Investigation Discovery’s “On The Case With Paula Zahn: “No Body Two Crimes’ chronicles the gruesome story of an American serial killer known as James Opelton Bradley. He was found guilty of murdering three women, the initial one being his stepdaughter, aged 8, in June 1988. He then killed two other women, with one being his friend between 2013 and 2014. Are you curious to know more about James and also his current location? Let’s learn more.
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Who Were James Bradley’s Victims?
The first victim for James Bradley was his own stepdaughter, eight year old Alisa Ivy Gibson. In June of 1988, James claimed that Alisa was kidnapped at the bus station located in Fayetteville, North Carolina. However, the police found numerous contradictions in his claims as they began suspecting that he was involved with the abduction of his daughter. After a lengthy investigation, James’ defense was finally uncovered, and he admitted to murdering Alisa two days after the incident was reported.
James said James was sick and was asleep when his sleep was interrupted by Alisa playing her television. According to James’ story, James snapped and killed her by putting a sock over her and then choking him to death. After he realized what he’d done, he tried to cover up his crime by putting the body of Alisa into a garbage can and throwing it in the local dump. On January 22 January 22, 1990, James confessed to first-degree murder and was given an indefinite sentence.
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But, as the offense was committed prior to when the North Carolina Structured Sentencing Act was passed, James was eligible for parole. He was granted it after 23 years on February 11, 2013. He got a job at Steve Mott’s landscaping business and was often working at the Hampstead farm that Steve owned. A 53-year-old Shannon Rippy Van Newkirk was one of their coworkers of James who disappeared on April 5, 2014. The last time she was seen alive was in The Husk bar in downtown Wilmington the same day.
When Shannon did not show up to her birthday celebration on April 6, 2014, her concerned mother, Roberta Lewis, filed a missing person report with the police. Detectives began to look into James because of his prior convictions and discovered a number of errors and omissions in his claims. James claimed that there was no meeting with Shannon on the days she disappeared, but he altered his story many times after being confronted with evidence that was contrary to his initial statement.
Investigators sought Shannon at the Hampstead farm, where they were employed and came across the body initially believed to be that of Shannon. The body was covered in garbage bags and then buried inside a small grave hidden beneath the stump. The medical examiner discovered several marks on the corpse during an autopsy. They determined that the body did do not belonged to Shannon. The body was later determined to be that of the body was that of Elisha Tucker, 33, from Wilmington. The woman has been missing since the month of August 2013.
The autopsy confirmed that a bludgeon killed Elisha. On the basis of DNA proof taken from their vehicle of James, James was indicted for the murder in the first degree of Elisha on December 5, 2016. The prosecutor announced that they would pursue the death penalty against James in the case. But Shannon’s remains were never located despite the prosecutor offering the possibility of reducing the death sentence to life imprisonment in the event that James identified the place where her body was.
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Where is James Bradley Today?
James was first tried on the charge of the accused death of Shannon. James resisted the plea deal and was tried in the courtroom in which he claimed innocence. The jury rejected his testimony after they were shown surveillance footage and phone records that linked him in contact with Shannon at the time that she vanished. He was found guilty of second-degree murder on June 29, 2017. He was sentenced to a minimum prison sentence of thirty years, five months and a maximum sentence of 37 years, six months behind bars.
James was convicted of killing Elisha in March 2019. The prosecution presented witnesses who identified James with the victim and claimed they were together at the same farm, where her body was later discovered. Investigators also discovered the DNA of Elisha on the rug in James’ Chevrolet Tahoe. On March 26, 2019, he was found guilty of first-degree murder but was able to escape the death penalty by an uncontracted jury. Instead, he received an indefinite sentence that remains in place in the Tabor City Correctional Institution. Tabor The City Correctional Facility.
