Michael John Despres Sebastian Florida man strangles fiancee Jeanine Bishop, sleeps with her corpse before dumping her body at a Walmart parking lot.
A Florida handyman has confessed to killing his fiancée and sleeping next to her body before leaving the woman’s corpse in the passenger seat of a pickup truck at a Walmart parking lot, police said.
The body of Jeanine Bishop, 67, was discovered early Tuesday at a Walmart in Sebastian after cops responded to a report of a woman being spotted in a pickup truck who was possibly deceased, Police Chief Daniel Acosta said in a video statement.
Michael John Despres, a 56-year-old handyman from Sebastian, was also at the Walmart and gave investigators ‘cryptic accounts’ about his whereabouts before his fiancée’s body was found, Acosta said.
‘Upon being interviewed by Sebastian detectives, he confessed to killing Ms. Bishop in their shared residence and later transporting her body to the parking lot of Walmart, where he staged the incident,’ Acosta said.
An investigation into the slaying is ongoing, with evidence being collected from Despres’ home and workplace, as well as his vehicle and Bishop’s, Acosta said.
Abusive and toxic relationship
Despres told cops he had been contemplating killing his fiancée for several days because he was ‘angry’ and made a weapon using rope and two handles to strangle Bishop according to cops.
Investigators also found signs of strangulation and pronounced red spots near Bishop’s eyes, police said.
During the interview with detectives, Despres admitted strangling Bishop late Monday as she sat in a kitchen chair. He told cops he then moved her body to their bed and slept next to her that night before changing her clothes and putting her corpse in the pickup truck, Wood said.
Despres told cops he then put a bicycle inside his gray van and drove to Walmart before riding the bike back to his Sebastian home.
Bishop’s body was discovered after Despres drove the truck to the Walmart parking lot.
The Sebastian Daily reports Despres having walked into Walmart and asking the manager to call 911 because there was an ’emergency situation with his fiance in the parking lot.’
The outlet cited friends and neighbors who said Bishop had been in an ‘abusive and toxic relationship’ with Despres for years.
Despres remained held Wednesday at the Indian River County Jail without bail, online records show. It’s unclear if he’s hired an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
