Man driving over 80 mph heard ‘messages’ from his car radio before a 2020 Hebron crash that killed 1

The man accused of deliberately driving his vehicle into oncoming traffic in May 2020 was traveling at more than 80 mph when he struck a van that was traveling between 13 and 20 mph, killing its driver and causing life-altering injuries to the passenger, a crash scene reconstruction expert testified Tuesday.

The testimony of Andrew Thomas, a former McHenry County sheriff’s deputy, was part of William P. Bishop’s murder trial.

The 44-year-old Chicago man is charged with first-degree murder, two counts each of aggravated battery and aggravated driving under the influence in the death of Jason Miller, 41, of McHenry and the serious injuries to Rory Fiali, 58, of McHenry.

Bishop chose to have his case heard in a bench trial in front of McHenry County Judge Michael Coppedge instead of a jury.

Prosecutors say Bishop acted deliberately and criminally when he crashed his Jeep Cherokee into Miller’s work van about 2:30 p.m. May 18, 2020, along a rural stretch of Vanderkarr Road near Hebron. Bishop’s attorneys have said he suffers from bipolar depression, was in the throes of a manic episode and is not culpable of any crime.

On the day of the crash, Thomas was working as a sheriff’s deputy and interviewed Bishop about two hours afterward at Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital. The interview was recorded and played in court Tuesday.

At times Bishop, who said he took a “couple puffs” from a vape pen found in his vehicle, took long pauses. He seemed to have trouble connecting answers with Thomas’ basic questions about where he was headed that day and at what point he saw the white van approaching.

He said he was “super confused,” stressed and “getting messages from the radio.”

“I was just following direction of what was coming into my ears through the messages in the radio,” he told Thomas and another officer interviewing him at the hospital while he laid in a wearing a neck brace. Bishop, at the time of the interview, was not under arrest and facing only a traffic ticket.

Sometimes, without a question posed, Bishop would bring up his work as a coach, having been an athlete and paranoia related to social media. He would talk about how his brain was spinning and that he had been “ruminating.”

He said his stress had gotten worse since the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown order went into place in the weeks before the crash. Bishop said he had been alone in his apartment during those weeks, hearing voices and feeling paranoia and experiencing “brain stress” over his business.

Though he was not on any medications for mental health, he said he was doing his best to control it through his diet and had been seeing a psychologist for three or four years. He has had a past diagnosis of bipolar and was in a treatment facility when he was 35, he said.

When Thomas asked Bishop if he intentionally crossed the center line of the road to hit the oncoming white van, Bishop said, “Yes.” He said he did not intend to hurt anyone, only himself.

At the time he crossed the center line, a message came through the radio instructing him “it was time to end my life or it was the end of life,” he told Thomas during the interview.

There were no tire tracks on the pavement and patterns in the grass on the eastbound side of the road, where both vehicles wound up, showing the Jeep Bishop was driving did not brake, McHenry County Sheriff’s Deputy Joshua Singer said.

Photos displayed during the trial Tuesday showed the wrecked van, tossed on its side with a busted-out front window, work tools strewn about and a nearby fire extinguisher.

Singer said during the search of Bishop’s vehicle they found a cellphone, laptop bag, vape pen and a glass pipe. Singer did not say whether the vape pen and pipe were tested or what he thought was inside of them, but Assistant State’s Attorney Ashley Romito said during Monday’s opening statements that tests showed Bishop had ingested illegal levels of marijuana.

Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital nurse Joan Rembacz testified Tuesday that she tended to Bishop after the crash. She described him as clean cut, well dressed and very quiet. He would not answer questions but responded to instructions such as to remove his clothing.

Assistant State’s Attorney Randi Freese asked Rembacz whether she had ever seen someone who is psychotic, to which Rembacz said, “Yes.” When Freese asked if Bishop was psychotic, Rembacz said, “No.”

Coppedge heard Monday from James Head of Highland Park, who worked with Fiali and Miller, and Miller’s widow Jaime Miller.

Head had worked with the two men earlier that day at a job site in Harvard replacing windows.

Head was in a separate vehicle behind the other men but made a wrong turn. He eventually got back on the correct road and saw the work van Fiali and Miller were driving.

Head did not see the crash because a hill briefly blocked his view of the van, but he came over the hill moments later. He described the wreckage, seeing the air bags, broken windshield, hearing gasping, choking and then silence, and then hearing Fiali moaning for help.

Emergency crews arrived about 15 minutes later, Head said. “It felt like an eternity,” he said, becoming emotional.

Miller, the mother to their two young daughters, ages 5 and 7, detailed some of the last exchanges she had with her husband that day through texts. One of the last text messages she received from him was “Good morning, beautiful. I hope you have a great day.”

They would have been married eight years this year, she said.

The trial will continue Wednesday morning.

Correction: This article has been updated to correct the town Rory Fiali lives in. He is from McHenry.