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Posted: Tuesday, 12 July 2011 1:56PM

Police Say Tillman Admits To Brutal Murder Of Bishop



MANKATO -- "I messed up real bad."

Those are the words a Blue Earth County custody officer overheard murder suspect Damone Christopher Williams-Tillman allegedly say in a phone conversation to an unknown person.

"I killed someone."

But the criminal complaint claims Williams-Tillman gave a detailed account of the events last Friday that lead to the brutal and violent stabbing death of 19-year-old Josselyn Bishop long before that phone call.

A truck driver discovered Bishop's bloody body lying in a grassy median of North Victory Drive last Friday afternoon.

A Mankato police detective arrived at the scene within two minutes of the 2:37 p.m. 9-1-1 call.  He found three construction workers rendering aid to Bishop.

When Commander Jeremy Clifton arrived he noted Bishop was unconscious and unresponsive and warm to the touch. Her neck was rigid, but the rest of her body was limp.

He also noticed lacerations to her throat and right side of the neck. As officers continued CPR, Clifton notice "frothy bubble blood" from the lower part of her ribcage.

A short time later Gold Cross ambulance personnel pronounced Bishop dead.

She had no ID and and as previously reported it was a friend who called police Saturday night to report her missing. The friend was unaware that there was a female "Jane Doe."

We now know that friend told police about Williams-Tillman, known to friends at simply Chris Tillman. The friend told investigators that Williams-Tillman and Bishop had dated, but had recently broken up.

The friend added the Bishop had been having "issues" with Williams-Tillman.

The week prior, the friend told police Williams-Tillman has thrown Bishop's cellphone into Hiniker Pond. Last April he slashed her tires.

Police tracked down Williams-Tillman to his father's home in Golden Valley.

He agreed to go with Mankato police and the BCA to the Golden Valley law enforcement center to be interviewed.

Williams-Tillman gave police a detailed account.

Williams-Tillman's father said his son came to his place of work on Friday around 11 a.m. to borrow his car with the intention of driving to Mankato.

Williams-Tillman told police he had been texting with Bishop.

He would pick her up near a movie theater by her apartment in Mankato.

He says they drove around talking about their releationship. That when he says Bishop told him she was "seeing" another individual.

Williams-Tillman says he "blacked out" but remembered having a knife and the last time he saw Bishop she was laying the the grass bleeding.

The BCA would interview Williams-Tillman again on Saturday at the Blue Earth County Justice Center.

He told investigators that he remembered pulling over the the side of the road near a cornfield.

They starting arguing.

He took his knife and stuck Bishop inside the vehicle.

He says Bishop fled the vehicle and ran down the sidewalk along North Victory Drive. Police would later find drops of blood on the sidewalk.

Williams-Tillman says he ran after her. Bishop eventually fell down and he continued to stab her.

He says he dosen't know how many times.

He just "closed his eyes" during the attack.

Williams-Tillman told police he ran back to his car and left the area.

He says he wrapped Bishop's cellphone in one of her shoes and the knife in his shirt and tossed it out of the car window near a bridge as he was driving away.

Williams-Tillman's father told investigators that his son was in his bedroom by the time he got home from work at 5:30 p.m.

He said his son seemed "quieter than normal."



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