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Tennessee Soldier Mysteriously Found Tied Up And Shot To Death In Apartment
Jacob Dean Bishop's mother was worried when he wasn't answering his phone, so she stopped by his apartment in North Loudon County and made a grim discovery.
A Tennessee soldier was found bound and shot to death in his home last week and his killer or killers have yet to be apprehended.
Jacob Dean Bishop, 35, was found dead in his Northern Loudon County apartment early on Oct. 1, after deputies received a report regarding an unconscious and unresponsive male, the Loudon County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.
Bishop’s mother was the one to discover his body, authorities confirmed to the Knox News. After he failed to answer her calls, she traveled to his duplex apartment on Shaw Ferry Road North; when her knocks on the door got no response, she used a spare key to get inside, where she found her son lying dead on the living room floor, the outlet reports.
Bishop had been “physically bound and shot multiple times,” authorities said. Deputies who arrived on the scene concluded that foul play was involved, and Bishop’s cause of death was ruled a homicide, according to another release from the sheriff’s office.
Bishop, a resident of Lenoir City, was a soldier in the Tennessee Army National Guard, authorities said. Months before he was killed, he returned home after spending a year deployed in Poland; his presence in the European nation was part of an effort to increase NATO's presence in the area, according to the Knox News.
The sheriff’s office does not believe that Bishop’s killing was random, and have called it an “isolated incident.” A possible motive for the killing has not been released, and no suspects have been named. Authorities are asking for the public’s help in tracking down a suspicious vehicle that was spotted in the area in the days leading up to Bishop’s death. Witnesses reported seeing a white SUV in Bishop’s neighborhood in the days before he was killed, and the car was spotted leaving the area on the day Bishop’s body was found, authorities said.
“We continue to work tirelessly and around the clock to bring the party, or parties, responsible for the murder of a U.S. Soldier to justice, and to provide the Bishop family with some form of closure,” Sheriff Tim Guider said on Facebook Tuesday.
Bishop leaves behind two children and a fiancée, Brittany Kindred, according to the Knox News.
“This loss is unlike any. My heart is shattered and crumbles even more as I watch my boys cry and ask questions,” Kindred wrote in a Facebook post, according to the outlet. “They don’t understand. None of us do. All we can do is stand united and push forward to keep this fight for justice for Jay going strong.”
The inquiry into Bishop’s death is an “active murder investigation,” authorities said. The Loudon County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public to share any information that may be relevant to the case by contacting their office at (865) 986-4823.
