BENTONVILLE — A lawsuit claims a double murder may have been prevented or the suspects arrested at the crime scene if a security firm had not canceled a police dispatch to the residence.
Rogers attorney Eugene Kelley and Tulsa, Okla., attorney Laurence Pinkerton filed the suit in Benton County Circuit Court on Thursday on behalf of George Skupien, the heir and representative of Louise Bishop’s estate.
The suit seeks more than $7 million in compensatory damages and an unspecified amount of punitive damages. The case is assigned to Circuit Judge David Clinger.
Guard Tronic is the defendant. The complaint claims Louise Bishop contracted with Guard Tronic to provide a security system at her home at 2910 S.E. J St. in Bentonville.
The suit concerns the murders of Bishop, 81, and her daughter, Christina Bishop, 40. The women disappeared June 18, 2009. Their bodies were found Feb. 1, 2010, in a grave between Garfield and Avoca at 15226 Sugar Creek Road, according to court documents.
Nicholas Johansen, 20, and Michael Shane Winters, 30, are charged with two counts of capital murder and aggravated robbery. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Johansen is Christina Bishop’s son and Louise Bishop’s grandson.
Johansen and Winters came to the home to rob Louise Bishop on June 18, 2009, according to the complaint. The lawsuit claims Christina Bishop was outside talking with her son when he began to strangle her. Louise Bishop then opened her front door and saw the attack.
The suit claims Louise Bishop sounded the security alarm and Johansen went in the house after her. Johansen was unable to kill his grandmother, so Winters went inside the residence and strangled her, according to the complaint.
The suit alleges at 11:54 p.m. the security alarm on Louise Bishop’s front door was triggered. A Guard Tronic employee initiated three telephone calls to the home, resulting in three busy signals, according to the complaint.
Guard Tronic called the Bentonville Police Department three minutes after the alarm was triggered. While dispatching police, a cancel signal came from Louise Bishop’s security system, according to the complaint. A Guard Tronic employee told the dispatcher to cancel the call to the residence, according to the suit.
The complaint claims it would have normally taken police two to three minutes after the dispatch to reach the residence. The suit claims if the police call was dispatched, law enforcement could have interrupted the attack or caught the perpetrators at the residence.
Randy Perry, manager of Guard Tronic’s Bentonville office, said he was not aware of the lawsuit and could not comment.
Skupien reported the women missing June 20, 2009. He attempted to contact the two and went to the home where he found the front door open. Inside he saw blood spatters, an upper plate of a set of false teeth, discarded reading glasses and broken, bloody furniture in the entry, according to the suit.
The suit claims police considered all family members as persons of interest. The investigation received national attention, including being featured on the television show “Nancy Grace.” Skupien claims he suffered because he received hate mail accusing him of the murders because of media coverage.
Winters and Johansen will be tried separately.
Winters’ jury trial is slated to begin Nov. 1. A trial date has not been set for Johansen.