Selina Bishop, daughter of blues guitarist Elvin Bishop, was among five victims of a killing spree that began Aug. 3. On Wednesday, Bishop's body was recovered from a California river, one week after it was first reported missing. Bishop was listed as missing the day after her mother, Jennifer Villarin (Elvin's ex-wife), and her mother's boyfriend, James Gamble, were shot and killed at Bishop's apartment in Marin County, Calif., where they were housesitting while Bishop was supposedly visiting Yosemite with boyfriend Glenn Helzer.

On Monday, a jet skier discovered a black duffel bag in the Mokelumne River that contained body parts. The search continued, and as of Wednesday eight bags containing dismembered parts had been recovered. On Wednesday, the remains were positively identified as Bishop's, as well as those of Ivan Stineman, eighty-five, and his wife Annette, seventy-eight, who were believed to have been murdered at a different time than Bishop. Coroner's reports claim that all three victims were killed by blunt trauma to the head.

The Sacramento Bee reported that Bishop might have been involved in a scheme to steal money from the Stinemans, as Helzer was previously their financial planner. Reports claim that Stineman was coerced into writing two $100,000 checks to Bishop and that she contacted her bank inquiring as to how to cash them. The report goes on to say that Bishop attempted to flee when the Stinemans were killed.

Helzer was arrested on Monday, shortly before the first duffel bag was discovered, for suspicion of robbery and burglary along with his brother Justin and his brother's girlfriend Dawn Godman, who were charged with possession of the drug Ecstasy and unlawful possession of the Stineman's van. None of the three suspects have been charged with murder yet, though all three are currently being held without bail in light of the most recent discoveries.

Authorities are still attempting to determine the motive behind Bishop's murder.

Elvin Bishop played guitar for Paul Butterfield's Blues Band in the Sixties and is best known for his 1976 solo hit "Fooled Around and Fell in Love."

ANDREW DANSBY
(August 11, 2000)