your kids, but to each their own, I guess. So when I did my episode in August, I did say that. Dan's alleged alibi was pretty air tight, but I also questioned if they need to look back at Dan well, I told him John because I didn't know his name was Dan. But yeah, like I was right. So the investigator said that he checked into Dan's then employer and ended up finding payroll records showing he had not worked there in the month of May of nineteen ninety nine, except for May twenty eighth and May twenty ninth, which is the day's following Dale William's disappearance. Now, the reason that this is a problem is because Dan Bishop's alibi, which originally was said to be pretty airtight and accurate, is that he was in Grand Junction between May twenty six, nineteen ninety nine, and that he did not return to town until about four days after Dale Williams disappeared. So the fact that he was shown to be at this job only two days in the month and it was immediately following the disappearance of Dale Williams made things definitely look a little more sketchy. So they had originally gone back and talked to Dan Bishop October fourth of this year, and he continued to deny any involvement. He said that he had volunteered to talk twenty five years ago, and this is a quote from the affidavit. He then began to tell me that he was gone when all of this happened, and when he came back everyone was pointing at him. He stated that he took multiple polygraphs regarding this case and that no one had any problem with him because he showed that he was out of town during that time. End quote. When the investigator went on to question him about the corvette that he had sold to his cousin, and when also was confronted with information about his rifle being found in the bed of William's submerged vehicle, he said that the same gun had been missing since his wife moved out, and that it had been reported to MCSO that it was missing, but there are, of course no actual reports. That this gun was stolen or missing. And the investigator said that I asked why the gun would be in the back of Dale's truck, and he stated that it must have been left over from Dale helping Dan's wife move. The investigator then asked Dan why he thought Dale would just drive around with a loose rifle in the bed of his truck with a shell casing in the chamber, and Dan basically laughed, and it says that it appeared to be an uncomfortable laugh and didn't respond to the question. And then he was asked again and he said he did not know. So of course Dan denies any thing that he ever said anything about wanting to kill Dale, and also said that he had no resentment or animosity towards him. Then they got back into conversation about this corvette, because this is a big point of contention in this case. So the investigator asked Dan about the corvette, and according to the affidavit, Dan Bishop initially told investigators that he had towed the corvette to Grand Junction with Velden Barnes, not that he had sold it to him, And then he began to kind of just look at the investigator with this blank look on his face and eventually said, yes, I did tow the vehicle to Grand Junction with Velden, but it was not a corvette. So he said it was an old car that was not towed the day that Dale Williams disappeared and then Dan Bishop allegedly told the investigator that he was out of town that day, so, again circling back to his alibi, I am out of town. So the investigator then went on to remind Dan of what he had initially told investigators, basically that the corvette was taken to Grand Junction on May twenty seventh of nineteen ninety nine, and Dan Bishop then said, well, maybe it was the corvette that I ended up towing there after all. So as you can tell, don't lie when you're literally trying to not implicate yourself, because you're gonna get yourself mixed up in lie after lie after lie, a lie to cover another lie, to cover another lie, to cover another lie. That's exactly what is happening here, and it's all coming out now. The lead investigator then confronted Dan Bishop with the time card evidence that he had of him actually being in town and at work the days following Dale's disappearance and the story about the girlfriend of Velden and the corvette, and Dan Bishop began to laugh when he was confronted with this, and the investigator basically told Dan Bishop that these statements are not consistent with what you originally had told us, and it does not make any sense. And they just laid out all the evidence in front of Dan and he said that he agreed with the investigators that it does look suspicious and all fingers point to him, although he still says he has nothing to do with it. Dan Bishop then went on to agree and said that Velden Barnes, his cousin, would very much try to pin it on Dan. If he were still alive. And when the. Investigator is trying to probe Dan and saying do you know if Velden Barnes had anything to do with Dale William's death, you should talk now, now is your time to talk, He said that he didn't know, and when they asked him again, he reiterated, I do not know. So they then go back over the autobody. Shop phone records and that there definitely was a phone call from Dan Bishop to Dale Williams autobody shop on that day, right before Dale left to assist the stranded motorists who also had called. And there is proof that. Dan Bishop was down the street at a storage facility when Dale Williams drove off. To assist this caller. So this is a quote Dan now agreed with me that he was at the storage facility and watched Dale drive by. And then they go on to say that. The investigator alleged that Dan Bishop admitted that Velden Barnes was with him as Dale Williams passed by, So the two people that are at the helm of this investigation were together allegedly, like I said. Dan Bishop continues to state that if Velden did have a hand in Dale Williams's fate, that he did not know, but he would not be surprised. And Dan Bishop also reportedly discussed other people who he thinks might have had issues with Dale and could have shot him. Now, a lot of these people were interviewed during the initial investigation, and he very much Dan Bishop, they said, was deflecting everything during this interview and during this conversation. But the investigator said, I also told him that the problem with these people he was deflecting to is that none of them had a gun found in the back of Dale William's truck. The people did not give their a violent felon cousin a corvette the same day that Dale went missing, and they did not come in and speak with us today until a bunch of different stories, which cherry on top of you just implicated yourself, because all of that really just tells the story of what they think happened. So at the end of this interview, so Dan Bishop was basically told that the next time the authority seek him out it would be with an arrest warrant. And he said that he understood. But when he asked a hypothetical question, which was this, hypothetically, what if Velden had told me he shot Dale? He told us that this hypothetical makes him an accessory to murder, not an actual murderer. He then told us that Velden did not tell him that though. What what are you doing? Oh my god, I'm so confused. So then they asked him directly whether Velden had killed Dale, and Dan Bishop reported and said, if he did, he did, but he had never told him that directly, and he said Dan said that he was with Velden all day on May twenty seventh of nineteen ninety nine. And then this is a quote. He told us that he would love to be able to tell us that Velden did something, but that this would point back to him because of the timeline. He asked what he was supposed to say to keep himself out of jail, and I told him that if he knew something, now was the time to tell us, and that he should not walk out today without sharing what he knew. In response, Dan reportedly reiterated that no matter what he said, the authorities were going to put him in jail, and the investigators then went on to press Dan for more information that could lead them to where Dale's body was, saying that that is our main priority is to bring him home to his family. And then Dan Bishop went on to say that he had spoken with Velden Barnes's deceased mother. She's now deceased. He spoke with her in two thousand and nine, and this is Dan's account of things, is that Velden had told her that he had done some things and if they found out, I would be in jail for it. And Velden's mom ended up asking about Dale, and Velden basically told her that nobody in the community has to worry about Dale anymore. Of course, she is no longer alive to vouch for that, and neither is Velden. Velden has passed on that the girlfriend has passed on everybody is seemingly not around except for Dan Bishop, which, yeah, it is going to pin it on you because you are directly involved in it. Allegedly, it seems like you're directly involved in it. The evidence has shown. That you have obviously put yourself in a situation where you were tied to all of this stuff. So it's a very very strong case. So Dan Bishop was officially arrested on October seventeenth, and he did not come out of the house for a while, and then he eventually came out with his hands up. And like I said, it's a very strong case. They had enough evidence to officially make the arrest, but it took twenty five years when seemingly Dan Bishop was moving in really shady ways from the get go. But that really just goes to show you that in. Some of these cases, it does take that long to gather all of the evidence. Even though someone is acting suspicious, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're guilty of murder, but they likely need to be watched and they need to be paid close attention to because they might have something to do with it. And in this case, that seems like what they've come up with. So I do know that his bond has already been reduced. I know the family is not happy about it, and I'm going to continue to keep you guys updated on this. I know he had a court appearance earlier in the week, but I haven't been able to find anything on it, so I'm going to. Continue to keep you guys updated. I know this episode was super long and convoluted, but there was a lot of information to go over, and it's really interesting to kind of see how they came to the conclusion that Dan Bishop is their guy and all of these other people we're also involved. And I say it all the time, it's not always just one person that knows something. It's usually multiple different people that have little bits of information regarding a case that makes the puzzle piece fit back together. And that's exactly what happened in this one. It's multiple different people coming forward saying what they know, sharing what they know, and it all fitting together. So justice for Dale Williams. He needs to be found. First of all, his body has never been found. But at the end of the day, if we can find the body, bring his remains home to his family so they can finally have a little bit of closure and see this through the court system. This will be one that is finally solved. And I know for the family they're not going to be able to bring their beloved father and husband Dale back, but we can at least get some clothes and some justice for him. He did not deserve to be killed. He was literally lured to his death allegedly, and that is horrific and horrible. And like I said, I'll keep you guys updated on this one, but holy moly, what an update and another case that I've covered. This makes number seven that I've covered that has had breaking. News, and that is why I do what I do. I know a lot of people don't like cold case episodes because there isn't resolution, but we do it for episodes like this. We do it so that way, we put pressure on, we spread awareness, we talk about it, we keep it out there because there is someone that knows something and eventually that person is going to break and they're going to come forward and. It's all going to come full circle. And that's exactly what happened here. So thank you guys for listening to this update. I will see you guys next week for a brand new unsolved case. Have a good weekend five