Acacia's Story
In October of 2003, Adam Bishop the father of missing Acacia Bishop did a interview for the Child Seek Network Newsletter
The words that follow are his.
On May 25, 2003, Acacia Patience Bishop was kidnapped by her grandmother, Kelley Lodmell
in Salt Lake City, Utah. Kelley, described by authorities as a paranoid schizophrenic, who was not taking her
medication, was arrested the following day in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Lodmell told authorities she lost control of
the 19-month-old girl while wading in the waters of the Snake River. However, Acacia has never been found. The
following is an interview with Adam and Casey Bishop, Acacia's parents. I would like to thank them for sharing
their painful story with me. They are wonderful people and I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to
become acquainted with them. Their strength is an inspiration to all of us who have come to know them!!
Q. Adam and Casey...can you tell us a little bit about Acacia?
Acacia is our
only daughter. She has the greatest smile along with deep dimples. Her eyes twinkle when ever she talks and
she is always using her hands as gestures. She is and was the first thing on our minds when we woke up and the
last thing when we go to bed. She was there to meet me when I came home from work, she was the last kiss I
gave before I went to work. She calls Casey Mom and me Papee. Acacia will purposely get strangers attention
when ever we were in a store by waving her hand and loudly saying "HI".
Q. What are your
favorite memories about Acacia?
Casey said her favorite memory is when Acacia would take baths.
Acacia would run to the tub when ever she heard the water filling it and when in the tub she would splash,
giggle, and kick like she was swimming. Acacia would also take the wash rag and wash her face. Casey also said
she her other memory is Acacia always pointing to the sky when ever seeing a bird and saying "Geese" or
"Bird". My favorite memory is Acacia loving to dance at any music, jumping up and down to the beat, and
wearing herself out until she would go lay half way on the couch. My other memory is outside in the yard
Acacia would run up and down our side walk. While I was planting she would love to help and whenever there
were flowers she would point and say "OOOOO" then she would bend down and smell them and smile.
Q. What do you remember about the day that Acacia went missing?
Casey and I had dropped
Acacia off with her great grandmother, Linda, to be watched. We had a meeting with our friend to discuss her
wedding. When we were at Linda's, Kelley was also there. We made sure that Kelley left before we left to go to
the meeting. We gave Linda all of Acacia's stuff and made sure that Linda had Acacia's sippy cup. While at the
meeting our friends' fiancé showed up and told us that Kelley had taken Acacia. We left immediately and went
back to Linda's to find out our worst nightmare had just begun.
Q. Do you feel like the Law
Enforcement agencies are doing all that they can to help find Acacia?
FBI Yes, but the
others......well?? From the time we called the Salt Lake County Sheriff we were told that the Amber Alert
would be initiated but to our dismay it was changed to a "Custody Dispute". The Sheriff didn't even look at
Kelley's record. They would have found that Kelley was on probation for assaulting a police officer, with a
knife no less. Also Kelley had a felony for shooting a minor with a gun. Her rap sheet is at least 30 pages
long. Also, they said that Kelley returned Acacia the last time she took Acacia, but that is not true. Casey
and I had to search for our baby and we found her in a friends apartment. Kelley never brought her back to
us!!
Since arriving here in Idaho Falls we have been told our baby is dead. The lead Detective John Cowley
told me personally, and mind you, he took me to the scene where Kelley apparently did this, he said "Look
Adam, whether it is a day, a week, or a month, your daughter's body is going to pop out of that river and you
are just going to come to grips with her death". This same officer asked my brother, Jason, to take me back
home because I was interfering with the case. Believe it or not, this same officer also told me that the man
that checked Kelley and Acacia out of the Red Lion Hotel never existed, that he had been disproved, and that
it was Kelley herself that checked out the room. Well, we were told by the receptionist who checked out the
room that it was a man and not Kelley, in fact she saw Kelley in the foyer with Acacia at the same time the
man was checking out the room.
The thing that blows me away is the fact that this same police force has
threatened local business's to stop offering help to Casey and I. One in particular was the company who gave
us a land line for our 1-800 number to be aimed to. We had to reroute the number but the line was down for
more than a week.
Now if that wasn't enough, the Chief of Police personally asked Operation Lookout to take
down Acacia's missing page because it didn't reflect their views on the case. This police force up here has
given us nothing but trouble.
Q. I see that your theory about what happened to Acacia is
somewhat different than that of the police. Has this caused any problems between them and your family?
The Police have gone behind my back to call my brother, Jason, who is, by the way, an ex-cop, and
invite him to a meeting that I had called with the Chief of Police. The Chief told him he had arranged this
meeting and it was to discuss the exhaustion of the case. The thing is, I called this meeting to discuss the
fact that the Chief pulled down the Operation Lookout page.
I know this one is going to sit bad with you.
After one of my brothers, Josh, found a crack pipe in Kelley's car that the police had "Searched", Detective
John Cowley told Linda that he believes that my family or friends had planted it there. Disgusting!!!
Q. Have you had any trouble getting the police to listen to your ideas on what happened to Acacia?
Yes,
from day one we told them that we believe that Kelley had set this whole thing up. Kelley was in jail this
past January with the instigator of the second Amber Alert in Utah, Cassy. Josh, by the grace of God, bumped
into her on the first day of the kidnapping. Josh was passing out flyers in a known transient park in Salt
Lake City and Cassy approached him saying "I know her, I was in jail with her". Apparently Kelley told Cassy
all about the first time that Kelley tried to take Acacia. Kelley then told Cassy that she was planning to do
it again, saying "and this time I will get away with it". We told the police all about this but they refused
to listen. They had their blinders on from the first day. They had a confession and they were going on with
the "Murder- Suicide" whether we liked it or not.
Q. Do you have any contact with Kelly?
Yes,
Casey has written and received 3 letters to and from Kelley. Also Casey and I went down to Utah to see her in
jail and to try to get info from her. In the letters Kelley states that she hopes who ever has Acacia is
taking good care of her. Kelley also in her letters never refers to Acacia in the past tense. When we went
down to the Salt Lake jail Kelley said to Casey "They will never get me for murder cause they will never find
a body". When asked if she murdered Acacia, Kelley told Casey "Think, you know, you're smarter then that".
Q. Before Acacia went missing, where you aware of just how many missing children there are?
We weren't aware of just how many there were, even though Casey and I had been looking for Elizabeth
Smart. Every time we were hiking in the mountains we were looking for any sign of Elizabeth.
Q. What are some of the things that you two are doing to help keep Acacia's story in the public eye?
We have been sending out flyers to all of the places that we have gotten sightings from and anywhere
else we feel that the people who have Acacia would go. That includes grocery stores, hotels, bars, banks, gas
stations, churches, police stations, ranger stations, any where, every where. Also Casey and I have been going
on a local radio show known as "The Trish & Halli Show". It located at 590 AM, and is heard all over eastern
Idaho and throughout Wyoming too. We have been going on about every two weeks. Both Casey and I search all
over the web finding sites that are talking about Acacia and try to give them as much information as possible.
We also try to get them to place as many pictures of Acacia on their site as they can. We also have family
members, along with Casey and I, assemble picket signs that we place every where there is a lot of traffic.
The signs pound in the ground and have our web site, the 1-800 #, information about Acacia as well as a
picture, and the reward information.
Then there are all of the news stations. We are always in contact with
the news. When it comes to getting out information fast, that is who you want to contact. Both Casey and I are
thankful to Jill Attwood from KSL Channel 5 for producing a "Special Report" on Monday Nov. 3rd. We hope to
get great coverage and pray that we can bring more awareness to missing children.
Q. Do you
think that missing children web sites help in keeping the stories alive?
Absolutely, it is
great to talk with people all over the country and world. The web makes the facts about the case seem more
personal to the user, especially if you can talk with the parents and check to see their comments. The fact
that we can answer questions from anyone, helps bring our story into people's homes. It is because of the
internet that more information is being spread all over the US.
Q. Other family members of
missing children have told me that they have been contacted by people who say they can help..only to find out
that they wanted money! Has this happened to you at all?
Yes, actually it has been private
investigators who have contacted me. It is a sad fact that where ever there is tragedy, greed will follow. In
any sort of tragedy people want to exploit the victims. We are working with a non- profit victims advocate
group called 'After Math'. Their saying is "Sometimes the things that happen after the crime are worse then
the crime itself". We are blessed to have found such great people in our time of need. The victims need to be
aware that when people know that you "Need" help they will exploit you.
Q. What can our
readers do for you and your family?
The thing that we have found out that works the best
is a combination of prayers and bringing awareness. In times like these we feel that we are lost, and
sometimes we feel helpless. In some instances we are, but there is always someone, somewhere who can help. Be
it distribute flyers, talk about it with family and friends, help by offering support to the family, or just
praying to the One person who knows, who, what, where, and why. We have continued the search for Acacia
because of a combination of all of these. My God, my family, and my friends have been the biggest support in
going through these tough times. It is because of them that we will find Acacia and bring those responsible to
justice.
In closing, I would like to say:
I hope and pray that we as a parents, human beings,
and citizens are able to stop this epidemic that has taken us by the throat. The very life blood and reasons
for living are being stolen from us and it seems that no one can stop it. I hope that the US Government
decides that the children of our country and world are worth more than oil, or land. It is through the
children that our dreams will become reality. It is the children who are going to be here when we are gone.
Thank you for letting us talk
Casey and Adam Bishop