A John Doe who died in 1981 is not William Bradford Bishop Jr., the FBI said Wednesday.
Bishop, who is wanted for the homicides of his five family members in Montgomery County, Maryland, in 1976, is one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted fugitives.
The body of the John Doe was exhumed Thursday after a Scottsboro, Alabama, man saw a photo of an unknown man who was struck and killed by a car.
Scientists at an FBI laboratory compared DNA from the body to DNA taken from a cigarette found at the murder scene. It did not match.
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A Scottsboro newspaper recently ran a picture of the John Doe in hopes publicity would help solve the cold case.
Then in August, Scottsboro resident Jeremy Collins saw a photo of Bishop and realized it looked a lot like the John Doe.
Bishop is accused of using a short-handled sledgehammer to kill his wife, Annette; his mother, Lobelia; and his three boys, 14-year-old Brad, 10-year-old Brenton and 5-year-old Geoffrey, in their Potomac, Maryland, home in 1976.
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The family's bodies were found burning in a shallow grave off a logging road near Columbia, North Carolina. Two weeks later, investigators found Bishop's car in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Police continue to investigate the slayings, which horrified the D.C. area. In April, the News4 I-Team broke the news that authorities added Bishop to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List.
For decades, investigators thought Bishop might have used his State Department training to sneak off overseas, living the luxurious lifestyle in Europe friends said he always craved.
But the FBI’s Special Agent In Charge, Steve Vogt -- who pushed to get Bishop added to the 10 Most Wanted List -- said he’s always believed Bishop was broke and hiding in the United States.
The FBI is offering a $100,000 reward for a tip that leads them to Bishop. Anyone with information regarding Bishop's whereabouts sh old call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
