HOUSTON – An 81-year-old man is accused of killing a 65-year-old relative who died on December 2, 2019, from severe head injuries he received the month before, according to court records.
Alan Bischof, 81, was charged with aggravated assault of a family member, a second-degree felony.
Before 65-year-old Craig LaMell’s death, he told police he’d been walking on a bike trail near his home in the 200 block of Delmar Street in southeast Houston when he was attacked and beaten by three men, according to court records. But with no identifying information, the case went cold.
Then, in April, there was a break in the case after Bischof was laid off from his job at a major oil company, according to court records. Company officials found personal emails on his office computer that revealed that he and LaMell were lovers and had been engaging in sadomasochistic love play when LaMell was injured, according to court records.
In one of the documents recovered from Bischof’s computer, he wrote “that he and LaMell had a sexual relationship, that they engaged in sadomasochistic behavior, and that leading up to and on the day of the initial assault, November 7, 2019, LaMell had requested Bischof to assault him," according to court records.
The narrative goes on to say “Bischof did assault the decedent by punching him with his fists until a large cut opened up over the decedent’s eye which was bleeding profusely," according to court records.
In the days leading up to LaMell’s death, Bischof allegedly wrote that he and LaMell agreed to the “mugging” story as a cover for their “mutual attack plan,” according to court records.
When KPRC 2 contacted Bischof at his home Monday, he said he could not talk about the allegations.
Bischoff has been charged but not yet arrested.
“It’s a little premature to being doing that right now,” he said. “I have to be taken down to the bondsman. I have an attorney I’m going to be setting up. It’s going to be later this week or next week before I’m prepared to talk.”