'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wgARCAAGAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFgABAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEF/8QAFQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAX/2gAMAwEAAhADEAAAAMGDJ3//xAAgEAABAwQCAwAAAAAAAAAAAAABAgMRAAQFBiEyM2Jy/9oACAEBAAE/AGNkzMsqdXa3CYPlb56+sTR2x8GDiMeT9rr/xAAVEQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAf/aAAgBAgEBPwCv/8QAFBEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP/aAAgBAwEBPwB//9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Justin Hilbert's murder and Jared Bischoff's involvement in it, or the lack of involvement in it, if we are going by legal terms, remains a topic that true crime fans around the world would love to talk about. This is also the subject of the latest episode of Dateline, which is set to premiere on October 4, 2024, at 9.00 PM EST on NBC.
Titled Wrong Turns, this episode covers the death of Justin Hilbert, which officially remains unsolved, and the murder of Bailey Sharpe committed by Jared Bischoff. The synopsis for the episode reads:
"A new father is found dead on the side of a road. Then the stabbing of a young woman leads police on a high speed chase. Could these two chilling murders be connected?"
Trending
While Bischoff was connected (somewhat) to both of them and their murders, he was only charged with Sharpe's murder as there was no evidence against him in Justin's murder. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole after he was caught and charged with the crime.
Jared Bischoff remains incarcerated at the maximum-security High Desert State Prison in Susanville, California, as of now, and will remain there for the rest of his life.
Who was Jared Bischoff and what did he do?
Jared Bischoff was a well-established Navy Officer based out of the Naval Base in San Diego. He was once married to Tonya Bischoff but their marriage broke off because Tonya felt that he was reportedly getting violent. After their divorce, Tonya went on to date and eventually got engaged to Justin Hilbert, with whom she also had a baby, Logan.
During this time, Jared was dating Bailey Sharpe. One peculiar thing happened before Justin's murder. Bailey tried to send friend requests to both Justin and Tonya, which they ignored. Tonya recalled this after Justin died.
On June 21, 2016, the police found Justin Hilbert's body near Lake Mathews at the intersection of La Sierra Avenue and Tin Mine Road. The 25-year-old was beaten, stabbed, and shot to death. Though such acts of violence had been committed, there was no DNA evidence on the scene. This led authorities to believe that Justin Hilbert was killed elsewhere and dumped here.
Though the authorities connected Jared Bischoff to this case early on, they did not find any evidence to charge him.
On July 12, 2016, authorities received a call about domestic violence. On reaching the scene, they allegedly found Bailey Sharpe lying in a pool of her own blood. Jared had allegedly stabbed her to death and fled the scene. He led the police on a day-long chase before being arrested and charged.
He was eventually charged with kidnapping, evading arrest, possession of a controlled substance, and murder. After his arrest, the police tried to link Justin's murder to that of Bailey's but found only cryptic evidence that was not enough to accuse Jared with Justin's murder.
However, when he was taken to court about Bailey's murder, he was sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole. The text exchange between him and Bailey also slightly hinted that Bailey could have been behind Justin's murder, but this theory was also never confirmed.
Jared remains behind bars today and will stay there for the rest of his life.
The upcoming episode of Dateline on NBC will cover this case in more detail.
